Rookies Hicks, Toon impress
 

“I would say overall the whole weekend was great,” he said. “Our players came in here and they really worked hard. They tried to do what was being asked of them. The tempo was good. The attention to detail was outstanding by these young guys.”

Among the players the coaches got to see up close for the first time were defensive tackle Akiem Hicks, the team’s top selection in the third round of the April draft, and wide receiver Nick Toon, their fourth-round pick.

Vitt said the early impressions of both were good.

“I thought Toon had a good weekend … I thought he caught the ball well,” Vitt said. “He ran routes very well and ran with the ball well afterward. I thought Hicks did well. He ran down the ball well, especially on a couple screens. For a big man, you saw his speed and range.”

Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo said Hicks, who played his final two college seasons at Regina University in Canada, wasn’t overwhelmed with what he was given despite playing north of the border for two years.

“We didn’t feed the guys a lot of volume, but I would echo what coach Vitt said where it’s very difficult to get good feel for a lineman when you don’t have any pads on,” Spagnuolo said. “Their game is physical and banging heads on every play. With this particular camp, you can’t do that.

“In all the things we could assess, in terms of athletic ability and how he moved around, I thought it was very good.”

Full article.
Rookies Hicks, Toon impress | Saints | The Advocate

Good stuff.

I like that the circumstances haven't overwhelemed Hicks.

I think we'll be pleasantly surprised by Hicks and Romeus (my current camp favorite) this year.

Makes you wonder whether or not if Hicks is as big a project as Spags was smoke-screening right after the draft...

Akiem Hicks i know was a reach and project so while he studies give him film of jumpy gathers to watch. now if he could learn to "fork lift" he would be set lol

for those that do not know:

At 6' 7" and 290 pounds he was a forceful pass rusher, famous for his "forklift" rush, in which he picked up his blocker and carried him to the quarterback.

one of the stupidest moves in team history was letting him go after 5 years. yet another great mora move and the beginning of the end for him. mora that is. jumpy played well into 30's and played very well

Thats some good news.

Our top draft choices getting praise from the coach. Whoda' thunk it?

I think that he is...


All the scouting reports of him I've read said basically the same thing: he has the size to be an effective interior D-lineman with pat down capability because of his huge reach, he moves very good for his size but mainly north/south - he has problems moving east/west because of the tightness in his hips and knees, which is why he doesn't really suit the role of an edge rusher at the NFL level.


That being said, the things that he needs to improve to be a good interior D-lineman for the Saints are mostly technical things and they all are "coachable" things - Spags said that what he enjoys most is the "teaching part" in the recent press conference about the rookie mini camp, so I hope he teaches the hell out of Hicks during this offseason.


I'm certainly more confident that Hicks will develop well, now that Spags will be the one overseeing this process instead of GW, since we saw how well he can develop interior D-linemen with Ellis.

Under estimate the viability of a project and make it work wonderfully and you come off like a genius.

Over estimate the viability of a project and it fails, and you look like an idiot.

Nice to see our draft picks making an impact and making themselves known straight away

I think toon is one of the most polished WR's weve drafted in quite a while, look forward to them both making an impact for our team

Glad to read something positive for once.