Today is always an exciting day for football fans and for myself as well as it was the first day of fall practice for the Central Michigan football team. There are plenty of great story lines heading in and things to talk about. Here are my notes and thoughts on day 1:

Depth Chart Breakdown:
This is how the team was paired up during non-contact drills on Friday.
First Team Offense: QB - Ryan Radcliff; RB - Carl Volny, WR - Kito Poblah, Matt Torres, Cody Wilson; TE - David Blackburn; OL (Left to Right) Jake Olson, Jeff Maddux, Colin Miller, Darren Keyton, Rocky Weaver.
Second Team Offense: QB - Derek Rifenbury; RB - Paris Cotton; WR - Cedric Fraser, Jeremy Wilson, Taylor Bradley; TE - Jarrett Fleming; OL - Mike Repovz, Aaron Kaczmarksi, Richard Hayes, Eric Fisher, Jeff Fantuzzi.
Third Team Offense: QB - Brandon Fricke; RB - Davon Muse; WR - Jordan McConnell, Reggie Brown, Jerry Harris; TE - Joe Sawicki; OL - Zach Wiersma, Aaron McCord, Nick Reynolds, Jon Czerwienski, Adam Schneid.

First Team Defense: DL (Left to Right) - Kashawn Fraser, John Williams, Sean Murnane, Darryll Stinson; LB - (Left to Right) - Nick Bellore, Matt Berning, Alex Smith; CB - Vince Agnew, Lorenzo White; S - Jahleel Addae, Bobby Seay.
Second Team Defense: DL - The DL kept shuffling but Rodriguez and Jackson got steady reps; LB - Shamari Benton, Mike Petrucci, Armond Staten; CB - Lavarus Williams, Anthony Hollis; S - John Carr, Tyler Lombardo.
(Today I focused mostly on offense, I will provide a better defensive depth chart tomorrow)

Other Notes and Observations:
- Eric Fisher did get a lot of snaps at guard, even with the first team during contact drills for guys who couldn't go 100 percent. This is a move to get Fisher on the field either this year or in future years since Weaver and Olson have he tackle spots locked in for years to come.
- Fleming has been moved primarily to tight end. It should be interesting to see how he progresses.
- A.J. Westendorp, Jake Bentley, and Leron Eaddy were in the red jerseys while Tim Phillips was completely out of practice with a left arm injury. I don't know the severity of the injury.
- For those concerned about the offense, it really does look similar in style to past seasons, just under center and more tight end involvement. I think the offense will be fine from an X's & O's perspective, it will just be up to the players to execute.
- In terms of the QB's, Radcliff looked solid, but I think he will be more of a gunslinger that will look to make tight throws. I expect him to have more interceptions than the average quarterback, but also make some very tough throws.
- Derek Rifenbury didn't look good. He struggled with a lot of easy, short throws. Fricke threw a nice ball but struggled with the snaps and handoffs a little bit. The freshman, Kyle Smith, had a little too much loft to his ball.
- Addae looks like he will be a play maker. He had a nice interception during 11-on-11's and he just seems to get to the ball.
- The defensive ends surprisingly had a lot of pressure on the quarterback, but I think that may have been due to limited contact and no pads during the drills.
- Repovz was at Left Tackle during contact drills as Olson sat out with Fisher again being used at guard.

Overall, I thought the practice had a lot of life and energy and Enos and his staff are more laid back than Butch Jones and his staff. Not saying whether it is better or worse, it is just a different feel.

I will have more updates tomorrow.