10 Happenings At Tampa Bay Vipers Practice
December 12th, 2019Your XFL Tampa Bay Vipers had their first OTA-style practice today (underwear football) in Plant City.
Here are 10 key moments from the action as they work their way towards training camp in January:
*The long-awaited first play of 11-on-11 results in a false start by the offense. The culprit is Andrew Tiller, the starting 334-pound left guard out of Syracuse. (Tiller is not related to Demar Dotson).
*Former USF standout QB Quinton Flowers sits off to the side as the rest of the team stretches and prepares for practice. A minor mouth procedure was enough to hold him out of today’s session. He should be back practicing this week.
*Another note on Flowers. Though he is officially listed as a running back, he was in a red QB jersey and is taking mental reps at QB during practice. During the first 11-on-11 session of the day, he is dropping back and mirroring the QB under center each snap. Looks like the Vipers are planning to use Flowers as more than just a runner.
*Practice was moved today from inside Plant City Stadium, the old Spring Training facility of the Cincinnati Reds, to a Little League baseball field. The city of Plant City needed the stadium to prepare for its annual, “Our Lady of Guadalupe Festival.”
*Looks like Vipers head coach Marc Trestman will follow the Bucco Bruce Arians’ guide to a successful practice. They are implementing the multiple-fields method. After warmups, the offense goes to a completely separate little league baseball field while the defense stays put.
*Known as a QB guy, Trestman ignores the quarterbacks and spends the first portion of practice with his wide receivers.
*Two of the top Vipers quarterbacks will be former Georgia and Plant High School star Aaron Murray and the former Bucs training camp player Vincent Testaverde Jr. Both are splitting snaps under center, along with former Oklahoma State QB Taylor Cornelius. Last week, Trestman said every position will be open for the taking, so expect a heated battle between the two Tampa natives.
*Murray goes for the first bomb of the day and hits receiver Jalen Tolliver, who bounced between the Cardinals, Titans and Chiefs through the 2018 and 2019 NFL seasons. Tolliver showed his ups as he skied for the ball, gaining 40 yards on the play. Following the completion, assistant coaches run over to Murray screaming, “That feels good!”
*The Vipers have a truck at running back, former Florida State running back Jacques Patrick. The 6-3, 235-pound back caught a screen from Testaverde and turned on the burners to fly down the sidelines. Very doubtful there’s any defender who wants that man running at them.
*Trestman is not going to tolerate mistakes. Toward the end of practice, the offense committed back-to-back penalties. Trestman responded by screaming at the team to start the entire session over again. He then turned to offensive coordinator Jaime Elizondo and yelled, “From the top, Jaime!”
*Bonus note: toward the end of practice the Vipers were running their field goal formation. No goal posts were there, so they had coaches deciding whether a kick was good or not. I wasn’t looking, and Vipers kicker Matthew Wright nailed me in the back with one of his kicks. The kick wasn’t good, either, according to coaches.
Zachary Seifter, the former manbeast JoeBucsFan.com intern, is the author of this XFL report. Find, cheer and harass Zach on Twitter, @zseifter.
December 12th, 2019 at 9:00 pm
Can’t wait
December 12th, 2019 at 9:05 pm
I wish they would replace that light green with black. The darker green and yellow are fine.
December 12th, 2019 at 9:06 pm
REALLY really hope the XFL can stick around for a while, the AAF was fantastic while it lasted and anything that could potentially develop into legit competition for the NFL is a good thing for us as consumers imo.
December 12th, 2019 at 10:13 pm
Great way to stave off the football Jones in the NFL offseason. I enjoyed the AAF for that.
I will miss The Old Ball Coach…
December 12th, 2019 at 10:14 pm
Joes, will you be covering the Vipers here or another site?
December 12th, 2019 at 10:30 pm
joevipersfan better get it soon Joe lol
December 12th, 2019 at 10:55 pm
hopefully with Trestman, Murray will play like his college days…
and that the team is well balanced Offense and defense.
December 12th, 2019 at 11:41 pm
It was a bummer what happened to the AAF. I liked the league. Had every intention of going to some games.
December 13th, 2019 at 12:09 am
I’m excited to see how this league plays out I hope they are successful.
December 13th, 2019 at 1:07 am
Great to see you back again Zach! We’ve missed you here at Kramerica Industries
December 13th, 2019 at 7:31 am
I already checked. Someone snapped up the name joevipersfan.com back in August. Nothing there yet.
December 13th, 2019 at 9:49 am
I thought this was JoeBucsFan, not JoeViperFan ?
December 13th, 2019 at 10:14 am
Thanks for the report. Looking forward to the XFL. Need football during the NFL off months. Go Vipers!
December 13th, 2019 at 10:30 am
LOL! Joe got nailed! Miracles do happen!!!!! hehe
I doubt the XFL will last a full season, but hopefully we’ll find some talent for the Bucs from it. Maybe a Kurt Warner type of QB?
December 13th, 2019 at 10:30 am
VinnyVipersFan.com would sound better.