by Scott Stirling

Posted Aug. 19, 2005 7:43 p.m.

The biggest opponent for the Bears at the outset of Friday's practice was the 100-degree heat.

Clouds eventually shaded the field toward the end of practice, but not before everyone worked up a good sweat.

It was another productive, yet uneventful day. The first half of practice consisted of positional drills. The rest of practice divided the offense and defense for work against scout teams. With the season opener just six days away, the game plan is starting to form.

Observations from today's practice:

• Tailback Willie Hopson has a good set of vocal chords on him. At the start of practice he skipped to the running backs station like a 2nd grade girl singing his own rendition of “It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood.”

• Fullback Darren Shaw can catch the football. I didn't see him drop a ball all practice, or all camp for that matter. He will be a good option coming out of the backfield.

• It is fun to watch Quarterbacks Coach Todd Cooley on the practice field. He's always fired up about something and seems to relay the energy to his players.

• Quarterbacks Chris Reil and Nathan Brown can both throw a pretty good deep ball. They rarely missed receivers while throwing about 20 passes apiece at 40 yards.







		by Scott Stirling Posted Aug. 19, 2005 7:43 p.m. The biggest opponent for the Bears at the outset of Friday's practice was the 100-degree heat. Clouds eventually shaded the field toward the end of practice, but not before everyone worked up a good sweat. It was another productive, yet uneventful day. The first half of practice consisted of positional drills. The rest of practice divided the offense and defense for work against scout teams. With the season opener just six days away, the game plan is starting to form. Observations from today's practice: • Tailback Willie Hopson has a good set of vocal chords on him. At the start of practice he skipped to the running backs station like a 2nd grade girl singing his own rendition of “It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood.” • Fullback Darren Shaw can catch the football. I didn't see him drop a ball all practice, or all camp for that matter. He will be a good option coming out of the backfield. • It is fun to watch Quarterbacks Coach Todd Cooley on the practice field. He's always fired up about something and seems to relay the energy to his players. • Quarterbacks Chris Reil and Nathan Brown can both throw a pretty good deep ball. They rarely missed receivers while throwing about 20 passes apiece at 40 yards.