Practice Observations - SMU Fan Day

[JasonB]

Well, that was quick. A one hour practice where SMU kind of practiced in shells outside of the linemen. No tackling.

Because I focused on the line last practice, I spent most of this one focused on the secondary. Here are my notes:
- Overall, the secondary and defense are way ahead of where they have been in the past. There aren't a lot of open gaps on the field in the passing game, corners press tight and don't allow easy passes, and everyone runs to the ball. There were a couple of long plays off of blown coverages, which I will touch on below, but really when the offense moves the ball it is because the QB makes a really nice pass. We know the level of our WR corp, so that really says a lot.
- This is definitely not a bend-but-don't break defense. It is going to be aggressive. There are going to be some long scores given up, but there are also going to be a good number of 3 and outs. I really come away from both practices I attended thinking that this team is really going to blow out overmatched teams. They don't have a Nelson or a D Scott, and it will prevent the defense from being elite. But the corner situation, DL depth, and LB depth is way better than we have had for a long time. And all of that is going to force some 3 and outs against lesser teams and get the ball rolling downhill.
- The corner room is incredibly deep. They make plays at every practice. Last year, we had a lot of solid play, but the only guy who could really make a play was Crawford. This year, you get situations like today, where pretty much everyone makes a play except for Crawford, either a breakup or a pick. Which says a lot going against our WR corp. When you read about the interceptions, I wouldn't question our QBs. They are just having to throw against tight coverage constantly, and if they are off a little bit, it gets picked. The coverage isn't going to be this tight in games.
- Gray looks great. So does Siggers and Bentley. OL was Bryant, Thomas, Ali, Howerton, Osborne, as anticipated.
- Dearman (10) is playing field LB with the 3rd string. He can run, but looks small. I wouldn't expect a lot from him yet.
- 50 - Sneed - looks the part. They are playing him a lot at the Boundary LB in the 3rd string. I think we might start to see him in 3rd and long type of situations, where we go Nickel and sub out a field LB for a 3rd corner. He would play Boundary. He can move, but he has enough size to play the run. Just something to keep an eye on later in the season. He is interesting to me.
- At MLB, it seemed like Deleano and Hailey were running with the 1's and Moore and 41 (ISM) were running with the twos. Working in 41 with Moore is interesting because I think that ends up being the pairing. Once they feel 41 is ready to play, I bet they jump to the starts, and 3 runs back outside. Impossible to read 41 in this practice really, but I think he and Moore look similar, and will give us an incredibly mobile LB unit.
- Field LB was Phillips starting, Burns second, and Dearman third. Burns looks the part, but he might not be ready just yet. In the other practice I watched, I saw a lot of Phillips inside and Delano outside. If 14 and 41 can play MLB, I bet they push Delano to start on the field and Phillips and Hailey backup the middle. Just a guess. But if 14, 41, and 3 can start, this is the best LB corp for a while and is deep as well. They can run.
- It is very noticeable, by the way, that the big gap in the middle between the LB and safety that has been a hole in the SMU D for years is no longer there. We finally have enough mobility in the back 7 to close that gap. With the strength of our TE room, that pass would have been wide open constantly. It isn't anymore.
- At Boundary LB, it looks like Coxe, then Wiley, then Paul. Coxe is clearly the starter from what I saw, and looks improved. He just isn't quite a difference maker that is going to cause the other team a lot of problems. Just solid across the board.
- From what I saw, three corners have separated themselves. Crossley, Rogers, and... Westfall. Yep, they guy who had a great spring a couple years ago, then disappeared for 2 years is back. In fact, the first team going out there was Crossely and Westfall. Rogers also played with the 1s, so there is clearly a big competition there. When they went nickel, Crossley came in and played the slot. McMorris was the 4th corner, and looked great as well. A number 27 was running with the third team with Thursby. Thursby looks the part, but I would say we have 4 really good corners. No sign of Armani.
- At safety, Denbow and Roberson started. Cromarite spent some time with the second team and other times rotated with Roberson with the 1's. Clay was the other second team safety. Massey and Kazadi were third team. No sign of Calloway, Taylor, Jackson, or Nwo.
- Most of the times they are playing with a 2 deep look. So, while I recognize the concern at safety on the defense, the fact is the strength of LB and CB rooms means they just aren't involved a lot of time. But they are certainly the weak part of the defense. I wouldn't worry too much about FS/SS classifications with the way they play most of the time.
- 18 and 21 both have a tendency to follow the eyes of the quarterback. They get caught in the same location a few times, out of position, because they are just watching the backfield.
- Massey ran third team, but is the most athletic player back there at safety. He had a nice read and a near pick early on. I could see him getting yelled at from the sideline, so I think what might be holding him back is a little size but mostly inexperience. I would expect him to move up the ladder as the season goes along. I was surprised to see him with the third team.
- On one long TD pass from the offense, both 18 and 21 blew their coverage. Both ended up on the same side of the field, a WR was isolated against a LB on the other side, and blew by for a long TD. Even on the same side, both bit short, and the WR on their side was wide open down the sideline (even though he didn't get the pass). Blown plays like that didn't happen often, but it wasn't a good look and illustrates that while the defense is going to be great a lot of the time, that weakness is going to result in some big plays by the other team over the course of the season.
- On another TD pass, Grey caught an easy pass over the middle in the endzone from 25 yards out. It was a simple drive up and then cut inside, but Rogers was trailing way behind. Don't know if Rogers was expecting help and the safeties were out of place, or if Rogers had bad position. But someone made a mistake, it was too easy.
- Special teams - punts were generally 35-40 yards. Not Sackville bad where the ball is shanked out of bounds. And enough air generally for good coverage. But really not the distance you would expect. The only bright side was when they had to punt from their own endzone, Hall was able to launch one over 50 yards with nice hangtime. So, when it mattered, he came through. But the other punts weren't great. Better than they were last week at practice, but not where they need to be. Field goals I couldn't really tell what was good and what missed, but there weren't any shanks. There was one bad 46 yarder where Mazza slipped and kicked a line drive that missed and was short. But that was a slip problem. Hall had a giant kickoff that was super high and went well out of the endzone, which was great to see. Mazza also had a deep kickoff that bounced out of the endzone.

Overall, I'm really happy with where we are at QB, DL, RB, WR, TE, CB, OL, and MLB. I think we are okay at Boundary LB and Field LB and K. Safety and punter are our weakness. If we had a big time sack guy, I think it would help us protect the hole at safety. But we don't. So, while I see us making a big improvement and becoming a top 50 defense, we aren't going to be elite like Cincy. I think we have enough to win the West, but we lose against Cincy in the regular season and the championship game. 9-4 (2 losses to Cincy, and we go 1-2 against TCU, Memphis and UCF). As I write that, I will note that there were no blown coverages by the first team safeties, so perhaps I am overreacting to that position. And there is the chance Massey wins a starting job. If the safety position performs better than I project, the sky is the limit with this team.

[PNW_Stang]

Really impressive write up!

[DC-Pony]

Great stuff, JB, thank you.

I love your observations, analysis, and level-headedness. Lots of upside with this team, despite some opportunities to shore a couple of units.

2 weeks until live kickoff!

[PNW_Stang]

I was thinking 9-3. While we are loaded at some positions, seems there’s some deficits and a difficult schedule. I think multiple teams have a bye before us.

[dalpony]

Calloway is no longer with the team - he has left for personal reasons - a big loss

[PonyPride]

Calloway is no longer with the team - he has left for personal reasons - a big loss

Yup. Confirmed by Sonny Dykes.

[JasonB]

In that case, when Denbow is playing, you need to have someone partnering with him to cover for when he takes a bad angle or misses a tackle. Everyone running the ball in this defense will help to cover for a lot of those mistakes. Ideally, that is Massey, but you can't have Massey lining up in the wrong spots.

Eventually, I would guess that we will see a lot of NWO as the season goes along.