Well spring ball is in the books. It was an interesting finish to the spring season where I personally saw some kids really step up and I've got to say some concerns of mine are fading - especially on defense.
As always the play by play is in my twitter feed, I'll spare repeating too much from that.
My observations from tonight:
- John Nguyen had one of the better runs I've seen all spring, made about 5 guys miss, kept his feet in bounds along the sideline and was finally brought down after 39 yards. The crowd was cheering him on, it was a great run. And no fumbles tonight, even getting the wind knocked out of him and then getting poked in the eye.
- Two interceptions tonight, one was Delaserra grabbing a bad throw by Gustafson into coverage, the other was by Nate Harris on Shay Smithwick Hann which was on a slightly underthrown pass. Harris showing some cockyness brought the ball back to hand it to the QBs on the sideline.
- Other defenders were putting some hard hits out there, Schye was flying all over and I was told racked up 8 tackles. Many times he was shooting thorugh the gap and getting the carrier. Pass coverage was suspect for Schye. Gamboa made some good plays especially containing the QBs on bootleg passes or QB keepers. Moody had a real hard hit on Carver. Also Delaney had multiple hard hits, he's a good sized safety.
- Both Gustafson and Smithwick Hann had some nice drives but there were no TDs scored tonight. They threw some more deep balls in this practice, probably 6 or 7 real deep passes tonight. Gustafson's passes were tight spirals and on the money. One was dropped by Rogers who was closely covered by Nelson and another might've been a TD but Janssen was held as he got past the corner. I was impressed with the improvements of Gustafson this spring. He has really come along. SSH is a fairly known quantity - both had good conversions on multiple 3rd downs. Simis had a very quiet night.
- Hard to criticize playcalling in a scrimmage but Gustafson's best drive of the night got to the 3 yard line and then the offense called 3 run plays with the only RB left (Hagfors) that went backwards. I would've liked to have seen them keep throwing the ball.
- As it's been said before this defense swarms to the ball. Lots of times a running lane would open up wide but then a few linebackers or DBs would come shooting in to take what was looking like a possible big run play to a short gain.
- Kickers tonight, Greenberg went 3/5, Worst 4/5, Lider 3/5. All missed from a 49 yard attempt. All were short from 49 out. The other kicks were from 23 to 42 yards out. Greenberg is the first out to kick, Worst 2nd and Lider 3rd. The big off-season need for each will be power for Greenberg, consistency for Worst, and accuracy for Lider.
- The tackles were having issues, even Schmaing and Poole. Wags and Holmes had sacks and disrupted a few plays. Schmaing improved but early on he had Holmes shoving him around. Poole had a real bad false start on a 4th and 1 attempt to convert it - it forced the punt team out. The interior line with the 1st string tonight was Hines (#66) and Weyer at guard and Deitrich at center. The interior 1st string was playing well tonight. The interior 2nd string was not as good. Todd was up and down, Kalekini had what appeared to be a rough night.
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It was a fairly toned down scrimmage and you could see that this was really giving the walk ons and younger guys a hard look at how they'll fit in to the fall roster. There were probably 6 or 7 starters and another 7-8 rotating depth or 2nd string players out. Lots of guys resting today, including Jordan Johnson. I was told he was just a little dinged up, nothing big, and he was kept out as a precaution, he wasn't limping or in any sort of a brace. All smiles from him on the sideline, so I'm not too worried there.
It was fun to watch out there tonight, the defense looked pretty good, I'm looking forward to seeing the gains these guys make when they return in the summer.
I'll get a few more thoughts up this weekend on a post spring wrap up.
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As always the play by play is in my twitter feed, I'll spare repeating too much from that.
My observations from tonight:
- John Nguyen had one of the better runs I've seen all spring, made about 5 guys miss, kept his feet in bounds along the sideline and was finally brought down after 39 yards. The crowd was cheering him on, it was a great run. And no fumbles tonight, even getting the wind knocked out of him and then getting poked in the eye.
- Two interceptions tonight, one was Delaserra grabbing a bad throw by Gustafson into coverage, the other was by Nate Harris on Shay Smithwick Hann which was on a slightly underthrown pass. Harris showing some cockyness brought the ball back to hand it to the QBs on the sideline.
- Other defenders were putting some hard hits out there, Schye was flying all over and I was told racked up 8 tackles. Many times he was shooting thorugh the gap and getting the carrier. Pass coverage was suspect for Schye. Gamboa made some good plays especially containing the QBs on bootleg passes or QB keepers. Moody had a real hard hit on Carver. Also Delaney had multiple hard hits, he's a good sized safety.
- Both Gustafson and Smithwick Hann had some nice drives but there were no TDs scored tonight. They threw some more deep balls in this practice, probably 6 or 7 real deep passes tonight. Gustafson's passes were tight spirals and on the money. One was dropped by Rogers who was closely covered by Nelson and another might've been a TD but Janssen was held as he got past the corner. I was impressed with the improvements of Gustafson this spring. He has really come along. SSH is a fairly known quantity - both had good conversions on multiple 3rd downs. Simis had a very quiet night.
- Hard to criticize playcalling in a scrimmage but Gustafson's best drive of the night got to the 3 yard line and then the offense called 3 run plays with the only RB left (Hagfors) that went backwards. I would've liked to have seen them keep throwing the ball.
- As it's been said before this defense swarms to the ball. Lots of times a running lane would open up wide but then a few linebackers or DBs would come shooting in to take what was looking like a possible big run play to a short gain.
- Kickers tonight, Greenberg went 3/5, Worst 4/5, Lider 3/5. All missed from a 49 yard attempt. All were short from 49 out. The other kicks were from 23 to 42 yards out. Greenberg is the first out to kick, Worst 2nd and Lider 3rd. The big off-season need for each will be power for Greenberg, consistency for Worst, and accuracy for Lider.
- The tackles were having issues, even Schmaing and Poole. Wags and Holmes had sacks and disrupted a few plays. Schmaing improved but early on he had Holmes shoving him around. Poole had a real bad false start on a 4th and 1 attempt to convert it - it forced the punt team out. The interior line with the 1st string tonight was Hines (#66) and Weyer at guard and Deitrich at center. The interior 1st string was playing well tonight. The interior 2nd string was not as good. Todd was up and down, Kalekini had what appeared to be a rough night.
--------------
It was a fairly toned down scrimmage and you could see that this was really giving the walk ons and younger guys a hard look at how they'll fit in to the fall roster. There were probably 6 or 7 starters and another 7-8 rotating depth or 2nd string players out. Lots of guys resting today, including Jordan Johnson. I was told he was just a little dinged up, nothing big, and he was kept out as a precaution, he wasn't limping or in any sort of a brace. All smiles from him on the sideline, so I'm not too worried there.
It was fun to watch out there tonight, the defense looked pretty good, I'm looking forward to seeing the gains these guys make when they return in the summer.
I'll get a few more thoughts up this weekend on a post spring wrap up.
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