Aug. 22 scrimmage observations, notes, etc.

[PonyPride]

Some notes and observations from Saturday’s scrimmage, which marked the end of two-a-days for the Mustangs:

• Among the players sitting out while wearing yellow (“limited”) or green (“out”) jerseys: OL Keyfer Roberts, TE Dylan Dickman, WR Darius Joseph, DL Zelt Minor, RB Darius Durall, TE Hunter Herndon, DL Zach Wood, WR A.J. Buffini … there were a few others, but those are the ones I saw up close. WR Cedric Lancaster had a light brace on his knee, but was in a normal red jersey.

• RB K.C. Nlemchi was roaming the sideline — without any crutches or brace after having surgery to repair the Achilles tendon he tore during spring drills. Nlemchi said he recently started light jogging, and that he is ahead of schedule on his recovery.

• QB Matt Davis didn’t play. He and head coach Chad Morris both said Davis was not hurt. Instead, it was more about resting him and protecting him from possible injury with the season opener against Baylor less than two weeks away. Davis speculated after practice that the decision might have been made “because I’m getting old.” Presumably, he was kidding. While he didn’t take part in drills on the field, he didn’t sit idly by, either. He held the play board up and also took his turn signaling plays in from the sideline, and often jumped into a group of offensive players getting ready to take the field for another possession, offering encouragement and specific advice.

• The quarterbacks took their first snaps in the following order: Darrel Colbert, Garrett Krstich, Ben Hicks, Jordan Tolbert and Connor Simpson, who is a 6-3, 207-pound sophomore from Los Angeles who transferred to SMU from Case Western Reserve. Colbert scored the day’s first touchdown on a long run when he kept the ball on a read option.

• Remember when Colbert was recruited, and there were those who speculated that he was quick but could be headed to another position because of a lack of arm strength? Saturday’s scrimmage suggested that is not the case. Not only did he throw strikes to teammates on short and intermediate passes, but he also fired a pair of deep balls that went about 55 yards in the air. No, they weren’t complete — on one, he overthrew WR Courtland Sutton, and the other (which he threw while running to escape a would-be sack) was knocked down in the end zone by LB Carlos Carroll — but his arm appears to be significantly stronger than advertised.

• In addition to his running and throwing ability, Colbert has the ability to keep his eyes focused downfield while running from would-be tacklers, and throws well on the run, including when running to his left. At one point in Saturday’s scrimmage, the right-handed Colbert eluded two pass rushers and raced toward the left sideline before hitting WR Arrius Holleman with a 35-yard strike.

• Transfer K Josh Hedlund and redshirt freshman Michael Armstrong took turns on kickoffs. Each reached the back of the end zone, although Hedlund appeared to have more altitude on his kicks.

• The Mustangs have three kickers with strong kicking legs. In addition to Hedlund and Armstrong, true freshman Josh Williams has a lot of power in his leg. He pulled a 56-yard field goal wide left, but the ball was more than halfway up the goalposts when it passed by.

• Several of the presumed starters played little, if at all. Davis and DT Zach Wood sat out entirely, while others — RB Prescott Line, TE Jeremiah Gaines, etc. — had lighter workloads than might be expected for key players.

• The offensive line included the same players — LT Chauncey Briggs, LG Daniel McCarty, C Taylor Lasecki, RG Evan Brown and RT Kris Weeks — that played together for much of the 2014 season, but they look like an entirely different unit, as OL coach Dustin Fry’s teaching and technique have the line working together more efficiently and communicating much better than last year.

• CB Horace Richardson got the first interception of the day when a receiver broke off his route, allowing Richardson to go for the ball uncontested. But he still had to race forward and reach down to just above the turf level to make the pick … and did just that.

• CBs Will Jeanlys and Ajee Montes also had interceptions.

• Among those watching the scrimmage: men’s basketball head coach Larry Brown and assistant coach Jerry Hobbie.

• One young player who has garnered a lot of attention during preseason camp — and Saturday — is WR Kevin Thomas. The former DeSoto star arrived on campus with a reputation as a polished blocker, but he appears to be more than that. Yes, he can block — well — but he also has made several impressive receptions during preseason camp, and during Saturday’s scrimmage, he had numerous catches and showed off his running ability after the catch. After catching a quick slant pass from QB Ben Hicks (with a DB draped all over him), Thomas fought for about 10 more yards before three defenders finally were able to wrestle him to the ground.

• The offense Morris brought with him from Clemson is based on a power game and includes a lot of short passes that are designed to get the ball to skill position players in open space. One such play resulted in the longest touchdown of the day, when QB Jordan Severt fired a quick screen pass to LB-turned-TE Mitch Kaufman, who tucked the ball and outran the defense for a long touchdown.

• Freshman RBs Braeden West and Xavier Jones both looked good. Neither is huge — West is listed at 5-10 and 170 pounds, while Jones is listed at 5-10 and 193 — but both have enough bulk to survive, especially if used as part of a rotation, as well as enough athleticism and speed. West showed a willingness to run between the tackles and the ability to bounce outside for long runs on the perimeter, which he did several times, while Jones quietly turned in one of the more impressive plays of the day when he slipped out of the backfield to catch a quick pass from Severt only to slip and fall … but managed to catch himself on one hand and pop back up, picking up several more yards before being tackled.

• Joining Line, Darius Durall, Jones and West in the running back rotation was Joseph Paden, a 5-9, 204-pound junior from Lancaster, Texas, by way of Cisco JC.

• Perhaps the best run after catch was turned in by WR Courtland Sutton, who ran an intermediate crossing route, hauling in a pass from Colbert and heading upfield. Sutton cut behind one defender, held off CB Kevin Johnson with his free arm and then outran the safety to the end zone, inspiring a loud, animated reaction from OC Joe Craddock.

[Rebel10]

While I do think Stallion is accurate on most things he says. I believe he was one of the posters that thought Colbert would be moved to wr. If that is the only time Stallion misses he is doing very well.
Looking at this practice report it sounds like we are ready to play. I am ready for kick off.

[Grant Carter]

What in the practice report made you think we will keep it close or beat Baylor? I agree we will be as ready for them as we could be.

[mrydel]

While I do think Stallion is accurate on most things he says. I believe he was one a the posters that thought Colbert would be moved to wr. If that is the only time Stallion misses he is doing very well.
Looking at this practice report it sounds like we are ready for Baylor and will keep it close if not beat them. I am ready for kick off.

I may well be that Colbert is the # 2 QB this year, but if Hicks improves and Moore stays, there is the possibility Colbert could move to WR in the future. One season does not define a position. See Ohio State.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

Thanks for the report. It does sound like we are going to be ready for Baylor!

[fifty]

Nothing could get us ready for Baylor other than a systematic east german supplement program. Let's worry about UNT

[PonyPride]

I didn't say they're ready yet — the coaches sure haven't said that. Everyone acknowledges that a lot of work remains.
Just discussing some players who stood out.

[Rebel10]

I didn't say they're ready yet — the coaches sure haven't said that. Everyone acknowledges that a lot of work remains.
Just discussing some players who stood out.

Thanks PP. Well I change my comment to the UNT game then.

[JasonB]

Great news that Lasecki has been moved back to Center... pushing him to guard in the spring was almost out of desperation because the play was so bad. If Brown, Hyder, and Reich have picked up there play enough and the O Line is improved, this team should be able to grab 6 wins.

I would also suggest that playing Kristic behind Colbert and giving him a scholarship reflects an intention to redshirt Hicks because of the improvement of Colbert.

Jones receives and deserves a lot of criticism for the effort he put into recruiting (or lack thereof), but we sure are lucky that he brought in two players in Colbert and Davis who didn't really fit his system. Without those guys this team would be in a lot of trouble.

I thought Shaq's comments in his interview were really interesting about the attitude of running the program like a pro program and lack of senior leadership. I think JR and Klemm and McNight probably had a lot to do with the seniors taking control in the past.

Regardless, I think the ability to scout talent of the past regime combined with the new S&C program, energy, scheme, and great athletes the new coaches are bringing is going to result in a pretty quick turnaround. Betting the over on 2.5 wins seems like a gimmie.

[Rebel10]

Glad Lasecki is moving back to center. When AK recruited him I think that is where he was suppose to play. He will need to be the glue that hold the line together. What are you talking about "ability to scout talent by the past regime?"

[Arkpony]

I think he means the present regime has the the ability to spot and use properly some talent of the last regime (which the last regime didn't always do).

[Rebel10]

I think he means the present regime has the the ability to spot and use properly some talent of the last regime (which the last regime didn't always do).

That would make sense.

[JasonB]

I think he means the present regime has the the ability to spot and use properly some talent of the last regime (which the last regime didn't always do).

That would make sense.

Most of the past staff were ex NFL scouts running an antiquated system and no help in the S&C department.

I think that we are going to find that even thought they didn't spend near enough time in recruiting and building relationships that we all wish they would, they were good at spotting talent on film, and there is more in place on campus than most would think.

I think you get the ability of those guys in a proper program with good coaches and a good scheme, and combine it with the athletes chad has already brought in, that this team gets better very quickly. 6 wins .

[fifty]

I'm hoping for 8 wins...against the spread

[Rebel10]

One of the problems with recruiting by video is that you only see the video that is sent which does not necessarily contain the best players in that area. That is why we had classes with almost half the class with no offers or hardly any P5 offers. No he did not recruit well which is why GG had to be superman when he was here. They got a lot of D1AA kids that work hard and could develop into D1A players that were easy to get. June did get a couple of good transfers in GG and Davis (we will see on Davis this year) but he missed just as many transfers as he hit on. That would be okay in the Sunbelt but not in the AAC. Not if we want to challenge. Sure you have or one or two players to pan out but that is not enough to challenge. You act like all June needed was an S&C coach and he would have been fine which is not true. Coach Morris will bring in better players than June ever could. Coaches asked you to temper expectations and you keep your expectations to 6 wins. I am sure that is appreciated. UNT will be a good measure stick because they have about mid of the road Sunbelt talent (even though that are in CUSA). If that is a close game or loss at home that would mean that June dug Coach Morris a pretty big whole to climb out of. No expectations here just hope they improvement each game in some area. Team speed is also not good. When the fastest 7 or people on the team are freshman that is not good. Even the short receivers June recruited were that fast for the most part. The major factors this year will be the transfers and the freshmen.