*Center Jon Feliciano missed his third consecutive practice because of heat and hydration issues.
“(He’s a) day or two away,” coach Brian Daboll said. “But he’ll be here this week. He’s working through some things. So, he’ll be hopefully tomorrow. But maybe the next day.”
*In Feliciano’s absence, Jamil Douglas and Shane Lemieux have split the first-team reps at center. Lemieux is currently the starting left guard, where he started 52 consecutive games at the University of Oregon. He has never before played center.
“I’m learning on the move because yesterday they kind of just threw me out there,” Lemieux said. “They said like, ‘Show us.’ The coaches didn’t want me to have to think about it. They wanted to see if I could go out there and perform, and I’ve been doing center-quarterback exchange for the last couple weeks now, so I’ve been getting some snaps under my belt. But it’s a lot different looking through the eyes of center when you’re out there.
“In the meeting rooms, I can tell you exactly how to block something up and all that. But when you’re on the field, you have to look at the defenses. You have to get everyone set. You have to worry about the snap count. And most importantly, you have to worry about the snap getting back there. So, it’s a whole different mental gymnastics thing. But, it’s fun. It’s a new challenge, and I’m enjoying it.”
Daboll would prefer linemen have the ability to play more than one position.
“We want to try to create position flexibility for our front guys,” he said. “And obviously with Jon out, you know with (guard) Ben (Bredeson) and Jamil, we wanted to add Lemieux inside and get (rookie Joshua) Ezeudu some work inside there with the ones against (Defensive end) Leo (Williams) and (defensive tackle) Dexter (Lawrence) and guys like that. He did a good job. We’ll work with him in there today as well.”
*The return of pads was a milestone for Lemieux. It was on this day last year – the first padded practice – when Lemieux injured the…
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