Some other thoughts and comments from the first few games:
1. Willie Byrn looked like he got hurt pretty bad on his big third down conversion. As usual, he was open coming across the middle of the field on a crossing route. Logan hit him in stride and he turned the corner for the first down. However, as he fought for extra yards along the sideline, he awkwardly twisted to the ground as he took a hit to his lower body and audibly groaned. He limped off the field on his own, but I don't believe there is any way he won't be out for a few weeks and possibly much longer. I hope I'm wrong.
2. DJ Coles came off limping sometime in the second half and did not return. Hopefully this is just another instance of the chronic pain he is dealing with and not indicative of a more serious injury.
3. Devin VanDyke also limped off the field vs WCU after taking an ugly shot to his knee. Again, hopefully this is not serious, as he is potentially our next starter at Mike and is undoubtedly valuable on our not-so-special kick off coverage units.
4. Speaking of Willie Byrn, did anyone catch him jawing with the big ECU OLB all game? #WhitePaperBoySwag
5. I thought that Chris Mangus looked like our best running back in any situation vs ECU. Trey just could not get it going.
6. I have very little confidence in our wide receivers. Josh Stanford, who, yes, actually played WR in high school, catches the ball against his body. One bounced off his chest. He was able to capture another against his body on a third down, but that is not how you catch a football. Demetri Knowles can not adjust to a deep ball, and can certainly not out muscle any DB.
7. With that, Charley Meyer, rest up that hamstring. I think him and Willie Byrn (pending he is OK), will be our most reliable WRs at some point this year and into next.
8. Logan looks pretty good to me. He's got a cannon, and is going through progressions. His completion % would be significantly higher if he had more quality WR's who can make plays. ECUs wide receivers looked better than ours - - they made more plays for the ball and could actually catch with their hands out away from their body. My one critique on him is that he needs to step into his pocket more - he tends to drift out of the tackle box when he feels pressure, and often he drifts right into additional pressure.
Comments
I saw that Byrn injury as well, but he came back in the game. We even threw it to him:
3 and 3 at ECU30Logan Thomas sideline pass complete to Willie Byrn for 11 yards to the ECU19, 1ST DOWN VT, out-of-bounds (BIGGER, Zeek;THOMPSON, Chip).
1 and 10 at ECU19Logan Thomas rush up middle for loss of 2 yards to the ECU21 (DIXON, Justin;BIGGER, Zeek), PENALTY ECU offside defense 5 yards to the ECU14, NO PLAY.
1 and 5 at ECU14Chris Mangus rush up middle for loss of 2 yards to the ECU16 (OVERTON, Mntese;ROSE, Chrishon).
2 and 7 at ECU16Logan Thomas rush QK for 1 yard to the ECU15 (BIGGER, Zeek;OVERTON, Mntese).
Timeout East Carolina, clock 02:19.
3 and 6 at ECU15Logan Thomas sideline pass incomplete to Willie Byrn.
Ah thanks for pointing this out. I watched the film and can confirm that he came back into the game after a few snaps.
Meyer still has a lot of playing time ahead of him before he proves himself of being a top receiver.
Devin VanDyke is out for the Season. No explanation on what happened, but he tweeted this
I saw it - happened on kick off coverage vs WCU. Something bad happened to his left knee. Hopefully it doesnt negatively impact his development.
I just mean in terms of whether he tore an ACL or what is causing him to be out for the season. There's no information on what the injury is.
On your point about wide receivers, I think Knowles caught well with his hands this week. He will end up being solid across the middle and in the slot I think
The "problem" with Knowles is that he's a complementary piece. He's a great looking #3. We seem to have a lot of those.
Logan still looks like he has issues. He waits too long to pull the trigger and then fires it too hard to compensate for a late throw. He should be anticipating the routes more and throwing to spots. He missed a few easy throws against ECU, especially going to the right. There were a couple drops but there was improvement by the receivers. It seems LT is trying too hard to make perfect throws or avoid INTs. It could also be trust in the receivers to run routes correctly. It doesn't always seem smooth and effortless like you see with a good passing attack. The passing game is improving but needs to get better.
I think a lot of LT's problems is still in his throwning motion. Too often he drops the ball (almost to his waist) when surveying the field. Also (and potentially a result of the dropping) he has a really long wind-up. This causes him to deliver the ball a touch late (giving the DB a chance to recover)...also causing him to try and make up with throwing it harder (touch passes don't seem to be his thing).
On top of all of that, I don't think he fully trusts his receivers yet. Rarely do you see him anticipate a receiver being open and then throwing to where he will be.
I was really worried when Byrn got taken down on the sideline, that made by knees hurt. It looked very bad but fortunately it seems like he bounced back pretty well.