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Tuesday, August 1, 2006, Afternoon
K.C. Chiefs Training Camp Daily Updates

It’s about time! Last night’s cool front made for a fresh 77 degree afternoon, although humidity levels were at 87 percent. The fields were wet and some of the areas around the perimeter were flooded. There was a light breeze coming from the WSW at 4mph. The sun peaked for about four minutes, but the clouds prevailed, and will probably be present throughout the evening. Although it was raining, there were 280 fans in attendance.

Offense

In the first series of 11-on-11's, quarterback Damon Huard completed 3-3 passes and got sacked once. He connected with tight end Tony Gonzalez, tight end Robert Docherty and tight end Adam Johnson on a pass up the middle. Quarterback Casey Printers went 1-2, completing a pass to fullback J.R. Niklos and just missed Docherty in the end zone.

The second drill of the day was 7-on-7's. Quarterback Trent Green took the majority of the snaps, going 12-17 and throwing two interceptions. Wide receiver Dante Hall caught a 10-yard pass from Green to commence the drill. Green then overshot a 50-yard pass to wide receiver Eddie Kennison in the end zone. Wide receiver Jeris McIntyre tallied a reception right before Green threw an interception by cornerback Benny Sapp. Green then redeemed himself. He completed two passes to wide receiver Sammie Parker and two passes to tight end Kris Wilson; the last reception went for a touchdown. Green also connected with wide receiver Dante Hall on a touchdown pass prior to being intercepted for the second time by safety Jarrad Page. Green completed two more passes to Hall, one to Parker and threw a touchdown to tight end Tony Gonzalez. Gonzalez made a diving catch in the end zone.

During the same drill, quarterback Damon Huard was perfect, completing 7-7 pass attempts. He threw two touchdowns--one to tight end Tony Gonzalez and one to wide receiver Nate Curry. Huard also connected with running back Dee Brown, running back Derrick Ross and wide receiver Jeff Webb. Both of Curry's receptions showed off his athletic ability; during his first catch, he soared through the air and the second reception was a diving grab.

Quarterback Casey Printers completed 1-3 passes in this series, connecting with wide receiver Kyle Brown on a 40-yard toss.

During a two minute drill, quarterback Trent Green regained his composure and completed 4-5 passes. The lone incompletion to wide receiver Sammie Parker slipped off of Parker's fingers and sailed out of bounds. Otherwise, Green connected with wide receiver Dante Hall twice and Parker twice. Quarterback Damon Huard was 1-1, but threw an interception by safety Jarrad Page. Quarterback Casey Printers took the final snaps. Printers completed 3-4 passes. He connected with wide receiver Jeris McIntyre and made a touchdown pass to wide receiver Kyle Brown. Brown snatched the ball in the middle of four defenders, and the crowd erupted in applause.

Coach Herm Edwards Post Practice Press Conference

Coach Herm Edwards discussed how effective the players were on the slick fields today. "We got a practice in and the field held up pretty good. The players didn't slip and slide around. It took us a while to get started early on, but then we got going. I thought it was pretty good work under the conditions of the field being slippery. We ran about 75-80 plays."

Edwards explained that the fifth day of practice usually warrants soreness for his players, so he didn't want to practice on slippery fields twice in one day, hoping to prevent any unnecessary injuries. Instead of practicing in the morning, the team had a special teams walk-thru session inside the Knowles Building and attended classroom instruction.

"I like inconvenience," said Edwards. "When you play road games it's all about inconvenience. You don't have the best of locker rooms, sometimes the plane might be a little bit late or the bus might forget to pick you up. When it's going too smooth I get nervous. I have to do something to create some inconvenience." Though playing in the rain is not always pleasant, Edwards said, "We are going to play outside. Most of our games are outside, so the conditions are going to be bad at times."

Coaches structure their schedule around practice times and field availability, but Edwards also builds his "practice schedules on how the players are practicing," so the rain didn't hinder his plans too much.

The practice with the Minnesota Vikings is coming up on Friday. Edwards was asked about the value of the upcoming practice. "For our young guys, they see a different color jersey. It will be interesting--especially for the rookies. Some of the simplest things they think they know, they forget. It creates a good mode of competition. I look at it as a road game for us. The main value is to create some inconvenience and to create some competition within our football team."

Edwards commented on tackle Kyle Turley and his progress thus far in camp. "He is doing well. I think he's getting better every day. He's harder on himself than anybody."

On guard Tre Stallings, Edwards said, "He's played some guard, and he's played some tackle. He's got some toughness in him."

Because of his strength, tackle Will Svitek has been moved to the right side. Edwards says that he wants his most powerful tackle on the right. "He's always giving the last shove, or a little push, he's always giving someone 'the business'."

Extra...Extra

Matt Nikolay, a field representative of the US Sen. for Russ Feingold, D-Wis., was a special guest of UW-River Falls Chancellor Don Betz at this morning's indoor practice. Nikolay watched the special teams go through a walk-through in their street clothes. He thought it was humorous that one of the players was still wearing his backpack during the practice.

After the walk-through practice about two dozen Chiefs signed autographs for fans at the Ramer Field Sports Complex.

Larry Johnson Sr., the father of star running back Larry Johnson, was at this afternoon’s practice and received a lot of attention from both the media and the fans. As Johnson and a colleague were leaving the fields, kids were yelling “LJ, LJ.” Johnson, the current defensive line coach at Penn State University was kind enough to stop and sign some memorabilia for the youngsters. 

Special teams coach Mike Priefer has been giving punter Dustin Colquitt a lot of one-on-one attention during practices this week. At just about every practice the two are seen with long snapper Kendall Gammon, going through technique drills and trying to perfect the long-snapper to punter exchange of the football.

Tim Grunhard, a host on KCSP 610 Sports Radio in Kansas City and former center for the Chiefs from 1990-2000, was in attendance at today’s practice. He met with the current offensive line this morning to give advice and a bit of a pep talk. Besides hosting the radio show, Grunhard is also the head coach at Bishop Miege High School in Kansas City.

A highly successful high school football coach for more than 20 years in Maryland and Virginia, Johnson, is now entering his 11th season on the Penn State coaching staff.

Butch Davis, a former Dallas Cowboy assistant coach, University of Miami head coach, and Cleveland Brown head coach, was at Chiefs practice this afternoon and has been for the past couple of days. Davis was also in attendance during the team’s mini-camps according to the Chief Public Relations Office. 

As a grounds-crew worker, one of Shawn Reiter’s duties is to take the pads off of the goal posts after practice. The UW-River Falls student does this every day so they are not stolen.

Quarterback Casey Printers was running brief wind sprints after practice today. Printers ran three intervals before returning to Hunt Arena with the rest of the team.

Defense

Practice fields were left uncovered during Monday night’s storm in order to give the dry grass a little refreshment. The strategy worked, but the field was holding quite a bit of water come Tuesday morning. 

Tuesday morning the Chiefs’ practice was moved indoors on account of rain and a slick field, but the rain didn’t stop Head Coach Herm Edwards from running the scheduled afternoon practice. 

Stretching and individual drills opened up the wet practice, as fans watched from behind the fence and under umbrellas and raincoats. 

The practices this season seem to be much more sporadic compared to previous years.  Edwards tends to switch around the order periodically which allows players to stay fresh.  Most individual drills are ran with no contact, when in previous seasons, under Coaches Marty Schottenheimer, Gunther Cunningham, and Dick Vermeil, players ran full contact drills.

Defensive end Carlos Hall was back in pads after sitting out Monday. The majority of the time he played with the second unit defensive line. Rookie left end Tamba Hali was still absent; end Eric Hicks was his replacement.

Safety Greg Wesley continued to make plays and big hits during 11-on-11 and 7-on-7 drills. The seven-year veteran made a great break-up on a deep pass by quarterback Trent Green intended for wide receiver Eddie Kennison.

Green seemed a little aggravated for most of practice, as most of his throws were batted down or intercepted. Cornerback Benny Sapp broke up one of Green’s intended passes to wide receiver Dante Hall in the end zone. 

When linebacker Derrick Johnson was flying all over the field, the slick turf got the best of him, and wide receiver Samie Parker blew by and caught an uncontested touchdown pass. 

The defense looked impressive as they made quick stops on run plays and created incomplete passes all over the field. Linebacker Rich Scanlon was able to get his paws on a Green pass attempt and tip the ball to safety Jarrad Page for the interception.

After practice, defensive end Clint Mitchell, defensive tackle James Reed and defensive tackle Arrion Dixon were working with two coaches on pass drops. Regardless of the rain, the players were practicing their footwork, to improve on pass protection, for 15 minutes.

Fans

Roger Hulne has come to training camp for two years now. His son, Rocky, used to be an intern with the Public Affairs Office at UW-River Falls, working for the Chiefs. Hulne’s interest in the football team began then. He’s a big fan of football and enjoys watching many teams. Being from Prescott, Wis., it isn’t that long of a drive for him. He thought he should stop by with his other son R.J., 11, and check the Chiefs out at least one day this summer.

Nick Asmus, currently of River Falls, has been waiting for a nice day to scope out the Chiefs. Although it was raining this afternoon, it wasn’t more than 90 degrees like it has been the last week. Asmus was present when the Chiefs arrived in town last Thursday, but hasn’t been to camp before today. “It’s just fun to see an NFL team up close. They look better this year, as opposed to last,” said Asmus of the Chiefs. He plans on having his parents join him for a practice sometime soon.

Warren and Donna Levasseur, from Minnetonka, Minn., were present at the afternoon
practice. The Levasseurs, who are actually Vikings fans, came to camp to see what the experience was like. While they are not big Chiefs fans, the Levasseurs like Head Coach Herm Edwards, and said that the team has great fans and an excellent offense. Warren also mentioned that he likes Arrowhead Stadium and can appreciate that each game sells out.

Previous UW-River Falls Chiefs summer camp intern Kevin Thornton made it to the afternoon practice today. Thornton, from Hudson, Wis., was a marketing intern for the Public Affairs office in 1996. Thornton mentioned that when he interned, it was the first summer that the events Kids’ Day and Seniors’ Day occurred. There are a few differences, Thornton noticed, between how practices are run now, and how they were run when he was an intern. Coach Herm Edwards has the players hitting more, something that former Coach Marty Schottenheimer did not do. Thornton mentioned that when he interned he liked being creative, and coming up with new ideas. He also said it was an excellent experience.

Frank Sheble and his grandchildren were watching the Chiefs players perform footwork drills. Sheble said to his grandson, “See, even in the NFL they practice footwork.” One thing about Head Coach Herm Edwards is that he stresses to his players the basics of football; the fans have really taken notice of it and like it.

Determining where in the stands you will see the most action is tough for fans this year. Coach Herm Edwards’ drills are quick, and he has players constantly moving around the field, making it tough for fans to stay in one spot. Just when you’re getting comfortable the whistle blows and the players move to the other side. Dillon Magers of New Summit, Mo., got a front row view of tight end Tony Gonzalez’ spectacular end zone catch. With a full extension, Gonzalez was able to stretch and jump over safety Greg Wesley, and haul in quarterback Trent Green’s perfectly placed pass for the end zone grab.

Students and staff covering the Chiefs this year include in front row, left to right: Sara Dehn (Senior Day), Amie Eller (Kids' Days), John Hepokoski (sidelines), Holly Sigler (photographs), Jude Harder (fans, Punt, Pass & Kick). Back, left to right: Mark Kinders (Public Affairs Director), Kat Krtnick (sidelines), Deb Toftness (Office Manager), Brenda Bredahl (Public Affairs Editor), Jim Thies (Sports Information Director), Jens Gunelson (University Photographer).

Chiefs fans! Make sure you tune in to the 2006 Daily Updates page on a regular basis. We will be posting sidelines and fans information after each practice while the Chiefs are in camp.