Practice Observations, 8/30/07

Notre Dame went through a game day pre-game workout inside Notre Dame Stadium on Thursday, just using the time as a walk-through to prepare for Saturday's opener against Georgia Tech.

• Scouts from the New Orleans Saints and New England Patriots were in attendance -- and talking with offensive line coach John Latina.
• The kicking scenario might also have been figured out. Freshman Brandon Walker was working on longer, 40-yard field goals while Nate Whitaker took extra points. Walker, who has a smooth kicking motion. While we were looking, Walker made two from 40 yards with plenty of distance.
• For the first time in a long time, we saw quarterbacks actually throwing the football to receivers. All four -- Demetrius Jones, Evan Sharpley, Jimmy Clausen and Darrin Bragg -- were throwing them high to warm up, but Clausen's arm looked no better or worse than the other three. Jones and Clausen threw together, as did Sharpley and Bragg. Jones and Sharpley had on play wristbands, while we didn't see Clausen wearing one.
• Outside linebacker Kerry Neal doesn't appear to have great hands. On a ball thrown to him by Sharpley, it hit him in the hands and he dropped it.
• When the team got together in a huddle, John Sullivan and John Carslon head-butted each other. While they were talking to the rest of the team, one of the captains said "Game day, it's almost here. It's almost here."
• Everyone stretched on their own.
• A side note -- and maybe it is rectified before Saturday -- but the goalposts really could use some paint. There are chunks of them where you could see a rusted color instead of the neon yellow color they should be. The field, by the way, also looked like it had been spraypainted green.

Last chance to get in on the predictions contest. E-mail us at mrothstein@jg.net with the final score guesses.

-By Michael Rothstein of The Journal Gazette