Other fan fest observations

[OrangeViking]

Kudos for manning up about Mac. Rimington maybe?

I give this kid all the credit in the world, seemingly under-sized, he's obviously worked his butt off and, has shown huge heart and drive in his play. Kudos to him.

 

[anomander]

Bad news about Foy--going just based upon your observation. My fear all along is that he might not have the lateral mobility to slide his feed adequately to stave off pass rush. We saw what happened at the beginning of last year when we had subpar play at RT [Alexander]. I think Hickey is going to be a stud, and Knapp is going to be a very good player for us down the road. But I'm really concerned about RT this year.

There is no down the road on Knapp. The kid is a stud and totally feel he could play right now and be a very good player for us.

 

[RF2044]

There is no down the road on Knapp. The kid is a stud and totally feel he could play right now and be a very good player for us.

That's great to hear, because I think that the interior of the line is LOADED [Macky, Trudo, Robinson, Palmer, Emerich, Miller, Lasker]--its the tackles I'm worried about. Doesn't matter to me which two rise to the top, but we need two of them to do so.

 

[anomander]

That's great to hear, because I think that the interior of the line is LOADED [Macky, Trudo, Robinson, Palmer, Emerich, Miller, Lasker]--its the tackles I'm worried about. Doesn't matter to me which two rise to the top, but we need two of them to do so.

Depth is an issue if someone were to go down, but with Hickey we have an All League caliber player and I really think Knapp is one of the better young tackles in the conference . I think Foy is serviceable as well. The staff must see something in him as well if they felt comfortable enough to make the move. I think this camp battle will be one of the most interesting of them all.

 

[RF2044]

Depth is an issue if someone were to go down, but with Hickey we have an All League caliber player and I really think Knapp is one of the better young tackles in the conference . I think Foy is serviceable as well. The staff must see something in him as well if they felt comfortable enough to make the move. I think this camp battle will be one of the most interesting of them all.

Here's my perspective: four of the five OL spots are solid, but RT is the weak link. I'd like to believe that Knapp is going to emerge this year, that Foy is capable of being at least "servicable," etc. per your post. Because if those two things come to pass, then our offensive line is going to be fantastic again for a second straight year.

But it doesn't sound from the many assessments I've read that the line is playing fantastic [at least not yet], and the right side seems to be struggling, especially on the outside, which makes me believe that my main offseason concern [weak play at RT] about the play of the OL has come to fruition. And Knapp / Foy are largely unproven commodities right now.

I really hope that one of them emerges and gets the job done--because I think that is the one position that is holding the unit back. And we saw last year with Louizell Alexander struggling at RT those first four games how much having RT break down can hold back otherwise solid line play.

 

[billsin01]

I agree that the reasons for the poor pass efficiency D are multiple. My sense is that our CBs are not shut down, cover corners; and they were not often asked to provide press coverage. Perhaps that was by design. Or, maybe that was done to maximize the available talent.

Regardless, if the DBs are shutting down the current group of WRs in practice ( I would include the safeties in this), I think that speaks more to the ability of the WRs than the prowess of the CB/DBs

I disagree wholeheartedly on really almost every count. I don't pretend to know via any sources or first-hand observations, so you could be right, but I don't see it that way.

For one, the term shutdown or lockdown corner really only applies to a couple guys each year. Most teams not only don't have lockdown corners, there are basically no teams that have two or more of them.

So I agree there are guys who are better in man coverage and those that can get picked on there and may need to play more zone. But really most teams play a lot of zone anyway due to all the spread offenses and players out in patterns, etc.

Anyway, I really like our corners and think we haven't been as good OR as deep there in a long, long time. Anderson isn't the quickest or best in man coverage, but he's solid and Lyn and Reddish looked really good last year. Whigham is supposedly in that class.

As for the WRs, I think most offenses are set up these days to try and create mismatches and open space for guys to work in. It's nice to have a guy who's a physical specimen like Julio Jones or so quick he's tough for anyone to stick with, like Tayvon Austin or that type. But ultimately you can move the ball with pretty average receivers as long as they know the system, catch the ball when it comes their way and can occasionally make something happen after the catch.

That's a long way of saying, the position probably won't be a strength for us as it was last season, but it's not like we're running Tim Lane and Bruce Williams out there (no disrespect to those two and they had no chance playing in that offense anyway, but they weren't our most talented WRs). If these guys consistently run their routes and catch the ball, we should at least be around average here, IMO.

 

[Rocco]

That's great to hear, because I think that the interior of the line is LOADED [Macky, Trudo, Robinson, Palmer, Emerich, Miller, Lasker]--its the tackles I'm worried about. Doesn't matter to me which two rise to the top, but we need two of them to do so.

Foy reminds me way too much of Sweet Lou. DE's will burst past him with ease due to his slow feet. He has great size, but that really doesn't matter.

I am predicting that Knapp will be starting over Foy no later than Week 5, but hoping he is starting on Aug 31st.

 

[RF2044]

Foy reminds me way too much of Sweet Lou. DE's will burst past him with ease due to his slow feet. He has great size, but that really doesn't matter.

I am predicting that Knapp will be starting over Foy no later than Week 5, but hoping he is starting on Aug 31st.

The above concern I expressed isn't intended to be a knock on Foy--I fear that he is just better equipped to play guard instead of right tackle.

And the one position we need is right tackle for this line to click.

 

[Rocco]

The above concern I expressed isn't intended to be a knock on Foy--I fear that he is just better equipped to play guard instead of right tackle.

And the one position we need is right tackle for this line to click.

No question - same here.

 

[chakka3421]

Foy reminds me way too much of Sweet Lou. DE's will burst past him with ease due to his slow feet. He has great size, but that really doesn't matter.

I am predicting that Knapp will be starting over Foy no later than Week 5, but hoping he is starting on Aug 31st.

I thought Nick Robinson was an OT all along - if Foy is a natural OG, then why put him in a position to fail? Shouldn't Robinson and Foy switch positions?

Knapp is 20 lbs too light to play at RT.

 

[orangeintheacc]

I thought Nick Robinson was an OT all along - if Foy is a natural OG, then why put him in a position to fail? Shouldn't Robinson and Foy switch positions?

Knapp is 20 lbs too light to play at RT.

I overhead heard coach Hicks telling someone at Fanfest on Friday that Knapp went from 262 lbs. when he arrived on campus to a current weight of 293 lbs. That means he now weighs more than Hickey.

 

[SUskibum]

I think we need to be very careful with tempering the WRs performance with statements that our DBs are above average. The fact is that SU ranked 91st in pass efficiency D in 2012, and 62nd in total passing yards/game (234 yds/gm). Receivers got open all year in 2012 against those DBs.

http://web1.ncaa.org/football/exec/rankingSummary?year=2012&org=688

Be careful using per game stats as we had one of the highest plays per game last year (mid teens I think). More possessions for the other team should always result in higher absolute totals.

I would look at comp% against, yards per rec, ypc, average length of drives, red zone % etc when making judgements on offensive/defensive units.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Be careful using per game stats as we had one of the highest plays per game last year (mid teens I think). More possessions for the other team should always result in higher absolute totals.

I would look at comp% against, yards per rec, ypc, average length of drives, red zone % etc when making judgements on offensive/defensive units.

Well said.

And, as our own Coach Shafer says "Stats are for losers."

 

[007]

Well said.

And, as our own Coach Shafer says "Stats are for losers."

Only "well said" if you don't understand how pass efficiency defense is computed. But, I do agree with the stats and losers parts.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Only "well said" if you don't understand how pass efficiency defense is computed. But, I do agree with the stats and losers parts.

Don't understand? Or don't care?

:thumps chest:

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