Projo Pats Blog

Rookie offensive lineman Sebastian Vollmer earned his teammates the night off from meetings, catching a punt from Chris Hanson at the close of this evening's session.

Hanson did Vollmer no favors with the punt, as it drifted a bit to Vollmer's left and was wobbly. Vollmer juggled the ball for a split-second, but was able to hang on and was mobbed by his teammates; Bill Belichick also shook his hand in congratulations.

In recent years, Vince Wilfork (who last year made the catch with one ball already tucked in his arm) and Matt Light have been the players tabbed to catch the punt. It has become a fun camp tradition.

As if that weren't exciting enough, Jon Bon Jovi was on the sidelines for much of the session (sarcasm, people, sarcasm). He and Belichick are friends, and he usually makes an appearance to training camp every year. In his honor, Bon Jovi music blared from the speakers as the players stretched and did some drills.

So the actual practice itself was held in shells and shorts (the Pats have still been in pads 15 of 22 camp practices, a crazy-high ratio), and by press tent consensus, there were 11 players not spotted: WR Wes Welker, CB Shawn Springs, LB Tedy Bruschi, DL Mike Wright, LB Paris Lenon, LS Nathan Hodel, OL George Bussey, T Mark LeVoir (PUP) and WR Brandon Tate (NFI).

There was a lot of scout-team work in this session, with the top offense going against the scout team defense and vice-versa. Jamar Love was repeatedly beat by Randy Moss for catches and touchdowns.

Belichick spent a few minutes along the sidelines with Derrick Burgess at one point, and appeared to be explaining a technique to the newest Patriot. Belichick did not appear angry, he was simply discussing the finer points, putting his hands in Burgess' chest at one point to illustrate his point.

 Tags  bill belichick Brandon Tate chris hanson Derrick Burgess George Bussey Jamar Love Jon Bon Jovi Mark LeVoir matt light Mike Wright Nathan Hodel Paris Lenon Randy Moss Sebastian Vollmer Shawn Springs tedy bruschi training camp Vince Wilfork Wes Welker

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