Spring Practice Report #2....

First, I would like to let you know there was a great spring practice discussion last night that is archived in the chat links on this website. Most of the information in this report was covered during that 1.5 hour show. It was a good show!!!!

- Again, today was just in helmets no pads, many of the same drills.

- Some of the neatest things to watch are 4 QBs two on one side, 2 more facing the other 2 on the other side about 50 yards apart....the 2 qbs at one time throw to two WR's and the other 2 qb's on the other side do the same. The WR finish their routes on one side and immediately run to the other and stand in line for those routes. It goes back and forth, ALOT of action and no rest time. High tempo, lots of reps. Much more active than in the past.

- Neat moment, the horn sounded to move to new stations and some players went to take a water break. PJ flat out yelled at them and said "this isn't a water break, run run run, get your butts to the next drill". We got a kick out of it.

- The OL was Gardner, Hill, Voss, Smith, Brown; dunmon out ill.

- Walker out with a foot injury. DL would have been Morgan, Richard, Walker, MJ. Anyaibe and Anderson subbed as Richard had classes i think

- LBs jefferson, AT, K Jackson

- DBs the same, Butler, Jahi, Reese, Burnett.

- Burnett is an absolute stud. By far has the best ability to turn and locate the ball in the air and pick it off. He defends WR like glue and is a S. Today he did this and picked off a pass that was a little underthrown. Flat out he may be the best defender on the team today.

- QB spot. Today Josh had a good day. In 7 on 7 he had something around 10 straight completions and 2 throwaways that got high fives from the coaches for good decisions. Josh definitely, and early put his foot fwd. We have been throwing the ball alot...and this type of performance can help. The running of the option looked smoother today, still had hiccups with pitches from both booker and josh, some pitches were behind the A-backs and some fumbled but in general the option was run smoother and quicker. Calvin had a rougher day in 7 on 7; he did not look sharp passing the ball in this event. In fact, quite the opposite I counted 7 straight incompletions.

- Josh still has some small issues with footwork that make him drop his elbow and passes can sail high. The staff was really working with him on setting his feet while rolling out.

- G smith will fit the A-back spot well I think. He is fast and slippery and hard to bring down. I see him a first team A-back

- Josh took snaps from the "first group" OL most of the day, but used a mix of A-backs and WRs.....BUT there was one instance where I heard PJ yell FIRST GROUP and the first team OL ran up, Josh, B-back Dwyer, A-back Evans and Smith, WR JJ and Bebe. HMMMMMMMM

- Evans. J Evans. He looked really good today. He is blooming this may be his perfect offense. He has really good hands and caught everything. Albeit, no defense was in front of him, but for a RB did a good job. The A-backs will be asked to catch alot of passes.

- The scrimmage finished up with a scrimmage between the D and the O. Obviously not much contact, but it was a sprinkle of passes and runs, and Josh hit a few passes deep that would be TDs. He has a great touch on the deep ball. The option was rusty. And frankly in live ball probably no big runs....5-6 yd gainers for the most of it. Without full hitting its tough to see how effective the B-back handoffs were.

- JD looks to be a rock, in great shape.

- Secondary had some good moments today, good enough in 7 on 7 they covered all 4 WR's and the QB had to throw the ball away. This is good to see. Butler played "solid" today. Tarrant made a few nice plays with the second unit including a pick or almost pick on a bad throw by booker....

- Big improvement from the first practice, but not close to where we need to be and frankly, without contact still its too tough to anoint anyone. But the positives seem to be Josh's development, and Evans.

- The secondary is really getting pressured from Kelly. They have athletes back there. Lets see what happens when bullets start flying. I saw moments of good coverage.

- Starting to not worry about our ability to defend traditional O's with as much passing as we are doing.

Man I would love to play for this offense.

Just wanted to be the first to say, that was a really fun show to listen to.

33J, you were fantastic on there.

It was fun listening to Machine and Matt too. Hey, it's Machine's show, so if he wants to piggy back off of Matt's responses, that's his priviledge. That's how I'd do it. Get Matt to be the first responder to most questions and then expound intelligently.

But, really, it was a great show, and I'm looking forward to more in the future.

thanks for the report 33j. wish i could have been there. keep up the good reports.

i know it's too early, but i'd really like to hear that the option is working alot smoother than what i'm gathering from the reports.

I haven't heard any mention of Roddy Jones. I liked what I saw of him, in last season's practices, and I hoped to see big things this year. What have you seen of him, so far?

Also, will the next practice be full contact, or have they not made it to that point yet?

bog

bog wrote:

I haven't heard any mention of Roddy Jones. I liked what I saw of him, in last season's practices, and I hoped to see big things this year. What have you seen of him, so far?

Also, will the next practice be full contact, or have they not made it to that point yet?

bog

roddy and jamal are like twins out there. However jamal is doing a better job in the pass game. Without contact it is too hard to evaluate anyone right now....

Contact comes saturday.

I liked the defensive coordinator Wommack, he was vocal like Tenuta, he did not ridicule or curse! Some of kids work better under positive criticism. Not taking anything away from Tenuta Though!!

-There were a blitzes with a single LB blitzing up the middle, not sending the whole house like Tenuta. We may not get as much pressure this year, but the defense may be more sound overall.

-The coaches were really riding the DB, they were in there faces all day. Also, coach Kelly is helping out with the DB's not just Wommack which should help having two coaches for them and giving them the extra attention they need. There is obviously more pressure on the DB's to perform at a high level this year.

-Players are picking up the plays naturally.

-Roddy Jones, Jamal Evans, Greg Smith, Austin Barrick, Tyler Evans were all playing the A-Back position.

-JD, Lucas Cox and others were playing the B-back position.

-Offense looks smooth I only worry about turnovers, ball was on the ground a couple times. That is why it is important to do the same plays over and over again.

Best way to judge how quickly we are picking up the new O, is to compare to how quickly Navy was able to do the same. There is always going to be the concern of turnovers with the option, but that's what practice is for.

I'm glad to hear about the blitz changes. I was never a big fan of sending the house, as teams with big O lines always seemed to pick that up against us and get good yardage on the pass.

I know it's early, but is there any talk of what's going to be expected from summer conditioning drills? How prepared were the players coming into spring practice from the conditioning they've been doing?

GTWrangler wrote:

Best way to judge how quickly we are picking up the new O, is to compare to how quickly Navy was able to do the same. There is always going to be the concern of turnovers with the option, but that's what practice is for.

I'm glad to hear about the blitz changes. I was never a big fan of sending the house, as teams with big O lines always seemed to pick that up against us and get good yardage on the pass.

I know it's early, but is there any talk of what's going to be expected from summer conditioning drills? How prepared were the players coming into spring practice from the conditioning they've been doing?

The conditioning leading up to spring ball, was "the hardest ever' according to the players.

I am assuming the summer conditioning will be harder as well. Since there is so much more running, especially in our offensive scheme it is important for players, even Linemen to be in better shape.

I'd love to be able to hear any of the coaches on your show. Any chance of that happening? BTW, love the sight and the show. I did have a hard time figuring out which chat room to find the show chat. Keep up the good work!!!

Thanks alot, the chances of getting a coach on the show are good, stay posted. The first would be Giff Smith my and current D-line coach.

If you missed our show or any of the others.. just go here:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/the-machine to catch yourself up on things

Our most recent chat with 33Jacket, the Machine and Matt Rhodes offers some awesome insight into the new season.....

So I read on gtsports.blogspot.com that Saturday's scrimmage is at 9:00 am? Anyone know if that is correct?

thanks 33 for your insight

We are thinking about doing a show live at scrimmage saturday!

Good Idea?

Great idea!!!

What time is the scrimmage???

GPBurdell wrote:

Great idea!!!

What time is the scrimmage???

i am not sure I have heard everything from 9am all the way til afternoon...still waiting on clarity but I am pretty sure its 9am

If you could do a show live at practice....... that would be great. Enjoyed the show...well all but 33 flubbing my questions since I asked how Jackson was doing at MLB. I assumed Kyle was playing MLB. Ish has a problem reading those questions from time to time. He had his hands full with so many coming in though. Rhodes and you are a good team.

geebee2 wrote:

If you could do a show live at practice....... that would be great. Enjoyed the show...well all but 33 flubbing my questions since I asked how Jackson was doing at MLB. I assumed Kyle was playing MLB. Ish has a problem reading those questions from time to time. He had his hands full with so many coming in though. Rhodes and you are a good team.

I did reply to a jackson question earlier...not sure if was you...u can go back and listen but I basically said it was too tough to tell right now as there is no contact and essentially all he has done was drop back in pass coverage...FYI i don't think he wins the job...

geebee2 wrote:

Ish has a problem reading those questions from time to time. He had his hands full with so many coming in though.

Thanks for understanding the often unknown complexities of trying to run the show... as this show is growing in popularity way faster than I ever assumed, I am working diligently on working out a way to make sure I don't miss a single question... while still being able to juggle the the technical aspects.... things are only gonna get better... I promise!!!

Thanks for listening!!!

"roddy and jamal are like twins out there. However jamal is doing a better job in the pass game."
That's not what I saw at the first practice, nor heard. Neither one of them has dropped a pass, and NO LBs were able to keep up with Roddy in the secondary. With Roddy now with #20, and Jamal with #22, it's easy to mix them up.