Spring Game Observations..............

Germainfitch1 · Post by **Germainfitch1** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 9:58 am

My thoughts Intermixed...

hammb wrote:Most of my thoughts have been pretty much mentioned on here.

~ I thought the QBs were awful. Turner was better than Barnes, but neither looked good. If Barnes has to play QB we are SUNK. He's got great athleticism so he's useful elsewhere, because he is not a QB

-If this is the case then who is the Backup QB. Any chance Van Johnson moves back over in some capacity. It makes more sense than peeling a redshirt. I am not sure where Van is on the DB depth chart.

~ Wasn't mentioned much here, but I REALLY liked the play of the RBs. Both Macon & Thomas were making some nice cuts and getting some good yardage

-good to hear, however no matter what kind of potential they have they still lack actual minutes.

~ The DL looked pretty good in pass rushing, especially. The had quite a few sacks on the day and there may have been a couple more where the DL guy had a clear shot, but let up because they weren't allowed to hit the QBs.

-good to hear, however as Falconboy likes to say, we need more size4 here to be affective stopping the run.

~ Dozier looked intense...he'd be a beast at safety, disappointing we have to move him up to LB where he'll be woefully undersized against a lot of the teams we play. LBs have to shed blocks from OL, TE, and FBs, and all of those guys will have 40+ pounds on him...hopefully his quickness can make up for it, but that's a small LB.

-Seems like a case of getting your best 11 D players on the field. You are correct that they have more weight on him, but he will be faster than all of them and will cover better than most LBs. We in a sense will be running a 4-2-5. Also, he is just a sophomore, give him 15 more pounds (And I dont know his frame so this may be impossible) And he could be fine.

~ Our WR are hurting. Partridge looked damn good and that was about the extent of it. Our other WRs couldn't get separation, and couldn't adjust to the poorly thrown balls. Our passing game was just total crap for most of the day, IMO. I'm hoping some of those freshmen are ready to step in and play WR right away because we don't have 4 WRs that deserve to be on the field right now, and certainly don't have the types that will get open against OSU/Wisky

-Passing game is mpstly timing, It would be impossible for us to have good timing with our current personell.

~ The OL gave some good lanes to the RBs, but the QBs were getting pressured a lot, as I mentioned before. Hopefully it was our DL dominating, but it's hard to tell which way in those types of matchups.

-Good point, I would give the o-line an incomplete. Our run defense is probably that bad, and our pass rush is probably good.

Didnt we lose just 1 offensive line starter???? We were decent at pass blocking last year right?

~ In the end I like the way the defense is developing. There is some legit talent there, and I think you'll see some true freshmen like Fells & Young step right in and play a lot of snaps this year. They're still young, so I'm not sure they're gonna be lights out, but I do think they'll be better than years past.

-Agreed...How did Nick Lawrence look?

~ The offense is going to NEED to become a run first offense. Personally, I have no problem with that, in fact I prefer it. The thing I worry about, however, is that in the past we've never had to worry about not being able to run, it was the willingness to run that we struggled with. Oftentimes we'd throw even though we could easily run it down their throats. The staff is going to need to realize that we are not that passing team any longer and we need to control the clock on the ground...that should help the defense as well.

-I dont think this offense will ever become a run first offense....maybe closer to 50/50 then 80/20 like last year, but run first no.

~ In total for the team, I think we can compete in the MAC, but I didn't see a team that can really hope to compete with OSU. Wisconsin might be closer, but we need some serious work to have a shot in that one as well. I think the East is gonna be real weak this year, so we've got a shot, but I still think anything more than 7 wins is probably a pretty successful year with this group. We are just very young, and much less talented in the areas where we're used to dominating (QB & WR).

-Great summary, I think we may win the East by default. I almost look to Wisconsin and OSU as learning experiences.

Falconfreak90 · Post by **Falconfreak90** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 10:12 am

I just want to win the East so we can play for the title. The games vs Wisky and OSU are great for the kids but we need to get the MAC hardware. This program is still good enough to win the East in 2006.

We've proven we can compete with and beat BCS teams...but we haven't gotten the job done in the MAC. 1992 is too long ago.

moneymaker02 · Post by **moneymaker02** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 4:05 pm

sorry to dissapoint youguys, but dre perry has quit the team already, thats why he wasnt playing in the spring game

Falconfreak90 · Post by **Falconfreak90** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 4:07 pm

moneymaker02 wrote:sorry to dissapoint youguys, but dre perry has quit the team already, thats why he wasnt playing in the spring game

Hey pal, the hoops forum is over there!

Did he really quit? What's up with this kid?

hammb · Post by **hammb** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 4:38 pm

Germainfitch1 wrote:
Didnt we lose just 1 offensive line starter???? We were decent at pass blocking last year right?

Actually, I thought we struggled a bit in pass blocking last year. It was especially noticed when AT played while Omar was injured. With Jacobs he got rid of the ball SO fast that it was hard to grade an OL's pass blocking skills because they rarely, if ever, had to hold their blocks for more than a second or two. Combine that with our shotgun formations and it was nearly impossible to mount a pass rush regardless of how good our pass blocking really was.

Once Turner came in he wasn't as in sync with the WRs and the ball didn't come out quite as quickly. In those games he was pressured quite a bit more than I would've liked. Some of those times he may have held the ball too long, but I think in a lot of cases it wouldn't be unfair to ask our OL to hold their blocks a touch longer.

As for Perry, I'm tired of his act. I'm sure he's a very talented football player, but I think it's time to cut our losses with him and let him go.

Warthog · Post by **Warthog** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 4:55 pm

hammb wrote:As for Perry, I'm tired of his act. I'm sure he's a very talented football player, but I think it's time to cut our losses with him and let him go.

I have to agree. He has been given more then his fair share of chances. And we have recruited very well in the DB area, so I think we will be ok. Maybe this will get Dozier moved back to Safety?

I wish Perry the best of luck.

Germainfitch1 · Post by **Germainfitch1** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 5:08 pm

Did that Lawrence LB guy play?

BGGrad01 · Post by **BGGrad01** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 5:44 pm

Germainfitch1 wrote:Did that Lawrence LB guy play?

Yep, I think he played on the second team defense. Heard his name on several tackles. I don't remember him doing anything too spectacular that counted. He did intercept a pass that he would have been returned for a TD if the quarterback had not been "sacked" before the throw.

Warthog · Post by **Warthog** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 9:35 pm

He also hurt his shoulder early on. He made a tackle and laid on the ground. My guess is that is was just a stinger as he sat out about two quarters but did eventually come back in during the 4th qtr.