Everywhere you turned at practice today, you heard the sounds of pads hitting pads and helmets hitting helmets.

That's because the Scarlet Knights practiced in full pads today for the first time, after two days in just helmets and two days with helmets and shoulder pads.

Greg Schiano said he was happy with what he saw as a whole, and the players I talked to after practice all said it was good to be able to go full speed for at least some of the afternoon.

"I've been waiting on this day since the bowl game," Tim Brown said. "We just went out today and focused. It doesn’t matter what kind of pads you have on. Its just a matter of being focused and doing your job."

Ray Rice, who sat out most of practice with a tweaked hamstring and will do the same again tomorrow, said he was happy with the effort he saw from his teammates.

"We've had our ups and downs but everybody's working hard," he said. "I can't criticize anyone's effort."

A few other notes and quotes:

Schiano said backup defensive end Jonathan Pierre-Etienne, a sophomore from Montreal, isn't with the Knights in camp because of a hip injury that could hold him out for the season or the rest of his career.

He said Pierre-Etienne, who played in two games last year and made one tackle, is still enrolled at Rutgers and a member of the team, and will join the Knights when school starts in September.

...

Schiano said offensive lineman Kevin Haslam, who toook some reps in practice at left tackle, will be used as a "utility guy." Haslam is one of a handful of players in a battle for the starting right guard spot. He also said tackle Jeremy Zuttah is the Knights' Blaszczyk option at center behind Ryan Blaszczyk until Dan Mazan is healthy enough or a younger player is good enough. Of Blaszczyk whom he has not officially named as the starter, Schiano said: "He's a consistent guy. Do I think he has to get a ton better? Yes. I trust him because I know he can do everything in his power to do that."

...

Kenny Britt on coming up short last year in triple overtime against West Virginia, which cost the Knights a trip to the Orange Bowl and has been a rallying cry every day in camp: "We could have gone farther than we did last year. We didn’t reach our goal last year so we’re gonna try to reach it this year. That’s definitely driving the whole team because we could have done better than we did last year in West Virginia."

...

I've officially named defensive line coach Cary Godette as my favorite assistant. He's animated but not mean-spirited when he yells at players (which he does a lot) -- my kind of coach, and a guy who will hopefully be a good tutor for one of our local guys, Wayne Thomas, a defensive lineman who played last year at Nottingham High in Hamilton.

And that's all I've got for today. Tomorrow's Trentonian has a story on Kenny Britt and Tim Brown and a notebook with some more quotes from the Knights' first day in full pads.

Check back for more tomorrow.

- Ben