The last public scrimmage of fall camp is in the books, fans probably came away excited about the defense but a little nervous about the offense. Here's how this fan saw it.
The defense
- In general I am incredibly impressed with this group. Considering how much talent was lost last season not only the replacement starters but the 2nd string depth is damned impressive.
- The D line is still missing a few key guys in Davis and Bradley but despite that is getting good pressure on the QBs. A handful of sacks today, Kidder had one, Johnson had one, Schye had two I think. A few TFL's for both Bedell and Sims. A sack for Peevey. And some good big body guys in Davidson and McKee-Osibodu who don't get the glory of the stats but take up double teams nice. We even saw some future guys making a few plays today like Devin Maua and Randy Rodriguez batting a pass down - Rodriguez's was against the 1st team offense and on 4th down.
- Linebackers, considering we were coming into this season with only Strahm with some experience at LB we're looking good. Buss had two sacks today, Strahm a few hard hits, Banks multiple stops. What's more impressive about this LB corps though is the quality depth that should shine through on ST as well as in situations where we need other guys to step up in game situations. Vika Fa'atuiese is a future star in the making, he almost had a pick 6 today and did have at least one TFL. Cy Sirmon, Dante Olson, Gage Smith, Alex Thomas, Holden Ryan, & Shayne Cochran have been rotating a ton with the 2s and while they show some younger errors their talent is undeniable. Sirmon and Olson have really impressed me both this spring and fall so far. Holden Ryan too... from going to watching and playing some WR last year to now being the 2nd string OLB. He had a huge hit last week and a pick this week.
- Corners, admittedly I'm worried about not having JR for 5 1/2 games, however right now with the pressure the D-line is dialing up it's really helping our corners find their groove. Markell Sanders had a tremendous pass breakup today, a 3rd down pass, about 25 yards down field, it's in Curran's hands. Sanders punches the ball right out of Curran's grip and the ball falls to the ground. Ryan McKinley and TJ Reynard are rotating for the opposite corner and I'd guess that both will rotate and play a bunch at that spot. McKinley is a bigger and more physical presence, some good run support. He did get flagged for a PI but the coaches declined it (not sure why) it was a play where he was beat. Reynard had one real good breakup, taking Justin Calhoun right out of a 1-on-1 play and knocking the ball down. The depth guys of Cowans and Alexander have surprised me, are they starter material? No. I believe both were individually beat for late TDs. However both made some good breakups and had some good tackles on running plays in the scrimmage too. They're backup/depth guys but look a lot better than recent depth we've had.
- Safeties, guys... we're GOOD. Yamen is a stud and so far he's showing good improvement in pass coverage. Everyone assumed Josh Sandry would just give way to Justin Strong, but he hasn't and remained the starter today for the most part. Meanwhile Stong played today (missed the 1st scrimmage) and made his presence known with a good pick on a Phillips pass that was thrown in error (Phillips threw a comeback route, Toure was running a go route). Strong saw it and not only picked it but expertly tapped his feet in bounds to confirm possession. Delaney and Jerrin Williams will contribute too, mostly ST I'd guess. Delaney had a PI in the endzone today, but also had two pass breakups.
- The defensive scheme is wild and has really messed with the offense. The gloves are off and Semore appeared to have full freedom to call what he wanted. In years past where it appeared (although I could be wrong) that the DC ran more "base" sets with limited blitzing and strategy, that's not the case. We saw so many different personnel and sets today. There were times where 10 or 11 guys were on the line, times where no one had their hand down, some great blitzes, and some big time TFLs.
- Glowing defensive report aside, it wasn't perfect, beat deep twice in 1 on 1 coverage for TDs late was a bummer after such a strong showing. The defense I think was flagged for 2 or 3 PI's or holding calls downfield. Another time they were caught with 14 or 15 guys subbing out on a quick snap and were flagged. They also gave up a few big run plays, especially when the RB got to the 2nd level and cut to the sideline. The offense had a little more running room than I've seen in the prior scrimmage.
The offense
- Let's be honest, the first team today until late and playing against the 2s did not look sharp. Sacks, bad passes, a few drops, and killer penalties that stopped good drives. They seemed to improve with each possession, it was more baby steps instead of big leaps though.
- QBs. Gus threw two TDs but missed a few other great opportunities as well due to overthrows. This was probably the most I've seen him overthrow passes in scrimmages since last year. Was his confidence rattled with the current patchwork O-line? Was it b/c he's missing a bunch of his regular 1st team targets? Or was it just a bad day? Gus knows and runs this offense better than Chalich or Phillips but some of his throws and decisions today were costly. Overthrows that ended drives and twice cost long-bomb TD plays. A 0-yard pass and completion on 4th and 5. I was a little perplexed by what I saw from him today. Chalich had the best day moving the offense, he had the first TD to Toure I believe, also ran the zone-read well. Phillips showed more of his up and down style, with some big passes and moving the offense but two bad picks, one he broadcasted right to Holden Ryan's hands and the other one on the miscue that Strong hopped. I think if today was the deciding factor Chalich might've locked in at QB2.
- RBs. Overall a good day running the ball. The biggest bright side takeaway from what we saw on offense was that the running game was going today. Favors has shown how far he's come, he's running with good confidence and making good decisions. He didn't have any real long runs but a few that were in the 7 to 12 yard type of range. Also a few nice catches on screen plays. He even successfully neutralized Caleb Kidder on a blitz. John Nguyen must've lead in yards, he had 3 big runs, one which got negated by a holding. Another run was to the left of the line, with no options and slipping a tackle he cut back to the right side of the field and turned it in to a 25-ish yard gain. Some good runs from Counts too, more of a quiet day for Calhoun.
- WRs. Quiet day for some of the starters like Curran and Calhoun. I'd guess the 1st team is missing Homan and I think Horner who might not have been out there today, as well as Lamarriel Taylor. JLM and Lyons in the slot had some grabs (JLM had a tough drop on 3rd down too). Louie-McGee did have a TD late, it was an odd play where both WRs were together, someone was probably running the wrong route, but Jerry dived and caught the pass, so it's all good. The leading WR in yards I'd guess was none other than Mitch McLaughlin, playing as the 3rd slot WR. A few long catch and run plays. I thought I read he's a 2-time walk on for the Griz? The kid is making the argument to play! Of the young WRs a few catches for Akem and Nagler but the guy who had the day was Samori Toure who miiiight be making an argument that he should be playing right away. He had a TD and a few other good grabs, he turned one 5 yard route into a 30 yard gain.
- O-line. 1st team from left to right went Reese/Villanueva/Sprunk/Dietrich/Thiebes. 2nd team jumbled a bit but for a while it was Todd/Kelly/Luke/Hart/Jackson and then after a bit Jackson went to LT, Todd went inside at LG and I don't recall who played LT. We're missing Weyer's snaps and skill. Sprunk is a good run blocker but his snaps are still too slow. Luke was far better than last week with accuracy but still had fits including one series were all three snaps were bad and essentially sent the offense backwards to a 3 and out. Blitz pickup wasn't good enough, too many times guys came through untouched. Stitt at one point yelled at the offense or the QB that he's "only going to have 1 second" to throw the ball. I'm not sure why the senior Todd is not up with the 1s, obviously the coaches are seeing more in Villanueva right now. Run blocking was pretty good today, better than we'd seen before. The other frustration was penalties. On the 3rd drive for the first team it was going great, a few first downs passing and then Nguyen rips off a 25 or so yard run, but it gets called back on a hold. The offense then sputters and punts. There were a few false starts too, one that killed a drive. I will say, the 2nd team Oline looked better than we've seen before. Pass protection early was bad, but improved, run blocking wasn't as strong as the 1st teams. They weren't good or great, but compared to what we've seen out of prior 2nd team OL's, this one showed some good glimmers of hope. Probably a sign of the good younger recruits mixed with Germer's expert training. O-line needs to get synced up and going. Single biggest concern of mine coming away from today. Thayne Jackson is going to become an interesting dilemma, he'll presumably be on the travel team as a tackle for this season, he did ok today, will they try to protect his redshirt this year or play him? Todd at tackle was new to see, did great run blocking, not so great 1-on-1 pass blocking against guys like Schye.
- Mixed bag for the offense today. No real good results against the 1st team defense. Much better show of running. Some late scores but against the 2s. A few meaningful drives also ended with a RZ pick, a missed field goal, and a turnover on downs on the defense 30.
Special Teams
- Tim Semenza went 1-2 and 2-2 on PATs, Brandon Purdy went 1-1 but 0-1 on PATs. Semenza also did all but one of the kickoffs, he twice kicked it a yard or two deep into the endzone, the others were fielded around the 2 to 3 yard line. Purdy never kicked off that I saw. I'm going to venture a guess that Semenza is leading the race right now.
- More good punts from Eric Williams, had a few 50+ yarders, also had a few go just 37/38 yards. Williams was inconsistent with his hang time. Every other punt (it seemed) would be a high and towering kick and then the next would be a lower wobbler. We've got a punter though, the guy is a reliable option to plan on probably averaging in the lower/mid 40's for his punts. Williams did one kickoff, it was low and short and fielded at the 15.
- Lyons, Nguyen, and JLM fielded punts. Lyons and Nugyen had all clean catches, JLM bobbled one but the rest were good. Tough to say but I'm thinking Lyons is our #1 punt returner.
- Lyons, JLM, Favors, Nash, and Toure all fielded kickoffs. Nash had a few longer returns but I'd venture a guess they'll want to redshirt him. Lyons had a few 30 to 35 yard returns. He looks good returning kicks.
- All in all it was a good step forward. Yeah 1 missed field goal and 1 missed PAT but otherwise vast improvements from the spring. Niekamp and the other coaches have worked miracles with this group. Additionally the guys covering/blocking for kicks, while younger players, are quick and athletic. Some are good hitters and provide good depth on defense. Guys like Ryan, Delaney, Williams, Sirmon, Olson, & Smith. We're in good shape, IMO.
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It was a beautiful morning for football, up next is the Great Griz Encounter on Thursday at Caras park with the senior poster. Make sure to be there!
Go Griz!
The defense
- In general I am incredibly impressed with this group. Considering how much talent was lost last season not only the replacement starters but the 2nd string depth is damned impressive.
- The D line is still missing a few key guys in Davis and Bradley but despite that is getting good pressure on the QBs. A handful of sacks today, Kidder had one, Johnson had one, Schye had two I think. A few TFL's for both Bedell and Sims. A sack for Peevey. And some good big body guys in Davidson and McKee-Osibodu who don't get the glory of the stats but take up double teams nice. We even saw some future guys making a few plays today like Devin Maua and Randy Rodriguez batting a pass down - Rodriguez's was against the 1st team offense and on 4th down.
- Linebackers, considering we were coming into this season with only Strahm with some experience at LB we're looking good. Buss had two sacks today, Strahm a few hard hits, Banks multiple stops. What's more impressive about this LB corps though is the quality depth that should shine through on ST as well as in situations where we need other guys to step up in game situations. Vika Fa'atuiese is a future star in the making, he almost had a pick 6 today and did have at least one TFL. Cy Sirmon, Dante Olson, Gage Smith, Alex Thomas, Holden Ryan, & Shayne Cochran have been rotating a ton with the 2s and while they show some younger errors their talent is undeniable. Sirmon and Olson have really impressed me both this spring and fall so far. Holden Ryan too... from going to watching and playing some WR last year to now being the 2nd string OLB. He had a huge hit last week and a pick this week.
- Corners, admittedly I'm worried about not having JR for 5 1/2 games, however right now with the pressure the D-line is dialing up it's really helping our corners find their groove. Markell Sanders had a tremendous pass breakup today, a 3rd down pass, about 25 yards down field, it's in Curran's hands. Sanders punches the ball right out of Curran's grip and the ball falls to the ground. Ryan McKinley and TJ Reynard are rotating for the opposite corner and I'd guess that both will rotate and play a bunch at that spot. McKinley is a bigger and more physical presence, some good run support. He did get flagged for a PI but the coaches declined it (not sure why) it was a play where he was beat. Reynard had one real good breakup, taking Justin Calhoun right out of a 1-on-1 play and knocking the ball down. The depth guys of Cowans and Alexander have surprised me, are they starter material? No. I believe both were individually beat for late TDs. However both made some good breakups and had some good tackles on running plays in the scrimmage too. They're backup/depth guys but look a lot better than recent depth we've had.
- Safeties, guys... we're GOOD. Yamen is a stud and so far he's showing good improvement in pass coverage. Everyone assumed Josh Sandry would just give way to Justin Strong, but he hasn't and remained the starter today for the most part. Meanwhile Stong played today (missed the 1st scrimmage) and made his presence known with a good pick on a Phillips pass that was thrown in error (Phillips threw a comeback route, Toure was running a go route). Strong saw it and not only picked it but expertly tapped his feet in bounds to confirm possession. Delaney and Jerrin Williams will contribute too, mostly ST I'd guess. Delaney had a PI in the endzone today, but also had two pass breakups.
- The defensive scheme is wild and has really messed with the offense. The gloves are off and Semore appeared to have full freedom to call what he wanted. In years past where it appeared (although I could be wrong) that the DC ran more "base" sets with limited blitzing and strategy, that's not the case. We saw so many different personnel and sets today. There were times where 10 or 11 guys were on the line, times where no one had their hand down, some great blitzes, and some big time TFLs.
- Glowing defensive report aside, it wasn't perfect, beat deep twice in 1 on 1 coverage for TDs late was a bummer after such a strong showing. The defense I think was flagged for 2 or 3 PI's or holding calls downfield. Another time they were caught with 14 or 15 guys subbing out on a quick snap and were flagged. They also gave up a few big run plays, especially when the RB got to the 2nd level and cut to the sideline. The offense had a little more running room than I've seen in the prior scrimmage.
The offense
- Let's be honest, the first team today until late and playing against the 2s did not look sharp. Sacks, bad passes, a few drops, and killer penalties that stopped good drives. They seemed to improve with each possession, it was more baby steps instead of big leaps though.
- QBs. Gus threw two TDs but missed a few other great opportunities as well due to overthrows. This was probably the most I've seen him overthrow passes in scrimmages since last year. Was his confidence rattled with the current patchwork O-line? Was it b/c he's missing a bunch of his regular 1st team targets? Or was it just a bad day? Gus knows and runs this offense better than Chalich or Phillips but some of his throws and decisions today were costly. Overthrows that ended drives and twice cost long-bomb TD plays. A 0-yard pass and completion on 4th and 5. I was a little perplexed by what I saw from him today. Chalich had the best day moving the offense, he had the first TD to Toure I believe, also ran the zone-read well. Phillips showed more of his up and down style, with some big passes and moving the offense but two bad picks, one he broadcasted right to Holden Ryan's hands and the other one on the miscue that Strong hopped. I think if today was the deciding factor Chalich might've locked in at QB2.
- RBs. Overall a good day running the ball. The biggest bright side takeaway from what we saw on offense was that the running game was going today. Favors has shown how far he's come, he's running with good confidence and making good decisions. He didn't have any real long runs but a few that were in the 7 to 12 yard type of range. Also a few nice catches on screen plays. He even successfully neutralized Caleb Kidder on a blitz. John Nguyen must've lead in yards, he had 3 big runs, one which got negated by a holding. Another run was to the left of the line, with no options and slipping a tackle he cut back to the right side of the field and turned it in to a 25-ish yard gain. Some good runs from Counts too, more of a quiet day for Calhoun.
- WRs. Quiet day for some of the starters like Curran and Calhoun. I'd guess the 1st team is missing Homan and I think Horner who might not have been out there today, as well as Lamarriel Taylor. JLM and Lyons in the slot had some grabs (JLM had a tough drop on 3rd down too). Louie-McGee did have a TD late, it was an odd play where both WRs were together, someone was probably running the wrong route, but Jerry dived and caught the pass, so it's all good. The leading WR in yards I'd guess was none other than Mitch McLaughlin, playing as the 3rd slot WR. A few long catch and run plays. I thought I read he's a 2-time walk on for the Griz? The kid is making the argument to play! Of the young WRs a few catches for Akem and Nagler but the guy who had the day was Samori Toure who miiiight be making an argument that he should be playing right away. He had a TD and a few other good grabs, he turned one 5 yard route into a 30 yard gain.
- O-line. 1st team from left to right went Reese/Villanueva/Sprunk/Dietrich/Thiebes. 2nd team jumbled a bit but for a while it was Todd/Kelly/Luke/Hart/Jackson and then after a bit Jackson went to LT, Todd went inside at LG and I don't recall who played LT. We're missing Weyer's snaps and skill. Sprunk is a good run blocker but his snaps are still too slow. Luke was far better than last week with accuracy but still had fits including one series were all three snaps were bad and essentially sent the offense backwards to a 3 and out. Blitz pickup wasn't good enough, too many times guys came through untouched. Stitt at one point yelled at the offense or the QB that he's "only going to have 1 second" to throw the ball. I'm not sure why the senior Todd is not up with the 1s, obviously the coaches are seeing more in Villanueva right now. Run blocking was pretty good today, better than we'd seen before. The other frustration was penalties. On the 3rd drive for the first team it was going great, a few first downs passing and then Nguyen rips off a 25 or so yard run, but it gets called back on a hold. The offense then sputters and punts. There were a few false starts too, one that killed a drive. I will say, the 2nd team Oline looked better than we've seen before. Pass protection early was bad, but improved, run blocking wasn't as strong as the 1st teams. They weren't good or great, but compared to what we've seen out of prior 2nd team OL's, this one showed some good glimmers of hope. Probably a sign of the good younger recruits mixed with Germer's expert training. O-line needs to get synced up and going. Single biggest concern of mine coming away from today. Thayne Jackson is going to become an interesting dilemma, he'll presumably be on the travel team as a tackle for this season, he did ok today, will they try to protect his redshirt this year or play him? Todd at tackle was new to see, did great run blocking, not so great 1-on-1 pass blocking against guys like Schye.
- Mixed bag for the offense today. No real good results against the 1st team defense. Much better show of running. Some late scores but against the 2s. A few meaningful drives also ended with a RZ pick, a missed field goal, and a turnover on downs on the defense 30.
Special Teams
- Tim Semenza went 1-2 and 2-2 on PATs, Brandon Purdy went 1-1 but 0-1 on PATs. Semenza also did all but one of the kickoffs, he twice kicked it a yard or two deep into the endzone, the others were fielded around the 2 to 3 yard line. Purdy never kicked off that I saw. I'm going to venture a guess that Semenza is leading the race right now.
- More good punts from Eric Williams, had a few 50+ yarders, also had a few go just 37/38 yards. Williams was inconsistent with his hang time. Every other punt (it seemed) would be a high and towering kick and then the next would be a lower wobbler. We've got a punter though, the guy is a reliable option to plan on probably averaging in the lower/mid 40's for his punts. Williams did one kickoff, it was low and short and fielded at the 15.
- Lyons, Nguyen, and JLM fielded punts. Lyons and Nugyen had all clean catches, JLM bobbled one but the rest were good. Tough to say but I'm thinking Lyons is our #1 punt returner.
- Lyons, JLM, Favors, Nash, and Toure all fielded kickoffs. Nash had a few longer returns but I'd venture a guess they'll want to redshirt him. Lyons had a few 30 to 35 yard returns. He looks good returning kicks.
- All in all it was a good step forward. Yeah 1 missed field goal and 1 missed PAT but otherwise vast improvements from the spring. Niekamp and the other coaches have worked miracles with this group. Additionally the guys covering/blocking for kicks, while younger players, are quick and athletic. Some are good hitters and provide good depth on defense. Guys like Ryan, Delaney, Williams, Sirmon, Olson, & Smith. We're in good shape, IMO.
---------------
It was a beautiful morning for football, up next is the Great Griz Encounter on Thursday at Caras park with the senior poster. Make sure to be there!
Go Griz!
