RE: August 5th Practice Notes
Sunday, August 6th Update:
Anytime I post one of these practice reports, I always feel the need to remind people the defense is usually going to look better than the offense. There is very little live tackling which all but eliminates the run game and even when they do go live, you're obviously never allowed to touch the QB every which totally eliminates the QB run game. NIU is a run first team with a ton of QB runs so the offense will never look as good as it does when tackling is live. With that being said...
There was very little to be excited about from any 3 of the QBs for the first 90 minutes of practice. At one point I asked 1981 if any WR had caught a pass in team but Beebe (more on him) yet and he corrected me and asked if anybody period had caught a pass but Beebe. Blake dropped a pretty well thrown deep ball from Santa, but other than that it just wasn't very good from any of the 3 QBs.
HOWEVER, in the last half hour plus of practice, they went live in 11 on 11 and after a slow start all 3 of the QBs led scoring drives which was nice to see.
On Santa's scoring drive he hit Beebe 3 or 4 times including a 15 or so yard TD on a slant. Beebe looked really, really good today. Hands down the best WR on the team.
Graham's drive ended in a FG, although he could have very easily been picked off by Allen in the end zone. He threw high and behind Wesley and tipped balls over the middle usually end up in picks.
Childers' drive was a bit unusual in the fact he picked up a 3rd and 15 and a 4th and about 11. He hit Wimann on a little pass in the flat and Wimann trucked Mykelti Williams and scored.
While yesterday the QBs didn't do a lot of bad they just didn't do anything particularly great either, there was a fair amount of bad today.
Embry should have picked off Graham early on. Smalls could/should of had a pick 6 off Childers early on. Allen also could have picked off Santa. Lurry picked off Childers but Carey ruled it a sack.
Having watched two practices, I would be surprised if Graham or Santa (or some combination of the two) don't start/play against Boston College. Again, just based off the two practices I saw, I would give a slight edge to Santa, but he wasn't THAT much better than Graham.
Here's the best way I could break it down:
Graham gives you the least amount of bad, but he gives us less noticeably good than Santa
Santa gives you the most amount of good, but he'll give you more bad than Graham
I saw the least amount of good and the most amount of bad from Childers
Childers had a tendency to try to keep plays alive too long and caught the wrath of Carey multiple times because it. That's probably normal being a freshman, but it's just the truth.
There's still a long way to go, but I just don't see how Childers does enough to unseat Graham/Santa between now and the opener.
I would say I'm back on team Santa after the last two days because he was a little better and I think he has more upside, but if i'm a betting man you'll see both 17 and 7 play on the opening Friday.
Other notes:
As mentioned above, Beebe was awesome. "We" are going to need a big year from both him and Wimann.
I thought DJ Brown had a really nice practice. Made a great one handed catch on a throw from Santa that was way behind him.
Both Trayshon Foster and Trequan Smith saw time with the 1s at S opposite of Allen.
Smalls and Embry saw a lot of time with the 1s at CB. They really limit Lurry's reps. Smalls and Embry both certainly look the part.
Even with the limited reps, Lurry fell awkwardly on his head making a tackle from Beebe and didn't return to practice.
Don't think Sutton Smith practiced today, and in his absence true freshman Matt Lorebeck and JUCO Drequan Brown both saw time with the 1s.
Williams had a really nice hit on Beebe.
Jordan Nettles was getting a lot of reps and had a really nice practice. Wouldn't surprise me at all if he saw some playing time this year. I did keep an eye on Harbison today, and he was out there but didn't really do anything of note.
Dillon Thomas, again, is somebody I would expect to see playing this year.
Despite having never played CB before, I thought the iowa transfer Jonathan Parker looked surprisingly good. Had a nice breakup on a pass intended for Tears during team. I think he'll be a nice contributor on special teams.
(This post was last modified: 08-06-2017 07:28 PM by 7.)
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