7:46 p.m. — Practice will get underway at 8:45 a.m. on Friday morning. The team will have a special teams practice at 2 p.m. with special teams coordinator/assistant head coach Jerry Rosburg running the show.
Harbaugh will be attending the memorial service of former Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson. The two men coached together in Philadelphia for a decade before Harbaugh became the head coach of the Ravens in 2008.
5:28 p.m. — Happy birthday to Frank Walker. In honor of his 28th birthday, he was allowed to break the team huddle at the end of the afternoon practice.
How did he celebrate? Walker worked on his conditioning by running laps around the field after practice.
5:19 p.m. — Just when we thought Marcus Smith’s weight fluctuation problem was settled, the wide receiver did not practice this afternoon, though he was running on his own out on the field.
With Smith having problems staying on the practice field and Clayton sidelined for the next few weeks, Kelley Washington and Justin Harper will both get looks at the No. 3 position. Washington is a little more polished while running his routes, but Harper continues to stretch the field unlike any other receiver on the roster.
5:10 p.m. — Another interesting competition to watch this summer is the battle for the kick and punt returner jobs.
At this point in camp, Chris Carr is No. 1 on the depth chart at kick returner and punt returner, but we’ve seen a plethora of other players returning punts, including Ed Reed, Yamon Figurs, Jayson Foster, and Lardarius Webb.
Much like we’ve seen over the last couple years, Reed continues to lobby to return punts, but it’s hard to envision the coaching staff allowing him to do it on a consistent basis.
Webb has been more of a factor returning kickoffs
4:51 p.m. — The Snoop Dogg video of the “What Time Is It?” is here…
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyjHtxK0oWo[/youtube]
4:32 p.m. — In Gaither’s absence, rookie right tackle Michael Oher shifted over to the left side with Marshal Yanda lining up at right tackle. David Hale (in for Ben Grubbs) and Chris Chester were the guards with Matt Birk at his customary center position.
Oniel Cousins lined up at left tackle for the second team.
4:29 p.m. — The other significant name not to practice was Tavares Gooden. The inside linebacker was not participating at the very end of the morning session, but I asked him about it after practice (The interview is up in the WNST.net audio vault), and he downplayed it as simply getting some rest and allowing some other players to get some first-team reps.
While we have no official word on any injury, he did appear to be favoring his right leg as he walked up the steps and back into the McDaniel gym.
4:25 p.m. — The afternoon practice lasted a little over an hour, as the team completed what was little more than a glorified walk-through. Players were dressed in shorts, helmets, and shells, and there was no contact.
Gaither did not practice but was out on the field for the afternoon session. Right now, we’re speculating that it has something to do with his left arm or shoulder, but we have received no further word from the Ravens on any injury. Harbaugh said after the morning practice that Gaither was not on the trainer’s report, but it looks like there’s a little more to this story. We’ll see if he’s out on the field tomorrow morning.
2:55 p.m. — Tavares Gooden and Jared Gaither are not practicing this afternoon. Demetrius Williams is out on the field. Brendon Ayanbadejo is also on the field with a helmet but hasn’t participated as much.
12:13 p.m. — Harbaugh continues to allow his special teams roots to shine. At the end of practice, Harbaugh sported a yellow helmet beanie over his cap and sprinted down with the kickoff team, earning the cheers of the crowd and his players.
It’s easy to see the passion that Harbaugh has for the game, and it’s contagious with his players.
12:06 p.m. — Domonique Foxworth made one of the finer defensive plays of the morning, picking off Flacco as he tried to get the ball to Marcus Smith.
Staying in the secondary, Frank Walker had a nice day, breaking up passes on several occasions.
12:03 p.m. — The kicking battle was fairly equal today, but I’d give the slightest edge to Hauschka. Early in practice, both kickers were perfect in a series of attempts from inside 40 yards. As they moved further out, Gano missed a 40-yard attempt but made one from 49. Hauschka hit a field goal from 44 but missed from 54 yards out.
11:59 a.m. — Justin Harper continues to impress on a daily basis. Today, he battled for the football with Fabian Washington but wrestled it away for the reception. Later in practice, he beat Lardarius Webb for a long touchdown pass from John Beck.
Time and time again, we’ve seen Harper beat a plethora of defensive backs on the deep ball over the first two weeks of camp.
11:54 a.m. — The team spent some time early in practice working on the no-huddle offense. On the very first play, Joe Flacco’s pass was batted up in the air and intercepted by Haloti Ngata. Despite his massive size, Ngata is very active at the line of scrimmage as we saw last season.
Flacco rebounded after the miscue and completed a nice timing route to Derrick Mason.
The highlight of Flacco’s morning was a touchdown pass thrown to Kelley Washington on a nice fade route. Washington worked out as the No. 2 receiver today with Clayton and Williams both missing from practice.
11:52 a.m. — Justin Bannan received the morning off since he is in the “Over 30” club. Due to the Ravens needing him on the defensive line for practice, his off day is staggered from the rest of the veterans who were off yesterday.
11:44 a.m. — Grubbs will be out for a few days as he rehabs the ankle to get back on the field, according to Harbaugh.
11:42 a.m. — Samari Rolle worked out in shorts and a helmet this morning and appears to be working his way back to getting on the practice field. He will sport a red jersey and will not participate in contact drills, much like Ed Reed.
11:21 a.m. — Jared Gaither limped off the field during the morning practice, but John Harbaugh said he was not on the trainer report after practice, so he should be fine. Demetrius Williams did not practice this morning after suffering a mild concussion when he landed hard during drills yesterday. Ben Grubbs sat out practice as he continues to deal with the same ankle issue that landed him on the physically unable to perform list at the start of training camp.
Harbaugh also said Mark Clayton’s injured hamstring will keep him sidelined for at least two or three preseason games. He had some significant bleeding in the hamstring, according to Harbaugh.
11:03 a.m. — Snoop Dogg and Ray Lewis made their way over to the media area. It’s been quite the scene.
10:38 a.m. — Our favorite line so far about the Snoop Dogg appearance here: “It’s the Westminster Dogg Show!”
10:34 a.m. — Snoop Dogg is apparently a guest of Ray Lewis this morning in Westminster. It has been said that he will not be meeting with the fans or the media. We’ll see how he sneaks off the field. Everyone here knows he’s here and he’s had way more eyeballs than anything on the field. And, we’re sure you’ve noticed, it’s not the greatest weather day here at camp.
Fabian Washington is back on the field after a minor tweak earlier in practice. Jared Gaither has limped off the field and Ben Grubbs did not practice this morning.
10 a.m. — First things first…Twitter is screwed up this morning. No one can get on to tweet the biggest news of camp: Snoop Dogg is standing on the sidelines, running between the raindrops. He played at Merriweather Post Pavilion last night and WNST.net’s own Ray Bachman was in hizzouse. Now Snoop is at McDaniel College.
Also: in an unrelated, non-celebrity note of football, cornerback Fabian Washington pulled up lame today and sat out for a few plays but is now back on the field.
I’ll be on every :30 after the hour today on AM 1570. Check out my reports from Snoop-minster!
