Went to Mankato today for the morning practice, and it's clear things are winding down in training camp. The practice (which started at 9:00a) was scheduled to go until 11:15a -- but it ended 30 minutes early.
The final 45-60 minutes were the most interesting, as T-Jack, Rosenfels and Booty took turns running some passing plays and operating under the two minute drill. It's easy to see why T-Jack's performance in Mankato has been largely praised while Rosenfels' performance has been characterized as underwhelming -- Rosenfels wasn't coming close to getting the velocity on his throws that T-Jack was, and of the three quarterbacks, T-Jack was the one most in rhythm with the receivers. Rosenfels made a few ill-advised throws into tight coverage and clearly lacked the level of chemistry with the receiving corps that T-Jack put on display.
After reading reports from Mankato throughout the last two weeks, my impression is that this morning's practice represents the bigger picture of training camp. On paper, Rosenfels is my pick to be the starting quarterback. But if I base the pick on what I saw today, T-Jack is the clear favorite -- and according to the updates we've received from training camp, he seems to have generally outperformed Rosenfels when he's been healthy. At least for this morning, the much-maligned Tarvaris Jackson was easily the best quarterback on the field.
Today was the first time I've seen Phil Loadholt in person, and I was absolutely stunned at how big the guy is. There was a moment this morning when he and Bryant McKinnie were walking next to each other, and from where I was standing, Loadholt looked bigger than Big Mac himself. The man is enormous.
Percy Harvin didn't get a ton of action but he did take a reverse and had a reception toward the end of practice. I was standing on field level near the point he made the catch, and even though things are winding down and the players weren't quite going at the pace they would on gameday, it was truly something to see Harvin's speed up close.
That's about all I've got -- not too much to report on, but again, my big takeaway was T-Jack's overall sharpness and Rosenfels' underwhelming performance.