Freshman quarterback Kenterius Womack and junior center Kendall Moore both started Thursday’s open portion of practice with different position groups.

Womack wore a green jersey as opposed to the white one worn by quarterbacks and worked with the wide receivers. Moore, who spent the offseason trying to bulk up to play center, worked with the tight ends, his old position group.

At Thursday night’s media availability, offensive coordinator Tim Lester said Womack was working at receiver since they didn’t recruit a freshman wideout and needed some more bodies in practice, and that he hopes to have a position set for the freshman by Aug. 21. With Moore, Lester said injuries to tight ends Tyler Provo and P.J. Batten pushed Moore back to his original position but that he’s a “lineman at heart.”

Other notes and observations from day five of training camp

• Sophomore quarterback AJ Long left practice early, and was clutching his right hand while bending over on the sideline. Long recently got a cast off that hand after a broken bone this summer, and Scott Shafer said it’s nothing serious, in a statement via SU Athletics rep Mike Morrison. The diagnosis is officially an “upper-body injury” but one can make an educated guess that it’s the right hand again.
• Senior defensive tackle John Raymon, who is week-to-week with an upper-body injury, was wearing a brace on his right elbow at the start of Thursday’s practice. Raymon worked individually with defensive coordinator Chuck Bullough while the rest of the defensive linemen did drills. The senior defensive tackle, listed as the Orange’s first-team defensive tackle on the preseason depth chart, has now worked one-on-one with Bullough to start practice for two straight days. They went over schematic details and Raymon asked a handful of questions.

• Provo was sidelined and freshman offensive tackle Denzel Ward (brace on right ankle) limped around the field while the offensive linemen warmed up.

• Syracuse linebackers coach Clark Lea conducted drills with his unit focused on working against blockers. Here’s a short video of one drill, shot by beat writer Paul Schwedelson.

Published on August 13, 2015 at 5:19 pm

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