Practice observations - 4-7

[JasonB]

A little limited in what I wrote down today, because it was freaking cold!

Overall note - very obvious that the offense will be closer to the offense Chad ran. Power spread, not the air raid.

Also, practices are a lot different. Pace is slower for sure. NOT June slow or anything like that, just slower. A TON of coaching going on. Really working on precision more than getting a certain number of plays in. Focus on things like route precision and pad level rather than just speed, speed, speed. The coaching is definitely more prevalent. And a LOT more hitting, lot more physical overall.

Also, with Chad, he was the center of every practice. The loudest voice, center of attention, running the show. Dykes sits back and lets his assistants run things. Very different approach.

QB - DJ didn't practice. Hicks is by far and away the clear starter. It looks like Brown and Upshaw are battling for the spot behind DJ. Brown may even have the upper hand. Peavey looks like he is pushed back in the rotation, although he did lead two nice TD drives and had TD runs on both from short yardage. On the second TD run, he juked 26 Freeman out of his shorts in the backfield and walked into the endzone. I'd also say there was a lot of support on the sideline for Brown from the players. I think his athleticism and poise in the pocket stands out. Hicks is really interesting to watch because his mobility compared to two years ago is night and day. Really good to see him continue to develop overall.

They also had interesting drills where the QB would drop back and bounce and just stay in the pocket. Trying to teach patience rather than just running if nothing is open immediately.

It looked to me like Bell, Proche, and Benson are with the ones at WR with Glaspie, Page, and Shelmire rotating in. A ton of WR are out, so can't establish any starters or anything like that. Benson was by far the most effective during the scrimmage portion. He was able to use double moves to beat 4 Armani Johnson three times that I saw. That seemed to be a big difference in the route tree - a focus on double moves, which of course will require our OL to hold up longer. I would say there was a lot more attention to detail from the coaching staff when watching routes than we have seen in the past.

Medlock is playing safety, and Jeanlys is practicing with the LBs.

McQueen had a nice read and pick. Very fluid out there and clearly practicing at safety now, rather than bouncing between safety and star.

Delante Scott is someone who stands out in the change in behavior. He has filled out a lot, which is great. In the past, he would kind of dance around the line of scrimmage and not really engage linemen. He was looking to run around people. I saw him engage more OL today than I have seen in the last 2 years combined. Really physical, engaging players, made a couple of plays. I think he will take a step forward this year.

The defense overall was much more physical than in the past. Hard hits several times. It was really refreshing to see that if an offensive player broke through the line or broke a tackle, there were a ton of players flying to the ball and shutting the play down. None of the make one guy miss and take it to the house stuff we saw last year in practices and games. The entire backend unit was flowing to the ball. On one play, Benson made a catch on the sideline for a 10 yard gain at around the 15 yard line, and broke a tackle. Last year, he walks into the endzone. This year, 4 players drilled him out of bounds at the 3. Small things, but the activity is great, and the physical nature of the team is great.

OL (take with a grain of salt because lots of injuries): Livingston, Ali, Howerton, Dennis, Pursley. Webb was out there, I think I saw Smith. Barton was rotating with Howerton at Center. Livingston stands out immediately with his size and super long arms. Still looks lean, will put on weight before fall. Dennis was playing Guard exclusively, which is interesting because I thought he would get looks at center. He has nice power, gets beat on slants a bit.

Overall, I would say the DL definitely had the advantage over the OL until later in the scrimmage. Kind of surprising because of the graduation on the DL. I would expect the OL to dominate right now with the number of returning players, but again with all the injuries I would take everything with a grain of salt. Lots of new faces in there. Not sure if I should be pleasantly surprised by the DL or if we have a problem at OL. Livingston, Howerton, Dennis, and pursley should probably all be starters next year.

CB: Davis and K Johnson were starting, Sutton and A Johnson with the second team. Sutton playing behind K Johnson is a bit of a surprise, because it means he is third team when Wyatt is back. But K Johnson looked pretty decent out there. Most of the bigger passing plays were against A Johnson. It was a wet, cold practice, so speed is tough to judge and there is a disadvantage for players who have a smaller frame. Davis was the best corner on the field. But there is a lot of experimentation and injury. It could be that they just wanted one strong corner on the field at all times.

DE: Scott and Neals starting. I think Coxe and Choate (52) were backing them up? Hard to tell with a lot of movement. Scott looks much improved. Neals is about as big as he can get. Makes lots of plays still, but will be interesting if he fits the physical needs of the defense.

DT: Davis, Gary, Biggurs, and Loveless seemed to be the rotation. But again, lots of injuries. Seems small inside, but were not getting pushed around at all and seemed to win most of the physical battles.

LB: Denbow, Moore, Robinson seemed to be with the ones. But I think they have Robinson playing a safety/LB hybrid and would switch him out with Jeanyls. Duke, Ward, Hailey seemed to be the second group. Nice to see Ward moving into second string MLB. Hailey is active and I think he had the biggest hit of the afternoon on a pass over the middle. Denbow and Moore change the size/speed/athleticism dynamic completely for this position group. Definite upgrades. This is an improved unit.

S: McQueen and Medlock and then Rock and Freeman. Medlock is trying to get a feel for everything, but still interesting that he is already running ahead of the others. McQueen stands way out as the best. Onu and Clemons are out with injury, but it is going to be very hard to keep McQueen off the field. I spouted off about him when he showed up last spring, and I still have no idea why he didn't see more time last year. His pick came on a nice read where he saw a pass developing outside and broke on it from 15 yards away and made the play. The safeties in this scheme are going to play center field more than cover, so you want guys like that who have the speed and instinct to make plays. He was all over the place and can really run. Runs to the opposite side of the field, he is there following up in case a tackle is broken or missed. He did get wrong footed on a play up the middle which resulted in a larger gain, but I think I'll take the good over the bad with his speed, motor, athleticism, and instincts.

K: no punting today, but we may really miss Williams. Missed a couple PAT and both FG over 40 yards were at least 10 yards short. It was cold and wet, but didn't look very good.

[Monty_The_Mustang]

Great report. A few RS freshman on the DL.

It’s sounding to me like with the majority of June’s recruits gone now, and Chads guys getting older, we have some pretty solid athletes. I never doubted Morris’s evaluating / inside high school football coaching connections.

William Brown has me really excited about the future.

[Monty_The_Mustang]

Is Choate a walk on?

Edit: just saw his dad is Putt Choate, which I assumed. Looked like some impressive high school stats. Maybe they want him as a stand up DE like that guy that set records at NIU last year.

[JasonB]

It looked like they were playing around with a lot of different looks, including having an LB standup on the outside and shifting the line over, and then also having a third LB be a hybrid safety guy.

IMHO, by Fall we are going to hit a perfect combination of Morris' recruits + better weight training + better coaching. This will lead to massive improvement defensively. If we can find playmakers at WR it could really look nice.

[AusTxPony]

Great thorough report, thanks.

[ponyscott]

Thanks for the observations Jason.

[Junior]

No McLaurin sightings?

[footballdad]

No McLaurin sightings?

The Golden Corral on Forest Lane

[Mustangsabu]

Thanks for the report Jason. Can't wait for football next season.

[ponynut]

Thank you so much for this observation! So looking forward under Dykes et al.