Another Zorn Toy

One of the ongoing storylines of this training camp has been Coach Zorn’s crazy toys and drills, from dodging balls to being battered by pads. (And we’re still waiting for the appearance of the legendary slip-n-slide.)

Equipment manager Brad Berlin had mentioned a specially modified passing target to me, and that came out today.

It’s not all that different a drill from the traditional passing target — the QBs take the snap and roll out, and the coach calls out either a color or a position to hit, “Red!” or “Left!” or whatever — but Zorn did customize the target to suit his own specs.

Here’s an incredibly brief video of the drill — the angle I was at was terrible, and this was all the usable stuff. (Pay special attention to the audio for a SPECIAL BLOG GUEST APPEARANCE from Larry Michael. I was standing near the Redskins.com TV guys, following Marc Dress, so Larry’s description of the scene is audible in the video.)

QBs on the “Barrage”

Asked the QBs about the lively pads drill this morning, and specifically about Coach Zorn’s zeal for it.

• Colt Brennan: “We’d done something like that in college, but this was kind of a barrage.  I’ve never had six bags thrown at me at one time.”

  Was Coach feeling sinister? “Ah, Coach Zorn just always wants to keep it loose and fun.  They’re soft bags, and we’ve got these big pads and everything.”

• Todd Collins: “Pretty physical drill for the quarterbacks, don’t you think?  The rule was no headshots, but we had a few right up in the facemasks.”

  Was Coach feeling sinister? “He was.  He was holding that pad up like he was going to put it in someone’s head.  He had this little snicker about him….”

• Jason Campbell: “That’s a fun drill, you know?  I got a chance to play rush end, so I tried to take full advantage of it.”

  Was Coach feeling sinister? “Oh, he was trying to knock us out.  He really wanted to put the rock in you.”

(Posted at 11:15.)

An AM Practice Video – Another Zorn Drill

Here’s another Zorn drill from this morning’s practice.  Similar to the dodgeball drill, only this one isn’t about evasion, it’s about absorbing punishment.

The best thing about this, which isn’t clear in the video, is the look of sheer joy on Coach Zorn’s face as he hurls the pads at the QBs.  (That’s him in the gray T-shirt, front right.  It’s a little clearer in the still below.)  Jason Campbell also seemed to be getting into it, whipping his pad at the other QBs enthusiastically.

Be sure to check out Gary’s detailed practice updates, too.