Practice Observations, 8/6/07

It was a sweltering day at Cartier Field for the first practice of preseason camp for Notre Dame. A sizable crowd was in attendance, as many media members stuck around from Notre Dame's media day earlier in the day. Temperatures taken by the Official Insights Car read 104 degrees when we left practice.

• Jimmy Clausen was out there and took part in all the drills. OK, that's all we watched. (Kidding).
• Defensive coordinator Corwin Brown is an intense dude. Despite the heat, Brown was in long pants and a long sleeve windbreaker. The only other coach in any sort of long sleeve attire was Bernie Parmalee, who had a windbreaker on.
• Parmalee, the tight ends coach, talked with freshman Mike Ragone and sophomore Will Yeatman about reduction calls.
• A good sign -- no one rode the stationary bicycle.
• When Charlie Weis called the team together following stretching, Clausen hung around the back of the circle.
• On the first drill of the season, a high step drill over pads, tight end Michael Talerico fumbled the ball, prompting running backs coach Michael Haywood to yell "Let's Go Talerico."
• Quarterbacks coach Ron Powlus was showing the quarterbacks how to drop back out of a snap. The order in which they practiced dropbacks -- Demetrius Jones, Evan Sharpley, Jimmy Clausen.
• No quarterback threw a pass during the media session of practice.
• The team practiced in jerseys and shorts.
• A scout from the Minnesota Vikings was in attendance, as was assistant men's basketball coach Gene Cross.
• Defensive back groupings: First group -- Terrail Lambert, Ambrose Wooden, David Bruton and Tom Zbikowski. Second group -- Raeshon McNeil, Kyle McCarthy, Ray Herring, Darrin Walls. Third group -- Munir Prince, Jashaad Gaines, Sergio Brown, Leo Ferrine and walk-on John Leonis.
• Bruton looks like he added a bit of muscle in the offseason, finally gaining the cut arms he craved earlier in his career.

Got questions or players you want us to look out for? E-mail us at mrothstein@jg.net. We'll have mailbags weekly should there be enough questions and don't forget about the open practice Saturday. We'll be there with a full report.

-By Michael Rothstein of The Journal Gazette