This morning was cold and rainy, so the practice was moved to the Dome. The weather unfortunately turned warm and sunny, so it was hot and humid in the Dome. Lots of sweating went on, and I am not talking about the players on the field.
I think there were 3 or 4 hundred in attendance. Among those, Tyrone Wheatley's family...he has a son at FM that might become a D1 prospect. He certainly looks the part. Little brother does too. They are going to be taller than Dad.
First, some general impressions: it is always hard to make sound judgements watching practice. It the offense that good or the defense that bad? Or vice versa? Anyway, one thing I can say for sure is that there are clearly a lot more scholarship players on the team right now than there have been in a number of years. We have complete second team units and close to complete third team units for the first time in recent memory.
I was struck by the size of this team. We suddenly have a bevy of tall athletic looking receivers . Great to see players like Fundaburk, Cornelius and Lewis joining players like Lemon and Flemming. What a startling contrast from what we had 3 or 4 years ago.
Same thing on the defensive line. Lots of new blood that have D1 BCS size and builds. Not saying these guys are going to be great, but man, it is nice to at least have a bunch of players that look like they belong.
General comments in no specific order:
There was an extended punting drill that basically pitted Jon Fisher against walk on Riley Dixon head to head. On this day, Dixon was clearly better. He hit a number of really high, long punts that were close to ideal. Appears to be getting the ball away quicker as well, which has been a big concern for me. Fisher had a few nice punts but did not have a good day and mishit the vast majority of his punts.
Careful readers might remember Dixon was planning on leaving the team but was convinced to stay. I think maybe the specter of starting might have kept him with the program. It was only one day of practice but I think at the least it is safe to say there is a dunnybrook of a battle going on for the starting punting job and Dixon has a real chance of winning it.
Didn't see any placekicking drills so I can't comment on that. They worked on kick off coverage but it was in slow motion, they were working in a number of people here and there isn't much I can say except that it appears Norton is going to kick off. If he doesn't. it will be Dixon.
Hero of the first tackling drills was DE Marcus Pierce-Brewster, who got by Sean Hickey to blow up 3 plays in a row. He is only 230 pounds but is cat quick and hard to block. He looks impressive early.
Some formations were worked on that I cannot mention but they were interesting and might make watching the first couple of games must see TV.
Nassib had an exceptional practice. Not a lot of heavy pressure on him, but he was on, got rid of the ball quickly, was consistently accurate and made a lot of good decisions. His personal highlight was a long sideline pass thrown beautifully to Alec Lemon for a 60 yard or so TD (Brandon Reddish was victimized).
Charlie Loeb played with the 2nd team most of the time. Thought he played quite well. Throws that beautiful long ball, doesn't do well in the face of a strong rush. If RN went down tomorrow,. he would be the man. First time I have seen Hunt play in person. Thought he looked okay, has has a strong arm and has filled out a lot since last season. No signs of a future star yet...he looks promising but a work in progress. Kinder remains pretty skinny. Threw the ball quite well. Doesn't have the strongest arm but he is functional.
At RB, Smith got all the reps with the North unit, looked good, ran downhill, showed a nice blend of speed and strength. Gulley showed an ability to burst to daylight and continues to cut really well. Moore had a great run where he and Shamarko had a direct collision that Moore won. He is running harder and faster with the spare tire gone. Best run of the day was by George Morris, who got to the corner and outran the secondary for around a 50 yard gain. He can fly...has big play potential. Strong too, runs in an upright style with a lot of confidence. Even with some fine talent at RB, it is going to be hard to redshirt Morris this season.
I will talk about Broyld separately because he is not like anyone else on the team. Works with the RBs but I think he is mostly going to catch passes this season. Might run a bit if we go with a Wildcat look. He beats at least one person every time he touches the ball, really impressive ability to cut and get yardage after the catch. I think he is going to be an important part of this offense that so badly needs a playmaker like Ashton.
At FB, Gary and Davis are similar players. Strong, tough, good blockers who are not going to run for a lot of yards. The FBs did not get the same # of reps they did in recent years today...a different talent blend might mean less PT for FBs in general this year. I hope so.
At WR, Alec Lemon was probably the best player on the field. Playing with great confidence, he scored on the 60 yard bomb, made a nice catch on a hospital ball over the middle and a couple of more routine throws over the middle. Not much doubt in my mind he will play on Sundays. Sales has happily found the weightroom, is listed at 195 pounds and looks more like a D1 player than he has during his career. He had a solid practice, mostly catching screen type passes near the LOS. Will never have the speed of a Kobena or a Lemon but he does a great job finding openings and getting what he can from the defense. Kobena is clearly option 3 at WR. He was banged up all spring, is really running well right now. Didn't get many touches in scrimmage drills but caught it well in receiving drills and looks a lot more mature now. He is still only 182 and struggles to get free against tight man coverage but he is pound for pound one of the strongest skill players on the team. Should have a good year. Flemming and West are battling for the 4th spot in the WR rotation. Both looked good. I think both will play a lot.
Fundaburk is really impressive in drills. Has size, strength and speed, and a lot of confidence too. If he was allowed to play this year, it would be huge for this unit. Lewis is skinny than I was hoping for, don't think he plays this year until there is a rash of injuries at WR.
At TE, Wales is easily our best blocking TE and is a decent, not really athletic pass catcher. A little slower and less smooth version of Nick Provo. Stevens is running as well as he ever has, shows fine hands and is I think well positioned to have a stellar season. One of the big stories of the day was the fine play of Sugar Bear Thompson, the big TE from Michigan who appears ready to play immediately. Big, fast, athletic, nice hands, smooth, there is a lot to like about Sugar Bear. I think he is a near lock to play regularly this season. Paris is an impressive specimen as well, looks like he is going to be a heck of a blocker, and has decent hands too. First time in a long time I feel really good about the TE position. Great to see.
The North OL unit was as listed on the depth chart:
LT Hickey LG Chibane C MacPherson RG Foy RT Alexander
As of today, no one is working with the North unit other than these guys. Hickey looks fine run blocking. Pass blocking, not so much. Thought the rest of the line did okay pass blocking, decent run blocking. Alexander has lost a lot of weight and is moving noticeably better than he did last spring.
Emerich is the 2nd team center right now. Trudo is the 2nd team RG, looks in great shape in contrast to the big bellied Foy. I think he will pass Foy at some point this preseason.
Defense
The defense has dominated the offense most of the DM era. but I think the North offense did well today. Ran it okay, Nassib really threw the ball well and the mostly South defense struggled to cover the North WRs. Let's go over the units one by one...
DL
North: DE Robinson DT Goggins NT Crume DE Sharpe
Goggins and Crume both looked really mobile and caused major problems with penetration. Really like both of these guys. I think Robinson is more one of those contain rather than sack type DEs who is best against the run. Sharpe put some pressure on the QB and he had a couple of hurries.
South: DE Welch DT NT Jones DE Pierce-Brewster
Marcus Coleman and Deval Walls sat out practice and just walked around the field most of practice. Jay Bromley did not play. I do not know why. Think Goggins is a DE but because they were short 3 DTs, he was moved inside today. Welch had a sack, did well. Pierce-Brewster is probably our fastest DL. Simmons did get PT in the scrimmage drills, do not think he is in the two deep as of today.
LBs:
North unit:
SAM: Lynch MIKE: Diet Tab WILL: Vaughn
This unit featured a bunch of mixing and matching, as near starters Davis and Spruill played some with the North unit as well. Coker played MIKE for the South unit exclusively, as did Diet Tab for the North unit. Vaughn made a couple of nice plays, Lynch looks like our best blitzer at LB, Coker made some nice hits, and Davis had a couple of good plays. Spruill was quiet, didn't do much. Virgille worked with the 2nd unit at OLB some, looked athletic but didn't do a great deal. Washington didn't get reps but in drills was working at the MIKE position. Vaughn worked at the MIKE in a few drills as well. Thought Diet Tab looked really good. He appears well positioned to keep the starting position at the MIKE right now. Running really well, as is Lynch.
DBs:
North unit: CB: Reddish FS: Wilkes SS: Thomas CB: Lyn
Wilkes and Thomas played with the North unit exclusively at their positions. Thomas is back to his atomic type form before he got hurt last year. Great speed and passion, he was in on a ton of tackles. I love to watch him play. He is a madman with great talent. Wilkes is doing nothing spectacularly but was solid, really runs well. Reddish is another kid who runs like the wind, they have him on an island a lot and while Lemon burned him once, he had a fine practice. Lyn looked good, left the field for a while and didn't play much once he returned. Not sure what happened with him but I don't think it was serious. Anderson didn't play at all today. No idea why. Right now with these absences, Whigham worked with the 2nd team. Good size and athletic ability. Impressive player I like a lot. The backup safeties at Desir at SS and Eskridge at FS. Both run well, played pretty well, were kind of quiet, looked good but unlikely to challenge for starting positions just yet. The other true frosh did not get reps in the scrimmage drills, can't say much about them.
Fun day. SU had some free food and vitamin water available and had some food stands open too. The new scoreboards were off but looked really nice. I can't wait to see them in action.
Can't wait to see this team as well. I think the athletic ability of the team has improved. I have cautious optimism this team can surprise and have a good season. Really hope the guys that did not play are okay and that we can avoid serious injuries the rest of the preseason.
