Key Happenings At Monday’s Tampa Bay Vipers Practice
December 17th, 2019The sun was shining bright over Plant City as the Vipers got back to underwear football season Monday, the first day of their three-day minicamp.
Here are the highlights:
*Head coach Marc Trestman never carries a whistle. Neither do any of the other coaches. Trestman can whistle so loud himself that he doesn’t need to buy or carry one. He shoots out a loud one to get the team together for 11-on-11.
*Speaking of 11-on-11, the first play is a big one. OTAs star Jalen Tolliver runs a seam route from the slot and hauls in a bomb from Aaron Murray. Certainly, a nice way to start it. Tolliver, the former Arizona Cardinals receiver, is having a really strong start to the offseason. Asked about his play thus far, Tolliver had this to say after practice: “I mean, just all the hard work that I put in over the summer, just got a chip on my shoulder being out of the league this year and stuff. So, got to face a lot of adversity so I’m just looking forward to going out here and just playing, being me and having fun.”
*Practice started with a walk-through and the Vipers pay a lot of attention to special teams. They run the same punt formation multiple times over and over. In this league, attention to special teams may go a long way.
*Funny moment after walk-through: The players spread out and in the middle of stretches, the music shuts off, bringing out the boo-birds from the players. The silence didn’t last, though, as a member of the coaching staff quickly went over to the speakers and got it fixed. Interestingly, this is the first practice where there has been music.
*In position drills, the QB’s and RB’s get together and Quinton Flowers comes in and does nothing but work on option plays. The Vipers may let him throw, but it looks like they will be using his legs as a weapon far more than his arm.
*Flowers continues his struggles in 11-on-11. Dropping back to pass, Flowers looked for receiver Jawill Davis down the left sideline. He ended up slinging it 15 yards over his head and out of the end zone. Flowers will need to show serious improvement before the season starts.
*Almost a pick! In 7-on-7, Murray goes deep and cornerback Herb Waters, formerly of the Packers and Steelers, comes up just short of making a leaping interception! A ton of groans from the defensive sideline on that one. And a sigh of relief from Murray as it fell incomplete.
*Florida heat is impacting players. Where else are you going to go where it’s 82 degrees in the middle of December? While running to attend to some players, a trainer is heard muttering about the heat. Try doing this is July.
*Vipers minicamp continues today and Wednesday, followed by a break ahead of training camp in January. Opening day is Sunday, Feb. 9, a 2 p.m. road game televised on FOX.
Zachary Seifter, the former manbeast JoeBucsFan.com intern, is the author of this XFL report. Find, cheer and harass Zach on Twitter, @zseifter.
December 17th, 2019 at 10:02 am
What does this have to do with the Bucs?
Nothing! It’s football. Joe loves football.–Joe
December 17th, 2019 at 10:05 am
Why did they hire Tressman?
December 17th, 2019 at 10:15 am
Cant wait for my Dallas Desperados to destroy this team!!
December 17th, 2019 at 10:45 am
USF Bulls cracking under the pressure.
A tale as old as time.
December 17th, 2019 at 10:59 am
Why don’t they move flowers to RB or flanker? Where do they practice out there at one of the high schools? And awesome job by zach, it might be cool to check out a couple of these games despite the ugly unis
December 17th, 2019 at 11:29 am
keep em coming joe….
i love football…
HS
CFB
FBS
FCS
AAF
XFL
GO BUCS!!!!!!
December 17th, 2019 at 12:26 pm
Heat? That’s funny.
December 17th, 2019 at 1:03 pm
Thanks Joe! Keep the Vipers updates coming!!
December 17th, 2019 at 4:08 pm
“Look at those eyes
The eyes are the window to your soul
Those eyes are saying
You see where Josh Gordon went?”
Kobe Faker
December 18th, 2019 at 1:12 am
Go Vipets