Spring game thoughts
Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2009 5:41 pm
As the spring game is still fresh in my head, a few thoughts
- Starting defense looked great. They shut out the first team until the last drive, which showed ...
- Lack of defensive depth. Second team defense wasn't so hot. When one of the defenses was out on the field, I think I counted less than twenty on the sideline.
- The wind did some damage to the passing offense. All quarterbacks had problems connecting, but they weren't helped by ...
- Wide receiver drops. Tons of them.
- Speaking of offense, you could see the transition. The offense was pretty similar to last year, just less short passes, more passing downfield (thank God), but in doing so, there were some bad reads. At points, I really wasn't sure who the ball was going to (wind, maybe?), and at others, it was going into multiple coverage.
- Speaking of offense again, of the QBs, I was most impressed by Beam. However, Beam only played against the second team defense, and see the defensive depth comments above.
- Steve Dunlap impressed me. Geter is obviously a speed back, Bullock is a power back, and Dunlap is really a hybrid of the two. As seen by his touchdown, he has great speed, but he is able to shake tackles that Geter couldn't shake.
- Ray Hutson. Wow! Two touchdowns, all kinds of grabs, and at this point is the receiver I like most.
- Pankratz had a great TD pass to Sheidt, but other than that, Pankratz had problems with the wind.
- First string defensive line looked good. Not much depth, but they played their hearts out all day long. Andrew Johnson had a great game at DL too.
- Jarret Sanderson had some monster hits, especially one on Geter. I was a little worried that Geter might have been hurt on that play - it took him a couple of seconds to get up.
- Our secondary is going to be scary good, I think. No Antonio Smith and Kenny Lewis hurts, but even without them, the starting secondary stuffed the passing offense. Lots of tips, great hits as soon as the ball arrived, and I am completely impressed by that pass D.
All around, I was impressed by the defense, but they need depth. I think a lot of the freshmen are going to play quickly. As for offense, I'm not sure yet. The defense is normally ahead of the offense at this point, so it should be no surprise that early on, when exhaustion wasn't a problem, the defense was much better. As soon as the lack of depth showed, though, the offense took off, starting with the second team and then late in the game, the first team offense shone. The new offensive scheme had its moments and it was difficult to tell how good they were because of the wind and the play of the starting defense. That being said, I'm optimistic. If the receivers don't drop so many passes, our passing offense has some serious potential this year.
- Starting defense looked great. They shut out the first team until the last drive, which showed ...
- Lack of defensive depth. Second team defense wasn't so hot. When one of the defenses was out on the field, I think I counted less than twenty on the sideline.
- The wind did some damage to the passing offense. All quarterbacks had problems connecting, but they weren't helped by ...
- Wide receiver drops. Tons of them.
- Speaking of offense, you could see the transition. The offense was pretty similar to last year, just less short passes, more passing downfield (thank God), but in doing so, there were some bad reads. At points, I really wasn't sure who the ball was going to (wind, maybe?), and at others, it was going into multiple coverage.
- Speaking of offense again, of the QBs, I was most impressed by Beam. However, Beam only played against the second team defense, and see the defensive depth comments above.
- Steve Dunlap impressed me. Geter is obviously a speed back, Bullock is a power back, and Dunlap is really a hybrid of the two. As seen by his touchdown, he has great speed, but he is able to shake tackles that Geter couldn't shake.
- Ray Hutson. Wow! Two touchdowns, all kinds of grabs, and at this point is the receiver I like most.
- Pankratz had a great TD pass to Sheidt, but other than that, Pankratz had problems with the wind.
- First string defensive line looked good. Not much depth, but they played their hearts out all day long. Andrew Johnson had a great game at DL too.
- Jarret Sanderson had some monster hits, especially one on Geter. I was a little worried that Geter might have been hurt on that play - it took him a couple of seconds to get up.
- Our secondary is going to be scary good, I think. No Antonio Smith and Kenny Lewis hurts, but even without them, the starting secondary stuffed the passing offense. Lots of tips, great hits as soon as the ball arrived, and I am completely impressed by that pass D.
All around, I was impressed by the defense, but they need depth. I think a lot of the freshmen are going to play quickly. As for offense, I'm not sure yet. The defense is normally ahead of the offense at this point, so it should be no surprise that early on, when exhaustion wasn't a problem, the defense was much better. As soon as the lack of depth showed, though, the offense took off, starting with the second team and then late in the game, the first team offense shone. The new offensive scheme had its moments and it was difficult to tell how good they were because of the wind and the play of the starting defense. That being said, I'm optimistic. If the receivers don't drop so many passes, our passing offense has some serious potential this year.
Hard to leave at the end of the day...