Prospect Day/Scrimmage Today

[ojaipony]

It's sounding like we might be half way decent, but with a few key injuries we could almost be back to where we were last year. I'm going to have to learn to be patient.

[JasonB]

I think you can put players into essentially 3 categories. Perform/make plays, hold their own, and below average.

Last year, we had a lot of players in the neutral and below average level.

We aren't "there" yet, but I like that we are starting to get players who show that they can "make plays".

The summary of what I am writing below is that I still think we need two OL, a safety and a corner to take the next step. Until that happens, I think it will be a bit of a struggle on both sides of the ball. But if it does happen, I think we could see a significant improvement over last year's team.

On offense, Davis, Briggs, Sutton, Gaines have shown they can make plays (that compares to really 1, Davis, last season, even though he wasn't in an offense that took advantage of his skill set). Nlemchi was in that category before he got hurt, but hopefully Gresham or one of the frosh can be a playmaker. Otherwise, RB is neutral. With the oline, I think we had more people yesterday stepping into the "neutral" category, but that still isn't good enough. We need two offensive linemen to step up and be able to make plays in order for the unit to play well. We have one receiver who can make plays, and others have potential. But hopefully the frosh give us two more guys that can make plays.

4 good players on offense isn't enough for consistency. Add two more on the line and I think we have enough neutrals everywhere else to be halfway decent on offense. Add a RB and two receivers on top of that and we could actually be good on offense. It really all comes down to getting two players from Lasecki, Hyder, Brown, McCarty, and Weeks to step up.

On defense, Gentry, Lawler, Minor, Hollie, Reed, Rhone, Horton and Shaq are showing that ability (compared to pretty much zero last year). So, we have the two DT, Mike, and one star player and one up and coming DE. I really enjoyed speaking to Yenga yesterday (interview to be posted later in the week), and I think we have a bunch of decent guys who can play the Will and do fine, but it would be great to see one of them step forward and really start making a lot of plays out there on the field. We don't have the depth behind Shaq at Star right now, a frosh is going to have to provide that.

Again, 4 good positions on defense and a bunch of neutrals isn't going to be good enough for consistency. Montgomery and Horace both made a couple of plays. AJ made a couple of plays. But we need a corner and a safety to take the next step, whether it is someone on campus or a frosh. 6 goods and 5 neutrals will give us a solid defense. Yenga or another WILL taking another step gives us 7. Lawler, Wood, Nabusoshi, or a frosh at DE would give us another. that takes us to 8 and a salty defense. But again, we need a corner to step up, a safety to step up, and either for Shaq to get healthy or a frosh to step in at star in order to be decent defensively.

The nice thing is that with the style of practice, there is so much actual game situation and hitting and pace of play that players who couldn't come up to speed of the game in the past and true frosh will actually have a shot of making an impact.

[blackoutpony]

everyone just do yourself a favor and skip captain ""we'll go 9-3" post above, seeing as he clearly just took a fat rip off the bong. I realize he's much more nuetered than in years past, but we're still not that good.

This team will be painful to watch next year at times. Not nearly As bad as last year, but painful none the less. 4-8 would be a great accomplishment. Hell, 3 wins would be a lot of progress. The oline is dreadful, the secondary will get burned over and over, and relying on marginal freshmen (outside of WR) is not going to work. Redshirt all if you can. Davis is going to be running around in circles a lot next year; he'll look awful at times, but look like Michael Vick circa 2005 at others.

Morris knows what he's doing, but give the man time.

[Pony Boss]

So you're telling me JMU, UNT, ECU, Tulane, Tulsa, Navy, Houston and Temple are not winnable games? Those teams are borderline horrible in a worse AAC this year in which the "good" teams are luckily in the East division.

[SMU Football Blog]

I don't think it is too much of stretch to say this team could edge toward bowl eligibility.

Had June stayed, and stayed engaged all season, I think this team could have managed 3 wins. Some may not want to admit that but I think it is true.

With a new coach and energized fan base and improved recruiting and the right scheme, you can add to that total. So, maybe, you can get to 6 wins.

Or we could finish the year with 1 win. Who knows?

[sbsmith]

So you're telling me JMU, UNT, ECU, Tulane, Tulsa, Navy, Houston and Temple are not winnable games? Those teams are borderline horrible in a worse AAC this year in which the "good" teams are luckily in the East division.

Just because the games are winnable doesn't mean we'll actually win them. Our talent level is still at the very bottom of FBS especially on the lines (where games are won and lost).

[JasonB]

everyone just do yourself a favor and skip captain ""we'll go 9-3" post above, seeing as he clearly just took a fat rip off the bong. I realize he's much more nuetered than in years past, but we're still not that good.

This team will be painful to watch next year at times. Not nearly As bad as last year, but painful none the less. 4-8 would be a great accomplishment. Hell, 3 wins would be a lot of progress. The oline is dreadful, the secondary will get burned over and over, and relying on marginal freshmen (outside of WR) is not going to work. Redshirt all if you can. Davis is going to be running around in circles a lot next year; he'll look awful at times, but look like Michael Vick circa 2005 at others.

Morris knows what he's doing, but give the man time.

This is what I said:

The summary of what I am writing below is that I still think we need two OL, a safety and a corner to take the next step. Until that happens, I think it will be a bit of a struggle on both sides of the ball. But if it does happen, I think we could see a significant improvement over last year's team.

To add further clarification:

Never said 9-3. Sure, if something crazy happens and two OLs step up, we have a stud RB and two of the frosh WR are ripped and ready to go. And a safety and a corner step up, Yenga is all-world at WILL, Lawler continues to grow, a frosh comes in and is a stud DE and shaq is healthy at the star, then you can put me at 9-3 . The odds of all of that happening are not great.

That said, I think we all expected that several players on the OL last year would step up with more experience, and that never happened. I think there was hope that players would take major steps forward in the secondary with experience, and it didn't happen. If we don't have two OL and a corner and a safety step up, we aren't going bowling regardless of the other skill position players added to the team. A more competent offensive scheme only would have resulted in maybe 2 more victories last season.

Personally, I think that with the new S&C program, Brown, Hyder, Lasecki, McCarty have a shot. They aren't unathletic slugs. We will find out if they buy into the system over the next 6 months. I'm scared about the fragility at corner. I think AJ and D-rich have a shot at safety and that frosh looks awesome on tape. I'll optimistically hold on to my 6-6 prediction for now, but there is a lot of work to do before August.

[AusTxPony]

Interesting to hear CM highly praising both PLine and Gresham at RB. He apparently sees them a integral to a successful team. I trust that is not all coach speak, because he could have been low key about them, but he was vey enthusiastic. Good news if so. Even said they could be in lineup together some.

[couch 'em]

Even before a winless year the practice reports touted our awesome X Y and Z and the coming good chance at a bowl game.

[ponyswim]

I think one way to look at the football team since CM arrived is that they had about 8-10 weeks of Strength and Conditioning, then spring practice. Apparently quite a few of the guys have "bought in" and are working hard. Unfortunately they were starting from a major deficit in S and C. Now they have an idea of what it takes and how they are able to perform on the field with a new strength/fitness level.
Now comes Round Two. Another 10-12 weeks of S and C. BUT, this time they are going into it with a better understanding of the work it takes, not just to survive, but to really improve and have the improvement translate onto the football field.
I think Round Two will result in multiple guys making big strides. The question is do those making big strides go from being "highly deficient" to "deficient", or from "deficient" to "satisfactory" etc.
From having coached for a lot of years, the one thing I am sure of, is that even the coaches don't know who is going to step forward and make massive strides. I do think it will be interesting to watch.
None of this implies that we will be good, or even fair this fall. But which guys step forward will be fun to watch.

[JasonB]

I'm also interested in how many kids not only stay on campus in the summer in order to participate in the S&C program, but also how often they are organizing practice sessions on their own. The first few years under the old regime that had a big impact, and can get players used to new schemes really quickly.

Of course, organizing 7v7 is a lot easier when you never hit at practice in the first place .

[FootballDadCTX]

I'm also interested in how many kids not only stay on campus in the summer in order to participate in the S&C program, but also how often they are organizing practice sessions on their own. The first few years under the old regime that had a big impact, and can get players used to new schemes really quickly.

Of course, organizing 7v7 is a lot easier when you never hit at practice in the first place .

Everyone( incoming freshman to seniors) will be apart of summer workouts starting June 1.

[Pony Boss]

I'm also interested in how many kids not only stay on campus in the summer in order to participate in the S&C program, but also how often they are organizing practice sessions on their own. The first few years under the old regime that had a big impact, and can get players used to new schemes really quickly.

Of course, organizing 7v7 is a lot easier when you never hit at practice in the first place .

Everyone( incoming freshman to seniors) will be apart of summer workouts starting June 1.

Are you FootballDad? Or did CenTxPony and FootballDad merge usernames?

[smusic 00]

Maybe CenTx has a mystery child...

[couch 'em]

SinTx