I missed the entire 7on7 but caught all of 11on11 and some late special teams stuff. Also the team finished a little early today so I didn't see a lot. Here's what stood out today.
- Trent McKinney was solely with the 1st string team today. Much like yesterday he had some bad moments (like a pick by Tully) and some good moments as well. When the time game to run the spread offense Trent did really well there moving the ball around.
- Adam Brzczek ran with the 2s, he had some good runs but really he was not looking downfield much at all. He threw a few check down passes but was hardly looking at his options downfield. Adam was chewed out a few times by coach D for not protecting the ball well and had it punched out of his hands a few times when walking back to the huddle, I believe he also fumbled an attempted option exchange too.
- Shay Smithwick-Hann paid the price of a bad day yesterday and didn't throw at all today in 11on11 drills.
- Brady Gustafson had a few series and ran one play really well, and outside option to his left, he keeps the ball and rolls out, when the linebacker came up to make the stop he pitched the ball to Jordan Canada and the defense lost containment. Canada took the ball to the house for a TD.
- Dan Moore contines to play like a man possessed out there. On one handoff he found Tyrone Holmes had beat Clint LaRowe and was right in his way, Dan popped Holmes hard and sent him flying back 2 yards in the air and landing flat on his ass. Coach Gregorak who usually gets animated about that kind of stuff calmly reminded Holmes about his pad levels.
- Ellis Henderson and Gerald Kemp each received some high praise from Coach D as he told both after some nice catch and run plays that they're going to "help us win some games this year."
- Despite getting planted on his backside by Dan Moore I have to say Tyrone Holmes is making a big impression out there. His upper body strength has allowed him to push back any of the 2s/3s tackles he faced. He's very quick off his feet as the ball is snapped, good initial explosion which usually translates into getting around or knocking back the tackle he faces. Holmes ran reps with both the 1st and 2nd string defense today. He shared time with Caleb Kidder who had a few touch sacks as well.
- I can't say enough about our linebackers. Stu, Tripp, Coyle, JP, Holt, Richards... they're all making plays out there right now. Kose sat out, it looked planned to work him back into things gradually coming off knee surgery. Owen was out but looks like he's itching to get back, had his helmet on today and was running quite a bit.
So... we're 4 days in, I've seen two days in half pads and two without. Some concerns are starting to show up, and here's what I'm seeing;
1. Snaps. Oiland is the most consistent however many of his snaps are not centered, a few times our QBs are reaching off to their sides to snag errant snaps. Hines the backup tends to put his a little high - many times coming up to the QB's facemask. As for the 3rd string it's Weyer who's been rolling about half of his back. Meanwhile the guy who snaps to near perfection in the 7on7, Brett Brauer, sits and watches during 11on11 and doesn't get a single whiff of a single rep. It's a head scratcher. But the snapping woes don't end there, punt snaps have not been good. There the coaches are trying to get Tripp and Hardy to stop snapping and have tried to work Brauer and Hagfors out at that spot, which has been fairly disastrous with a mix of long snaps going over punters heads.
2. Backup tackles. Schmaing has not opened fall camp the best and LaRowe certainly looks like a freshman out there and those are our two options right now if we lose Kistler or Poole.
3. QB Play. No shock here, QB play is highly inconsistent. Most QBs do well in the short game but aren't even looking at deep options. McKinney shows glimmers of hope and Gustafson actually has put together some big plays but overall WRs are not finding any good passes coming their way beyond 15 yards.
4. DT tackling. Bienemann has oddly been quiet this fall so far, but I'm not too concerned about him, Takai has been great. Beyond those two DT has been a black hole. Rehm has done some good things but that's not his natural position.
5. Backup safety play. In the spring Lebsock and especially Rominger were making plays after plays. Once again it's early, both have a pick that I've seen, but they've had a few issues as well, there's been a handful of big plays they've given up. Gamboa and Coogan have been near invisible.
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A few injuries today, Josh Harris looks to have tweaked his knee. It was iced up and he was limping a bit on it. I don't think it's a big deal as he was walking around on it afterwards. I missed it but Brett Kirschner must've sprained an ankle or knee, he was limping pretty heavily.
- Trent McKinney was solely with the 1st string team today. Much like yesterday he had some bad moments (like a pick by Tully) and some good moments as well. When the time game to run the spread offense Trent did really well there moving the ball around.
- Adam Brzczek ran with the 2s, he had some good runs but really he was not looking downfield much at all. He threw a few check down passes but was hardly looking at his options downfield. Adam was chewed out a few times by coach D for not protecting the ball well and had it punched out of his hands a few times when walking back to the huddle, I believe he also fumbled an attempted option exchange too.
- Shay Smithwick-Hann paid the price of a bad day yesterday and didn't throw at all today in 11on11 drills.
- Brady Gustafson had a few series and ran one play really well, and outside option to his left, he keeps the ball and rolls out, when the linebacker came up to make the stop he pitched the ball to Jordan Canada and the defense lost containment. Canada took the ball to the house for a TD.
- Dan Moore contines to play like a man possessed out there. On one handoff he found Tyrone Holmes had beat Clint LaRowe and was right in his way, Dan popped Holmes hard and sent him flying back 2 yards in the air and landing flat on his ass. Coach Gregorak who usually gets animated about that kind of stuff calmly reminded Holmes about his pad levels.
- Ellis Henderson and Gerald Kemp each received some high praise from Coach D as he told both after some nice catch and run plays that they're going to "help us win some games this year."
- Despite getting planted on his backside by Dan Moore I have to say Tyrone Holmes is making a big impression out there. His upper body strength has allowed him to push back any of the 2s/3s tackles he faced. He's very quick off his feet as the ball is snapped, good initial explosion which usually translates into getting around or knocking back the tackle he faces. Holmes ran reps with both the 1st and 2nd string defense today. He shared time with Caleb Kidder who had a few touch sacks as well.
- I can't say enough about our linebackers. Stu, Tripp, Coyle, JP, Holt, Richards... they're all making plays out there right now. Kose sat out, it looked planned to work him back into things gradually coming off knee surgery. Owen was out but looks like he's itching to get back, had his helmet on today and was running quite a bit.
So... we're 4 days in, I've seen two days in half pads and two without. Some concerns are starting to show up, and here's what I'm seeing;
1. Snaps. Oiland is the most consistent however many of his snaps are not centered, a few times our QBs are reaching off to their sides to snag errant snaps. Hines the backup tends to put his a little high - many times coming up to the QB's facemask. As for the 3rd string it's Weyer who's been rolling about half of his back. Meanwhile the guy who snaps to near perfection in the 7on7, Brett Brauer, sits and watches during 11on11 and doesn't get a single whiff of a single rep. It's a head scratcher. But the snapping woes don't end there, punt snaps have not been good. There the coaches are trying to get Tripp and Hardy to stop snapping and have tried to work Brauer and Hagfors out at that spot, which has been fairly disastrous with a mix of long snaps going over punters heads.
2. Backup tackles. Schmaing has not opened fall camp the best and LaRowe certainly looks like a freshman out there and those are our two options right now if we lose Kistler or Poole.
3. QB Play. No shock here, QB play is highly inconsistent. Most QBs do well in the short game but aren't even looking at deep options. McKinney shows glimmers of hope and Gustafson actually has put together some big plays but overall WRs are not finding any good passes coming their way beyond 15 yards.
4. DT tackling. Bienemann has oddly been quiet this fall so far, but I'm not too concerned about him, Takai has been great. Beyond those two DT has been a black hole. Rehm has done some good things but that's not his natural position.
5. Backup safety play. In the spring Lebsock and especially Rominger were making plays after plays. Once again it's early, both have a pick that I've seen, but they've had a few issues as well, there's been a handful of big plays they've given up. Gamboa and Coogan have been near invisible.
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A few injuries today, Josh Harris looks to have tweaked his knee. It was iced up and he was limping a bit on it. I don't think it's a big deal as he was walking around on it afterwards. I missed it but Brett Kirschner must've sprained an ankle or knee, he was limping pretty heavily.
