(08-05-2017 06:42 PM)jjprender Wrote:  Awesome! Any sense who the starting LBs will be this year from the practice?

(08-05-2017 07:03 PM)7 Wrote:  I would be lying if I said I looked close enough to notice him or not lol

(08-05-2017 07:12 PM)Djud Wrote:  Thanks for the update. If Graham is going to be the starter, he will have earned it. I truly believe that Carey will make his decision based on who gives him the best chance to win, even if it's Childers. Let's hope the competition continues to escalate; as bad as he looked passing wise against EMU, Santa has something that makes you think he looks the part; a lot of time left; hopefully someone surfaces as the clear choice.

(08-05-2017 09:41 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  

(08-05-2017 07:12 PM)Djud Wrote:  Thanks for the update. If Graham is going to be the starter, he will have earned it. I truly believe that Carey will make his decision based on who gives him the best chance to win, even if it's Childers. Let's hope the competition continues to escalate; as bad as he looked passing wise against EMU, Santa has something that makes you think he looks the part; a lot of time left; hopefully someone surfaces as the clear choice.

If Graham starts, NIU is in trouble, I don't mean that as anything negative to Graham, but its a bad sign that there is no talent at QB. NIU will be dominated without a passing game. NIU will not be successful just running the ball

(08-05-2017 09:46 PM)DogPoundNorth Wrote:  

(08-05-2017 09:41 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  

(08-05-2017 07:12 PM)Djud Wrote:  Thanks for the update. If Graham is going to be the starter, he will have earned it. I truly believe that Carey will make his decision based on who gives him the best chance to win, even if it's Childers. Let's hope the competition continues to escalate; as bad as he looked passing wise against EMU, Santa has something that makes you think he looks the part; a lot of time left; hopefully someone surfaces as the clear choice.

If Graham starts, NIU is in trouble, I don't mean that as anything negative to Graham, but its a bad sign that there is no talent at QB. NIU will be dominated without a passing game. NIU will not be successful just running the ball

Yeah, we know your opinion.....thanks......again.

(08-05-2017 09:50 PM)NIU1981 Wrote:  Steckler was not dressed today although he was walking around looking just fine. The starting O-line today left to right was Max Scharping, Dale Brown, Luke Shively, Isaac Hawn and Ryan Roberts, so it looks like Hawn has a good chance to play this year. He may be the swing guy like Evans was last year. When Brown got nicked up today they replaced him with Benn Olson. The second O-line left to right was Zeke Gueths, Benn Olson/Brayden Patton, Austin Warner, Nate Veloz and Vince Hughes. There may have been others as well. It looks like Warner is the number two center this year. They needed to find one since Evans was the backup last year.

The number one D-line was Sutton Smith, Ben Leroy, Jack Heflin and Josh Corcoran. The number twos were Joe Sanders, William Lee, Devin Webster and I forget the other end. As always in these scrimmages they mixed and matched a ton of defensive guys today so I wouldn't read too much into these lineups.

(08-05-2017 06:24 PM)7 Wrote:  Had the pleasure of not only taking in practice this evening, but sitting next to somebody who I consider to know way more about football than I do.

Obviously have to start with the QBs. While Childers was first up yesterday, Santa was first up today. I would imagine they are just rotation guys on a daily basis, so I would guess Graham will be first up tomorrow.

Santa probably looked the best of the three today, but it wasn't by a wide margin. I don't think any of the three QBs were noticeably better than the other two.

Graham was super inaccurate in individual drills, but looked the most polish in 7 on 7 and team (as he should as the most experienced QB). Had a really nice throw to Beebe in team

Childers fumbled a read option as well as went the wrong way on a handoff with Huff, never a good sign. Didn't do anything noticeably bad with his arm, but didn't really do anything noticeably good either.

Santa, again, was probably the most consistent. Hit Saffold on a nice deep ball in 7 on 7. Also should have been picked by Juwan Johnson though.

So slight edge to Santa, but again, they were all really close. If that keeps up over the next few weeks, multiple QBs probably end up playing (woohoo!!)

JaJuan Wesley looks like super quick at WR

The grad transfer from Iowa, Jonathan Parker, is playing CB and was actually getting a decent amount of 2nd team reps.

I thought Joe Sanders looked really good coming off the ball today, but he drew the ire of Carey because he hit Graham's arm on a pass.

It shouldn't really be a surprise considering the QB situation as well as the fact NIU is a run heavy team, but that was an EXTREMELY run heavy practice. I would be willing to bet NIU may run the ball even more than they have in previous years.

This is where sitting next to people who know more about football than me came in handy, but the offensive line was working a ton on their base run players today. A lot of power runs and way less zone than last year. There also were some pretty cool new wrinkles they were building in for this season.

If you're looking for a freshman who will play right away, Dillon Thomas looks the part and had a pick at the end of practice today.

Highlight of the day was easily Rodney Hall hitting Dennis Robinson on a 60 year bomb during the freshmen part of practice. Couldn't have ran up and handed it to him any better. Wouldn't get too excited though, I'd be shocked if Hall doesn't redshirt. Still was nice to see, and it should help Dennis Robinson in possibly getting on the field this year.

RB depth chart looks like Huff followed by Jones and Mister.
WR depth chart looks like Blake, Beebe, Tears, Brown, Saffold, and Wesley

Overall, they looked, and the people I was sitting with said they've consistently looked good in camp. The offensive line in particular sounds like it is standing out. Good to hear, because with the QB situation they're going to be needed this year. The entire team seemed to be energetic and focused.

(08-05-2017 10:14 PM)Djud Wrote:  

(08-05-2017 06:24 PM)7 Wrote:  Had the pleasure of not only taking in practice this evening, but sitting next to somebody who I consider to know way more about football than I do.

Obviously have to start with the QBs. While Childers was first up yesterday, Santa was first up today. I would imagine they are just rotation guys on a daily basis, so I would guess Graham will be first up tomorrow.

Santa probably looked the best of the three today, but it wasn't by a wide margin. I don't think any of the three QBs were noticeably better than the other two.

Graham was super inaccurate in individual drills, but looked the most polish in 7 on 7 and team (as he should as the most experienced QB). Had a really nice throw to Beebe in team

Childers fumbled a read option as well as went the wrong way on a handoff with Huff, never a good sign. Didn't do anything noticeably bad with his arm, but didn't really do anything noticeably good either.

Santa, again, was probably the most consistent. Hit Saffold on a nice deep ball in 7 on 7. Also should have been picked by Juwan Johnson though.

So slight edge to Santa, but again, they were all really close. If that keeps up over the next few weeks, multiple QBs probably end up playing (woohoo!!)

JaJuan Wesley looks like super quick at WR

The grad transfer from Iowa, Jonathan Parker, is playing CB and was actually getting a decent amount of 2nd team reps.

I thought Joe Sanders looked really good coming off the ball today, but he drew the ire of Carey because he hit Graham's arm on a pass.

It shouldn't really be a surprise considering the QB situation as well as the fact NIU is a run heavy team, but that was an EXTREMELY run heavy practice. I would be willing to bet NIU may run the ball even more than they have in previous years.

This is where sitting next to people who know more about football than me came in handy, but the offensive line was working a ton on their base run players today. A lot of power runs and way less zone than last year. There also were some pretty cool new wrinkles they were building in for this season.

If you're looking for a freshman who will play right away, Dillon Thomas looks the part and had a pick at the end of practice today.

Highlight of the day was easily Rodney Hall hitting Dennis Robinson on a 60 year bomb during the freshmen part of practice. Couldn't have ran up and handed it to him any better. Wouldn't get too excited though, I'd be shocked if Hall doesn't redshirt. Still was nice to see, and it should help Dennis Robinson in possibly getting on the field this year.

RB depth chart looks like Huff followed by Jones and Mister.
WR depth chart looks like Blake, Beebe, Tears, Brown, Saffold, and Wesley

Overall, they looked, and the people I was sitting with said they've consistently looked good in camp. The offensive line in particular sounds like it is standing out. Good to hear, because with the QB situation they're going to be needed this year. The entire team seemed to be energetic and focused.

7, so based on what you saw, did Graham show you enough to still be part of the conversation?

(08-05-2017 10:06 PM)7 Wrote:  

(08-05-2017 09:50 PM)NIU1981 Wrote:  Steckler was not dressed today although he was walking around looking just fine. The starting O-line today left to right was Max Scharping, Dale Brown, Luke Shively, Isaac Hawn and Ryan Roberts, so it looks like Hawn has a good chance to play this year. He may be the swing guy like Evans was last year. When Brown got nicked up today they replaced him with Benn Olson. The second O-line left to right was Zeke Gueths, Benn Olson/Brayden Patton, Austin Warner, Nate Veloz and Vince Hughes. There may have been others as well. It looks like Warner is the number two center this year. They needed to find one since Evans was the backup last year.

The number one D-line was Sutton Smith, Ben Leroy, Jack Heflin and Josh Corcoran. The number twos were Joe Sanders, William Lee, Devin Webster and I forget the other end. As always in these scrimmages they mixed and matched a ton of defensive guys today so I wouldn't read too much into these lineups.

Did i meet you today and not realize it was you? I'm pretty sure I did...lol