Unlike all other spring practice's over the past 15 years, I've pretty much kept out of the loop this spring. So needless to say, I was interested heading into today's game.
The talk of today has obviously been Ashton Broyld, and deservedly so. He showed signs of that "playmakers ability" that we have lacked since Mike Williams. He had a nice pass back to Loeb (about 15 yards), a gorgeous 44 yard scamper and surprising quickness for his size. While the optimism for him is through the roof right now, expectations need to be tempered. Ideally, I think we can expect 5-7 plays a game setup for him with another 5-7 plays setup with him as a decoy. It allows us to aim for plays like the 44 yard run we saw from him today and more importantly, plays that take the attention from the opposition away from guys like Sales/Lemon. (Where are all the naysayers now that think he and the team would be better served with him as an OLB?)
I really liked what I saw out of Jerome Smith. Someone at the game told me that he has been great all spring. They were right. While he didn't have any 44 yard runs, there isn't a guy that looks more like Delone Carter than Jerome Smith. If he can old onto the ball like Delone did and be that pile mover like Delone was, then that is the best development of the entire spring. Because we missed Carter badly last year and I told the board that weeks prior to the opening game.
My only issue with today was the setup of the actual game. If Marrone has an established 2-deep like he says he has why not split teams up between the 1st team offense/2nd team defense vs. 2nd team offense/1st team defense and then add scout players to both sides? Because it makes it impossible to evaluate (at least from a fans perspective) when someone like Jaston George is lining up against Marcus Sales?? Reddish/Anderson should be lining up against Sales with Shamarko Thomas/Jeremy Wilkes in safety support. It devalues the product on the field because it limits the competition. I understand depth was an issue but there were certainly enough to have an established 2-deep that could be split up more efficiently.
On a side note, I sure hope DM has a trick up his sleeve with his QB in 2013 and beyond. Because as of today, it cannot be John Kinder or Charley Loeb. Kinder was horrendous, he made terrible reads, left the pocket to early and not early enough and over threw his targets. I love Loeb's demeanor on the sideline and wish Nassib would duplicate that but he as well does not make the plays to be efficient. It is either going to be Broyld or Hunt next year and if that is the case, I would be worried from a discipline standpoint if I was Marrone because of their off the field issues. Can they be trusted going forward, to stay out of trouble and be dependable? I hope so, assuming it is between them for 2013.
Go Orange.
The talk of today has obviously been Ashton Broyld, and deservedly so. He showed signs of that "playmakers ability" that we have lacked since Mike Williams. He had a nice pass back to Loeb (about 15 yards), a gorgeous 44 yard scamper and surprising quickness for his size. While the optimism for him is through the roof right now, expectations need to be tempered. Ideally, I think we can expect 5-7 plays a game setup for him with another 5-7 plays setup with him as a decoy. It allows us to aim for plays like the 44 yard run we saw from him today and more importantly, plays that take the attention from the opposition away from guys like Sales/Lemon. (Where are all the naysayers now that think he and the team would be better served with him as an OLB?)
I really liked what I saw out of Jerome Smith. Someone at the game told me that he has been great all spring. They were right. While he didn't have any 44 yard runs, there isn't a guy that looks more like Delone Carter than Jerome Smith. If he can old onto the ball like Delone did and be that pile mover like Delone was, then that is the best development of the entire spring. Because we missed Carter badly last year and I told the board that weeks prior to the opening game.
My only issue with today was the setup of the actual game. If Marrone has an established 2-deep like he says he has why not split teams up between the 1st team offense/2nd team defense vs. 2nd team offense/1st team defense and then add scout players to both sides? Because it makes it impossible to evaluate (at least from a fans perspective) when someone like Jaston George is lining up against Marcus Sales?? Reddish/Anderson should be lining up against Sales with Shamarko Thomas/Jeremy Wilkes in safety support. It devalues the product on the field because it limits the competition. I understand depth was an issue but there were certainly enough to have an established 2-deep that could be split up more efficiently.
On a side note, I sure hope DM has a trick up his sleeve with his QB in 2013 and beyond. Because as of today, it cannot be John Kinder or Charley Loeb. Kinder was horrendous, he made terrible reads, left the pocket to early and not early enough and over threw his targets. I love Loeb's demeanor on the sideline and wish Nassib would duplicate that but he as well does not make the plays to be efficient. It is either going to be Broyld or Hunt next year and if that is the case, I would be worried from a discipline standpoint if I was Marrone because of their off the field issues. Can they be trusted going forward, to stay out of trouble and be dependable? I hope so, assuming it is between them for 2013.
Go Orange.
