blacksaint

by Dave Lawrence, NewOrleansSaints.com
Jun 3, 2007 – 6:00 pm


The New Orleans Saints closed out their spring 2007 full-squad minicamp with a brisk, 90-minute practice Sunday afternoon. The sun beat down on the players' gold helmets as the team was able to practice outside for the fifth time in three days.

Head Coach Sean Payton said earlier in the day that he was pleased with the overall tone of the camp and that he thought the players and coaches were getting what they had hoped out of the weekend's minicamp.


"I thought that there was a pretty good tempo," said Payton. "The important thing is getting our players up to speed with what we're doing mentally as well as physically as we prepare for training camp. The primary goal is really preparing for training camp."

Working at that good tempo, here are some of the highlights of the team drills:

RB Aaron Stecker set a good tone by bursting through the line on a running play and sprinting the length of the field.

DE Anton Palepoi played the passing lanes well and batted down a pass in the flat from Jamie Martin.

While the non-contact nature of the practices makes it difficult to gauge the play along the line, DE Josh Cooper showed good speed on a number of outside rushes getting into the backfield.

Rookie free agent quarterback Tyler Palko had a good showing in the afternoon session, as the southpaw rolled left out of the pocket and fired a strike through traffic that WR Rhema McKnight caught while falling out of bounds.

Seventh-round pick LB Marvin Mitchell proved to be sound in pass coverage, mirroring RB Jamaal Branch to break up a throw.

The play of the day came in a seven-on-seven period as Palko lofted a beautiful 45-yard spiral down the field that Dante Ridgeway caught as he lunged and rolled to the turf.

During kickoff return drills, Lance Moore showed some shiftiness and eluded a pair of defenders with a quick change of direction.

Defensive end Charles Grant drew a laugh from his teammates as he stepped in to close the return drill and showed some of his old ball-carrying moves from his days as a high school running back.

Drew Brees and Reggie Bush appeared to be in midseason form as the quarterback fired a strike to Bush on a slant and the speedster turned on the jets and ran away from the defense up the seam.

**Cornerback Joe Porter utilized some of his track-star speed, running step for step down the sideline with Jamal Jones and breaking up a long ball thrown by Brees.

While the minicamp concluded with Sunday afternoon's practice, the Saints will be right back on the field Monday morning as another round of OTAs get underway.

Brees, Saints Help To Make-A-Wish Come True: Highlighting Sunday morning's practice was the presence of a special guest. 5-year-old Devan Muller attended the minicamp practice as part of the Make-A-Wish program. The youngster from Mandeville met his heroes and helped the coaches call some long passes for his favorite player, Drew Brees.

Devan had a great view watching from the sidelines and joined the huddle at the end of practice before riding atop Brees' shoulders as the quarterback talked to the media.

**Watch out for this kid Joe Porter at the CB position, he's been making plays all over the place with his track speed, if he don't make the active roster he will do no worst than the practice squad.

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