Good morning Griz Nation, I've got a few spare minutes before my day gets rolling. I know many of you saw tweets from Skyline, GoGriz, other sports reporters, and a few from myself. Thought I'd share a few general impressions here. I'll probably come back and add to this later today.
By position
- Safety is looking pretty good as a position. With Robertson suited but apparently not playing, Nash Fouch stepped in and played pretty well. He's an enforcer and a hard-nosed player, had some absolutely crushing hits. Coverage skills need to come along but that's to expected with an RS Frosh. Gavin Crow (I believe) picked off Sneed in the endzone. And they rotated a group of depth guys to show that they're building this position pretty well. Robby was catching some flak for taking a few bad angles on the ball carrier. Sandry had a sure-fire pick on a hail mary-type of pass but crashed into another DB and the ball hit the turf instead.
- Corner wasn't too shabby either. Josh Egbo, up with the 1s had a few nice tackles and forced a fumble on Knight on an absolutely jarring hit. Kadeem Hemphill (27) had two picks, I think one was against Graves and one against Humphries.
- Linebacker has some young guys starting to show that they're coming along. Welnel and O'Connell stood out to me as the depth guys yesterday. O'Connell is a guy that impressed me in the fall. I think he could be a guy we could see making some plays on special teams this year. Not sure if I saw enough from any of the LBs (yet) to suggest we've got a viable guy or two to step up if Olson or Lewis miss some time.
- D-line was a mixed bag. Alford and Gubner are our two big guys, "Gub" got in some trouble for something and was Hauck & Sack's guy to pick on, had to run some laps and was constantly in the dog house. Alford had a sack and a few good pressures. Vika with the 2nd team as a DE had a few pressures and a sack, we might just have something with him, but it was against the 2 OL, I want to see how he does against experienced tackles. The interior DL did get pushed around a bit, they gave up the one TD of the day, a rushing TD. They rotated all sorts of guys at the buck-hybrid spot, none really stood out to me, I don't think Nelson or Nagler were out there but I could be wrong.
- O-line. The first team looked... better... I think. It was hard to really quantify. The first team is Beaver, Martin, Sirmon, Pillans, Keintz. They look the size, Pillans is huge but a little stiff in the way he plays. Stunts and blitzes were was looked to be the main issue for this group. We did get a rushing TD from them, and from about 8 or 9 yards out. 2nd/3rd team OL wasn't that great, it usually isn't though. As we all suspected this position is the one with the longest way to go. The good news is that right now they have what appears to be enough dudes to field almost a 3-deep on the OL. Now they need to cement who can actually be a contributor this year vs who won't.
- RB... Knight had a TD, and lost a fumble. He's fast on the edge, but have to wonder about that ball security. Eastwood was limited in touches, Turner might've had the most touches, I like his size but he was a little tentative in his running, being behind the 2 or 3 OL probably didn't help.
- WR. On a day where the defense largely won the day there wasn't too much to report here. Akem had a nice grab and made a guy miss to pick up a 1st on a 3rd and long. Sulser had a few plays where he tallied up some YAC. Roberts got some reps with the 1st team and made a nice catch. Germer caught a pass and blew up a CB on a would-be tackle. QBs were missing some open targets too, I'll bet on film review the WRs will grade out better than their stats showed. Quiet day for JLM, Flowers, & Toure.
- TE. Almost all blocking duties for the day, maybe 1 catch in the group? We know we've got a solid corps with Bingham, Rensvold, and Deming here.
- QB. Sneed was honestly a little erratic, lead some good drives but had a few misses that were a little out of character for him. Endzone pick was bad, underthrew a route right into the safeties hands. Didn't see a wide open Sulser for a would-be TD and opted for a shorter route to Toure, but missed him too. He lead a few drives and did some of his usual stuff with his feet, but overall just a "meh" kind of day for him. Humphries would regularly lead drives that would get a first or two... and then die. Graves had a rough go of it when he wasn't running. Wheeler Harris got some late reps and they weren't that good.
Overall, good day for the defense, less good for the offense. On to spring break for these guys and some time to rest up. The team spirits seem great, attitude yesterday was pretty intense and competitive. From a sake of what Bobby usually wants to achieve from a spring camp, I think he's getting what he wants.
By position
- Safety is looking pretty good as a position. With Robertson suited but apparently not playing, Nash Fouch stepped in and played pretty well. He's an enforcer and a hard-nosed player, had some absolutely crushing hits. Coverage skills need to come along but that's to expected with an RS Frosh. Gavin Crow (I believe) picked off Sneed in the endzone. And they rotated a group of depth guys to show that they're building this position pretty well. Robby was catching some flak for taking a few bad angles on the ball carrier. Sandry had a sure-fire pick on a hail mary-type of pass but crashed into another DB and the ball hit the turf instead.
- Corner wasn't too shabby either. Josh Egbo, up with the 1s had a few nice tackles and forced a fumble on Knight on an absolutely jarring hit. Kadeem Hemphill (27) had two picks, I think one was against Graves and one against Humphries.
- Linebacker has some young guys starting to show that they're coming along. Welnel and O'Connell stood out to me as the depth guys yesterday. O'Connell is a guy that impressed me in the fall. I think he could be a guy we could see making some plays on special teams this year. Not sure if I saw enough from any of the LBs (yet) to suggest we've got a viable guy or two to step up if Olson or Lewis miss some time.
- D-line was a mixed bag. Alford and Gubner are our two big guys, "Gub" got in some trouble for something and was Hauck & Sack's guy to pick on, had to run some laps and was constantly in the dog house. Alford had a sack and a few good pressures. Vika with the 2nd team as a DE had a few pressures and a sack, we might just have something with him, but it was against the 2 OL, I want to see how he does against experienced tackles. The interior DL did get pushed around a bit, they gave up the one TD of the day, a rushing TD. They rotated all sorts of guys at the buck-hybrid spot, none really stood out to me, I don't think Nelson or Nagler were out there but I could be wrong.
- O-line. The first team looked... better... I think. It was hard to really quantify. The first team is Beaver, Martin, Sirmon, Pillans, Keintz. They look the size, Pillans is huge but a little stiff in the way he plays. Stunts and blitzes were was looked to be the main issue for this group. We did get a rushing TD from them, and from about 8 or 9 yards out. 2nd/3rd team OL wasn't that great, it usually isn't though. As we all suspected this position is the one with the longest way to go. The good news is that right now they have what appears to be enough dudes to field almost a 3-deep on the OL. Now they need to cement who can actually be a contributor this year vs who won't.
- RB... Knight had a TD, and lost a fumble. He's fast on the edge, but have to wonder about that ball security. Eastwood was limited in touches, Turner might've had the most touches, I like his size but he was a little tentative in his running, being behind the 2 or 3 OL probably didn't help.
- WR. On a day where the defense largely won the day there wasn't too much to report here. Akem had a nice grab and made a guy miss to pick up a 1st on a 3rd and long. Sulser had a few plays where he tallied up some YAC. Roberts got some reps with the 1st team and made a nice catch. Germer caught a pass and blew up a CB on a would-be tackle. QBs were missing some open targets too, I'll bet on film review the WRs will grade out better than their stats showed. Quiet day for JLM, Flowers, & Toure.
- TE. Almost all blocking duties for the day, maybe 1 catch in the group? We know we've got a solid corps with Bingham, Rensvold, and Deming here.
- QB. Sneed was honestly a little erratic, lead some good drives but had a few misses that were a little out of character for him. Endzone pick was bad, underthrew a route right into the safeties hands. Didn't see a wide open Sulser for a would-be TD and opted for a shorter route to Toure, but missed him too. He lead a few drives and did some of his usual stuff with his feet, but overall just a "meh" kind of day for him. Humphries would regularly lead drives that would get a first or two... and then die. Graves had a rough go of it when he wasn't running. Wheeler Harris got some late reps and they weren't that good.
Overall, good day for the defense, less good for the offense. On to spring break for these guys and some time to rest up. The team spirits seem great, attitude yesterday was pretty intense and competitive. From a sake of what Bobby usually wants to achieve from a spring camp, I think he's getting what he wants.
