***Official Spring Game Thread***
- Thread starter WhatchaGonnaDo
- Start date
I agree Luth, many here forget how well he played in 2012. Last year was not a fair assessment for SR at all with a multitude of injuries which affected his plant foot, which affects accuracy. His accuracy in 2012 was FAR better than 2013. Only thing I can attribute that to was lack of time to throw, bad ankle, which limited his entire game (running and throwing). When healthy, I think he gives us the best chance. I think he throws the deep ball better than GR, but GR has him on throws across the middle intermediate.
Perhaps the most telling statements were made by CPR himself when he was asked about Sam and next weeks practices and he said Sam might very well be back with the 1s to finish spring practice.
And this: from CPR: “I would say Grant was probably was the top (QB) performer of the day, but that doesn’t put him on top.â€
If Grant was not on top, then who was? Lanning? Doubtful. Since Grant was slotted at #1 coming into spring, and after seeing Lanning today, I cannot believe he ever overtook Grant, or he would have started with the 1's today, then the only logical conclusion from CPRs comments is that Sam had impressed MM a lot so far this spring, and they limited his reps to protect him, and to further evaluate the other two more thoroughly today. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Now, a few thoughts on the defense:
Generally, I thought we did better than I was expecting.
D-Line. Our d-line seemed to be holding its own. Morrissey looks better than ever. We have some good size on the line. #93 Phillips from Waterloo West really takes up a lot of space. Meyers stepped up nicely. Didn't see much from Cousins or Luna when I was watching for them, but I tended to watch the LBs. Overall, I liked the way that our d-lines tied up the o-lines leaving our LBs opportunities to work.
LB. I was most pleased with the LBs. Brackens seemed to be all over the field and in the backfield. Miller was filling his lane and making the stop whenever I focused on him. Meeks and Miller had a few nice double blitzes. Very few break-away running plays in which DBs have to make the tackles. Levi Peters made some good plays early. Kane Seeley continued to show that he will get on the field a lot. Jordan Harris didn't blow me away, but I really liked what I saw. He looks like he could step up into a Jeremiah George role.
DB. It was not a good day for passing, so it was hard to assess pass coverage. Brackens made some good plays in coverage. Somebody came up right on the sideline in front of the fans and made a great hit, but I don't remember who it was. Not much else stood out to me with the DBs.
Generally, I thought we did better than I was expecting.
D-Line. Our d-line seemed to be holding its own. Morrissey looks better than ever. We have some good size on the line. #93 Phillips from Waterloo West really takes up a lot of space. Meyers stepped up nicely. Didn't see much from Cousins or Luna when I was watching for them, but I tended to watch the LBs. Overall, I liked the way that our d-lines tied up the o-lines leaving our LBs opportunities to work.
LB. I was most pleased with the LBs. Brackens seemed to be all over the field and in the backfield. Miller was filling his lane and making the stop whenever I focused on him. Meeks and Miller had a few nice double blitzes. Very few break-away running plays in which DBs have to make the tackles. Levi Peters made some good plays early. Kane Seeley continued to show that he will get on the field a lot. Jordan Harris didn't blow me away, but I really liked what I saw. He looks like he could step up into a Jeremiah George role.
DB. It was not a good day for passing, so it was hard to assess pass coverage. Brackens made some good plays in coverage. Somebody came up right on the sideline in front of the fans and made a great hit, but I don't remember who it was. Not much else stood out to me with the DBs.
If Lanning's going to win it, than what he can provide has to be much better than his showing today. I think the guy could be a great QB in the future, but today his accuracy problems showed. Still think he could be used effectively in a wildcat package.
I think it's going to end up being a two-horse race with Richardson and Rohach. Both are capable. This offense has all the pieces to be good and if they can be then a bowl game might be in sight, pending how good those JUCOs are on defense.
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Hard day to excel for any skill position players with 30 mph winds. Why we saw so many short throws, or part of the reason.
...I know the playbook was small, but did anyone get the sense that there was some sort of identity to what the offense was trying to establish, i.e. maybe being able to do a few things well and then grow from that?
If so, that's an improvement to start with.
If so, that's an improvement to start with.
Let's finally face it. Our qbs are about equal in overall ability. Neither a NFL Ryan Leaf nor a NFL Drew Brees. It is what it is.
The most encouraging thing I saw from the scrimm was fundamentals on defense. Nobody got badly beat, and I didn't see any blatently bad 1 on 1 tackles. The few that did miss tackles was less on them and more on athletic moves by the RB's.
Also the WR's had good fundamental blocking. I saw one play where the WR did a better block than I've ever seen a cyclone WR do, and resulted in an extra 5 yards on the catch. Encouraging stuff.
Also the WR's had good fundamental blocking. I saw one play where the WR did a better block than I've ever seen a cyclone WR do, and resulted in an extra 5 yards on the catch. Encouraging stuff.
It is much easier to make quick decisions when you are working with the first team WRs (they were getting some separation). SR (particularly in the first half) was scanning his "third team" WRs and saw (as did most everyone in the stands) that none of them were open.
Side note. I was impressed with the progress of the third team OL. They started out disjointed; but by the end of the game, I thought they were doing a pretty decent job with their blocking.
It's transfer season. Then during some of football season it's basketball prep season, so really I guess there is always something basketball related to tune out the absolute dung pile that is the football team
Oh, so maybe you can ask CPR what he meant by his quote above? Ie., " ...but that doesn't put him on top."
I made some suggestions already based on comments made by Grant himself, CPR's comments, and reading between the lines on Manginos desire to get to 2 QBs by next week. Maybe you should read the whole thread before spouting off like a 2nd grader. Some of you want to believe Lanning is ahead of Sam, but I think if I a MM, he has plenty of tape to evaluate a Healthy SR from 2012 already. The only way to truly evaluate Lanning is to put him in game situations, and this is only his 2nd chance this spring. Grant played decent yesterday, but not great. I don't have a dog in this fight, I just listen to all the info from comments this spring , watch the game and form an opinion. Not many coaches in America would rely on a RS freshman to be in the 2 deep, but it is possible. If that is the case the Sam would to have had a terrible spring. That's a possibility. But not as likely as trying to evaluate whether Lanning could be #2. From what I saw yesterday, our 1-2 QBs are clearly GR and SR.
Sorry, DuckDynasty, I really disagree with you. If you're still waiting for SR to become the starter, don't hold your breath. This is NOT a knock on SR, it just seems clear to me from the rotation pattern yesterday and the players they were playing with that GR is the guy going forward. IMO, it also seems like they want Lanning to be the #2, but he really struggled at times yesterday.
i have no question that GR is in the running to start. My question would be then, why if Grant is #1 did they not rotate Sam and Lanning with the 2s? And why when asked about Sam next week to finish practice would CPR say that Sam could very well be running with the 1s? You cannot judge Sam's play from yesterday because, just like last year, he had no time, no one open, so he had to scramble. He still finished 8-13 with a TD with the 3rd string, not bad. Too many people want to judge QB play no matter who is around him. It's a team sport!
Could be, but the coaches don't treat this much more than a normal practice. Less so if you consider they intentionally do not use much of the playbook. If this was a scrimmage scheduled to have SR as #3 in reps, they are not going to change that just for the Spring Game. Perhaps the reps will be different for the final two practices- where real work gets done.
Yes he is. I'm not saying if he should be or shouldn't be, but he definitely is. Why would you waste quality reps for SR with the 1's and instead give him mostly reps with the 2's and 3's if he was the guy? If it really was a 2 or 3 man race, then all 3 should have gotten equal reps with the 1's.
Why have SR, if he's the "secret" #1 guy, working with WR's, OL, TEs, and RBs that he's likely never to be on the field with on gameday?
