Went to my first practice today (Wednesday)...
Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 12:20 amHad the day off, so I was able to make it. Thought I would share some observations. Hopefully some of you guys remember enough of my past posts to know that I am a realist, not just a sunshiner...
First thing I want to say is that I really enjoyed the intensity of the coaches today. Kids are into it, have a great attitude, and the constant teaching really is incredible. The coaches are very involved; this is something that I haven't seen in a long time. From top to bottom, this coaching staff is head and shoulders above anything we have had here for a long time.
I am going to start out by talking about what excites me the most. The defense.
I fully realize that we have a ton of athletes coming in on offense. And that the QBs on the field in the spring may not be among the top two on the depth chart come fall. When I look at players, I watch them for what they are, not how they play against what might not be the best competition.
1) I know that there is probably some concern out there about Justin Smart moving to linebacker. And MLB, no less. I know I was concerned about that. Well, I feel a lot better. That kid is going to be awesome. He is all over the place. He has a great burst to the ball, is taking charge, and just looks fantastic. He really stands out on the field, he is going to be a player.
2) For the past 5 years, we have had at MOST 2 division 1-A quality secondary players on the field at a time. I know there is a lot of flack given to playing off the line and all that stuff, but the fact is that we have been pretty slim in the secondary for a while - we either have athletic players that are slow or fast players who aren't agile for the position, something is always just not right. Well, I now count at least 6 D-1 football players out there right now. Dennis, Bailey (running with the second team right now), McCann, Bell, Jones, and Crosby (nickel corner) can all play, and play well. They are all athletic and fast enough to play college football and do well. We are finally going to have a good secondary. McCann has a lot more size than I remember. The best player of the group I think is Bell. That kid is going to be awesome. He has great transitional speed - he is able to quickly backpedal and then stop and change direction with burst. Great hips, great burst, good instincts, he has the whole package. He really looked great out there. He is the best corner I have seen at SMU post-DP.
3) Let's talk schemes. I was really, really critical of Bennet for sticking with the 4-3 man/zone. In this day, especially in CUSA with so many teams running a spread, that doesn't work. I am sure some of you share my concerns. Well, worry no more. I sure saw an awful lot of 5 back sets, both 4-2-5 and 3-3-5. I don't know what our base is going to be, but I can assure you that we are going to match up with our opponents. We also did a ton of blitzing and scheme adjustments, but I think a lot of that is to try and teach the QBs, WRs, and O-Line how to read the game to make the offense work. But that in itself is better teaching than we have done in the past. Oh, and it is obvious from the various drills that this is going to be a very, very aggressive defense. No more worrying about the other band playing, we are going to go after some folks.
Now the offense...
Obviously, some guys aren't around, but these are some things I saw:
1) QBs were 10 (Turner), 11 (Rhodes), and 15 (walkon)? 15 has the prototype body, but very awkward release results in inconsistancy. Rhodes throws the inside routes well, but really has to step into a throw to make the outside throw. The attempt to get enough power behind the ball results in a significant drop in accuracy. He had shoulder problems before, I believe, so that is not surprising, he might be better in the fall. Turner is the one who has a good enough arm, but I am not sure that he is really ready to run the show yet. We will see what happens in the fall, though.
2) Looked to me like the starting WR were 17 (Sanders), 88(Haynes), 24(Robinson), and 23(I dunno). Sanders looks great, he just has such natural hands. Smooth would be a great descrpition. We all know he is good enough. Robinson is a fantastic athlete - can really move with the ball. He will be a factor in the return game, I am guessing. Great burst of accelleration and can cut/jitter. A fantastic athelete, not just a straight line runner like Henderson. I would say as shifty as Warren, maybe even more so, but with better speed. Better than Cunningham. Not the best route runner though, and the coaches were really working on cutting harder in his routes. If he improves on the routes, he will be a big player. Haynes I know has gotten good reviews, but he had a rough go of it today. I have no idea who 23 is, but he played a lot with that unit and he had a rough day as well. 16 was a player who caught my eye a little bit. Inconsistant, but has nice burst and good cutting ability.
Overall, I would say that our secondary is more athletic than our receivers, for what that is worth. That said, I think we have a lot of guys coming in that are going to compete from day 1 at the skill positions which could balance that out. And I'd rather have frosh starting at WR than in the secondary.
First thing I want to say is that I really enjoyed the intensity of the coaches today. Kids are into it, have a great attitude, and the constant teaching really is incredible. The coaches are very involved; this is something that I haven't seen in a long time. From top to bottom, this coaching staff is head and shoulders above anything we have had here for a long time.
I am going to start out by talking about what excites me the most. The defense.
I fully realize that we have a ton of athletes coming in on offense. And that the QBs on the field in the spring may not be among the top two on the depth chart come fall. When I look at players, I watch them for what they are, not how they play against what might not be the best competition.
1) I know that there is probably some concern out there about Justin Smart moving to linebacker. And MLB, no less. I know I was concerned about that. Well, I feel a lot better. That kid is going to be awesome. He is all over the place. He has a great burst to the ball, is taking charge, and just looks fantastic. He really stands out on the field, he is going to be a player.
2) For the past 5 years, we have had at MOST 2 division 1-A quality secondary players on the field at a time. I know there is a lot of flack given to playing off the line and all that stuff, but the fact is that we have been pretty slim in the secondary for a while - we either have athletic players that are slow or fast players who aren't agile for the position, something is always just not right. Well, I now count at least 6 D-1 football players out there right now. Dennis, Bailey (running with the second team right now), McCann, Bell, Jones, and Crosby (nickel corner) can all play, and play well. They are all athletic and fast enough to play college football and do well. We are finally going to have a good secondary. McCann has a lot more size than I remember. The best player of the group I think is Bell. That kid is going to be awesome. He has great transitional speed - he is able to quickly backpedal and then stop and change direction with burst. Great hips, great burst, good instincts, he has the whole package. He really looked great out there. He is the best corner I have seen at SMU post-DP.
3) Let's talk schemes. I was really, really critical of Bennet for sticking with the 4-3 man/zone. In this day, especially in CUSA with so many teams running a spread, that doesn't work. I am sure some of you share my concerns. Well, worry no more. I sure saw an awful lot of 5 back sets, both 4-2-5 and 3-3-5. I don't know what our base is going to be, but I can assure you that we are going to match up with our opponents. We also did a ton of blitzing and scheme adjustments, but I think a lot of that is to try and teach the QBs, WRs, and O-Line how to read the game to make the offense work. But that in itself is better teaching than we have done in the past. Oh, and it is obvious from the various drills that this is going to be a very, very aggressive defense. No more worrying about the other band playing, we are going to go after some folks.
Now the offense...
Obviously, some guys aren't around, but these are some things I saw:
1) QBs were 10 (Turner), 11 (Rhodes), and 15 (walkon)? 15 has the prototype body, but very awkward release results in inconsistancy. Rhodes throws the inside routes well, but really has to step into a throw to make the outside throw. The attempt to get enough power behind the ball results in a significant drop in accuracy. He had shoulder problems before, I believe, so that is not surprising, he might be better in the fall. Turner is the one who has a good enough arm, but I am not sure that he is really ready to run the show yet. We will see what happens in the fall, though.
2) Looked to me like the starting WR were 17 (Sanders), 88(Haynes), 24(Robinson), and 23(I dunno). Sanders looks great, he just has such natural hands. Smooth would be a great descrpition. We all know he is good enough. Robinson is a fantastic athlete - can really move with the ball. He will be a factor in the return game, I am guessing. Great burst of accelleration and can cut/jitter. A fantastic athelete, not just a straight line runner like Henderson. I would say as shifty as Warren, maybe even more so, but with better speed. Better than Cunningham. Not the best route runner though, and the coaches were really working on cutting harder in his routes. If he improves on the routes, he will be a big player. Haynes I know has gotten good reviews, but he had a rough go of it today. I have no idea who 23 is, but he played a lot with that unit and he had a rough day as well. 16 was a player who caught my eye a little bit. Inconsistant, but has nice burst and good cutting ability.
Overall, I would say that our secondary is more athletic than our receivers, for what that is worth. That said, I think we have a lot of guys coming in that are going to compete from day 1 at the skill positions which could balance that out. And I'd rather have frosh starting at WR than in the secondary.
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