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1st scrimmage re-cap

I have a sense that the Griz are a bit spoiled after having so many really good kickers in a row. Maybe karma is getting some payback? Perhaps this will even work out for the better. There were times in the past I felt like the Griz kicked the ball because they knew it was close to automatic rather than go on 4th and short. I think with JJ at the helm, 4th and short will seem a lot less scary.
 
Grisly Fan said:
I have a sense that the Griz are a bit spoiled after having so many really good kickers in a row. Maybe karma is getting some payback? Perhaps this will even work out for the better. There were times in the past I felt like the Griz kicked the ball because they knew it was close to automatic rather than go on 4th and short. I think with JJ at the helm, 4th and short will seem a lot less scary.
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Looks like Mick agrees with you:

"Equally frustrating for Delaney was the performance of place-kickers Chris Lider, Ben Worst and Harrison Greenburg. Lider was the heir apparent heading into fall workouts but it appears his position is up in the air at this point.

“It’s atrocious,” Delaney said of the field goal kicking. “That’s unacceptable. They’ve got to be accountable and do a better job.

“We’ll run on fourth down. We won’t even kick the ball if we can’t make the kicks that are expected of them. They’ve got to perform like everybody else and we’ll keep switching around until someone takes the job.”
 
get'em_griz said:
Why is our kicking game so bad now? Is it the way they are practicing (or lack of practicing)? They need to get a fire lit and start improving fast.
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You've got a lot of intricate pieces to a kicking unit. The line, the short snapper, the holder, and the kicker. There might not be any other unit that requires so many players to be perfectly in sync. The last 3 years the snapper (Brauer) and holder (Gratton) worked daily to get their routine in complete order. For McKnight they were money every single time. Last year despite still having those two we worked in a new kicker, Lider, who had his ups and downs.

In 2011 McKnight actually went to Beers, Arbuckle, and Pflu and practically demanded Brauer and Gratton be the snapper/holder as they were trying to work out a different snapper and it screwed up his routine.

Fast forward to this year and suddenly the one constant of the last few years, Brauer and Gratton, are gone. We've got Aaron Held, a freshman, snapping and in the spring they were using Tonga Takai - who I believe isn't doing it anymore but I'll have to look more closely to make sure that's correct. Cam Warren and Matt Hermanson held snaps in the spring, now I think Hermey does it the most. You've got constant change, different timing, different holds - add in a lefty kicker and two righty kickers.

I would hope that very soon they lock into a snapper and holder and that group sets aside extra time to just snap and hold, snap and hold, snap and hold. Work in the kickers, put a lot of extra time in on it - get their routine down and comfortable.
 
IntuitiveGriz said:
True Frosh Connor Strahm, Oregon's 6A Defensive Player of the Year, looked awesome on his long interception return for a touchdown. He already has really good size and speed, and obviously a nose for the football with his pick-6. A future Griz GREAT, no doubt it.
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Anyone worried about his overall speed when recruited (didn't he have a slower 40 time?) probably had their worries put to rest when he out-ran two WRs and one RB to get into the endzone there as well.
 
Remember when Brody arrived? How many PAT's did he kick the ball into the ass of the center? Quite a few times if remember correctly. I think Lider will get the kinks worked out and become a very good kicker for the Griz.
 
I would think FG kicking is something you could really improve at over the summer. I know if I worked on my golf swing for that long it would get better. I find it hard to believe someone didn't put in the effort to be better and to grab the starting spot. Unless of course, they are all incompetent.
 
cclarkblues said:
I would think FG kicking is something you could really improve at over the summer. I know if I worked on my golf swing for that long it would get better. I find it hard to believe someone didn't put in the effort to be better and to grab the starting spot. Unless of course, they are all incompetent.
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Tough to speak for Lider - I've not seen much from him that makes it look like he's improved from last year. Like I posted though it could be multiple factors, snaps, holds, and so on. Greenberg had added power, he was kicking the ball pretty hard, his 40 yarder would've been good from much further out and his one that hit the upright was kicked hard. Worst I've never seen kick before until last night, I bet he's hardly ever been blocked, it's like he's kicking with a pitching wedge, the ball goes real high in the air off his foot.
 
We haven't had a great kicker since Carps IMO and we had Snyder before Carps who was awesome as well. Even with McKnight, even though he improved through the years, I found myself holding my breath whenever we had to kick a FG because he sometimes had consistency issues.

Hopefully one of this years kickers gets it together. This Worst kid is really young and sounds like he was a pretty good kicker in HS so hopefully he can get the height of his kicks down a little and turn into a great kicker at this level.
 
No doubt the GRIZ have been extremely spoiled with their history of kickers. Even FBS programs have struggles with young kickers, and it's very unusual for an FCS program to consistently get the quality of kickers UM has had.

That said, I'm extremely disappointed Lider hasn't improved and didn't use the off-season to grab control of the kicking duties. You expect some issues with freshman kickers; but Lider is a sophomore and should be improved. Let's hope, as has been noted, that things improve as the players get more comfortable with one another.
 
the no. 1 offense only had six starters, but was able to riddle the pass defense. wrs henderson, walcott and saylor were out. poole and oiland were out on the line and pierson was out at te. either j.j. is the next steve young or we didn't play well in pass d with the ones out there.
 
getgrizzy said:
the no. 1 offense only had six starters, but was able to riddle the pass defense. wrs henderson, walcott and saylor were out. poole and oiland were out on the line and pierson was out at te. either j.j. is the next steve young or we didn't play well in pass d with the ones out there.
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I honesty thought that the defense got showed up last night, except for the pick six.
 
BWahlberg said:
OK, now to dedicate an entire discussion point on the kicking game, which did not look very good at all. To set the scene it appears that freshman Aaron Held (#50) is now the primary short snapper. His snaps are better than Takai’s but some are still low. He’s also working on long snaps a lot. Combined the kickers were 3-10 kicking tonight. (Lider 1-4, Worst 1-4, Greenberg 1-2)Chris Lider: Missed three fieldgoals, made one, made another but a timeout was called which lead to a miss. Two of his misses were within 30 yards, that’s not good at all. He has such a powerful kick but pushed his first attempt and then pulled his other two misses. I’m no coach and I can’t speak for him personally but I wonder if he’s trying to over-correct or something.

Harrison Greenberg: Drilled his 1st attempt, the next one the snap was bobbled I think and he hit the upright. He was on the short-end of attempts today and didn’t try a 45 yarder when the others were given a chance and I don’t think tried a PAT at all. Greenberg looks to have added strength but hitting the upright, regardless of whose fault it really is will not help his stock.

Ben Worst: Missed 3 attempts, 40, 45, and 45 again, also just barely cleared the cross-bar to end the scrimmage making a 45 yarder. He has a real high kick when connecting but it comes at the expense of a bit of distance. It appears that 45 yards is his absolute max distance if tonight is any indicator.

This is obviously a massive concern of mine and you could sense it in the crowd, lots of moans and groans on missed kicks.

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They're Bad, Worse and Worst in no particular order... :coffee:
 
Scrimmage ground rules:

1. If the offense plays well, the defense must suck.
2. If the defense plays well, the offense must suck.
3. Special teams always suck.
4. We must use personal golf analogies to explain needed improvements.
5. We must evaluate who played based on who didn't play.
6. One thousand audible groans always help a kicker's confidence.
7. How soon will August 31 be here?
 
Hmm, hopeful Lider gets his sh#t together...

Someone make Willie go to the scrimmages so he can tell us what is going wrong
 
Brock Landers said:
Hmm, hopeful Lider gets his sh#t together...

Someone make Willie go to the scrimmages so he can tell us what is going wrong
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People assume Lider did not put any work in over the summer. Trust me, nobody at this level gets away without doing work in the offseason. The problems with kickers is that they are by nature head cases. The majority of kickers work is between the ears. A little bit of confidence can make a world of difference. I was willing to put McKnights head on a stick midway through his first year kicking. I don't know if Lider will improve, but as a coach, you may need to say next man up if he is not showing the mental fortitude he needs to improve his performance.
 
My two cents watching the scrimmage.

-JJ and Van will be about the deadliest combo we've seen in awhile. Van is super versatile and seems to make the game slow down. He looked like the best natural athlete on the field to me.

-Secondary will be improved, JJ didn't give them the opportunity to make plays. He either got rid of it or threw where only the reciever could get it. Whovere says he's not accurate is full of it.

-I would like to see JJ throw a bomb to Bobo at least once a game. The guy flat ran past the defense. Would have been a touchdown if JJ was throwing, imo. Obviously kicking was brutal, punting was awesome.

-Our offense should be very formiddable...

Hard to gauge defense in scrimmage situations, but I'm very high on our D.

-Strahm, Van Ackeren, and Indiana kid stood out to me (tall and very athletic body).

-Last but not least, I picked Counts to be a breakout player and I'm even more confident he will not disappoint.
 
grizcountry420 said:
getgrizzy said:
the no. 1 offense only had six starters, but was able to riddle the pass defense. wrs henderson, walcott and saylor were out. poole and oiland were out on the line and pierson was out at te. either j.j. is the next steve young or we didn't play well in pass d with the ones out there.
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I honesty thought that the defense got showed up last night, except for the pick six.
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this is problematic in that, you always hear how coaches worry about the offence catching up to the defense at the start of fall practice.....our d must need some real work !!
 
Alaska Griz said:
My two cents watching the scrimmage.

-JJ and Van will be about the deadliest combo we've seen in awhile. Van is super versatile and seems to make the game slow down. He looked like the best natural athlete on the field to me.

-Secondary will be improved, JJ didn't give them the opportunity to make plays. He either got rid of it or threw where only the reciever could get it. Whovere says he's not accurate is full of it.

-I would like to see JJ throw a bomb to Bobo at least once a game. The guy flat ran past the defense. Would have been a touchdown if JJ was throwing, imo. Obviously kicking was brutal, punting was awesome.

-Our offense should be very formiddable...

Hard to gauge defense in scrimmage situations, but I'm very high on our D.

-Strahm, Van Ackeren, and Indiana kid stood out to me (tall and very athletic body).

-Last but not least, I picked Counts to be a breakout player and I'm even more confident he will not disappoint.
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Good assessment. I'm told that no one will catch Van if he breaks through.
 
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