[BigRedChief]

Tuesday, July 28, 2008: Morning Practice
Editor's Note: Chiefs fans who may be trying to access the training camp photo gallery may have difficulty doing so due to the power outage caused by the storm yesterday. We are working to fix any inconveniences. We appreciate your patience as we try to solve this problem.
It was a muggy and sticky practice for the Chiefs this morning. The skies were partly cloudy and the humidity was at 69 percent. This made the 86 degree temperature feel like 95 degrees. The only relief form the mugginess was an 11 mile per hour wind coming out of the southwest. Seventy-eight fans were in attendance for the practice.
Special Teams
Kickers Nick Novak and Connor Barth were out on Ramer Field early to warm up for the special teams practice. The stadium was quiet and fans waited patiently in the stands for the other players to make their ways to the field. Blocking pads, footballs and Aqualift portable drinking systems were all lined up on the sideline. At 9:49 Novak started kicking field goals from the 27-yard line and Barth stretched out his legs. On the other practice fields the grounds crew touched up the yard lines with white paint.
At 10:19 cornerback Will Poole and safety Khayyam Burns worked with a Juggs machine, receiving 5-yard passes. Two short blue cones were set 5-yards apart and were used for the players to back pedal between before going out to the left or right for an outlet pass.
Players began to trickle onto the field in bigger groups at 10:25. At 10:27, two blows from an air horn signaled that it was time for the team to begin running through line drills and stretching. The line drills were run under the instruction of Strength and Conditioning Coach Cedric Smith on the north end of Ramer Field. The players went down and back 20 yards from the end zone. On the opposite end of the field kickers Nick Novak and Connor Barth, punter Dustin Colquitt and long snapper Jean-Philippe Darche stretched and warmed up on their own.
Linebackers Steve Octavien and Aden Durde jogged onto the field at 10:31. They were followed by a group of seven other players just seconds later. One blow for an air horn at 10:37 started practice.
The unit first worked on a kickoff-return drill for eight minutes. The drill was run at half speed and the kickoff team was distinguished from the other players by wearing yellow skull caps. Kicker Nick Novak took the first kick of the drill which was received by kick return specialist B.J. Sams. Sams would carrier the ball three times. Running back Jamaal Charles would also return the ball three times and wide receiver Will Franklin would two times. The coverage team worked against the wedge. Special Teams Coach Mike Priefer called out the direction the wedge was to go: left, right or middle. The wedge team consisted of tight end Brad Cottam, defensive tackle Tank Tyler and center Wade Smith.
A punt return drill started with a tight punt formation situation at the south end zone. Returners waited at the 50-yard line for the punt. Kick returner B.J. Sams and cornerbacks Maurice Leggett and Rashad Barksdale took turns catching the punt. They did not return the ball up the field. The drill moved down the field in 5-yard increments every few punts.
At 10:55 there was a water break before the team worked on blocking assignments for the punt return. After that, players focused on getting down their lane assignments—which were marked with blue cones— while punter Dustin Colquitt imitated taking punts.