Spring Football Notebook

By DAVID HARRIS 
david.harris@theeagle.com 
Courtesy of aggiesports.com

The skinny on practice No. 2: The Texas A&M football team was in shorts, jerseys and helmets and practiced for nearly two hours Monday on the Coolidge Grass Practice Fields.

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Tempo, tempo, tempo: The biggest thing to come out of Saturday's first practice was the up-tempo style under first-year head coach Kevin Sumlin. The team seemed to struggle a bit, which was to be expected. Monday was better.

"They knew where they were going today," Sumlin said. "The tempo was better and it should be, on and off the field, getting lined up. We're installing new stuff on offense and defense, so that's part of it."

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Senior wide receiver Uzoma Nwachukwu said the pace is fast, furious and relentless.

"It was a shock, I think we adjusted pretty well," he said. "The receivers, we're constantly running routes. There's no time taken off. It's about getting our bodies in shape to keep running routes and training our bodies to keep going."

Nwachukwu said there's another noticeable change, offensively, as the team participates in more drills that work on fundamentals.

"We have a lot more individual time to work on the fundamentals to work on getting off the ball," he said.

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Pads Tuesday: The team will be in shoulder pads Tuesday afternoon.

"The sounds are different and there is actually collisions," he said. "Some guys play better, the game slows down for some guys and some guys disappear."

Sumlin is eager to see the team in pads.

"Tomorrow will be another deal where we have to learn to practice in pads," he said. "How you do that is as important as anything? You've got to be physical, pound on each other but not be unnecessary."

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Limiting drops: Last season, A&M's receivers dropped nearly 60 passes.

"That's not an option and we've addressed that a whole lot," Nwachukwu said.

The receivers have been practicing by catching tennis balls after practice to help build fingertip strength. Another change from the past is that, for every drop, a receiver has to do five fingertip pushups and has to lead the offense in up-downs -- hitting the ground and bouncing back up -- after practice.

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Et cetera: Freshman Matt Davis, sophomore Matt Joeckel, redshirt freshman Johnny Manziel and sophomore Jameill Showers are all battling for starting quarterback.

"We have to keep those guys positive," Nwachukwu said. "It's tough on them. They're kind of young and everybody's looking at them to make this play, not make this play. Keep them focused and mentally prepared because it is a struggle and there is a lot of pressure on those guys."

Sophomore offensive lineman Jarvis Harrison, senior defensive back Steven Campbell, freshman linebacker Kenneth Marshall, senior defensive back Dustin Harris, sophomore linebacker Tyrell Taylor and junior tight end Nehemiah Hicks were among those who didn't fully participate in Monday's drills.