AFTERNOON PRACTICE

This is it. The final practice at Lehigh. Asante Samuel intercepted his first pass during the afternoon 10/10/10 session. Better later than never. Brodrick Bunkley showed off his vertical, jumping to pick off an A.J. Feeley pass. The awkwardness and rarity of seeing a defensive linemen running with a football can bring joy to anyone. That play by Bunkley got the biggest cheer from the crowd.

Sav Rocca got fans talking in the stands once again as he consistently punted the ball 50 plus yards. "Who is that guy? Where is he from? Did you say he played rugby?" That pretty much sums up what I (Chris) heard from the stands.

Watching a conversation between corner Sheldon Brown and defensive coordinator Jim Johnson is like watching a foreign film. Half of the conversation sounds like gibberish and the other half consists of hand signals. That would make it difficult for opponents to pick up on what the defense is doing I (Chris) suppose. Sean Considine intercepts a deep pass along the sideline just like he was practicing a few days ago. I (Chris) blogged about it, check the archive.

During practice the guys are in good spirits. Picture high school students sitting at their desk watching the clock, waiting for it to hit 3:00pm so they can be dismissed from class and start their summer vacation. Joe Mays hits a ball out of ball boys hands, in a playful way of course, and yells "fumble."

After practice it was cool to see the smiles on the player's faces as they conclude camp and can head back to Philadelphia. They shared their joy with the fans remaining in attendance one last time, signing autographs and taking pictures. Asante Samuel and Brian Westbrook, most notably, spent a significant amount of time with fans.

That's all from Lehigh University. It's been fun.

Thanks for reading.

MORNING PRACTICE

This is the last day of practices open to the public here at Lehigh. It's kind of bittersweet, I'd (Joe) say. Over the past three weeks, I have fallen so heavily into a routine that it'll be a huge shock to me to get out of it. I can't imagine what it's like for the players.

Also, it's a 30-Plus day. Players like Donovan McNabb, Tra Thomas and Brian Dawkins get out of their last morning practice. Lucky, lucky.

In Tra Thomas' absence, Todd Herremans slides over to left tackle. Andy Reid told us the other day that Herremans really envisions himself as a tackle at this level, and loves playing there. But, right now, he suits the Eagles just fine at guard. Scott Young has fought his way back up the depth chart and is taking reps at left guard today.

Brodrick Bunkley's back today after an excused absence for personal reasons. He's back in taking reps with the first-team defense. Adjacent to him? Jerome McDougle. Really. A few plays in, McDougle drops into coverage on a disguised zone blitz and picks off a pass across the middle.

Lorenzo Booker has made impressive plays throughout camp and today, the last day of camp, is no exception. He pulled in a pass over his head that very few running backs would be expected to catch.

The receivers work on deep balls. DeSean Jackson actually has his pass underthrown. The quarterbacks have to get used to that speed.

One-on-one drills get competitive, especially in the red zone like right now. The first play sets the tone as DeSean Jackson beats Sheldon Brown to the corner of the end zone but Brown has the ability to recover and swat the pass out of the air.

Michael Gasperson fakes inside, then outside, then goes back inside again turning Therrian Fontenot around in a circle. Both Shaheer McBride and DeSean Jackson run a number of fade routes where the ball gets lobbed to them. They do a great job of adjusting to the ball on the run, no matter if it's behind them, over their shoulder, or right along the sideline.

After a few incomplete passes, Kevin Kolb throws his next pass to Hank Baskett so hard that it would get lodged in his facemask. That was impressive.

Jon Dorenbos, without his 30-and-over buddies Sav Rocca and David Akers, has to entertain himself somehow. He plays catch with a ball boy, using his head to toss the ball back.

Gotta love these O-line-versus-D-line drills, which get physical even without the pads on. Winston Justice and Chris Clemons, in particular, get tangled up and thrown to the ground.

SWOOP's here. He's playing catch on the sidelines with some young fans. He goes to give me a high-five, but I (Joe) accidentally leave him hanging when I'm looking for a pound. Weak.

Frantz Hardy returned to the practice field after being sidelined with an ankle injury. With a roster spot on the line, he is fighting through.