By Ashley Ryan
The Huskies held an evening practice Monday, in addition to their morning session, Justin Glenn and Shaq Thompson sat out with what Coach Sarkisian called mild concussions A couple of scouts were in attendance, one from the Jets and one from the Cowboys. The team wore helmets and shells and ran through normal warm up drills; noticeably absent were Justin Glenn and Shaq Thompson. The two were at practice, but didn’t participate. After practice, Coach Sarkisian addressed the issue saying that Glenn and Thomson got dinged up, that medically both would be considered to have mild concussions, and were therefore held out of practice. He did add that both felt fine. Sophomore linebacker, Jamal Kearse suffered a quad bruise on Saturday and was limited in practice today.
Junior linebacker Thomas Tutogi is working his way back better than anticipated after suffering a sprained knee. Sark said the training reports were good, and the sooner they can get him back, the better.
Junior wide receiver, Kevin Smith had the night off after a pass heavy morning practice
On a positive note, senior wide receiver James Johnson was back at practice after sitting out a few days with a sore foot.
A big topic of discussion after tonight’s practice is the move of redshirt freshman safety, Travis Feeney to linebacker. Feeney said he had been told a few days ago about the move and so far he is enjoying it, as it allows him to be closer to the ball and involved in more plays. Feeney did pay linebacker in high school, and while it’s a little faster now, he has been able to pick it back up fairly easily. Feeney said this is where he will be for now, and he was in when the coaches approached him. He has gained 11 pounds since last season and while he will need to gain more weight to play the position, but he feels his long arms and physicality will help him succeed at linebacker this season. He addressed a shoulder injury from the spring saying he had no lingering effects and hasn’t noticed anything in regards to the injury with the position move. Coach Sark says he feels Feeney fits at linebacker very nicely, he is long and rangey and bigger than you would think. He has a great ability to tackle in space, which is critical for the defense. Sark also said that the depth they have at safety allows them to make the move. The coaching staff is trying to find the best 11 guys to be on the field and they feel Feeney is one of them and they would like to find a home for him.
Junior defensive tackle, Sinoe Potoa’e says that the past few weeks of practice have been some of the best of his career. He said he feels more motivated this year and he has to step up his game in order to get in the game and not lose out to the younger guys coming in. He has gotten better at his technique and has gotten more coachable. He is more able to take what his coaches say and apply it. He said it was harder than he thought it would be coming out of high school and transitioning to the college game. While size was a factor in the difficult challenge, he says speed was the biggest factor. The plays were a lot more complicated and he needed to adapt. In the past he has been used more as a run stopper, and this year he feels he is more able to make plays, but would like to get his weight up so he is able to play both the pass and the run.
There were a couple of highlights from tonight’s practice worth mentioning- freshman quarterback Cyler Miles threw a 25 yard pass over the middle to freshman tight end Joshua Perkins for a touchdown.
Junior kicker Travis Coons went 5 for 5, making field goals from 28 yards to 47. The entire team got behind him when he attempted a 59 yarder. He missed the first badly, then the team began to cheer him on, and the second was on target, but fell short. Sarkisian said Coons had a long night and he would like to think if he had been fresh he would have had a real shot of making it.
