At least from my corner of the blogosphere the announcement by the coaching staff that the press will now only be invited to practice for the first 20 minutes of practice and the last 10 minutes, cause a tide wave of emotion and reaction. I wanted to give my thoughts:

Before I get started, a little note on what happens in these times during practice. The first twenty minutes is entirely warm-up and individual drills. This has always been the time that traditionally photographers and TV crews were allowed to shoot. Nothing of note gets reported from this time frame other than who’s not there and who’s in red or yellow (which suggests they’re injured). The final 10 minutes is generally a wind-down time including field-goal practice and the leftovers of scrimmaging. I suspect that with the new rules it’ll be pretty content free. I mean, that’s the whole point, right? What I’m saying here is that for the most part, the press is no longer being given access to practice at all. Those minutes were chosen carefully and there’s no illusion from Tedford or the press that it was an attempt to do anything different.

Now, onto my thoughts…

The first thing to note is that this is completely Coach Tedford and the University’s prerogative. There are no rules that regulate how much or little press access a team must give. One could argue this is an oversight by the NCAA. While they make all kinds of rules about recruits and all kinds of various things, they leave press access completely untouched. As I’ll go into details later, Tedford’s concern is that the coverage of his team is much more thorough than some of his opponents. As such, I suspect that if the NCAA came up with rules that forced equality, it could eliminate this problem entirely and Tedford would be more than happy to comply.

The second thing to note is that the change that has been made is not uncommon. I don’t have exact numbers but I suspect that the new rules are closer to the norm across BCS teams than not. As an anecdotal piece of info, LSU got some heat for making the same change not too long ago. Yes, USC and Florida both have completely open practices, but they’re the exception not the rule. It’s particularly worth noting that these are the teams with the most talented players. That’s not exactly a secret and it ensures that they’ll continue to be on top with reasonable coaching that knows how to take advantage of that talent differential, whether or not their opponent knows what is coming.

The final initial note is that I completely agree that there is a competitive disadvantage to having more reporting on one team than their opponent, which is Tedford’s concern. When Cal’s reporters are giving play-by-play breakdown of what happens in practice and Maryland’s reporters are getting filtered information from the coaching staff, there’s no doubt that the Maryland coaching staff can learn a lot more about how to beat Cal than the reverse. And yes, the coaching staffs read all this stuff. Make no mistake about it. I think that as the season progresses this advantage is less and less because game film makes up the difference, but even at the end of the season, it could still have a small effect.

So, overall I’ve got no problem with Tedford restricting access. What concerns me a bit is the way it was gone about, in two ways:

First, it feels to me like the horse was already out of the barn on this one. They should have been looking at the daily reports that were being done from the get go and made whatever corrections they thought were appropriate a couple weeks ago. To make this change now suggests to me they weren’t playing close enough attention. This is particularly bad because people started signing up for subscriptions based on the level of info provided. Rivals provides a 7-day trial and after 7-days of awesome play-by-play breakdowns, I bet there were a number of people who signed up for year-long subscriptions based on that. A week later, their reason for subscribing was eliminated and I feel bad for them.

Second, I think there’s a better way to go about this. Since only approved media is allowed, there’s a way to limit this without disallowing press access to practice. We had been given rules on what was allowed. Pictures and video could only be taken at certain times. Descriptions of formations were not allowed. Descriptions of plays had to be vague and the emphasis had to be on the players involved not the details of the play. All of these rules had been followed by the press as a whole (yes, I’m sure there were minor oversights here and there, but holistically, they were followed). So, if Tedford was concerned about what was being reported, why didn’t he just handout a bunch of additionally restrictive rules and let us stay? No play-by-play… OK, fine. No completion percentages or yardage information… OK, we’ll follow that too. Whatever it was that he was concerned about, new rules could be put in place that we would have followed and it could have just as easily accomplished the goal.

But in the end, Tedford is responsible for this team and its success. He did what he felt he needed to ensure that success and I can’t fault him for that. While it will limit what I can share, I guess that’s the way it needs to be. I just wish it had been handled a little bit differently.

Tedford loves to keep the QB decision close to his chest, there’s no question about it. But at some point, he’s got to pick who’s going to the snaps during practice, forcing his hand. That’s what happened yesterday as Riley started taking all the 2nd team snaps.

Tedford insists that it doesn’t mean much for next year or even later in the year should Longshore go down with a multi-week injury. While that may be true in principle, if Riley ends up getting many snaps behind center during games this year, it’ll make him the logical choice for full-time duty later. So in my opinion the best way to tell where Riley and Reed sit for future full time duty is to see what percentage each of them gets in mop-up or other backup duty to Lonshore.

Some pontificators are concerned that because Riley is the younger of the two QBs, Reed may be looking for a transfer. It’s hard to say for sure and it may be why Tedford continues to keep his cards close to his chest but personally I’m not too worried about it. If he’s going to leave, he’s going to leave. We’ve got plenty of depth at QB and its better to let the young man do what he thinks is best for himself than pressure him into doing something that may not benefit either himself or the team.

Here are some of the story-lines from practice since my last post:

1. The backup quarterback position still looks no more resolved than it did a week ago. If anything it’s more up in the air as Tedford has added Bryan Van Meter name to the list of possible backups. Van Meter is a junior and has been mostly overlooked ever since Longshore established himself as the best QB in 2005. When Longshore got hurt and “Booya backwards” took over, it cemented Van Meter’s spot in the back of people’s memory banks. Tedford definitely threw a wrench in everyone’s expectations by bringing his make into the discussion.
2. Two starters have been named on the defensive line. Rulon Davis got the spot many were thinking he’d take on the inside and Tyson Alualu although written in ink as a starter is only penciled in on the inside. Mika Kane, Tad Smith and Cody Jones look to be fighting for that last starting spot but will likely get plenty of playing time during the season as the coaching staff indicated that they will be rotating players in and out more this year. Overall things are looking up on the defensive line.
3. Along those lines, the defensive line has impressed some with their ability to get into the backfield, particulary in scrimages. From my vantage point I’m not sure if that’s a positive for the defensive line or an indication that the offensive line hasn’t gelled yet or is weaker than we fear. Generally speaking, its been very quiet on the news front for the offensive line. Again, I’m not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing.
4. Speaking of scrimages, to date the offense has been the better of the two units. This is really no surprise.
5. Although it is to be expected, the list of injuries continues to grow. The biggest hit is that starting fullback Will Ta’ufo’ou is going to be sidelined for about a month with a knee injury (MCL). It’s particularly worrisome because his backups, Brian Holley and Zack Smith, are pretty fresh and how long it can take knee injuries to heal. Most of the other injuries have either been minor in nature or to players that don’t figure into the mix much.
6. On the depth plus side, this year looks to have the highest number of true fresmen who won’t redshirt in Tedford’s tenure. As many as five will be playing this year including running backs Best and Shane Vareen, defensive end Cameron Jordon and cornerback Chris Conte who started in Syd’Quans spot as he sat out a day for a minor injury.
7. Finally, speaking of true freshmen, Jahvid Best continues to impress. His teammates have been calling him Jahvid the Jet and the coaching staff continues to rave about him making all of the comparisions to Lynch and even Reggie Bush that raise people’s eyebrows.

The first week of fall practice is in the books. What are the developing storylines:

1. Hampton looks to be 2nd corner: Not much of a surprise really. With 3 talented safeties (DeCoud, Hamption and Hicks) and at least one backups with talent (Peele), it seems prudent to move one over to corner. It sounds like the youngin’s Brandon Jones, Charles Amadi and Darian Hagan just aren’t ready.
2. True Freshman Jadvid Best is special: With two talented redshirt freshmen running backs competing for the #2 spot behind Forsett (Montgomery and Slocum) it’s surprising just how much press Best is getting. He looks to be something special and may just have what it takes to be the #2 back… well… at least by midseason. We all know how tough it is for new players to understand the complexities of the Tedford offense. For now, Montgomery seems to have the inside track on the #2 spot.
3. Jackson returning kickoffs: During special teams practice, DeSean has been back to return kickoffs. This has been speculated about a great and it looks like it’s a strong possibility.
4. Backup QB still up in the air: Both Riley and Reed have had their ups and downs during practice and neither have particularly shined. It’s further proof that likely the worst thing that can happen to the bears is a Longshore injury.
5. Defensive line still troublesome: With Derrick Hill coming into camp out of shape and Phillip Mgakogu being sidelined for a second season with knee problems, the defensive line looks to be the weak spot this year although it’s too early to count out the current starting four of Tad Smith, Cody Jones Matt Melele and Tyson Alualu… there’s definitely talent there.
6. Linebackers continuing to impress: Williams, Follett and Felder have all gotten mentions for their strong play and the unit as a whole looks both both strong and fast, as well as deep.