SMU Open Practice Roll Call

[JasonB]

I enjoy watching practice, whatever the sport. Of course a game would be nice, but it doesn't bother me as much as it does others (and I understand why it bothers others). Here are some things I observed:
- Small change, but at the beginning, we actually warmed up with two QBs at the 50 and two on the goalline, with all 4 QBs throwing passes at the same time. I haven't seen us do that before, and it was really efficient to get things started. Small change, and probably who cares, but it was different.
- I focused my attention on the defense, but I will say that I thought Burcham wasn't as sharp as I saw him in practices last season. He and Cassell were obviously one and two. Cassell threw some nice passes and overall might have looked a little better than Burcham on the day. But like I said, I focused more on defense.
- Take this with a grain of salt because I thought they looked better than Parks before the season last year, but Ho Rich and JR both looked really good out there. They are able to be physical and looked quicker than last year, both able to break on the ball. Horace had a couple of nice breakups deep. Those two and Montes (who was probably the most vocal defensive player) are the top three corners. Jesse Montgomery and Rhodes are the next group. Athletic, Rhodes has nice length, but they aren't ready. Trey Washington was a step behind them. I *think* we will be in good shape with the first three, but after that it is going to get shaky because I don't think anyone is ready to play just yet. We will see how things look in the fall.
- We look like we are in good shape at safety. Randolph looks like a beast and in control of his athleticism. Greenbaur wasn't out there, but Richardson started next to Randolph and looked really, really good. Fast and looks like he is built well, but not as tall as Randolph. AJ Justice would be the fourth behind those three, and is not in control of himself yet - a little late to break. Nice size and good speed/athleticism, but I don't think he is really ready to play just yet even though he has good potential. That said, he did have two picks on the afternoon.
- Starting LBs were Horton, Yenga, Seals and Longoria. Sanders would be there for Longoria, obviously. They looked decent out there, but there is a gigantic drop off from them to the second team. Huge. Biggest weak spot that I saw out there. Second team is slow. Graduation and dropouts have killed us.
- Ran into Margus. He made a funny comment about how one year when he was here, Frazier had a class that conflicted with spring practice, so that year they only had three defensive linemen who had to practice the entire time. He said now it seems like there are 30 guys in the d-line group who can all play. He was impressed with the improvement.
- Offensively, we obviously have concerns at QB and WR. Thompson looked good out there, but other than that I didn't really look at the WR crew that much. There were a few drops. None f the receivers really did anything that made me say "wow". OL will be better and so will RB, so hopefully that can give us a little more consistency. But we need someone to really step up at WR and a QB to dominate fall.
- Defensively, we need Montgomery and Rhodes to step it up by Fall and provide depth at corner. DL is fine and we have plenty of players. LB is a huge issue. We have one backup at OLB who might be able to play (Longoria) and one inside (Tuiassasopo or Horton, whomever doesn't start). We will see some of the freshmen on the two deep by the end of fall practice, or we are in a bit of trouble. LB is just a *little* important in the 3-4, so this is a big, big issue for next season.

Overall, nothing really surprised me. Burcham was a little worse than I expected. Corners and safeties were better. LB depth scared the pants off me.

I would say that at this point we are below average in the conference at QB, WR, and LB. I think we are fine to above average at OL, DL, CB, and S. The bad news in all of that is qB, WR, and LB are the most important positions on the team with the schemes we run....

Final note - I got to stand by Stephen Nelson's dad. Really, really nice guy and it was great talking to him. For what it is worth, Nelson is really excited about the season, and speaks very highly of the other receivers and Burcham. If he reads this, I just wanted to say thanks for the time, and I have heard nothing but great things about Stephen from those that attend practice on a more regular basis!

[PonySnob]

Has Connor Preston transferred?


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[JasonB]

Great question. I didn't see him out there, but I thought he was practicing earlier this spring?

[ojaipony]

Thanks JasonB et al.

I hope we keep some of the principles of the "Run n Raid" like the hurry up/no huddle offense and quick passes. Keep some of the horizontal stuff, I'm ok with that.

[JasonB]

Thanks JasonB et al.

I hope we keep some of the principles of the "Run n Raid" like the hurry up/no huddle offense and quick passes. Keep some of the horizontal stuff, I'm ok with that.

Honestly, it was only one practice, and they don't show much, so it is hard to tell. But I think as the season went on last year, we went away from the horizontal flow to more vertical, and it was actually more successful (granted the level of play was a lot lower after the change was made).

Last year we had a concept of a power, blocking back and a receiving back. The receiving backs were Lancaster, LaGassse, and Sims. Sims is no longer around, LaGasse was moved to corner. On top of that, we saw a lot of Shead, Pope, Nlemchi, and Line as the season went on, and less of the receiving back concept (granted all of the smaller guys got hurt). It will be interesting to see if we keep those two back sets and the concept of different roles, or if we are going to move back to one type of back.

From a hurry-up perspective, I wouldn't be surprised to see that eliminated. Burcham struggled with the hurry-up in the Houston game, and we went back to slowing things down against UCF with positive results. The hurry-up also had negative impacts on the defensive side of the ball. I think when we go into a season with a QB with a lot of experience it becomes an option again. But right now I think June will try and slow the game down to make sure the QBs make good decisions.

I am not saying I agree with it or that I have heard anything from anyone. But that would be my guess.

[Damon'sDaMan]

The thing that stood out to me was the size of the backup DLs. In the past, even when we had big starters, the backups looked like high school leftovers. Now the backups look the part, too.