LeMoyneCuse
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- Aug 20, 2011
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Tomcat, SuLoyalFan, and JCuse all have great write ups posted, so I’d like to offer my two cents in a different way.
I’m a member of team Dixon for punter. The consistency from both Fisher and Dixon left something to be desired. But I think Dixon has more potential to boom a kick and is less likely to shank one.
They ran a couple of kick off drills, but it looked like that part of the game was still in the fundamental stage. Both the kicking and receiving sides ran two different units. Each group would walk through their duty before running the play with an actual kick off. Norton took part in one of those groups- and put the ball on the 6. Hopefully he gets more behind it on game days.
To me, the big question of the day was “Is the D-Line this good, or is the O-Line this bad?” Pierce-Brewster blew up the same running play three straight snaps. On Loeb’s cool long TD to West, either Raymond or Zian Jones was in the backfield well before Charlie threw the ball, and stopped pursuit instead of putting Loeb’s good looks at risk. The Line did enough to help the offense get a few things done, but needs to display more consistency and tenacity to help the team along.
Ron Thompson is going to make Syracuse fans say “Who’s Nick Provo again?” by mid-October. It’s amazing he’s only been playing football for two or three years. Beckett Wales played as a TE his freshman year because he had to. Thompson is going to play his freshman year because he’s ready. Thompson made a catch in traffic in which he snapped his hands up, caught the ball securely, and brought it back down in the blink of an eye. I really can’t say enough nice things about him.
I’ve been pumping up Jerome Smith all summer, but he didn’t do much yesterday. I got the impression the staff is trying to keep him fresh. Gulley looked good catching the ball, but is still a liability with his tendency to fumble. Morris impressed after breaking a big run and Ameen-Moore showed his physicality. Even Rene had a nice play or two. The running back battle is much more wide open than I was anticipating.
In the secondary, the corners looked really solid. Donnie Henderson is already making a huge impact. I do have to say, though, that I have some concerns about the safeties (excluding #Shamarko, who certainly put the hash tag on Steve Rene with a monster hit.) Eskridge and Desir are young, and Wilkes has never really done it for me. It’s really too bad Mungwa decided to leave. He would have been a huge difference this year. That’s not to say the safeties weren’t any good. I just don’t trust them yet.
There were lots of free samples floating around the Dome yesterday. I learned that Vitamin Water for women tastes like medicine and doesn’t make you feel that girly. Oh, and that people will do just about anything for a free Byrne Dairy cookie-wich.
I do wish the practice could have been outside, but overall, I thought Fan Fest went well. I’m certainly more optimistic about the fall. There’s been big upgrades in talent and players have stepped up their games. Now it’s just a matter of whether or not they’ll be used effectively. I guess in three weeks, we’ll find out.
I’m a member of team Dixon for punter. The consistency from both Fisher and Dixon left something to be desired. But I think Dixon has more potential to boom a kick and is less likely to shank one.
They ran a couple of kick off drills, but it looked like that part of the game was still in the fundamental stage. Both the kicking and receiving sides ran two different units. Each group would walk through their duty before running the play with an actual kick off. Norton took part in one of those groups- and put the ball on the 6. Hopefully he gets more behind it on game days.
To me, the big question of the day was “Is the D-Line this good, or is the O-Line this bad?” Pierce-Brewster blew up the same running play three straight snaps. On Loeb’s cool long TD to West, either Raymond or Zian Jones was in the backfield well before Charlie threw the ball, and stopped pursuit instead of putting Loeb’s good looks at risk. The Line did enough to help the offense get a few things done, but needs to display more consistency and tenacity to help the team along.
Ron Thompson is going to make Syracuse fans say “Who’s Nick Provo again?” by mid-October. It’s amazing he’s only been playing football for two or three years. Beckett Wales played as a TE his freshman year because he had to. Thompson is going to play his freshman year because he’s ready. Thompson made a catch in traffic in which he snapped his hands up, caught the ball securely, and brought it back down in the blink of an eye. I really can’t say enough nice things about him.
I’ve been pumping up Jerome Smith all summer, but he didn’t do much yesterday. I got the impression the staff is trying to keep him fresh. Gulley looked good catching the ball, but is still a liability with his tendency to fumble. Morris impressed after breaking a big run and Ameen-Moore showed his physicality. Even Rene had a nice play or two. The running back battle is much more wide open than I was anticipating.
In the secondary, the corners looked really solid. Donnie Henderson is already making a huge impact. I do have to say, though, that I have some concerns about the safeties (excluding #Shamarko, who certainly put the hash tag on Steve Rene with a monster hit.) Eskridge and Desir are young, and Wilkes has never really done it for me. It’s really too bad Mungwa decided to leave. He would have been a huge difference this year. That’s not to say the safeties weren’t any good. I just don’t trust them yet.
There were lots of free samples floating around the Dome yesterday. I learned that Vitamin Water for women tastes like medicine and doesn’t make you feel that girly. Oh, and that people will do just about anything for a free Byrne Dairy cookie-wich.
I do wish the practice could have been outside, but overall, I thought Fan Fest went well. I’m certainly more optimistic about the fall. There’s been big upgrades in talent and players have stepped up their games. Now it’s just a matter of whether or not they’ll be used effectively. I guess in three weeks, we’ll find out.
