April 3 Practice Observations
Man, was it great to be back in Huskie Stadium on a beautiful Saturday. Bright sunshine and a nice crowd made for a fun atmosphere. Here are my observations with the usual caveats that it was only one practice out of fifteen, and I may not know what I'm talking about.
Rocky Lombardi looked really good at QB, better than I expected to be honest. He was missing some guys in drills at the beginning but when the lights came on he was great. He threw seeds (one of the strongest arms I've seen at NIU), was accurate and made good decisions. Very good to see. He seemed to be having the time of his life out there. As far as his running goes, I do not expect him to run anywhere near as well as Harnish or Lynch, but he moves well in the pocket and looks like he can keep defenses honest and extend plays with his feet. That should help the O-line and offense as a whole. All of this plus his leadership makes him a super addition to the team. It's easy to see why the coaches are so high on him.
Rodney Thompson was number two. He throws a great looking ball but missed a lot of guys today. He did thread in one beautiful TD pass to Cole Tucker later in the scrimmage.
Dustin Fletcher was number three and really had a tough go of it. I won't dwell on it but today was not a good day for him.
Ethan Hampton wasn't dressed which was disappointing, I was hoping to see him throw.
The starting O-line was Marques Cox, John Champe, Brayden Patton, Logan Zschernitz and Nolan Potter left to right. Later in the scrimmage they put JJ Lippe at center and slid Patton over to left guard so that's something to keep an eye on. The O-line looked pretty decent I would say, certainly better than last year.
The two's were Evan Buss, Tyler Pitcel, Lippe/Nygra, Matt Schooley and Leif Engstrand left to right.
The receivers were who you would expect with the exception of Trayvon Rudolph who I don't think was dressed. Tyrice Richie, Cole Tucker, Fabian McCray, Messiah Travis, Mohamed Toure and Jeremiah Howard got a lot of work. Tucker and Travis caught TD passes, with Travis's being mostly YAC, but it was McCray who really stood out for me today. It seems like the light may have come on for him.
The tight ends getting the vast majority of work were Liam Soraghan, Luke Mallette and Tristen Tewes (who flung Jordan Hanson to the ground after one catch, riling up the team). Blake Kosin did make one really nice catch on a low throw at the sideline. The wild card at tight end is Miles Joiner, who will arrive in June from Youngstown State. He's supposed to be a Daniel Crawford type.
Running backs were Harrison Waylee, Erin Collins and Clint Ratkovich in that order, although they also split Ratkovich out and do other things with him. Waylee was held in check while I was there. I left at about 1 PM and they were still scrimmaging. Coach Hammock wanted to get some tape apparently. I really liked what I saw from Collins today. He didn't break any big ones but really ran downhill between the tackles, great to see. Ratkovich broke a 60 yard TD run on short yardage, outrunning Kyle Pugh with a gear I didn't know he had. He catches the ball really well too and will be a great addition to the offense.
The number one D line was Pierce Oppong, Jeff Griffin, James Ester and Raishein Thomas. Demond Taylor wasn't dressed. (Edit: Taylor may have been out there and I just didn't see him. It's hard to read the numbers on some of the older practice jerseys.) Like always in these scrimmages they mixed and matched a lot of guys on defense. Ivan Davis, Matt Johnson and Devonte O'Malley also got a lot of reps. The D line did pretty well today with there being good give and take between the offense and defense.
Kyle Pugh is back in the middle which is great to see. He was flanked by Lance Deveaux and Jaden Dolphin. Jordan Cole, Daveren Rayner and Eddie Jackson weren't dressed so I wouldn't draw too many conclusions about Dolphin, but he did get into a lot of plays out there. Nick Rattin is the number two middle backer. They probably figure they need to have him ready since Pugh has gotten hurt so much in the past.
Myles McGee, Eric Rogers, Jordan Gandy and Cyrus McGarrell all got lots of reps at corner. It's a big and physical group and they played the ball well today. McGarrell sure looks the part physically, I can tell you that.
Dillon Thomas was working at safety today. Devin Lafayette and Jordan Hanson were the ones. Thomas was with the twos with Josh Earl. I didn't see CJ Brown, I don't think he was dressed.
Not much to report on special teams. I didn't see any extra point or field goal tries while I was there. Ference looked good as always. I thought his backup Tom Foley looked really good.
The scrimmage was physical. You can tell the coaches have instilled a competititive expectation and it has been embraced. There were a lot of good plays all around. It may be wishful thinking but it seems like this team is making progress.
(This post was last modified: 04-05-2021 10:20 AM by NIU1981.)
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