The kicking game and other things

Someone posted on my last entry, asking about the team's special teams units.

Here's how things are shaking out: As of now, Jordan Davenport is the team's placekicker, Mike Diaz is the punter and Kyle Hughes is pushing both players at each position. In essence, it's a two-way battle, with Hughes challenging both spots.

Davenport actually has an impressive leg. He hit from 51-yards out the other day at practice, and special teams coordinator Keith Murphy said that Davenport went 5-for-5 on FG attempts the other during a “mini-scrimmage.” The bottom line with Davenport is that he's never kicked in a real-game situation before, an entirely different experience, obviously, than simply booting balls in practice.

Diaz, a freshman, has a good leg. Murphy said that many times the kid simply battles himself and is working on his composure more often than not.

Hughes is working his way to get into the lineup. He has a strong leg and could conceivably move into one of the starting roles this year. I've always liked Kyle's ability, particularly as a punter, so we shall see.

Marcus Anderson will be back returning punts this year while Tonny Glynn and/or Marquell Colston will take care of kickoff return duties.

I will have a story in the coming days on the special teams units.

Barry Huntley: Huntley, a receiver, has been one player this fall that has really been overlooked — particularly by me — but deserves more credit as his role has increased from over the past few seasons.

Huntley has good size at the position and has seen significant action throughout camp. He was running routes with Marcus Anderson on Friday with the No. 1 offense.

Huntley has not played significantly at all the last three years. Is he going to be a contributor this season? It would make a good story.

The passing game: I came at the tail end of Friday's practice and really only caught about a 1/2 hour of play. Still, from what I saw, the passing game was ugly.

Both Fleming and Walls didn't look good. When they did put the ball where it needed to be, receivers saw it slip through their hands.

Both QBs threw picks. Junior Fasavalu had one and Davon House made a great grab on one ball to pluck it out of the air. There were a couple more too throughout the evening.

It's true. One day I see the offense and it looks alright. The next day I'll watch it, and wonder what the team is going to do this year.

“They've got to figure it out and realize when enough is enough,” offensive coordinator Timm Rosenbach said. “I'm not going to be out there on Saturday afternoon with them. It's on them to get better. Someone has got to take charge and turn it around.”

Practice/Scrimmage: The Aggies are running a practice/scrimmage on Saturday from 6-8 p.m.

It would be a good chance for fans to come out and see how things are coming along.

I know I'm looking forward to it. But not as much as the Idaho game. Week 1 really can't come soon enough.