Scrimmage started about an hour late, but was worth the wait.
First thing is that when the guys came out I was completely stunned at how yoked a lot of the dudes were and how many of them have legitimately transformed their bodies. I'll talk about returning guys here.
Ricky Gamboa and Eddy Lopez shed all the baby fat and look like totally different guys. It showed up in their play (more on that later).
Devin Ross is jacked, Shay Fields is a lot bigger and Donovan Lee -- you're going to have to see it to believe it. I literally did not realize who it was and it took me a while. He's filled out like a running back.
On the DL, guys like Clay Norgard and Jase Franke are huge now.
On the OL, the guys who were too small to play last year like Josh Kaiser and John Lisella now look the part. Kronshage, Huckins and Kaiser look beastly.
TEs are big. Keeney is impressive (tall, long arms, long stride) but hasn't filled out yet. Irwin looks good. Hayden Jones really passes the eyeball test.
With the QBs, Sefo looks like a man now. He has really filled out. Apsay actually looked at least as big as Gehrke to me.
At RB, Powell looks more like a tailback than a fullback now (in a good way). Lindsay and Adkins both looked good. Lindsay especially looked more stout. Frazier is huge. He can play TE just as much as FB.
With the LBs, Gilbert, KO and Addison all looked bigger as they needed to. Still not big for their spots, but getting there. McCartney looks the part, for sure. Walk-on Aaron Howard does not look like a walk-on (body or play). Shaver looks more like a LB and less like a DE.
For the DBs we had Moeller really standing out. Yoked.
Quickly on the appearance of the freshmen: Tuiloma is massive, Umu is a big dude who looks like he's in fantastic shape, Jan is a bigger, thicker body than we've seen at WR here (by far), Montez looks like Sefo did (not the skinny guy we saw in the HS film/photos), Oliver is all there for a CB and looks ready to play, Lynott didn't look like a true frosh OL, and both Dino and Carr are well put together.
I know it's a refrain that gets repeated every year. I know it's almost always complete bull****. But this year it is different. The Buffs are big in 2015. This team will not wear down. We'll see guys go down when our defenders hit them. We'll see our RBs getting that extra couple yards after contact on runs. We'll see our WRs able to break arm tackles and be effective blockers. I don't want to over-hype this, but it's hard not to after seeing them in person. Kind of like how you don't appreciate how massive the new facilities are from photos until you see them in person -- that's how I reacted to seeing these guys on the field in pads.
In terms of play that stood out:
- Gamboa is a player. Surprise of the day. He's in the 2-deep at ILB and has passed some of the upperclassmen. Made a pick-6 and looked really good out there. Legitimate depth at ILB along with Shaver who had a really nice pass break-up.
- Gilbert is a natural OLB for the new system. He is so long and athletic. He's now playing in space and it suits him. He made a ridiculous play on a quick in from the WR, getting his drop and then elevating to bat a pass down that would have been an automatic completion last year.
- Oliver is a player at CB. Made a great play jumping a route and on another play easily kept pace with Ross on a deep pass. Got burnt a couple times in learning moments. Soon after he'd made the great play jumping a short route, the offense hit him with a pump fake and double move for an easy long TD pass. Freshman play and he'll learn.
- Keeney is an absolute weapon. Impressive hands, can run, and is almost always going to be the tallest guy out in a pass play. He'll tower over defenders. He's the guy who burnt Oliver on that double move. Keeney is going to be a matchup nightmare for teams.
- Lopez was unblockable when he went against our OL 2s. Showed well against the 1s, but dominated against the 2nd group. Tons of potential with that guy. And the starting DL of Carrell-Solis-Samson looks like a group that can make things go this year.
- With the RBs, I think Powell is the starter and he'll soften up defenses. With the rest, I felt like there was a different energy when Lindsay or Carr ran the ball. All the guys have skills, but no one really jumped out as the guy that would change games. Looks like a committee. Buffs should be pretty good here and Carr has a chance to break out, I think.
- Falo and Watanabe are 2 more guys it may be hard to redshirt this year. They bring the lumber when they hit someone. Depth at LB is young, but with them along with Gamboa and Shaver it's a much better group behind Addison and KO than I thought it was.
- Apsay looked so much better. I don't have a lot of confidence behind Sefo, but I may trust Apsay a little more than Gehrke now. Hard to get a read on how close Montez is to being ready to play since he was working behind the bottom of the OL depth chart and trying to throw to walk-on WRs and TEs. He had no time and no one able to get open. Showed off some impressive scrambling and broke off a big run. Sefo needs to stay healthy.
Some other notes:
- Most of the top guys barely played. That's why you didn't see too many notes on them from me above. As MacIntyre mentioned in his post-scrimmage interview, it was like an NFL preseason game where you hold some guys out who don't need to show the coaches anything (Spruce), give other established guys very limited reps, keep the schemes and calls very vanilla so you don't give anything away, and see what you have with the rest of your team.
- Decent crowd for an 8:30 am practice. Started an hour late, though. I bet it would have been a lot better attended if people would have known it would be at 9:30.
- Leavitt is so much fun. He was working the crowd to get us yelling and making noise for the kickoffs. Lot of fun.
- Schedule posters are sick this year. Nelson, Nembot, KC and Sefo versions of vertical posters. Each one has a reverse side with all 4 of them in a horizontal layout. Schedule on both sides. These suckers are almost 3 feet long.
- NE corner looks so impressive from inside the stadium. Simply huge and beautiful.
- Samson was the only injury I noticed. He was able to get up and walk off after a scary moment. Waiting to see the report on him. We need him. Leo Jackson did not look close to ready to me (especially at NT). We can't afford injuries on the interior DL.
First thing is that when the guys came out I was completely stunned at how yoked a lot of the dudes were and how many of them have legitimately transformed their bodies. I'll talk about returning guys here.
Ricky Gamboa and Eddy Lopez shed all the baby fat and look like totally different guys. It showed up in their play (more on that later).
Devin Ross is jacked, Shay Fields is a lot bigger and Donovan Lee -- you're going to have to see it to believe it. I literally did not realize who it was and it took me a while. He's filled out like a running back.
On the DL, guys like Clay Norgard and Jase Franke are huge now.
On the OL, the guys who were too small to play last year like Josh Kaiser and John Lisella now look the part. Kronshage, Huckins and Kaiser look beastly.
TEs are big. Keeney is impressive (tall, long arms, long stride) but hasn't filled out yet. Irwin looks good. Hayden Jones really passes the eyeball test.
With the QBs, Sefo looks like a man now. He has really filled out. Apsay actually looked at least as big as Gehrke to me.
At RB, Powell looks more like a tailback than a fullback now (in a good way). Lindsay and Adkins both looked good. Lindsay especially looked more stout. Frazier is huge. He can play TE just as much as FB.
With the LBs, Gilbert, KO and Addison all looked bigger as they needed to. Still not big for their spots, but getting there. McCartney looks the part, for sure. Walk-on Aaron Howard does not look like a walk-on (body or play). Shaver looks more like a LB and less like a DE.
For the DBs we had Moeller really standing out. Yoked.
Quickly on the appearance of the freshmen: Tuiloma is massive, Umu is a big dude who looks like he's in fantastic shape, Jan is a bigger, thicker body than we've seen at WR here (by far), Montez looks like Sefo did (not the skinny guy we saw in the HS film/photos), Oliver is all there for a CB and looks ready to play, Lynott didn't look like a true frosh OL, and both Dino and Carr are well put together.
I know it's a refrain that gets repeated every year. I know it's almost always complete bull****. But this year it is different. The Buffs are big in 2015. This team will not wear down. We'll see guys go down when our defenders hit them. We'll see our RBs getting that extra couple yards after contact on runs. We'll see our WRs able to break arm tackles and be effective blockers. I don't want to over-hype this, but it's hard not to after seeing them in person. Kind of like how you don't appreciate how massive the new facilities are from photos until you see them in person -- that's how I reacted to seeing these guys on the field in pads.
In terms of play that stood out:
- Gamboa is a player. Surprise of the day. He's in the 2-deep at ILB and has passed some of the upperclassmen. Made a pick-6 and looked really good out there. Legitimate depth at ILB along with Shaver who had a really nice pass break-up.
- Gilbert is a natural OLB for the new system. He is so long and athletic. He's now playing in space and it suits him. He made a ridiculous play on a quick in from the WR, getting his drop and then elevating to bat a pass down that would have been an automatic completion last year.
- Oliver is a player at CB. Made a great play jumping a route and on another play easily kept pace with Ross on a deep pass. Got burnt a couple times in learning moments. Soon after he'd made the great play jumping a short route, the offense hit him with a pump fake and double move for an easy long TD pass. Freshman play and he'll learn.
- Keeney is an absolute weapon. Impressive hands, can run, and is almost always going to be the tallest guy out in a pass play. He'll tower over defenders. He's the guy who burnt Oliver on that double move. Keeney is going to be a matchup nightmare for teams.
- Lopez was unblockable when he went against our OL 2s. Showed well against the 1s, but dominated against the 2nd group. Tons of potential with that guy. And the starting DL of Carrell-Solis-Samson looks like a group that can make things go this year.
- With the RBs, I think Powell is the starter and he'll soften up defenses. With the rest, I felt like there was a different energy when Lindsay or Carr ran the ball. All the guys have skills, but no one really jumped out as the guy that would change games. Looks like a committee. Buffs should be pretty good here and Carr has a chance to break out, I think.
- Falo and Watanabe are 2 more guys it may be hard to redshirt this year. They bring the lumber when they hit someone. Depth at LB is young, but with them along with Gamboa and Shaver it's a much better group behind Addison and KO than I thought it was.
- Apsay looked so much better. I don't have a lot of confidence behind Sefo, but I may trust Apsay a little more than Gehrke now. Hard to get a read on how close Montez is to being ready to play since he was working behind the bottom of the OL depth chart and trying to throw to walk-on WRs and TEs. He had no time and no one able to get open. Showed off some impressive scrambling and broke off a big run. Sefo needs to stay healthy.
Some other notes:
- Most of the top guys barely played. That's why you didn't see too many notes on them from me above. As MacIntyre mentioned in his post-scrimmage interview, it was like an NFL preseason game where you hold some guys out who don't need to show the coaches anything (Spruce), give other established guys very limited reps, keep the schemes and calls very vanilla so you don't give anything away, and see what you have with the rest of your team.
- Decent crowd for an 8:30 am practice. Started an hour late, though. I bet it would have been a lot better attended if people would have known it would be at 9:30.
- Leavitt is so much fun. He was working the crowd to get us yelling and making noise for the kickoffs. Lot of fun.
- Schedule posters are sick this year. Nelson, Nembot, KC and Sefo versions of vertical posters. Each one has a reverse side with all 4 of them in a horizontal layout. Schedule on both sides. These suckers are almost 3 feet long.
- NE corner looks so impressive from inside the stadium. Simply huge and beautiful.
- Samson was the only injury I noticed. He was able to get up and walk off after a scary moment. Waiting to see the report on him. We need him. Leo Jackson did not look close to ready to me (especially at NT). We can't afford injuries on the interior DL.
