Highlights from Training Camp - July 31st, 2011

Hey everyone, welcome back for the second installment of training camp photos! Hope you enjoy!

The Man, The Legend - Philip Rivers

I have a lot more pics of Philip Rivers today. He's awesome, that's all I have to say about that one.

Seyi Ajirotutu

Once again, Seyi Ajirotutu was the most impressive receiver on the field (in pads).

Chargers Secondary

We got to see the secondary making some good plays today as well, particularly on the deep passes.

The play above didn't end up in an interception, but it was an incompletion.

Goodman had the young corner (Broadway, I believe) beat on this play, but the ball wasn't catchable. And I believe that is Dean Spanos in the blue shirt watching the play.

Traye Simmons showed some good ball skills in individual drills.

Cason continues to look good at everything. Although he did muff ONE punt today.

The rookie DB Marcus Gilchrist also looked good today, both in pass coverage and run support. I should note that he's shorter and stockier than I expected.

Young Chargers Linebackers

I received a lot of inquiries yesterday about the development of the two young ILB's Mouton and Butler.

From the moment that Mouton stepped onto the field, he had a coach in his ear. Every single time Mouton wasn't in a drill, there was a coach talking to him. There seems to be a strong emphasis on bringing Mouton up to speed. Read into that what you will: either Mouton was making more mistakes than Butler or the team is expecting more out of Mouton and giving him more coaching attention.

Mouton running through the bags.

Butler running through the bags

Mouton through the bags again

I don't see the lack of size when I watch Mouton that I have heard some critics complain about. There is one thing that was clear in practice today: Mouton is PHYSICAL. There were several occasions where he laid a solid hit on a receiver or running back that surely would have been highlight-reel worthy if it were full-contact. Mouton also showed great range on a few occasions; specifically, on one occasion he met Hester in the flat after catching a pass and gave him a good pop that would have been for a very small gain (if at all).

Even with the big hits, Mouton seemed fluid dropping into coverage.

Both guys participated heavily in special teams drills, as expected.

Chargers Defensive Line

Once again, Don Johnson had this defensive line on point.

It is clear that Vaughn Martin has been listening to Johnson, he continues to look better.

I would not be surprised to see Martin ahead of Cesaire on the depth chart this season, although both will most likely be behind Liuget.

To quote Chargers' beat-writer Kevin Acee, "Garay = beast." Also nice to see that Garay is taking on Kevin Burnett's tradition of the black ankle tape, for those that notice that kind of thing.

It will be exciting to see what this group can do again this year, particularly once Liuget joins the ranks. Don Johnson has done a great job with this group, and they all seem to have a lot of fun hanging out with each other. The D-Line is definitely a tight-knit group even though they are all competing for only 3 starting spots.

Chargers Tight End Competition

After two days of practice that I have seen, there isn't really a competition here. Kory Sperry seems to have the third tight end spot securely in his grasp. It's not a reach to predict the Chargers TE depth chart: Gates, McMichael, Sperry.

Miscellaneous Scrimmage Pics

A Few More Observations

• Rookie RB Jordan Todman made one or two pretty good reads and found some gaps in the running game. He also showed himself to be a good receiver out of the backfield. Overall, he improved a good bit from yesterday's practice.
• Fan favorite Frank Summers didn't run over anybody today, and there was one particular punt block where he got flattened (I believe it was LB Darryl Gamble who hit him).
• Rookie LB Andrew Gachkar would have blocked at least one punt today. He shows some promise on special teams: one of the quickest guys on the squad.
• RB Ryan Mathews was not on the field for the majority of practice. Word on the street is that he got "dinged up" in yesterday's practice. He was on the field to watch roughly the last hour of practice, but did not participate in any drills today.
• Rookie WR Vincent Brown did not practice today, but was seen standing on the sidelines. It appears that he did in fact pull a muscle of some sort in yesterday's practice, although the severity is unknown.
• LB James Holt was watching action from the sidelines today with an undisclosed injury. This left Undrafted Free Agent Rookie LB Darryl Gamble lined up at OLB with the first team (yikes!).

That's about it for today's update. Stay classy!