Gunzlingr
05-05-2003, 06:49 PM
By Len Pasquarelli
ESPN.com
Universally detested by veterans who would prefer to spend Saturday morning hitting a golf ball instead of a blocking dummy, embraced by coaches who insist a team can never have enough organized offseason conditioning, the three-days of activities that transpired in most NFL precincts last weekend might be the game's most inaptly-named pursuit.
Long ago dubbed minicamps, the three days of practices in T-shirts and shorts occasionally take on maximum significance, and that was the case over the weekend at more than a few franchises.
For the most part, the most recent mini-camps offered the typical opportunity for getting rookies onto the field, and ogling them in three dimensions instead of just on a videotape monitor. But in many of the mini-camps where veterans also participated, coaches turned the sessions into on-field laboratories, as they adjusted depth charts to compensate for the usual offseason attrition and tinkered with human spackling in an attempt to patch holes.
Smith could find himself starting at free safety for the Bucs in 2003.
At the Tampa Bay mini-camp, for instance, former cornerback Dwight Smith auditioned for the role of starting free safety. Author of a pair of Super Bowl XXXVII interceptions, both of which he returned for touchdowns, Smith is the choice of coach Jon Gruden and defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin to supplant Dexter Jackson, who took his title game most valuable player award and bolted to Arizona as an unrestricted free agent.
more (http://espn.go.com/nfl/columns/pasquarelli_len/1549461.html)
ESPN.com
Universally detested by veterans who would prefer to spend Saturday morning hitting a golf ball instead of a blocking dummy, embraced by coaches who insist a team can never have enough organized offseason conditioning, the three-days of activities that transpired in most NFL precincts last weekend might be the game's most inaptly-named pursuit.
Long ago dubbed minicamps, the three days of practices in T-shirts and shorts occasionally take on maximum significance, and that was the case over the weekend at more than a few franchises.
For the most part, the most recent mini-camps offered the typical opportunity for getting rookies onto the field, and ogling them in three dimensions instead of just on a videotape monitor. But in many of the mini-camps where veterans also participated, coaches turned the sessions into on-field laboratories, as they adjusted depth charts to compensate for the usual offseason attrition and tinkered with human spackling in an attempt to patch holes.
Smith could find himself starting at free safety for the Bucs in 2003.
At the Tampa Bay mini-camp, for instance, former cornerback Dwight Smith auditioned for the role of starting free safety. Author of a pair of Super Bowl XXXVII interceptions, both of which he returned for touchdowns, Smith is the choice of coach Jon Gruden and defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin to supplant Dexter Jackson, who took his title game most valuable player award and bolted to Arizona as an unrestricted free agent.
more (http://espn.go.com/nfl/columns/pasquarelli_len/1549461.html)