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Spring ball discussion: Offense

BWahlberg

Well-known member
DONOR
Spring ball is still a little ways out, but I thought we could get a few discussions going on what to expect and see for the Griz on both sides of the ball this spring. Thought I'd start with the offense.

First of, this fan's total guess at a spring 2-deep to open camp (leaving out guys I'll assume are injured for spring ball)

Possible opening 2-deep

QB: Sneed / Humphrey
RB: Eastwood / Turner OR Knight
WR: Toure / Flowers
WR: Akem / Roberts
WR: JLM / Sulser
TE: Bingham / Deming OR Rensvold
OT: Beaver / Kanouse
OT: Keintz / Anderson
G: Villanueva / Eickmeyer or Ganoung
G: Martin / Sain
C: Sirmon / Meyer

Positions that seem to be in good shape

1. Wide Receiver. The WR corps returns all 3 starters from the end of last season, essentially. Basically 80% of all the receiving yards returns and 92% of all caught TDs returns from the 2018 squad. The biggest questions I see from this group revolve around developing depth in Flowers, Roberts, Germer, and more. Also if Toure can have a bounce back season and get back on track with the type of dude we all know he can be.

2. Quarterback. Sneed is the reigning conference newcomer of the year and should be a guy that will have some consideration for preseason MVP talks. By no means is Sneed perfect though, this spring I want to see continued improvement on accuracy/consistency. Also want to see how the depth comes along there too, Humphrey and then who behind him makes a move, Wheeler, Wilson, or Graves... if Graves stays at QB.

3. Tight End. This spot surprised me from the range of production we saw last season. The trio of Bingham, Deming, and Rensvold flashed some great developing potential. Bingham was a little dinged up last season as I recall, would be good to see him really take a big leap forward. Obviously want to see continued improvement in run blocking here.

Positions in need of a lot of work

1. Running back. First off... they're razor thin at this group. With the graduation of Lee and departure of Green the spring roster technically has just 3 running backs on roster. Eastwood, Turner, and Knight (JuCo). There's talk of Graves getting some RB reps... and why not? Also there's guys like Janacaro and Le Texier listed as fullbacks. Will they see more use? Janacaro had a modest showing in the SUU blowout. Lots of questions here, can Eastwood show some improvement getting through the front line, shedding tackles, and with ball security? Are Turner or Knight ready/prepared to push for the job? How is pass protection coming along? Can this group stay healthy?

2. Offensive Line. I'm going to just assume that every job is open on the OL and that my guess at a 2-deep could be 100% incorrect. Unlike RB this group is has A LOT of guys... but the question is... do they have the right guys? Last year's OL seemed like a weekly experimentation at who to start where. Add in this year some touted freshman could be ready to steal some jobs and we'll have quite the battle get started for this group. Can guys like Anderson, Sain, Kanouse, and so on push to take a job? Will holdover starters at tackle, Beaver & Keintz, show improvement enough to hold onto their spots? Will Sirmon make a successful move to center? Will Villanueva practice / be in playing shape for spring? How about those that missed last season to injury, Scott and Hart?

---------

I'm looking forward to spring ball, there's going to be some fascinating position battles to watch and some other spots where hopefully we can see some up and coming guys start to show they're ready for an increased role.
 
Great stuff Brint. I would think this guy will be a key part of the OL:

https://gogriz.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=5109

They have him listed as a Freshman but he’s a Junior JUCO transfer who was expected to come in and compete and play immediately.
 
HookedonGriz said:
Great stuff Brint. I would think this guy will be a key part of the OL:

https://gogriz.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=5109

They have him listed as a Freshman but he’s a Junior JUCO transfer who was expected to come in and compete and play immediately.
Did NOT allow a sack all season? That's nice! :thumb: Team ran more than they passed but not by much....
 
HookedonGriz said:
Great stuff Brint. I would think this guy will be a key part of the OL:

https://gogriz.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=5109

They have him listed as a Freshman but he’s a Junior JUCO transfer who was expected to come in and compete and play immediately.

For sure, and it seems this guy can possibly play at all 5 spots too... so where to best plug him in this spring will be something to watch for.
 
Coaches are really high on trying Cy Sirmon at Center this spring because of his athleticism and smarts. They may have to bring him back over to DL if the depth isn’t there, This will be an interesting Spring to see how some guys progress. I don’t think this offense will be too bad off by the start of Fall camp if the OL continues to improve and they add another RB.
 
Nice write-up, BW. It's going to be nice having a returning QB who started all the games last year. When was the last time that happened?
 
I think you can pencil in Graves, Janacaro and Le Texier as RBs as well. Yes they may list as a FB but I think the ultimate goal is to have them actually carry the ball. We didn't last year because of the need and want for a blocker in the game at the FB postion...hence the TEs. I would be willing to say we have atleast 5 ball carriers on roster this spring overall and I am good with that. Although a drop down wouldn't be shunned come summer.

The main thing I am ready for this year with the OL: legit competition for spots with legit talent. last year guys were just trying to get mashed into a spot to fill a hole. we had 10 guys just rotating wherever they could survive. This year they may be young and they may lack grooming but they will have a legit depth chart and opportunity to HONE skills, rather than learn on the run.

Overall: I really like the offensive potential. If knight can do some of what he did in JuCo with Eastwood getting even more of a handle on things. The offense could be pretty dynamic. Lets all hope to not just rely on Sneed scrambling quite as much
 
CDAGRIZ said:
Nice write-up, BW. It's going to be nice having a returning QB who started all the games last year. When was the last time that happened?

Not sure, maybe Jordan Johnson’s senior year?
 
dayday said:
Coaches are really high on trying Cy Sirmon at Center this spring because of his athleticism and smarts. They may have to bring him back over to DL if the depth isn’t there, This will be an interesting Spring to see how some guys progress. I don’t think this offense will be too bad off by the start of Fall camp if the OL continues to improve and they add another RB.

Heard Cy played all last season at 270. He came back after winter break at 290 intent on playing OL.
 
Great observation. My biggest concern again is at RB. If Eastwood comes out of camp as our starting RB again we are in big trouble. It means the other guys trying for that position aren't very good.
 
reinell30 said:
Great observation. My biggest concern again is at RB. If Eastwood comes out of camp as our starting RB again we are in big trouble. It means the other guys trying for that position aren't very good.
:roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: this guy again. yet to provide one exact stat or reason why he bashes a player that performed well as a freshman lead RB
 
mtgrizfankb said:
reinell30 said:
Great observation. My biggest concern again is at RB. If Eastwood comes out of camp as our starting RB again we are in big trouble. It means the other guys trying for that position aren't very good.
:roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: this guy again. yet to provide one exact stat or reason why he bashes a player that performed well as a freshman lead RB

Running into the back of your O-Line man almost every handoff is not playing well. I do not believe he has the vision to play RB at this level. He only runs straight ahead. He is missing the juke and jive that good running backs possess. Can he develop it? I truly hope so! Because he was a freshman last year doesn't earn him anything more than the title of better than anyone else we had.
I think Janacaro will surprise everyone this year.
 
reinell30 said:
Running into the back of your O-Line man almost every handoff is not playing well.

Not sure why you think this would be all on the running back? And "every" handoff?
 
grizindabox said:
reinell30 said:
Running into the back of your O-Line man almost every handoff is not playing well.

Not sure why you think this would be all on the running back? And "every" handoff?

I get the O-Lineman needs to open the hole for the RB. There are times when the hole isn't open and a RB has to go elsewhere to gain yds. I didn't see that enough from Eastwood. He went straight ahead, if the hole was closed, he went down. I did say "Almost every" not every.
 
I hope I am dead wrong about Eastwood and he becomes a great back. I have read too many comments on here thru the last 12 months about how poor our running game is and that we need running backs. Got to have running backs in this recruiting class. If this is true, there are many people on here that share my opinion about Eastwood.

Janacaro is the man! Count on it!
 
Nice work, Brint. :thumb: Two major concerns from me. One, we need a nasty, edge rushing DE - never did have that consistently last year. And two, I'm really nervous about our backup QB's. I hope someone will be able to really push Sneed, and we end up with a great backup QB.
 
reinell30 said:
grizindabox said:
reinell30 said:
Running into the back of your O-Line man almost every handoff is not playing well.

Not sure why you think this would be all on the running back? And "every" handoff?

I get the O-Lineman needs to open the hole for the RB. There are times when the hole isn't open and a RB has to go elsewhere to gain yds. I didn't see that enough from Eastwood. He went straight ahead, if the hole was closed, he went down. I did say "Almost every" not every.

Spot on. Hopefully a year of experience and watching tape he can fix a lot of his errors. If he doesn't figure it out however, he'll be sliding down the depth chart. Looking forward to Knight making a big impact in the run game though. It'll probably end up Knight/Eastwood/Turner/Janacaro. Pure speculation.
 
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