- Pry opens his thoughts of the game stating what I think most of us saw. The dropoff, especially with OL, made splitting the teams up evenly difficult.
- The roster is not where it needs to be yet, but the game shows we have more play makers.
- "Got some old heads at D tackle" lol love it
- Drones has trended up all Spring. He didn't quite look himself at the start of the game due to his pocket collapsing. He wasn't confident early in the game and didn't have the chance to step into his throws.
- Pry doesn't want to put a date on QB decision. Thinks we have 2 guys we can win with. Wells' experience is a factor right now.
- Overall, Pry seemed happy with the competition, but didn't want to get too high on a single player's performance.
- Good mic
Injuries:
- Chaplain
- Lane
- Wright
- St. Germain
- Lofton
- I know I'm forgetting at least a couple more. The LB room still seems a mess.
Forums:
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Comments
I watched the game on my phone so it was hard to see personnel. Did Payne play? If he did, was it at DT or DE?
Payne was on the sideline, but not in pads
Thanks!
I felt like he said enough to not say Wells isn't the starter but didn't want to actually say he is the starter right now. His comment about how Wells looked great in practice last year but when he got in a game he started making some questionable decisions, is what leads me to this conclusion. I think he might be wondering if that will happen again this year.
I read it more as its Wells' job to lose. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Wells started the year and Drones finished it. Either way Drones needs more time with the playbook and an acceptable OL to know what he's really capable of.
Maybe it's my O&M glasses, but I'm excited about the younger QBs and talent in general more than I am about Drones v Wells. '23 is probably still going to be painful, but we do seem to have some younger guys to be excited about.
I agree and it seems like Coach wants to make sure Wells knows he still has to improve and compete to keep that starting role. He also seems to be trying to manage fan/media expectations with naming a starter.
Yeah I definitely thought Wells looked the part of QB1 and was in sync with his receivers. But I had to keep reminding myself that he looked good last year in the spring. Although I will say he definitely looked improved. But watching Drones you can see the upside and why coaches are excited about him. Would love to see him get a chance behind Wells' starting line as he didn't get much opportunity to shine yesterday. Also thought the two picks weren't really his fault they were both bobbled catches. I think Drones will have every opportunity to prove himself into fall camp.
And yes, Pop Watson definitely has me excited for the future. I think the younger QBs in general performed well but Watson's speed and athleticism was on full display,
I agree Wells looked the part yesterday (I still saw a couple of throws I didn't like in the middle of the field). I don't think he obviously looked the part last year. He made several errant throws in the spring game last year that he got away with and it was very clear he had no real game breakers. He was inconsistent with his accuracy and a second slow even on decent plays.
I think you are seeing growth, but also just better players around him. That doesn't mean Drones isn't going to take the spot, but last year was the worst year in the past 30 for offensive skill position talent. This puts extraordinary pressure on any QB.
In my view the verdict on Wells will be clear this year as the lack of playmakers excuse is gone.
Re the worst playmakers in 30 years:
I'm glad somevody else sees it, as I've been shouting it from the rooftops. And, it may actually be longer than that. In 1993 we had Druck, Maurice, Antonio Freeman, Bryan Still, Burke. Jennings, and Touchdown Tommy.
There is a reason we brought in 5 skill player transfers in the off-season
Careful Antonio Freeman has a superbowl ring and was probably Favre's favorite target during Freeman's career at GB.
They're saying the 93 team had better talent.
Exactly. Multiple NFL skill players. Not to mention Jim Pyne.
Some solid guys on D as well.
IIRC, Wells to K Smith looked good on the long balls last year but the majority of his throws in the spring game last year unfortunately carried on through the rest of the year. I will only speak for myself that I was overly excited because he had a big enough arm to take the top off. I don't think anyone has ever complained about his arm strength. He made a couple nice throws yesterday that showed some strides in accuracy/timing. I was wondering out of his 12/18 passes were thrown away due to sack saving/nobody open.
The picks may have been bobbled balls but the one that Mose Phillips picked was definitely behind the receiver and not necessarily an easy catch in full stride!
I feel much better about the offensive tackle position today than I did at 10:01AM yesterday. More worried about the inside. Saw some real improved habits early. As the game progressed, some bad habits came back.
Linebackers, particularly on the White team (Tisdale-McDonald-Jenkins) were rotten.
Hard to say much about Wells offensive explosion. Big plays early on were more good player going against DII (maybe) caliber kid on some simple stuff.
Indicators of more RPO stuff, as expected.
Benji Gosnell is a plus athlete. If he is your No. 3 TE, that is pretty dang good.
Lawson didn't get a huge number of snaps, but when he decides to go, he is the most explosive guy on the field.
I didn't get to watch the game yesterday, but what confuses me is the whole RPO thing, we had an RPO expert and now they left and we start running them, maybe Wells wasn't making the decisions but man it just makes no sense at a 1000 foot view.
The Bowen tree of offense is pretty RPO heavy though too fwiw. Agree on last year making no sense
Wait, he has a tree?
Perhaps it's more of ....a shrubbery? /s
The tree he's from (aka the Moorhead tree)
Okaaay, Moorhead has a tree? ;^)
Ricky Rahne, Bowen, Gattis, Charles Huff, Joe Brady, and Luke Getsy all coached under Moorhead when he was an OC or HC. Of these coaches, four have held P5 OC jobs, two have held NFL OC Jobs, and two are FBS coaches. I would consider that a respectable coaching tree.
IIRC we brought in an analyst (former army OC I believe?) who is also an RPO expert.
Agree - it made no sense. Have to imagine either the staff wanted to try something completely different, or the players just couldn't grasp it.
I'm starting to wonder if Pry meddled a little bit as well. There was a bunch of talk, specifically from Pry, that the offense would be multiple, use the TEs, and have power running. Even though none of the offensive coaches did much power/counter running scheme.
I mean if you look at our WRs last year we definitely needed to use TEs, so he wasn't wrong.
I could be wrong last year but the RPO game was not in Joe Rudolph's wheelhouse. I think the blocking schemes/techniques didn't translate well.
Re Lawson do you mean the linebacker on defense, or because you're talking about offense, Lofton?
Dwayne the QB.
Think he's got 2-3 years left
Watch out for the Lawson/Drew Harris combo. Big time.
Combine that with Ja'Von Harrison and Holland Fisher in the secondary, we'll be unstoppable
paging nick dew
Kelli Lawson only played a couple of snaps, but looked explosive and assertive on those reps. He and Tuten were the two guys who they seemed to make an effort to keep healthy because both barely played
At the GT game last season with a live look Keli Lawson moved differently than any other player we put on the field at linebacker. While he wasn't mistake free, he is the kind of athlete that can make real difference with that kind of length and athleticism if he gets the discipline elements of the position down.
Rewatched some of the spring game again, and I definitely think it's a close race between Wells and Drones heading into fall camp. Wells had a few pretty crisp drives to open, but saw a few troublesome passes that led to stalled drives that I didn't notice as much live on Saturday. Drones needs time to develop more chemistry with his receivers, and he didn't have a clean pocket very often, but his upside and physical presence is apparent when he's on the field. He also threw several good passes and started to warm up later in the second quarter a bit. I also think Farrell was very sneaky good at the end and probably should be our #3 guy right now. Threw some good balls and very athletic and great compact release. Bullock really struggled, and while Watson definitely generated some excitement and spark, he needs to redshirt this year and work in the weight room and on mechanics a bit (though loads of potential).
I also came away still thinking we look a lot deeper at WR and RB which is great.
Sometimes your WR makes you look good. And sometimes, your WR makes you look bad. Ali Jennings did not do Drones any favors, 3 drops (all catchable), 2 that led to an interception. Arguably, one of the drops was a pass break up by Stroman, but Jennings should have outmanned Stroman for that catch. Drones had another drop by Gallo too. And the no-contact jersey prevented Drones from displaying his ability to run. First play from scrimmage, he gets "tackled" by a finger-tip that had no chance to tackle him live. That play was easily a first down and potentially a big play if he could break out to the sideline.
Drones ended the day 7/13, 100 yards, with 4 drops and 2 interceptions. If the receivers make those plays, we're looking at 11/13, 0 Ints, likely another 50 yards, and potentially 2 TDs.
I think Drones will be starting QB for ODU.
And Drones did all that playing behind the bullfighter version of the Oline.
Yeah I also am feeling like Drones will end up winning the job digesting things a bit more. Even though receivers did him few favors and he was at a huge disadvantage with the line he was given and some of the really early whistles Pry gave to call the play dead, you just feel the upside when he is on the field. Once he can showcase his athleticism and continue to develop chemistry with his receivers, it's easy to envision him pulling ahead of Wells.
I wish they would give the number 2 qb like a qtr with the first team OL. I don't know how you can get a good estimate on him while he has little to no line.
In other news Kaleb Smith is retiring from football due to medical reasons.
I think that's by design for a variety of reasons:
Spring game is for the fans, not so much the coaches. They'd probably rather have a closed scrimmage all else being equal.
On another note I do like to see how Pry is still saying our roster isn't where we want it to be. Keeping it honest not fluff.
Would have liked to have seen some more BT but oh well. Duke ran really well.
I was pretty pleased with pretty much all the RBs. With Tuten and Thomas I feel like you have a very solid 1-2 punch there, then throw in Chance Black as a change of pace, third down type back and also had a great spring game. Then Duke and Coney as the young guys show a ton of promise, both look great. RB room has me excited.
OL review en route.
This gif sequence is a TKP staple. Thanks for keeping it going.
ALways, the shaq-cat wiggle gif (combined version) is my 2nd favorite gif right after drama prairie dog
Elijah Howard no longer on the roster, the number are working out. Too bad because I thought he had potential, there's a decent chance he would be passed by some of the true freshmen coming in (and might have gotten passed by Jaylen Jones too)