Listen to Nick Saban's post-practice Press Conference on Sunday:
Click here (recorded by MDBW).

Linebackers:

Junior Seau was wearing his red jersey since he is coming off of his injury that caused him to miss the second half of last season. Zach Thomas looked good. He knocked McMichael on the ground in Saturday afternoon’s practice. He left the practice briefly during Sunday morning’s practice, but that was most likely just a bathroom break, or perhaps he needed his Campbell’s Chunky Soup.

Channing Crowder is all over the field. He looks similar to what Zach Thomas looked like his rookie season. He is always at the ball and he is very quick. However, he has a 3-inch, 17-pound advantage over Thomas, which could prove to make him one of the better linebackers in the game further down the line (if of course he has the same savvy that Zach does). Don’t shoot me for making bold and premature predictions.

Derrick Pope looked completely sluggish. He was slow, almost as if he wasn’t feeling well. During one of the eleven on eleven drills, he jumped off sides, which he had to answer to an angry Nick Saban for.

Should Junior Seau not make it through this season (because let’s face it, he’s about 304 years old), Corey Jenkins or Eddie Moore are more than capable backups to fill in for him. Channing Crowder I think will start with Seau and Thomas.

Keith Traylor is extremely huge. He will help immensely now that Tim Bowens has retired. He helped the Patriots continue in their run-stuffing ways last season after they lost Ted Washington. If Larry Chester can get healthy enough to play this season, the middle of the Dolphins defensive line will be very very solid.

Chester was on the bike for the first part of practice, and then he worked out with a trainer running sprints and coming out of a stance etc. He is extremely huge as well.

The Dolphins seventh round pick out of Michigan State, Kevin Vickerson, looked very solid. His frame isn’t as big (fat) as Traylor or Chester’s, but he looks like he plugs the holes well and should serve as a decent backup. He will have to do well on special teams.

Jason Taylor, as I said, schooled Vernon Carey on an inside move which gave him a clear path to the quarterback. And he was often close, or in position to sack the quarterback had it been a full pads, contact practice. When the defense showed it’s 3-4 schemes, Taylor played nose tackle, which I thought was weird because how will that stop the run? He usually dropped back into coverage though. I am still confused as to how Saban will utilize the 3-4. They didn’t really show much of it this weekend.

David Bowens, Kevin Carter, and Vonnie Holliday all looked good. Bowens should start opposite Taylor again with Carter and Holliday often coming on to spare the two. The defensive ends have very good veteran talent.

Matt Roth looked a lot bigger in person than he did on film. He is a huge guy who goes for the kill on every play. He is a go-getter and very fast around the edge. He will only get better as the year progresses, I predict.

As I have already said, Wes Welker should have the return spot locked up. Chris Akins, who was brought in last season to do the returns but was injured in camp will probably return kickoffs this season if he can stay healthy. I don’t see why Welker can’t do both jobs though. However, having said this, the return team is basically an assumption based on his performance last season, and where Akins was supposed to be last season.

The mini-camp really did not have that much emphasis on the special players of the special teams. Matt Turk kicked one punt in the two practices that I went to. When they ran punts, Turk just stood in, but the ball was launched downfield through a machine. Mare was not kicking field goals unless they actually ended up in a field goal situation during eleven on elevens. He missed two out of the three he attempted, but the two he missed were on a cold leg.

The Dolphins looked good. They are a much more disciplined and obviously better coached team than last year, already. I remember last summer in August before a preseason game, Wannstedt was running his practice, but half the team was standing around doing nothing for most of the practice watching the other guys. Saban makes it so everyone is involved in the practice other than at the end when they run a real-like eleven on eleven two minute drill.

I honestly think the Dolphins will improve by four or five games this season putting them at 8-8 or 9-7. But with a little bit of luck and extra good play, they could surprise us even more. There still is plenty of work to be done though.