The slightly biased ruminations of Thaddeus D. Matula
August 22, 2005 – 12:19am
“We’re talkin’ ‘bout practice!†–Allen Iverson
Free burgers if you walked in from the Doak Walker Plaza side. That was about the most exciting thing about the practice... I mean, scrimmage.
I settled into a seat just north of the fifty-yard-line, and took note of the shiny new CUSA logos on the field. The CUSA name may not have the cache of the Big 10, the ACC, or the SEC, but it was sure nice to see it, and realize the promise of this fresh start. I was lucky enough to have squeezed into a group of Pony Parents. The three P’s, if you will – the Poynters (Ben’s parents - Tommy’s aunt and uncle), the Pevetos, and the Pellerins. Great folks who all were having a great time... Reynaldo’s father piped up early, “Keep that first weekend of December open, because we all know where you’re gonna’ be.â€
Reynaldo, himself, later backed up his father’s positive outlook by hauling in the only receiving touchdown of the night. A pretty little touch pass to the corner of the end zone, delivered by Tony Eckert. It was Pellerin’s only grab, and one handed at that.
The scrimmage itself was not much of a scrimmage – and honestly, if you missed it, you didn’t miss much, as we saw the team begin with kickoff drills, then punt drills, and on down the line. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. The kickoff drills did not tell us much as there was no true hitting involved. There were enough orange “don’t hit me†jerseys on the field, it felt like a highway construction sight… or an Oklahoma State practice. What we did see, we already knew, Chris McMurtray has quite a leg on him, and we are lucky to have him. I was overjoyed by the fact that both McMurtray and Mentzel (on punts) almost always forced the returner to backpedal. As the night wore on, the team came back to kickoff drills again a few times, and the final time, we learned something else, Emerson Settle is really, REALLY fast.
Despite completing only fifty percent of his passes, Tony “the Pony†Eckert looked sharp; releasing the ball quickly and placing it in spots where only his receivers could grab it. He was 9 of 18 for the day, but at least seven of the nine incompletions were drops. I say “dropsâ€, because without the benefit of replay, it was impossible to tell whether (on a number of them) the ball was simply “dropped†or great play was made on defense. That being said – whatever happened on those incompletions - Eckert had threaded the needle perfectly, only to be rewarded with a ball falling harmlessly to the turf... And, in defense of our top-flight receivers, Eckert worked with more than just the number one unit… and no matter the quarterback, Bobby Chase and Ryan Kennedy were awesome. With Eckert’s quick release, I would not be surprised if both of them finished the season earning first-team all conference honors. Chase caught everything. Ryan Kennedy was fantastic and would have had much gaudier numbers had he not had the “don’t hit the good player†whistle blown on him as he raced down the field for a gain that would have been anywhere in the neighborhood of 30 to 60 yards (the whistle blew as a corner tried and failed to make a one armed tackle).
Jerad Romo looks to be a more than capable back up. He seems to have worked hard over the off-season to improve his knowledge of the playbook and his receivers, as he stood in the pocket and made some nice reads. Though, I think that Jim Poynter (Ben’s father) said it best when he described Romo as the “change-of-pace†quarterback. I get the feeling that we will see Romo at quarterback for one series every game.
It’s hard to have any comments on the play of the “golden childâ€, Chris Phillips, as – unless I missed something – he only had one series. (Granted I did sneak out during a punting drill in a fruitless search for a soda vendor… only to return for red zone drills already in progress.) In his lone series, Phillips didn’t even throw a pass. I can’t say that he was being punished, which I don’t think to have been the case, but it certainly seemed like something was amiss as he came in as a handoff specialist. There was only one pass play called on a third and probably 13… he dropped back, checked a couple of receivers, and took off – would have had a first down too, except the ref blew the play dead right before he hit the line to gain (as two defenders were collapsing on him… no way they would have made a first down saving tackle). Watching him warm up, thought, I was troubled by his release point. He needs to come over the top a little more. However his final five tosses in that session did come over the top (so it could be that that’s simply how he warms up).
The rushing game will be huge this year. I guarantee it. We got a look at what Coach Phil Bennett has been talking about when he says we’ll be doing a lot with a two back offense. It was all out of the shotgun with the quarterback flanked by Cedrick Dorsey and Richuel Massey… Dorsey clearly looks to be the number one option, and he deserves to be, but Massey is the best back on the team. He just needs to stop doing dance numbers at the line of scrimmage. When he hit the holes with confidence he set himself up for big gains. Dorsey, however, hit the holes quickly and torched the defense. Often, with Massey in the “gameâ€, Dorsey would split out to a slot position - I would not be surprised to see a lot of this during the year.
The defense looks to be vastly improved over last year’s unit as we look faster at every position. I am still concerned by the line, and fear that above average rushing teams will be able to have a field day, but the line did show the ability to pressure the passer. Our closing speed in the defensive backfield was a clear step up. The freshman linebacker, out of Fork Union (Curtiss Powell), seems to have a knack for the big hit. I look for him to be a strong contributor… but not this year.
Freshman Quarterback Justin Willis (out of Denton Ryan) was extremely exciting, eliciting “oohs†and “ahhs†every time he was on the field. He has a good zip on the ball, and made defenders look silly when he tucked the ball and ran. While Phillips is clearly the ’06 starter, Willis will definitely have something to say about that. If only Willis had just two or three more inches on him… The other freshman quarterback, Eric Johnson - good size and mobility - looked good guiding an offense of mostly freshman (against the same level defense) down the field before the final horn blew.
Freshman RB James Mapps was untouchable on that same drive. Gaining first downs with almost every carry. You just wish (a) he was 3 to 5 inches taller – if he’s 5’9â€, I’m 6’3†– and (b) that we could have seen him against the ones or the twos. He looks to be a special player, and you hope that his diminutive stature won’t keep him off the field, and that he’ll be able to hold up against players twice his size.
As far as the freshmen go, I think the likelihood of Bennett redshirting the entire class is about 50%. As Emerson Settle, Emmanuel Sanders, and, most of all, Columbus Givens look like they could play right away. (Settle looked good in the defensive backfield.)
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It was nice to sit a row in front of Jim Poynter - he has the mind of a football coach. While he told me that he couldn’t put a number on how many wins we will get this year, he argued strongly that we are improved at every position (I didn’t quiz him on the loss of Adami). Jim feels we will be in every game this year – with the possible exception of the A&M game – and after seeing the scrimmage, I think I have to agree with him. It was nice talking to the man, as he pointed out the soon-to-be impact players, and told a couple of funny inside stories… He also mentioned that he has a younger son. A high school freshman… a quarterback. And, yes, the coaches have already taken notice.
After the "game", I headed down to the field to catch up with Coach Bennett – but before I made it over to him... there it was, plain as day. These guys are football players! These giants towered over me like trees in the Amazon... I had had the same reaction when I met my father for lunch at the student cafeteria (man it’s strange being back in there) – these guys don’t just look like athletes; they look like beasts. Maybe it hasn’t shown up in the win column yet, but seeing these men, you realize just how far Bennett has come. I walked up to him and said, “Hey Coach let’s get some wins.†Bennett replied, “That’s my job.â€
I think he will win and I think that it’s not a stretch that we will again have a winning home record. That’s four wins. Now we just need two on the road…
I asked Jim Poynter about Mr. Pellerin’s prediction of an appearance in the CUSA Championship game. He responded: “Just a little preseason optimism.†... And there’s nothing wrong with that.
Thaddeus Matula is a Dallas (soon to be Austin) based writer and filmmaker. He is a life long Pony fan, and is the proud owner a pair of “really nifty†red Pumas.
