Random scrimmage observations

[89ute]

Didn’t see Tyron Smith at all, forgot to look over at the pit, I don’t recall seeing him during last weeks public practice either.

The scrimmage was run heavy, Henry-Cole and Jordan Howard got all the snaps. Both had some nice runs of the 10-15 yard variety. A lot of QB runs too. Troy scored on a 10 yard QB run, a play I saw a few times throughout the day. QB would drop back, run straight up the middle.

The QBs were live, so they got knocked around a little. Bateman got close to equal snaps with the ones and twos along with Troy and Tyler.

Seeing a handful of guys we’ll never see again, like WR Riley Richmond. 5-7 white dude who is so far from being Britain Covey it just p**ses you off every time you see him because he’s NOT Britain Covey.

Tyquez Hampton saw some action, it’s nice to see a highschooler out there holding his own. He had a few grabs and looks like he’ll be a good WR in the future, maybe even this year. He kind of reminds me of Simpkins last spring. You can see he’s a Pac-12 talent but just needs a titch more time in the oven. We need more recruits like Simpkins and Hampton, and less Riley Richmonds. We’re getting there.

Bapa Falemaka was attempting to catch a swing pass (I think from Huntley) he had the ball on a single outstretched hand, kind of bobbling it, LB Donavan Thompson snatched it from him and took it down the field. Falemaka was just kind of standing there afterward and Bradlee Anae knocked the hell out of him. Boarderline cheep shot, but it was nice to see the aggression. Anae also had a nice tackle for a loss on the RB. It was one of those where Anae got off the edged quickly and met the RB in the backfeild.

Donovan Thompson and fellow LB Luafatasaga were all over the field, making tackles and showing well. I think Cody Barton will fall back a ways on the depth chart, which needed to happen. We needed better linebacker talent and I think it’s there now.

Chris Hart and Davir Hamilton were also making a lot of plays off the edge. Chase Hansen was out there doing his thing, making hit and looking good. Ballard is the real deal. Can’t remember who he hit but it was one of those pad crackers that echoed through the stadium. Safety positions are going to be solid this year, even with the loss of Marcus Williams. In fact, with improved linebacker depth and a once again solid D-Line, I think the defense takes a step forward this year. Corner play will probably be equal to last year and may be our weakest position group. With sophomores Burgess, Blackmon and incoming four star Jaylon Johnson, I think, will not be much of a drop off from Porter, Hatfield and Allen. Burgess had a nice pass breakup on a deep sideline route, chest to chest coverage, reach up and knocked the ball away. Burgess and Blackmon will be good on the corners, possible greats by the time they are done here. Hobbs will an asset too, not because I think he’s an extraordinary talent but because he’s been in the system since a freshmen and our seniors with this much experience always do well.

Siaosi Wilson looks very, very good. I saw him a few times in the beginning but then didn’t notice him again for the length of the scrimmage. I’m thinking he’s getting passed through to protected starter status. If not, he should be. Singleton dropped a gimmie, uncontested TD in the endzone. during the same series, Simpkins was running wide open across the endzone, Troy delivered the pass and Hansen came out of nowhere and knocked it away. Not a poor play on Troy’s part, but an outstanding play on Hansen’s. I think it was the next play were Troy scored on the QB run up the middle.

Nacua is good. He’s catching balls, in fact, he had the play of the day. 10-15 yard deep slant/crossing rout, Batmen drilled the ball to him and he took it to the endzone. Nacua plays with a c**ky moxey, which is great to see when you can back it up. He’s going to be a good one, definite contributor this year. Fulks had a nice reception on this same play but it was called back for some stupid reason. I was surprised it was Fulks because the pass was caught but damn, that dude is FAST. I hope he gets that catch the ball thing down this year, been waiting a long time.

Lisk got to play the last series with the s**t squad. He looked good, made all the throws, has beautiful mechanics. Best 4th string we’ve ever had. By this time we’re down to Dakota Baker as our s**t squad, white guy WR. Dude was thrown 6 nice balls by Lisk, caught 3 of them, one for a TD.

I read in the paper a few days ago that Moss will start to see some action, probably next week.

Neither offense nor defense won the scrimmage. Both had big plays, equal give and take.

I’m not going to proof read this, time to get on with my day.

[Tony (admin)]

Fantastic report. Thanks very much for posting it.

[BD]

I saw Tyrone Smith last week (the rainy practice.) I didn’t see him yesterday. He may have been out there but I didn’t see him.

You are right about Nacua’s c**kiness. On the sidelines he was jawing with the kicker after he missed a field goal badly. I think it was Antezana (did I get the spelling right?) that missed. Then, when he made the next field goal, Nacua gave him some good props. I was impressed with Nacua’s WR play however. He looked good.

I noticed numerous quick passes and screen plays that were successful. That seems to be part of Troy Taylor’s offense.

[ironman1315]

How does it compare to this time last year.

[Utah]

How does it compare…That is tough to say. I’ll say this. Last year, looked like same old, same old. Especially once Troy went down with an injury. Actually, once Troy went down, we didn’t look very good. 

This year, we can win 6-8 games with three of our QB’s. Our OL isn’t as good, but yesterday, they opened up some HUGE holes and our fourth string RB was ripping off 10-15 yard runs. 

WR wise…I’m not sure we have anyone better than Tim Patrick…BUT, Siosi Wilson is close. AND a 90% Wilson is better than 100% ability of Patrick if Wilson stays healthy. Singleton looks better than he was a year ago. Last year, that was it WR wise. This year, we have Simpkins, Fulks, Dana, Hampton, Vickers, and Thompson in the fall. We are much, much, MUCH better WR wise. 

Our passing game is quicker and more efficient. Our pass screen game is a million times better. 

The thing that kills us this fall is our schedule. We might be as good as we were last year, but our schedule is a lot harder. 

It all comes down to OT play and CB play. Everything else is improved. The good news is that our CB’s weren’t very good last year, so that shouldn’t be hard to replicate. Who steps up at tackle is the big question. Especailly RT. Do we move Uhatafe out there, does Capra step up, or are we screwed? The good news is, Harding is a great coach our first game is @ BYU and is 5 months away. 

I’ve been saying that we are a 6-8 win team this fall…after seeing our offense so far, I’m leaning more towards a 7-9 win team. 

Taylor has said that he has only installed 1/2 the offense so far. So, there is potential here. If our offense can be average, then the Stanford/USC pair of games may decide who wins the south between us and USC.