Got some thoughts from Thursday morning's practice session coming up just as soon as we finish practicing our most-used play, the victory formation…

• Maybe it's just me, but this has been the most temperate August practice session I can recall in years. Which all but guarantees a 99-degree day with 88 percent humidity in Chattanooga in two weeks.
• Two weeks!? We're exactly two weeks away from the regular season starting. Football, the way it was meant to be played—in the fall, as students return to campus. Some things require context to feel right, and football games in the fall as campus begins its vibrant hum for the year is the perfect context for Austin Peay football.
• The defensive line is after it this morning. Big energy, tremendous execution.
• 10:08 a.m.—Kirk Bryant gets mad enough to throw his hat. My prediction was 10:44.
• Mr. Austin Peay Len Rye is in the house today watching practice.
• Football communications director Cody Bush with the fatherly hand on the shoulder of Koby Perry and I am DESPERATE to know what that conversation was about.
• Special teams coach Joe Pappalardo should be nicknamed Papa Joe if he hasn't been already.
• The offense looks really comfortable at a high pace. They've always moved quickly, because that is a Scotty Walden offense at work and whoops they just went by you again, better get a move on. But there's something… different… about this level of comfort from the spring. Read, react, read, react. Do it again. No wasted motion. No second-guessing. They're used to going at pace, and that's going to pay dividends somewhere this fall.
• The hands on Jack McDonald are impeccable. You can see why tight end was once an option for him when he's snaring a pass out of thin air, although you can also see why linebacker was a better choice when he makes tackle after tackle after tackle (after tackle… after tackle), even in practice.
• When Walden throws both the hat and the practice plan, safe to say that play didn't do what it was supposed to do. Bryant got good distance on his own, different hat toss a few plays later—must've Frisbeed that thing 20 yards.
• The Sheldon Layman-JaQuan Randolph connection today would cause grown men to swoon.
• More on the defensive line—if we're doing descriptions, 'nasty' and 'feisty' spring to mind first and second, and that's what you want out of a defensive line.
• Even more on the line—hands are up today. Lot of tipped balls, culminating in Hosea Knifeley Jr. snaring one out of the air and taking it back to the house during 11-on-11.
• The most fun part of camp is seeing the little bright spots shine through for names that we haven't called a lot yet. Take Conner Murphy, the sophomore linebacker from Blackman—he didn't see the field last year, but on back-to-back plays he sniffed out a pass for a break-up and took a great route to lead a ballcarrier out of bounds. Just something to file away.
• Love the bounce and quick cuts Jariel Wilson has showcased the last couple of days.
• Practice ends. Randolph picks up Walden in a bear hug. Tell me John Metchie is doing that to Nick Saban at Alabama.