The Setting: Scrimmage that was game simulated, complete with official referees and yard sticks. Probably about 70 plays so it was extended.
Notables in Attendance
Noah Herron and Zach Strief. Strief got after his Bears workout. My guess is he goes in the NFL second round.
The Team & Housekeeping Matters
No Board duels today. The team seemd intense and excited about the scrimmage. Leaders were also more noticeable. After the scrimmage the team lined up for pushups where the magic number was clearly heard as "7". One player who I will not mention got it all wrong so the team had to do additional sprints. One thing I have noticed is that Rock doesn't expect anythiing less in practice as he would in a game. If a player isn't focused then the whole team may have to compensate by running. It didn't end there though. Seems some lineman came to spring seriously out of shape. I wont mention names or if each is on the offensive or defensive line. BUT, after some sprints, which were under a reasonable time bar, 3 players couldn't make time. The linemen had to run 100 yards in 20 seconds. This became difficult for one who after about the 8th run only went 99 yards and didn't give Rock or the team that extra yard. Rock was pissed as he should be since this player didn't get it done when he could have. More running. 2 linemen ran out of gas or breath and just gave it up. Another, to his credit, wisely kept running even though he was spent. The bottom line basically is that a few of the underclassmen came to spring ball not in the best shape. 90% of the players look great and seem to be in great shape.
Offensive Formations: Two Back
On one series it was two back with the exception of one play that was one back. Dudes, it was sweet. One nice pass from I believe CJ opened up. A few nice runs. Then a 15 yard TD by Roberson on a nice two back formation and fake in which it was hard to figure out who was going to get the ball. Alot more two back today than on Thursday but still it is a secondary formation for us.
More Position Swtiches
Malleo to Backer. Hunter to CB. Both moves seem like good ones to me. Hunter immediately broke up a screen pass. Then also got an INT in the red zone. His quickness may be used as a corner blitz as it was his super quick 4.3 speed blitz that broke up a screen pass.
Malleo seems to be one of the more popular guys on the team as his teammates were rooting him on at the backer position. Fitz q'd him in on some of the calls. He seemed to find the right seams to make tackles. He either caused a fumble or recovered one and had two nice sticks in a row. Not bad but still learning the position. He seems pretty excited about it all and seemed to have fun at backer.
The Offense: Brewer's Great and Also Ugly Day
With Sutton playing sparingly it was painfully obvious that the most dangerous play on this team is giving the ball to Andrew Brewer. There is NO WAY this kid gets moved from QB this year unless they put in special plays for him at QB when needed. If he works out his passing then he is Vince Young all over again. Unfortunately, he hasn't been too consistent throwing the ball. More on Andrew under the QB heading.
QB: CJ seems to be most comfortable & seems to be farther along than Kafka and Brewer as far as reading defenses. Threw a beautiful pass down the middle to I believe Herbert. Still a little rusty but he's clearly number 1 right now
Kafka: Did I tell you Kafka can run? Yep, and he doesn't go down easy as he ran right through a Cole tackle and almost took it to the house on a 15 yard run down to about the 7 yard line. He worked with the 1's along with CJ.
Brewer Brewer's passing needs work. His arm is there but his recognition and throws need to work themselves out bigtime. If they did or when they do then Brewer will get serious QB minutes. He did have a nice 20 yard pass to Ward who brought it down to the 2 yard line. Had some other bad passes that were low. And on the last play of the scrimmage while on the 3 yard line he threw a sideline screen that was picked off by Hunter. To Brewer's credit, he actually caught Hunter at about the 50 as a result of his speed and a slight angle.
But his running with the ball needs alot of space here. Brewer is sick. Sick as in he shouldn't be able to do the things he does while running. He should be just too big to outrun the defense. Rock let Brewer run alot today and it was a sight. The following isn't chronological, just taking it off my notes.
Brewer: No gain
Brewer: 20 yard gain down the short side of the field. Ref called a hold.
Brewer: 10 yards first down
Brewer: 20 yards down to the 2 then 5 yard false start moved back to 7 then Brewer on a called QB boot where the ball was hiked and Andrew just took off for the endzone pylon. Touchdown, he was too quick and big to be denied. I thought his TD boot was the highlight of the day as he got to that endzone corner in a way not seen in these parts.
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Brewer: 4th and 1 on the 35...so give it to Brewer who found a quick seam and turned on the jets...25 yard run down to the 10.
Mark my words, other than Sutton, nobody on the field is more dangerous than Brewer running with the ball. I know he's only a freshman and this sounds asinine but it's a fact as far as today goes. nuff said about Brewer.
OL: Tripodi looks bigtime improved this year. Look for him to move up on the Turk 22 post srping rankings. He's quicker and IMO the most improved player so far. Joe was ok last year but he's better than that now. Also, was very vocal and appears as a leader on this line.
Rees had a nice pancake on like the 4th play of the scrimmage and seemed to do well.
Other starters along the line were Tommy B, Belding, and Desmond Taylor. I might be wrong on Taylor as I wrote down #76 and I'm not sure if I miswrote it or if McConnell is actually in that jersey. Not sure.
WR: In drills Ward dropped two passes that his coach noticed but I thought him, TJ jones, and Herbert had the most productive day in the scrimmage. BTW, Cheatham's legs look huge so I'd like to see him work things out and get some PT in games, he should be able to break some tackles with that power. Didn't see Mitchell anywhere, maybe I missed him. Frymire is working hard.
RB: All the backs looked good. Conteh seemed to step things up. Jordan is a beast out there and wouldn't be denied a first down. Jordan looks really hard to bring down.
Roberson looked great also. Looks more powerful too. Sutton played sparingly.
Special Teams: Howells made every kick. He's got the leg for sure. Like all kickers he's just going to have to work it out in games.
Defense:
DL: 1's today were Gill, Hahn, Mims, Ngene. Wooton didn't play. Ngene seemed to only play a few consecutive plays at a time. Koehn, Anderson and Kennedy rotated in with these guys. Ngene had a nice TFL. Hahn adds more depth to this line.
LB: 1's were Dinard and C. Black on the outside, Roach in the middle. Malleo is now a backer. Roach had an INT. I think Malleo had a fumble rec. This unit is pretty banged up with Jeske, Kadela, Simpson all with orange on.
DB's: 1's today were Cole, Peterman, Heinz, Smith. Hunter is now a CB. Butler made a nice stop. Peterman put a nice hit on Sutton. Smith needed to get off some blocks in running plays quicker although his pass coverage was good.