hawg1
Well-Known Member
When they were fresh,DL1s beat OL1s repeatedly, especially Lang.All contingent on the line staying completely healthy.
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When they were fresh,DL1s beat OL1s repeatedly, especially Lang.All contingent on the line staying completely healthy.
Bumphow does lytle look?
In the last few months I've learned more than I've ever learned in my whole entire life," sophomore Sam Noyer said. "Not taking away from any coaches that I've had in the past. They've all prepared me really well up to this point, but (Roper) has come in and he's taken it to that next level, for sure."
He looked good. Not flashy and I don’t recall any explosive plays from him. Solid though.Bump
Agreed. He looked good. I was concerned seeing Tonz ahead of him on the early depth chart, but I think that was more indicative of Tonz' improvement than Sherman not getting better. I guess I just couldn't get the image of Tonz getting trucked on a special teams play last year out of my head and assumed the worst, but I think he has improved significantly. Should be interesting to see who ends up getting the nod. It certainly makes me feel a LITTLE better about depth, but still lacking true tackle depth.One player on the OL who is going to make an impact this season is Sherman. Big time player.
Agreed. He looked good. I was concerned seeing Tonz ahead of him on the early depth chart, but I think that was more indicative of Tonz' improvement than Sherman not getting better. I guess I just couldn't get the image of Tonz getting trucked on a special teams play last year out of my head and assumed the worst, but I think he has improved significantly. Should be interesting to see who ends up getting the nod. It certainly makes me feel a LITTLE better about depth, but still lacking true tackle depth.
Sherman is versatile. I like Tonz. Most vocal leader on OL IMO.We are not deep overall on the OL. Have to stay healthy.
To start the year, I think we have 6 guys (Haigler, Lynott, Pursell, Tonz, Sherman & Kaiser). They need to make that 8 guys in the next 3 weeks who could go in and not create a liability. Moretti is about health. When it's there, he's there. Someone from Kutsch, Vaughn and Shutack also needs to be ready.We are not deep overall on the OL. Have to stay healthy.
Sherman is versatile. I like Tonz. Most vocal leader on OL IMO.
I think it's reasonable to get to 7 with Moretti as a wildcard. If he's healthy, he's #8 and maybe even one of our best 2 or 3. I don't know how far away he is, though.Tonz has definitely stepped up.
@Buffnik do we think it is realistic to get to eight by the start of the season?
Umm... one post above yours covers it well.So based on what everyone saw, who are the linemen we can play this year aside from the main 6?
It's interesting you mention the fade to the back pylon out of the slot. I seem to remember that Sefo was money with that throw, and used to do it with DD Goodson and Devin Ross quite a bitMade the trip. Beautiful day, decent turnout. After hearing about "preseason type scrimmage" with the ones not going much, I was surprised to see them getting the majority of the reps.
I know nobody gives a **** about my amateur scrimmage assessment but you're getting it anyway because I took notes and I didn't even do that in college. I was running late so I got there in time for only the scrimmage portion, so at least I kept consistent with that portion of my time in college.
QB: Like others said, Montez looked sharp. I'm pretty critical of the guy but it looks like he's made some progress. Stepped up more often than he forced a scramble outside. Seemed to progress through reads better. Still locked in on a route a few times, but overall he's looking better. Threw some great deep balls. I think Lytle is the more consistent/higher ceiling number 2 at this point. Noyer throws some absolute dimes, but sometimes he locks in and makes questionable decisions (the aforementioned bad pick). Seems to struggle under pressure. Lytle moves better than I thought (had a good gain on an option play). He seems to make good reads and throws a good ball. Didn't get as many reps and didn't throw any deep, so there wasn't anything to go off there. I was looking forward to seeing more reps for the 2nd string battle to be honest. Stenstrom looked like a freshman adjusting to the speed a bit, but made good decisions and some good throws in his limited reps.
RB: Travon McMillian looked really good. I don't see the slowness others see. He's a glider and a guy that I think looks slower due to how he runs. Always gained positive yards, always moving downhill, and seemed to maximize gains similar to Lindsay. Always picked the right hole and hit it hard. Made a good catch and move on the touchdown catch in the flat, and outran a guy with an angle to the pylon. I am one of the few that felt we should give Bish more time at RB and give him the benefit of the doubt before pulling the constant AllBuff "switch position" move for anyone struggling. Saying this, he just isn't going to pass the guys ahead of him, and Fontenot shows more flashes. I think its McMillian, Evans, Fontenot in that order. Bish pretty much short yardage and pass pro.
TE: Eh. Pop and Lytle had a good connection over the middle. I think he's our best bet receiving wise. Bounds held his own blocking on the play I watched him. Solid if not spectacular.
WR: Everyone has said it, but everyone looked great. Laviska didn't play much but he's ridiculous. I came away thinking that they aren't going to be able to keep Jaylon Jackson off the field. Made some great catches, quick, seemed to be open all the time. Mo Bell looked way better than expected too, had some big catches and a deep score. Brown, Nixon, Ento all had big plays. It'll be nice to be able to play fast and rotate out guys, keeping guys fresh, and hopefully wear down DBs.
OL: Kept QBs clean for the most part, whether that is a lack of pass rush or they are looking good, IDK. Run blocking looked good, moved the line of scrimmage most of the day. Better than expected. Moretti only played one series I think, but they moved the ball that series and they kept Montez clean so he must have did well (hard to watch everyone with limited reps). Haigler has definitely gotten bigger. I like Pursell. It was interesting to see all the position movement. It's pretty clear they recognize the lack of depth and are trying to figure out where to put guys if a starter goes down. Sherman got reps at LT, Tonz and Lynott at center. If we have injuries here, it will be concerning.
DL: I took a picture of me today drinking the Israel Antwine kool-aid.
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Kid is legit. Absolutely blew up some plays against the 1's. Walked next to him on the field walking out and told him good job, kid does not look like he's 18. He gassed pretty quickly, but that's expected from a true freshman. Lang flashed the talent/athleticism everyone has talked about with him. Technique could use some work, but he's still young and looks like he's learning last. Edwards looked a lot better, made a play or two, but more importantly did a pretty good job of not getting pushed back. Franke looks improved and should be reliable.
OLB/BB: Nobody really flashed. Once again, I don't know if it was because of OL playing well or OLB struggling. We rotated guys a lot situationally (i.e. Falo in on early downs, Callier on passing downs). Seemed to be slow getting guys in and out, that will need to be ironed out if we are going to be rotating like that in game situations. Davion Taylor looks good, but you can tell he isn't playing as fast as he's physically capable of because he's still learning.
ILB: Maybe our best group on defense? I was impressed with almost everyone. Landman looks big and always has his nose in there, I think he might be the guy to make the biggest leap from last season on defense. Lewis looked good. JVD looked good. Newman got a pick. Colby Keiter running with the 3's made a couple great one on one plays against the run, good enough that I had to look him up on roster because I couldn't figure out who it was. I think we may see a lot of Gamboa, Landman, and Lewis in all at the same time just to maximize talent on the field.
DB/S: We ran a lot of man on man (which I like if you have the guys to do it) but we got beat too much. Udoffia got beat deep twice. I think he's good, especially when he uses his size and on run support, but he struggled keeping up with guys deep on the outside. Covering our WRs is no easy task, so I think they should get cut a little slack, but it was a bit concerning. We have to get to the QB quicker if we are going to force our guys onto islands like we did all day. JC transfer Mekhi Blackmon got beat on two straight deep TDs. I was bummed to not get to see much of Miller. I walked past him on my way out, I think he just has a tight hammy. He was limping a bit but nobody seemed too concerned about it. He's bulked up a bit, good size. Hypolite looked good, played a lot with 1's and 2's. Another guy I had to double check the roster because he stood out. Had a good breakup over the middle.
K: Stefanou looks good, didn't miss any during the scrimmage. It's nice to have some reliability there with the circus our kicking game has been in the past.
Other notes: Tchangam and Maddox played mostly with the 3's. Maddox plays aggressive, but I think he has some work to do. Tchangam didn't stand out.
MM took a more hands off approach which I liked. He seemed to have more confidence in his assistants than he has in the past. I think the guys all respect Roper, they seemed to listen when he pulled them together on timeouts and on the sideline.
Offense looked good with play design, you could see a difference. I liked most of the play calling from Chev, he seemed to have a better feel than what we've seen from Lindgren.
One play I really liked was a fade to the back pylon out of the slot in the redzone. They ran it with both to Jay Mac and Nixon. Montez overthrew Mac but it right was on the money to Nixon. Nice to see us trying to exploit a mismatch of a S or OLB having to try and cover a 3rd WR (especially since our 3rd WR is going to be better than most teams' 3rd WR) in the red zone, where we have seemed to struggle a lot.
Overall I think we look improved. Offense had a lot of big plays. It's tough to quantify in a short scrimmage like this rotating guys in and out, but a lack of sustained drives was a bit concerning. We seemed very much big play or we'd stall out. Defense wasn't bad, just a little concerning on deep plays and lack of pass rush. I'm glad I went, and I legitimately think we're a better team than we were last year.
I think we can agree that those stats were padded with Miller and Worthington not playing along with vanilla defense and no hits on the QB.So, Montez was 11-16 for 185 yards, 2 TD's and no picks. I thought he looked pretty good and those stats seem solid. But what does that mean in regards to QB rating? I googled QBR calculator and found this site. His results?
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That would be better than Baker Mayfield's NCAA leading rating for last season, but in all honesty, we are hoping our defense is average. And they were missing 3-4 starters. And we will face many above average defenses over the season.
That being said, I do expect him to be a difference maker for us to start the season against CSU, kNowledge U, UNH, and UCLA, based on what I saw today. The comments about him making his progressions, no longer doing that foolish blind side circle under pressure and instead stepping up, and improved touch are all true.
I had the same concern. But I think that this is more important with defense than offense. I really like that we added Drake to our sideline for that.One other thing...I missed having Chev on the sideline because he brings so much energy, but after watching today I think having Roper on the sideline is going to be huge for Montez. Lots of pre-snap communication happening between he and the qbs.
I had the same concern. But I think that this is more important with defense than offense. I really like that we added Drake to our sideline for that.
Was Drake available two years ago?Everything I am seeing out of Drake makes me that much more unhappy that MM held onto Jeffcoat so long. His energy, his personality, his ability to connect to the kids.
From the looks of things he is a better coach and a better recruiter. Why did we wait so long?