WitP: Colt, Ingram, Pisa, Veikune, Mat

On his official website, Colt Brennan has a new feature called Brennan Beats.

Keep up to date with Colt during training camp as he provides his fans with "Brennan Beats". Similar to to "Tweets" on Twitter, Colt will tell his fans what's on his mind... check back frequently.

Here's an excerpt from August 1st:

I had some good plays and I also missed a few as well. I saw some people from Hawaii today, which is always a lot of fun; they showed me a lot of love at practice. We have special teams practice this afternoon. I’m heading into lift now and then watch film. I’m excited to watch some film and interested to see the plays I missed today.

Thanks to LizKauai for posting this and a bunch of other Colt Brennan articles in the comment section of The Warrior Beat.

Warpath Confidential has an article about Colt working on his footwork.

One thing that Zorn won’t let slide, however, is Brennan’s footwork. It’s a matter of trying to “rhythm up” his drop back.

Brennan rarely went from behind center while at Hawaii, working almost exclusively from the shotgun. Five- and seven-step drops were not part of the package in June Jones’ spread offense.

“I tend to take little steps,” said Brennan. “[Zorn] is a rhythmic thrower.”

“When [Zorn] says drop back it’s 1—2—3—4—5 steps,” he explained, deliberately and, yes, rhythmically reciting the numbers.

“I do it like 1—2—3-4-5”, Brennan continued, rattling off the last numbers quickly.

“He’s trying to rhythm up my footwork and that’s what he’s been harping on,” he said.

Thanks to Garret for finding this Q&A with Bill Belichick, who has a few things to say about Jake Ingram.

BB: Jake’s [Ingram] an experienced snapper. He’s done it in college, but it’s still basically the same skill. It’s just working against better competition and trying to refine it, make it even sharper, more accurate, faster and all those things. We’re going through our protection things. Adjustments, we did that yesterday [and] we’ll go back and hit that again tomorrow. Different rush looks with twists and things like that and the long and short snap accuracy as well as the coverage stuff. I think Jake’s … He’s working at it. Like every rookie, he’s got a long way to go, but his skills are a little more specific. He’s probably further along in terms of reaching the top level at his skill than most of the other rookie players are because they have a lot more skills to master. But I think the competition between Jake and Nate [Hodel] is good. I think they’ve both done a good job. [Those are] two guys that are competing well against each other.

Jeff Dickerson of ESPN Chicago profiles Pisa Tinoisamoa.

It's just like old times for linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa.

A surprise cut by the Rams this offseason, the Bears' springtime acquisition spoke glowingly Saturday morning about being reunited with former St. Louis and current Chicago coaches Lovie Smith and Bob Babich.

"It's kind of like we never left off," said Tinoisamoa. "They haven't changed a bit, so it's good. They knew me when I was younger and I'm so much more of a mature player now. So I think they kind of see a different side of me and hopefully they are proud to have me with them."

Pisa Tinoisamoa is enjoying his reunion with his former coaches, Lovie Smith and Bob Babich
More mature, maybe, but Babich laughed at the notion that his strongside linebacker wasn't a quality player during their time together in St. Louis.

"Even back then [in 2003], he was a playmaker," Babich said. "He had three picks and a few sacks and made a lot of plays for us in St. Louis. I think he's really going to help us."

David Veikune has been doing well at inside linebacker during Browns training camp.

- Rookie LB David Veikune has spent the vast majority of the practice sessions as an ILB and done well. Veikune has an endless motor, plays the game with aggression, and is explosive. Late in the Sunday session, Veikune was lined up over RT George Foster as a rusher off the edge, but a Kurt Quarterman penalty stopped the action before it started and the staff lost the opportunity to see this potential pass rusher in action off the corner against an experienced lineman.

And Mat McBriar is still booming those punts.

Phillips also praised punter Mat McBriar, who played in only six games last season thanks to a broken right foot suffered in the overtime loss Oct. 12 at Arizona.

“McBriar seems to be comfortable,” Phillips said. “He had a lot of really good punts yesterday, one that was 70 yards in the air that I think ended up an 80-something yard punt.”