RE: Fall Camp
Went to the scrimmage this morning. But I must preface my observations with the fact that this scrimmage followed a two-a-day session on Friday. Guys weren't as fresh, but overall there weren't a lot of procedural issues. Also, a lot of starters were held out.
Negatives.
1. Special teams. James Hairston (who has a strong grip, but more on that later) did not participate in PATs or field goals. Price and Knopf did the kicking. At least one extra point was missed and there weren't many long Boswell type tries. Punting should be solid, but Hairston may be a gift from above if he can step in and provide accuracy and reliability. Welcome to Special teams post Chris Boswell.
2. Secondary. Specifically 2nd Team corners. It's hard to evaluate a unit when its a scrimmage unless the unit plays really well or really poor. With that said, the unit got torched on several plays. Bryce Callahan didn't play.
3. Run defense. Kind of hard to be negative on this unit when Winship, Covington, Luvendar, Jones, Patt, or Nordstrom didn't play. This was about getting film on some younger guys like Peterson, Gordon, Womac, and Klinger. Yes, Cory Klinger is now on defense.
Mixed bag.
1. DJ and Nate German. It's a scrimmage so QB's are down on touch. Nate didn't throw well initially, but got better towards the end. DJ had a few throws into double coverage, but it seems that the QBs really have confidence in the WR's ability to make plays. With that said, if it were a game, both DJ and Nate would scored on runs. Nate really has good speed in the open field. If QB doesn't work out...
Positives.
1. Offensive Line. These dudes are big, strong, and mean. They opened some great holes.
2. Jowan Davis...wow. He was electric. I read somewhere that he was not as explosive. He looked good today...really good.
3. Hamilton and Dillard. Both of these guys showed great burst and speed. I like what we have at running back especially with our offensive line.
4. Stehling. Lord almighty. In my opinion, he needs to see the field. First play in, he threw a bomb to Jared Mayden for a td. In a later series, he threw a beautiful ball to Hamiliton on wheel route for a td. He is not the most fleet of foot, but that arm makes up for it. He is a great change of pace from DJ and he should see the field, but not on predictable 3 and long situations.
5. Pass rush. Speed, lots of speed. This could be interpreted as a negative on pass protection, but I thought the effort was very good. There were a few sacks, none more impressive than the sack on 3rd and long with Tabari McGaskey getting a sack on a three man rush.
Other stuff...
There are a lot of great things about this scrimmage. First, there was good student turnout (O Week coordinators) at the scrimmage. Second, at the end of practice, Matt Simmonette walks over to the stands and loudly thanks everyone for coming out. Then the players came up into the stands to meet everyone. That's where James Hairston demonstrated his amazing grip strength. LOL. And by the way, the guys are confident that Top 25 rankings will come to South Main very soon. Last, the entire team participated in the ALS ice water bucket challenge. Good stuff.
As an aside, Derek Brown has yet to report. And I didn't see Venric Mark...but I wouldn't really recognize him. Also, as I mentioned earlier, Cory Klinger (#56) is now playing defense. 6-4 300 lbs. Not bad. He played DL at Manvel and he is a good athlete.
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