- Visitors on Saturday included a ton of recruits, Tracy Ham, Derrick Morgan, & Jon Dwyer. Perhaps our most important visitor for the day was our referee, the esteemed Ron "Giving Him The Business" Cherry, who was on the whistle today. (At least I think it was Ron Cherry).....
- A controlled scrimmage today generally with ones vs. ones, two vs. twos, etc...
- No significant depth chart changes as of YET. My guess is there may be some next week.
- Offense: WR: Melton, Hill (Sims, Moore, Cone), O-line: Claytor, McRae, Bedford, Uzzi, Krish (Foster, Jackson, Finch, Beno, Barrick), A-Back: Roddy, Peeples (Smith, Wright, Bostic, Godhigh), B-Back: Allen (Watson, Perkins, Cox), QB: Washington (Sims, Luallen)
- Defense: DE: Cross, Peters (Dieke, Cummings), NT: Walls (Barnes), Jack: Egbuniwe (Tongo), Mike: Jefferson (Machen), Will: Sylvester (Watts, Burnett), Sam: Barnes (Rocker), CB: Reese, Butler (Reid, Peterson), Safety: Edwards, Tarrant (Taylor, Thomas)
- Offense took a while to find a rhythm today as defense came out fired up & swarming around. Confidence is key & they believe in Groh. Everyone was so down last season & they all lost confidence. Groh seems to have reinvigorated them & given a new sense of purpose
I'll break down the scrimmage by position. First the QB's:
- As a unit they played okay. Pitched the ball well today as nothing hit the ground. Couple bad meshes put the ball on the turf & they threw three interceptions today. Must get better in the passing game at reading coverage & delivering the ball. All three had there moments on the ground & overall I thought their decision making was ahead of last year as far as run game reads. I'll be honest: we suck throwing the ball. Let's not sugar coat it. We must get better here or we're going to see 9 man fronts next year.....
- Josh Nesbitt: no more boot as of Friday! Looks like he can tear apart steel structures & crush skulls. Pretty impressive watching your QB in a red jersey cranking out work with #35 dumb bells.
- Tevin Washington: elusive & slippery with the ball. Nice job on reading the option keys & made good decisions in the ground game. Really pitched the ball well today. Two perfect counter options to Marcus where he waited until just the right moment to pitch the ball creating a nice seam for Wright who scampered 55 yards on the first play & 30 on the second. As I said before, not blazing fast but shifty. His experience is beginning to show in running the offense. Passing wise Tevin has a ways to go. Completed one nice out route to Melton but previous to that threw a brutal interception on the same route to the other side. His arm is just marginal & our receivers really arent't much help right now....
- Davis Sims: Sims took snaps after Washington & frankly wasn't too effective. He's very quick & deceptively powerful but his command of the offense is still a work in progress. Can be lethal with his feet but the arm is a liability. Threw 2 picks today trying to make a play & force the ball to a receiver. David is a fine athlete & still a work in progress so people need to give it time. That being said my guess is his future is at A-back.....
- Jordan Luallen: Luallen intrigues me. You can certainly tell he is beginning to grasp the offense. Isn't terribly fast or shifty but gets it done with his legs. Had one really nice cut back today where he made two defenders miss. Has some trouble with the snap & the mesh today & must value the ball & secure it. Certainly the best arm of the three & above average overall. Really throws well on the move to either side. We ran six snaps from the shotgun today all for Luallen including a pretty draw play. The battle between Jordan & Tevin is shaping up to be an interesting one.....
- Wide Receivers: blocked alright today but were a non-factor in the passing game. Melton caught one ball as did Jeremy Moore. Moore also dropped a bullet from Luallen on the sideline when he was open. As he likes to do, CPJ called the exact same play again with the same result, a Moore drop, which earned #83 a pretty good earful. The offense tried a reverse to Hill early but A.T. Barnes sniffed it out & dropped him for a loss. While Hill is a playmaker we have to get better at WR. As I said the other day, look for Chris Jackson there in the Fall....
- Offensive Line: played well today & I think we'll be pretty good this season. We are certainly more athletic & better able to play in space. Uzzi is the real deal as is Bedford. A healthy Nick Claytor is certainly nice. And watch for some young guys to push for time. We're not there yet but this unit has plenty of potential....
- A-Backs: lots of stuff went wide today as the defense keyed on the dive. Roddy is a really good football player who doesn't get enough credit for what he does WITHOUT the ball in his hands. A fine blocker. Peeples looked okay today as did Orwin but neither stood out. Marcus Wright had the two longest runs of the morning on counter option pitches. He's deadly in space. I'm surprised at the number of reps true freshman B.J. Bostic is getting. They have thrown him in there with little reservation. Bostic is exceptionally quick & dangerous in space but he's easy to take down due to his slight build. This also hurts him in blocking. We're strong at A-back......
- B-Back: Allen wasn't too much of a factor as the defense keyed on the dive when he was in the game. Watson looks trim & healthy & ripped off a decent run early then settled in for a productive morning. Luke Cox looked like a beast today. Probably about 4 carries against the #2 defense (playing with the #2 offense) but it took 4 guys to bring him down after contact. Again surprised at the number of reps for Perkins. They obviously think he can contribute sooner rather than later (as do I)......
On to the defense. As I said earlier they really have a new sense of confidence & came out fired up. Dominated the early portion of the scrimmage & played well throughout. As far as I could see they just played Cover 3 zone today. Pretty vanilla but doubtless a step in the installation of the entire defense.
- Defensive line: played very well today. Cross & Peters both making plays. On Friday Peters crushed Tevin & today was at it again. Peters seems very active & involved. Logan Walls had a fine day today & has really distanced himself from the competition at nose tackle. Several times today Walls broke up plays by penetrating & gave All-ACC center Sean Bedford everything he could handle. T.J. Barnes just can't get the pads down & is easily moved around. J.C. Lanier is a non-factor & my guess is he'll be moved to offensive line soon. Watch for true freshman Shawn Green to backup Walls in the Fall.....
- Linebackers: A.T. Barnes had a couple nice plays today & was a factor in pursuit from the backside. Brad Jefferson is a prototype Mike linebacker in this defense & really took on a couple blockers & made tackles today. Jefferson & Watson had a huge collision in the hole at the end of the scrimmage which was the biggest hit of the day. Malcolm Munroe also had an interception for the second day in a row. But the real standout of camp so far has been Will linebacker Brandon Watts. Watts is blazing fast & gets to the ball in a hurry. While not big, he's a sure tackler & has been making plays all over the field so far this spring. I'm not certain he stays inside (might be a better fit at Sam) but he's been terrific so far. He'll be impossible to keep off the field this Fall if he keeps playing this way.....
- Secondary: corners looked fine today & Reese is a plus in run support from his days playing safety. Rashad Reid has a cast on his right thumb but we haven't heard about the injury. Mario Edwards had a nice interception off an out route early on. The player that has really stood out to me is sophomore Jemea Thomas. Thomas is always around the ball & brings the lumber when he tackles. The coaches frequently praise him so watch out for him to move up the depth chart as practice continues.
That's all for now. Hope you enjoy the weekend.......
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