Scouting Report - LT
Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2023 12:25 amI'll do my what to watch for later in the week, but wanted to provide a quick scouting report of LT.
- The QB, Boise State transfer, is accurate, and his stats for the day ended up being okay. That said, he only throws balls over the middle, within about 8 yards of the LOS. He doesn't have a great arm and didn't even really attempt an out route the entire evening. He had one throw to the sideline late that kind of floated out there, and gave an indication as to why they weren't attempting that throw. He didn't throw deep very frequently at all, and the one big play was a catch and run off a slant. He isn't mobile - pure pocket passer. I can see teams playing the drop 8 against them that they did to Tanner last year, just plug up the middle of the field and challenge him to run. The accuracy is nice, but the limited arm strength... I just think he is kind of okay, not a game changer.
- RB they are pretty banged up and ran a true frosh, who ran the ball well, but again not a real game breaker. Just a good solid running back.
- WR/TE - they have Smoke and that is about it as far as difference makers. Nobody else really made plays. Some of that is arm strength, and some of it is that FIU played way off of the receivers and gave the check routes. No throws to the outside, and then the TEs are 6 yard curl guys who have big frames, good blockers in the running game, and can catch, but can't do much with it. If the NB is able to cover Smoke, I think their playmaking ability is extremely limited outside of him.
- OL - FIU had a bigger NG and they basically doubled him every play, especially in the running game, with the center and a guard. In the first quarter especially, they did a lot of pulling and counter runs with very limited success. As the game went along, the running game got better because they stopped moving people around and just mushed forward. They play a lot of TE sets and H Back, so pretty similar to what Rhett wants to do this year. They broke one long run, and outside of that the running game was not very productive. They don't have the speed to run a lot of sweeps or off tackle. Mostly they are going to double the NG inside to try and create some space, pinch the DE outside with a tackle, and then have the H-Back run through a hole ahead of the RB and hope to get a block off of a LB. Again, very mixed success, and none of the OL really drive players off the line. They did well in pass protection for the most part outside of a couple of guys just getting beat, but I have no idea of the quality of the FIU DL. I don't think I would qualify their OL as a strength.
- The DL actually didn't perform very well in the beginning of the game. FIU was pretty awful offensively - the QB had nothing. At the start of the game, FIU gashed the DL really well, getting big chunks of yards and breaking off a really long TD run. At that point, LT started just run blitzing every play. That completely shut down the run, and FIU couldn't do anything in the passing game to take advantage of it. When FIU did attempt to pass late in the game, they got pressure constantly, but I think this was because of the run blitzing more than the DL taking over. I think this group is really average as a whole.
- At LB, they have some solid straight line speed, but when RBs got past the line, tackling in space was a problem. When they are aggressive and running in a straight line at speed, they do well. But if they are sitting back and making a play at the second level, I thought they really struggled. On the long TD run, the FIU RB ran straight by everyone, and none of the safeties or LBs showed much speed to try and catch up to him.
- I think the strength of the defense is at corner. Their outside corners made several good plays over the course of the game.
Overall, I'm really not impressed. They are picked to finish middle of the pack in a very depleted CUSA this season for a reason. They certainly played better as the game went along, and getting that rust off will be an advantage against us next week. They have a solid QB, a playmaker at WR, and some good corners. But SMU will have an opportunity to come out and make a big statement.
- The QB, Boise State transfer, is accurate, and his stats for the day ended up being okay. That said, he only throws balls over the middle, within about 8 yards of the LOS. He doesn't have a great arm and didn't even really attempt an out route the entire evening. He had one throw to the sideline late that kind of floated out there, and gave an indication as to why they weren't attempting that throw. He didn't throw deep very frequently at all, and the one big play was a catch and run off a slant. He isn't mobile - pure pocket passer. I can see teams playing the drop 8 against them that they did to Tanner last year, just plug up the middle of the field and challenge him to run. The accuracy is nice, but the limited arm strength... I just think he is kind of okay, not a game changer.
- RB they are pretty banged up and ran a true frosh, who ran the ball well, but again not a real game breaker. Just a good solid running back.
- WR/TE - they have Smoke and that is about it as far as difference makers. Nobody else really made plays. Some of that is arm strength, and some of it is that FIU played way off of the receivers and gave the check routes. No throws to the outside, and then the TEs are 6 yard curl guys who have big frames, good blockers in the running game, and can catch, but can't do much with it. If the NB is able to cover Smoke, I think their playmaking ability is extremely limited outside of him.
- OL - FIU had a bigger NG and they basically doubled him every play, especially in the running game, with the center and a guard. In the first quarter especially, they did a lot of pulling and counter runs with very limited success. As the game went along, the running game got better because they stopped moving people around and just mushed forward. They play a lot of TE sets and H Back, so pretty similar to what Rhett wants to do this year. They broke one long run, and outside of that the running game was not very productive. They don't have the speed to run a lot of sweeps or off tackle. Mostly they are going to double the NG inside to try and create some space, pinch the DE outside with a tackle, and then have the H-Back run through a hole ahead of the RB and hope to get a block off of a LB. Again, very mixed success, and none of the OL really drive players off the line. They did well in pass protection for the most part outside of a couple of guys just getting beat, but I have no idea of the quality of the FIU DL. I don't think I would qualify their OL as a strength.
- The DL actually didn't perform very well in the beginning of the game. FIU was pretty awful offensively - the QB had nothing. At the start of the game, FIU gashed the DL really well, getting big chunks of yards and breaking off a really long TD run. At that point, LT started just run blitzing every play. That completely shut down the run, and FIU couldn't do anything in the passing game to take advantage of it. When FIU did attempt to pass late in the game, they got pressure constantly, but I think this was because of the run blitzing more than the DL taking over. I think this group is really average as a whole.
- At LB, they have some solid straight line speed, but when RBs got past the line, tackling in space was a problem. When they are aggressive and running in a straight line at speed, they do well. But if they are sitting back and making a play at the second level, I thought they really struggled. On the long TD run, the FIU RB ran straight by everyone, and none of the safeties or LBs showed much speed to try and catch up to him.
- I think the strength of the defense is at corner. Their outside corners made several good plays over the course of the game.
Overall, I'm really not impressed. They are picked to finish middle of the pack in a very depleted CUSA this season for a reason. They certainly played better as the game went along, and getting that rust off will be an advantage against us next week. They have a solid QB, a playmaker at WR, and some good corners. But SMU will have an opportunity to come out and make a big statement.