06/14 — Day one of minicamp means the first day of double sessions and the first hill in the long marathon that is the NFL off-season. This afternoon, a significant amount of Jet players were caught off guard by head coach Eric Mangini’s prompt 3:20 p.m. start to the afternoon practice, including Chad Pennington. The puzzled quarterback, jogging on the field with a notebook in hand, turned to a group of tardy teammates jogging behind him to say, “I thought we were starting at 3:30.”

While the sun tried to peak through the heavy cloud cover that dominated the morning, a cold chill remained in the air, and members of the media discussed how it felt like a fall practice, with some Jets players donning mock turtlenecks underneath their jerseys. Yet the quality of play on the field was a reminder to many that it is not yet summer.

During 11-on-11 drills 40 minutes into practice, it looked like the quarterbacks and wide receivers were more affected by the fatigue of the first two-a-day, as there were a few more wobbly throws and dropped passes.

QB Kellen Clemens tried to utilize the height advantage of 6'4" WR Jamie Pellot-Rosa on a 20-yard out, firing a wobbling ball high toward the right sideline. Pellot-Rosa made a nice effort, getting the palm of his right hand on the ball with his back toward the line, but could not corral the pass.

Seconds after the play was over, the ever-vocal group that is the Jets defensive backfield could be heard chirping at Pellot-Rosa.

“Catch that, man!” yelled CB David Barrett, who had a great view of the play from the sideline.

Pellot-Rosa did just that on the next play, mirroring the same play on the opposite sideline, only this time catching a perfectly thrown ball from Marques Tuiasosopo over Alphonso Hodge and Raymond Ventrone.

During the same drill, a similar sequence occurred between Tui and Chansi Stuckey, with Stuckey missing a catchable ball on a 10-yard crossing route and then redeeming himself a couple plays later with a nice in-stride 20-yard reception in between two defenders on the opposite side of the field.

Other plays of note during the afternoon session:

● Hank Poteat made a nice interception of a deflected pass from Clemens late in practice during the second set of 11-on-11 drills and was poised to take it to the house. Poteat made a nice play during a two-minute end-of-game simulation at the end of practice as well, as a non-participant, corralling a Pennington throwaway with one hand.

● In the same simulation, down, 14-12, with 50 seconds left, Pennington made a nice pass to TE Chris Baker over the middle for 23 yards to set up Mike Nugent’s 40-yard field goal as time expired.

● Early in practice, during a one-on-one open-field tackle drill putting the majority of the team against a select group of ballcarriers, Shaun Ellis represented the talkative DE corps with the quote of the day. After Leon Washington blew by a helpless end for the third time, the whistle blew to change drills and Ellis proclaimed, “This drill is unfair to the defensive line.”