Agree, seems like the O-Line has some work to do.
Punter seems to have improved a lot. Vest seems improved, too, actually.
Don't recall any issues with the Center or LS.
Koback is lightning quick.
QB's are good. Just need more experience.
BREAKING: As a result of the punt block early in the game, Cody Thompson has been admitted to MAACO to have the football lace imprints on his stomach filled and refinished. The good news is, he'll be able to practice right away. He just won't be able to wax the area for 30 days.
QBG (This is what I will call our starter until I can spell his name) did not do much for me to calm my fears of him at QB. He seems a little too quick to take off and run. Small sample size and the competition was subpar. We will see what happens when the big show comes to town
Made it to the game and now left wondering if it was worth the trouble. Wanted to see how the team looked and if there were any surprises on offense or defense.
On offense, Guidagni solidified his status as the starter. Good zip on the ball, accuracy was off with the wind at his back when he overthrew some open receivers, and threw another into the ground short of the receiver with a defender in position to potentially get a pick-six. I'm sure a lot of fans saw that as a terrible pass. I saw it for what it was and the fact he used great judgement. Peters can throw the ball through a wall - on short passes. He didn't look good on some downfield passes. Couldn't tell if that was intentional or not since the receivers were covered fairly well. The freshman QB has good size and looks to be a future star. Took a couple of big hits after releasing the ball and bounced right up and jogged up to the new LOS and patting the helmet of the guy that hit him. Twice in a row.
O-line left me with some concerns - again. Will be a tough week against Miami on the 15th.
Specific guys that impressed (other than the known stars in Seymour, Thompson, Johnson & Johnson) - Thompkins, Koback, Skipper, Tycen Anderson, Devonte Dunn, Tyrone Chambers, Reggie Howard and a few others on the D-line. I didn't watch the o-line as much as normal, but we still are not functioning well as a unit. I think some of that is also because we don't have enough quick hitters on the run. RPO can be good, but it also requires more difficult blocking assignments - and we are not there yet. Not even close. They can also be easier to block against a more aggressive defense. So we will see how that works out.
Also saw a number of RPO's where Guadagni could have kept the ball and gone for big yards.
I think we purposely kept a lot in the playbook heading into the Miami match-up in 2 weeks. Also no need to show too much against a team that was physically over-matched against UT.
Just looked and saw that Devonte Dunn is only a freshman. Wow!. High energy guy with some good size on the d-line at 6'2 and 290. He is quick at that size - and has the proverbial motor revving all the time. Chris Green looked good early on - then I didn't see that much of him later. He has filled in nicely at his size. He has to be in the 250 range now - but looks much more athletic at that size than last year before he was hurt. He was pretty amped up before the game.
I noticed highly touted WR Jalin Cooper is in a knee brace and crutches. Also noticed Taddarius Patterson did not play while almost everyone else around him at LB did play. Bolden played big minutes
(09-02-2018 08:19 AM)IamN2daRockets! Wrote: I noticed highly touted WR Jalin Cooper is in a knee brace and crutches. Also noticed Taddarius Patterson did not play while almost everyone else around him at LB did play. Bolden played big minutes
I read somewhere a while back that Cooper is out for the season.
(09-02-2018 08:05 AM)MotoRocket Wrote: Made it to the game and now left wondering if it was worth the trouble. Wanted to see how the team looked and if there were any surprises on offense or defense.
On offense, Guidagni solidified his status as the starter. Good zip on the ball, accuracy was off with the wind at his back when he overthrew some open receivers, and threw another into the ground short of the receiver with a defender in position to potentially get a pick-six. I'm sure a lot of fans saw that as a terrible pass. I saw it for what it was and the fact he used great judgement. Peters can throw the ball through a wall - on short passes. He didn't look good on some downfield passes. Couldn't tell if that was intentional or not since the receivers were covered fairly well. The freshman QB has good size and looks to be a future star. Took a couple of big hits after releasing the ball and bounced right up and jogged up to the new LOS and patting the helmet of the guy that hit him. Twice in a row.
O-line left me with some concerns - again. Will be a tough week against Miami on the 15th.
Specific guys that impressed (other than the known stars in Seymour, Thompson, Johnson & Johnson) - Thompkins, Koback, Skipper, Tycen Anderson, Devonte Dunn, Tyrone Chambers, Reggie Howard and a few others on the D-line. I didn't watch the o-line as much as normal, but we still are not functioning well as a unit. I think some of that is also because we don't have enough quick hitters on the run. RPO can be good, but it also requires more difficult blocking assignments - and we are not there yet. Not even close. They can also be easier to block against a more aggressive defense. So we will see how that works out.
Also saw a number of RPO's where Guadagni could have kept the ball and gone for big yards.
I think we purposely kept a lot in the playbook heading into the Miami match-up in 2 weeks. Also no need to show too much against a team that was physically over-matched against UT.
What did you expect they were playing a way over matched team in VMI, doubt U Miami game will reveal much more about where UT stands this season
Good performance against weak opponent. I didn't sense us getting sloppy or overconfident. Offense may need some time to click with new QB and linemen but I think the talent is there. Oline physically looks good. wide outs looked great, but we knew that. defensive front was pretty dominant but Miami will have another level of blockers so that will give us an indication of what we really got.
looked like most guys who we expected played.
few notes: 170 lb freshman greyshirt or walkon desmond bernard had 2 tackles
sami kasseem did not play although he was listed last week as the starter. maybe a minor injury???
a couple of the true freshman DEs played, Taylor, desjuan johnson. plus, rs freshman DLmen hines, givhan, dunn, but didn't see douglas or anunike in the participation report
also, found the elusive afro-swiss d line recruit kumbiagbi... derrius mullins ate him. lord, that kid is enormous. looks like finding a dedication to diet and conditioning will determine if he ever sees the field.
Mullins is quite simply obese... I’m sure this is an issue. Kassem is wearing a boot. I’m not sure what the injury is exactly. Onunike was in street clothes as was Victor Williams.
Freshman 50, nothing unusual. Someone should do a carbon dating on this kid. Old looking. I didn't notice him in game. His belly hanging over? Very wide base can maybe make him look obese.
saw atariwa in his jersey on the sideline. no shoulder pads. looks ready but apparently still rehabbing injury. if he comes back that will be a boost for the line.
I was waiting to see if they would let him throw on the run, like that play he extended to Cody, because that was what he used to do in high school. Glad I didn't have to wait long. The running does expose him more, though, as Bruce commented during the broadcast. He's going to get quite a lesson from Miami I think.
(09-03-2018 03:53 AM)pono Wrote: saw atariwa in his jersey on the sideline. no shoulder pads. looks ready but apparently still rehabbing injury. if he comes back that will be a boost for the line.
Atariwa looks like our most physical dominant O-lineman. We will need him healthy and ready against Miami (FL).
I'm really happy to see Brock Ruble in a Rocket uniform. He's absolutely massive in size and played well at LT.
(09-03-2018 03:53 AM)pono Wrote: saw atariwa in his jersey on the sideline. no shoulder pads. looks ready but apparently still rehabbing injury. if he comes back that will be a boost for the line.
Atariwa looks like our most physical dominant O-lineman. We will need him healthy and ready against Miami (FL).
I'm really happy to see Brock Ruble in a Rocket uniform. He's absolutely massive in size and played well at LT.
ruble will be key . atariwa is no certainty anytime soon. candle said cotterman was closer to getting back on the field and he didn't play vs VMI. but, yeah, he's has elite strength and is a vet, even if he's just back for the stretch run of midweek games it will be a boost.
miami is tough to block. big physical athletic front 7. against LSU they mostly put their dbs on an island and crowded the box and/or blitzed. will be interesting to see if they try that against us which may lead to some big defensive plays but also expose them to getting beat deep too. last year they got pressure from their front and didn't need to bring many blitzers which helped them control the run and short passing game better. our receiving group is better than LSUs but their line looks better than ours.
They are going to try and rattle the QB. There's no doubt in my mind. When that QB doesn't rattle is when they get into trouble. I'm sure there will be two weeks of coaches trying to figure out of our line can replicate what LSU's did.
Miami's DEs and LBs are so quick, the O-line has to spread way out to pick up those blocks. Either that or we put in an FB. An off-side WR can't block those guys. They'll get killed. I don't think our RBs can block those guys. I don't think we can contend downfield or in the flats. Those are picks. We can't afford screens, those are slow and the QB will get hit from the back-side.
Quick hits over the middle to divert Miami's resources so that O-Line can make the one hole it needs to make. I like our RBs against their secondary, when it's been depleted by their rush to the QB. Just got to get them through the line.
Was their offense a bit less than expected or was the LSU's doing? Their QB seemed off his game.
(09-03-2018 03:08 PM)eastisbest Wrote: They are going to try and rattle the QB. There's no doubt in my mind. When that QB doesn't rattle is when they get into trouble. I'm sure there will be two weeks of coaches trying to figure out of our line can replicate what LSU's did.
Miami's DEs and LBs are so quick, the O-line has to spread way out to pick up those blocks. Either that or we put in an FB. An off-side WR can't block those guys. They'll get killed. I don't think our RBs can block those guys. I don't think we can contend downfield or in the flats. Those are picks. We can't afford screens, those are slow and the QB will get hit from the back-side.
Quick hits over the middle to divert Miami's resources so that O-Line can make the one hole it needs to make. I like our RBs against their secondary, when it's been depleted by their rush to the QB. Just got to get them through the line.
Was their offense a bit less than expected or was the LSU's doing? Their QB seemed off his game.
offensively they had a lot of assignment and communication issues on the oline. LSU kept stunting and changing blitzers and miami repeatedly let guys rush unblocked. some of that will be coached up and improved by their 3rd game but some of that is limited awareness by the players which can't be fixed immediately. Honestly, I think if we can control their run game (which we struggled to do last year) we can do OK against their passing game. Rosier is an average passer. The receivers are good but not ridiculously fast. The quicker of their 2 rbs went out with an injury vs LSU, don't know if it was serious. Miami also lost their good strong safety in the 1st quarter to a marginal targeting call and that hurt their defense. Remember, this is a team with talented recruits but average depth. They can sub in a guy who looks the part and has physical talent but he isn't necessarily a good all around player. Last year our receiver got open on them and woodside put balls on the money but we had trouble with the pass rush and line push for the run game. Either we need to run better or protect better to move the ball consistently. Maybe, like you say we have to give something up (keep an extra TE or FB in to block more often, for example) but you still gotta play your game.
