- Joined
- Aug 28, 2011
- Messages
- 27,655
- Reaction Score
- 70,278
Last week in California turned it into a crazy jet lag week end. I did attend the spring game.
The tailgate was in mid-season form. Everyone was very upbeat. Good to see old faces and some new ones. Bumped into Mr Stewart, dad of the LB, the family is very happy to have their son home, he was hanging with the Xavier head coach, his son is a walk on DT/DE. XHC said nice things about Pasqualoni.
The game? What game? There was no game. So no halftime. So no Boneyard meet up. That definitely sucked.
The running game looked awful. A McCombs nine yard run was the longest of the day, save an end around. Holes were tough to find. There was almost nothing inside. The walk on from Plymouth State was the best to my eyes. He seems to have very good vision and more speed than McCombs.
Whitmer is still Whitmer. He can make some nice throws and miss some open guys. His accuracy still needs works. Cochrane was high with just about everything leading to picks. Adrenaline? He made one beautiful seem pass for 40+ yards. But his completion percentage was well below 50%. McCummings has the strongest arm of the three. His release is very, very slow. His accuracy isn't that good.
The overall pass blocking by the OL looked adequate. There was usually a pocket to step up into on most passing plays I sat a little lower than usual so it was tough to watch the line play. I can say this. Those roster weights are bull spit, Nwokeji is listed at 279, he is much bigger. I looked for but never saw Hemmingway.
Davis and Phillips are very good receivers. To be great they have to finish better. To hang onto the ball when being hit. Foxx looks like a weapon. He got open. He caught the ball. He also ran for more yards on one end around than Kash Moore did in two years. The others get an incomplete.
TEs looked, I dunno. They blocked okay. They caught the balls that were easy to catch but no one made a tough catch. Need to see more but I'm encouraged.
Hey, Tim Wilman, nice to see a senior step up. He will contribute at DE, active player, one whiff on a RB in the backfield but he was in the backfield a lot. Also heard from an insider that Tim joined the 3-4-5 club, ( 300 bench, 400 squat, and 500 dead lift). Lot of missing pieces on the DL. McBride is HUGE. EJ Norris also flashed. There was not much push up the middle. The DT must get more penetration than we saw Saturday.
We are loaded at LB. Manquise Vann was very good. He plays fast and from the waist down he has more than a solid base (for the old timers looks like Earl Campbell). Steward is really, really good in pass coverage, he is a true three down LB. Ashiru also flashed.
The DBs are coming. There will be a drop off but NOT off a cliff. Bryon Jones looks very natural as a cover corner. Stevenson may be small but he battles and looked like he will challenge for playing time. I like the safeties. Brown and Adams both looked the part of starters. Obi had a nice pass break up.
OVERALL
Here's the downside. The offense does not look sharp. They don't come off the ball cleanly. You can still see rough edges in the backfield ball handling. They need to do things faster and cleaner. It starts with sending in the plays. There was to much confusion on the play calling, getting the play in and getting lined up. They start behind and stay behind. That has to hurt confidence. It has to be fixed. Hope the new OC can get it up to speed by August.
Our defense we will be good. Again.
The tailgate was in mid-season form. Everyone was very upbeat. Good to see old faces and some new ones. Bumped into Mr Stewart, dad of the LB, the family is very happy to have their son home, he was hanging with the Xavier head coach, his son is a walk on DT/DE. XHC said nice things about Pasqualoni.
The game? What game? There was no game. So no halftime. So no Boneyard meet up. That definitely sucked.
The running game looked awful. A McCombs nine yard run was the longest of the day, save an end around. Holes were tough to find. There was almost nothing inside. The walk on from Plymouth State was the best to my eyes. He seems to have very good vision and more speed than McCombs.
Whitmer is still Whitmer. He can make some nice throws and miss some open guys. His accuracy still needs works. Cochrane was high with just about everything leading to picks. Adrenaline? He made one beautiful seem pass for 40+ yards. But his completion percentage was well below 50%. McCummings has the strongest arm of the three. His release is very, very slow. His accuracy isn't that good.
The overall pass blocking by the OL looked adequate. There was usually a pocket to step up into on most passing plays I sat a little lower than usual so it was tough to watch the line play. I can say this. Those roster weights are bull spit, Nwokeji is listed at 279, he is much bigger. I looked for but never saw Hemmingway.
Davis and Phillips are very good receivers. To be great they have to finish better. To hang onto the ball when being hit. Foxx looks like a weapon. He got open. He caught the ball. He also ran for more yards on one end around than Kash Moore did in two years. The others get an incomplete.
TEs looked, I dunno. They blocked okay. They caught the balls that were easy to catch but no one made a tough catch. Need to see more but I'm encouraged.
Hey, Tim Wilman, nice to see a senior step up. He will contribute at DE, active player, one whiff on a RB in the backfield but he was in the backfield a lot. Also heard from an insider that Tim joined the 3-4-5 club, ( 300 bench, 400 squat, and 500 dead lift). Lot of missing pieces on the DL. McBride is HUGE. EJ Norris also flashed. There was not much push up the middle. The DT must get more penetration than we saw Saturday.
We are loaded at LB. Manquise Vann was very good. He plays fast and from the waist down he has more than a solid base (for the old timers looks like Earl Campbell). Steward is really, really good in pass coverage, he is a true three down LB. Ashiru also flashed.
The DBs are coming. There will be a drop off but NOT off a cliff. Bryon Jones looks very natural as a cover corner. Stevenson may be small but he battles and looked like he will challenge for playing time. I like the safeties. Brown and Adams both looked the part of starters. Obi had a nice pass break up.
OVERALL
Here's the downside. The offense does not look sharp. They don't come off the ball cleanly. You can still see rough edges in the backfield ball handling. They need to do things faster and cleaner. It starts with sending in the plays. There was to much confusion on the play calling, getting the play in and getting lined up. They start behind and stay behind. That has to hurt confidence. It has to be fixed. Hope the new OC can get it up to speed by August.
Our defense we will be good. Again.
