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TRAINING CAMP PART II - CAMPING WITH THE CLAYMORES!!! |
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The Claymores had a new camp location in Tampa this year - the Skypark Park complex (the Claymores actually practiced on the near legendary Buddy and Anita Rogers Field). It was a lot easier to find thanks to the fact that it was next to the 8 lane Veterans Expressway! (Exit 2A as you can see!)
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Did we also say that it was right next to the airport? Here you can see something taking off in the sky! Practice was mostly like last year - two 2 hour sessions crammed into the morning. While this gives you free time in the afternoon, it's not easy making an 8am paretic! (The other teams would have an AM and a PM paretic). |
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Practice is nearly always in full pads so if you can't find an equipment guy it pays to have a team mate to help you suit up. Here the KC connection of Little (JJ Moses) and Large (Ian Allen) comes in useful! |
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Imposing Ian Allen lines up during practice. The offensive line is always a source of worry during camp, and it's usual the last unit to really gel. In the scrimmages, nobody is allowed to hit the QB's so generous whistles are recorded as 'sacks'. Most of these would never turn out to be real sacks, so readers of camp reports shouldn't get overly concerned when they read that the team gave up 5 or 6 sacks in scrimmage. |
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Tampa was real hot - 85 degrees most days, so it pays to have guys bringing you water like this one. Wait a minute - that waterboy looks an awful lot like Gene Dahlquist! |
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Its hot for fans too and plenty of lotion needs to be applied both on the skin and in the mouth to keep you feeling fresh! |
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Eventually though you get tired of lining up and hitting your own team day in day out ... |
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And that's when it's time to hit other teams in the scrimmages and combined workouts! Here ball carrier Herbert Goodman uses every move in the book to avoid getting hit by several Dragons! Whisper has some great moves and really excelled in some of the scrimmages. |
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Scott Dreisbach drops back to pass versus the Admirals during the 1st scrimmage at Raymond James Stadium. The Admirals got the better of this scrimmage, torching the Claymores secondary on more than one occasion. Each QB generally get a couple of series in these scrimmages as the team tries to march downfield. |
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One of the stars for the Claymores in this scrimmage was Scott McCready who made a couple of tough catches in heavy traffic. Scott, who already has a Super Bowl ring, looks to be a real solid players for us. But please man, cover up that Three Lions tattoo! |
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All teams scout each other's scrimmages but this is ridiculous! Galaxy coach Doug Graber wanders along the Claymores sideline at Ray Jay. Perhaps Doug was on the lookout for ... |
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Bart Hendricks - the human yo-yo! Bart started with the Claymores, and then bounced between us and the Galaxy depedning on which side of bed Bucs coach Jon Gruden got of in the morning. Flipping teams probably didn't help Bart's camp performance, where he struggled to find a rhythm. He's with the Galaxy again now. |
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There are ups and down every day. Here Dragons defensive back Eugene Clinton steals a Scott Dreisbach pass in 7 on 7 drills during a combined workout at St. Petersburg. |
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But the Claymores came right back with a Kwame Cavil diving TD catch in the red zone drills. Honours were fairly even between these two teams in this midweek workout. |
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In the final scrimmage versus the Thunder there was no repeat of last year - where Berlin came out scorched the Claymores from the first play. This year we managed to dominate the early going with Goodman racking up yards at will with some super moves, including a key 4th down conversion. |
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Then the back-ups came and gave Berlin some respectability. First James Brown threw a pick (on an apparent wrongly ran route by the WR). Brown however came back with a deep pass to Margin Hooks (later cut) and showed why he was the #2 QB in camp. (Don't believe any other garbage you may have heard!) |
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Then 3rd string QB Shane Stafford came in and served up an ugly INT on his first pass to Berlin S Eric Johnson for a Thunder TD. By this stage Hendricks had fallen behind the 2 free agents. With Dahlquist opting to keep only 2 QB's Stafford's fate was probably sealed before the final scrimmage... |
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But he responded with a nice drive down the field, climaxing in a Kwame Cavil TD for the final points of the scrimmage (a 17-14 if you want to keep score). Cavil helped his cause the last week, after a slow start. He probably made the practice squad based on his dance moves alone! |
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The scrimmage ended with a Scott Shields INT. This guy is a real ball hawk and should be a big factor this year. But we are still un -sure how the playing time between the 3 safeties (Shields, Gary and Riley) will play out. |
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It's draining work after a long hard day in the sun! Ian Allen and McAllister Collins trudge off after practice. We'll tell you in part IV how we amused ourselves outside of football! |
