Open practice reaction thread
It won't be over for a few hours still, but I figured I may as well start this thread now. I'm there currently. It's tough to take much from a practice like this, but I can give an impression of the depth chart. Sorry for the disorganization.
Rudock at QB, Smith at RB, Harris/Perry/Chesson at WR (haven't seen much Darboh now that I think of it). Line is as it was reported previously. LBs were solidly Ross/Bolden/Morgan (now wearing #3), and CBs saw a lot of LewisClark (thanks Qmatic), Stribling, and a couple others. Hill and Wilson played with the 1s at S, and of course Jabril played every snap. Butt obviously started at TE. Isaac was first off the bench at RB, Morris at QB. I'll try to update with further impressions as possible. I'd love to see other attendees corroborate the above, and add more details. They came down on phones pretty hard so this is all from memory.
August 22nd, 2015 at 11:40 PM ^
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August 22nd, 2015 at 10:41 PM ^
August 22nd, 2015 at 10:44 PM ^
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August 22nd, 2015 at 10:48 PM ^
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August 22nd, 2015 at 10:48 PM ^
August 22nd, 2015 at 11:27 PM ^
*I thought it was JJ Reddick.... Fuck DUKE
August 22nd, 2015 at 10:57 PM ^
and I was impressed with Malzone but thet receiver just jumped out oat you and I was thinking, how come we don't have that guy? A Bro Rice kid, seems like he should be all on board at Michigan and then he was when JH swept into town.
August 22nd, 2015 at 11:04 PM ^
Watching him, I felt like he was a low-ceiling/high floor guy. I was SO excited to get him because he felt like a "sure thing" to be a solid QB. He may not be the best ever or win a Heisman...but I felt without a question he could be Griese or one of those Alabama QBs who managed the team while the defense wrecked people.
Loved his film and not surprised at all to see him doing so well so early.
Peters has gotten a TON better over the summer as well too, I'm excited for both he and Gentry.
IMO, we've got 3 VERY solid QBs for the future.
August 22nd, 2015 at 11:08 PM ^
That' guy is something special and a year stronger, more mature and having studied the playbook for a year, look out.
August 22nd, 2015 at 11:28 PM ^
I was talking about the incoming guys...should've clarified.
August 22nd, 2015 at 11:10 PM ^
4 solid quarterbacks for the future*
I expect O'Korn to step in next season and be the real deal.
August 22nd, 2015 at 11:28 PM ^
I was referring to the incoming guys. I like both freshman and both guys coming in next year...should've included Vic as well.
August 23rd, 2015 at 11:47 AM ^
Vicious Vic Viramontes. Vicious Vic Viramontes.
Yep, fun, particullarly while recalling his tape.
August 22nd, 2015 at 11:21 PM ^
That guy is a load and who will be able to cover that. Malzone is a natural qb, not athleticor flashy in the same way Griese and Brady aren't but he's got that icewater in his veins. I just have a feeling he's going to start down the road.
August 23rd, 2015 at 1:00 AM ^
malzone will never be a starter, but cool idea..
No way he starts over Gentry, Peters, or O'Korn..
August 22nd, 2015 at 11:02 PM ^
August 22nd, 2015 at 11:06 PM ^
Both sounded like they got some run with the1's, but they're on the second team.
LTT - Dawson - Kugler - JBB - Bars is the 2nd team. And it sounds like Dawson is the best backup interior OL and Bars passed LTT as best backup OT.
August 22nd, 2015 at 11:20 PM ^
August 22nd, 2015 at 11:42 PM ^
He very clearly answered your question.
August 23rd, 2015 at 7:17 AM ^
I started writing down the starters nos. on my phone, I got through the skill positions and was to told to cease and desist using said electronic devise. I borrowed a pen and wrote down the o-line numbers for Rudock's first series driving driving toward the north endzone, this was not the opening unit ...sorry for any confusion...heat of the battle ...mistakes were made...etc. To be fair I also had a string of numbers that would have Ulizio, Runyon, Pliska , Froelich, and Newsome blocking for Speight. I will state with great certainty that this unit will be on the field starting against Cincinnati in 2017.
August 23rd, 2015 at 12:17 PM ^
August 23rd, 2015 at 10:45 AM ^
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August 22nd, 2015 at 11:17 PM ^
Why ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ?? Because they're in a submarine...at this point, who the fuck knows?
- Also...we still don't know who is playing where...
- And...we really have no idea what the system will be and where the personnel will fit best
- If you don't like slashes or "ORs" stop reading now.
This is largely based on "insider" comments, natural progression, and hope.
QB
1. Jake Rudock (RS Sr.)
2. Shane Morris (Jr.)
3. Wilton Speight (RS Fr.)
situational: Zach Gentry (Fr.)
rs: Alex Malzone (Fr.)
RB
1. Derrick Green (Jr.) / Ty Isaac (RS So.) / De'Veon Smith (Jr.)
4. Drake Johnson (RS Jr.)
5. Wyatt Shallman (RS So.)
6. Ross Douglas (RS So.)
rs: Karan Higdon (Fr.)
FB
1. Joey Kerridge (RS Sr.)
2. Sione Houma (Sr.)
WR1
1. Amara Darboh (RS Jr.)
2. Brian Cole (Fr.)
4. Jack Wangler (RS So.) / Jaron Dukes (RS So.)
WR2
1. Jehu Chesson (RS Jr.) / Drake Harris (RS Fr.)
3. Maurice Ways (RS Fr.)
4. Da'Mario Jones (Jr.)
SLOT
1. Grant Perry (Fr.)
2. Freddy Canteen (So.)
situational: ??????? ???????* (RS Fr.)
TE
1. Jake Butt (Jr.)
2. A.J. Williams (Sr.) / Henry Poggi (RS So.)
4. Khalid Hill (RS So.)
5. Ian Bunting (RS Fr.) / Tyrone Wheatley Jr. (Fr.)
7. Chase Winovich (RS Fr.)
LT
1. Mason Cole (So.)
2. Logan Tuley-Tillman (RS So.) / Grant Newsome (Fr.)
LG
1. Ben Braden (RS Jr.)
2. David Dawson (RS So.)
3. Juwan Bushell-Beatty (RS Fr.)
C
1. Graham Glasgow (RS Sr.)
2. Patrick Kugler (RS So.)
rs: Jon Runyan Jr. (Fr.)
RG
1. Kyle Kalis (RS Jr.)
2. David Dawson (RS So.)
3. Juwan Bushell-Beatty (RS Fr.)
RT
1. Erik Magnuson (RS Jr.)
2. Blake Bars (RS Jr.)
rs: Nolan Ulizio (Fr.)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DE
1. Mario Ojemudia (Sr.)
2. Lawrence Marshall (RS Fr.) / Royce Jenkins-Stone (Sr.)
4. Shelton Johnson (Fr.)
rs: Reuben Jones (Fr.)
DT
1. Ryan Glasgow (RS Jr.)
2. Maurice Hurst (RS So.)
3. Brady Pallante (RS Fr.)
inj: Bryan Mone (So.)
DT
1. Willie Henry (RS Jr.)
2. Matt Godin (RS Jr.)
3. Maurice Hurst (RS So.)
DE
1. Chris Wormley (RS Jr.)
2. Taco Charlton (Jr.)
3. Tom Strobel (RS Jr.)
WLB
1. Joe Bolden (Sr.)
2. Ben Gedeon (Jr.)
3. Jared Wangler (RS Fr.)
MLB
1. Desmond Morgan (RS Sr.)
2. Ben Gedeon (Jr.)
3. Noah Furbush (RS Fr.)
SLB
1. James Ross III (Sr.)
2. Royce Jenkins-Stone (Sr.) / Michael McCray (RS So.)
4. Allen Gant (RS Jr.)
WCB
1. Jourdan Lewis (Jr.)
2. Channing Stribling (Jr.)
3. Terry Richardson (RS Jr.)
4. Ross Douglas (RS So.)
SCB
1. Wayne Lyons (RS Sr.) / Jeremy Clark (RS Jr.)
3. Brandon Watson (RS Fr.) / Reon Dawson (RS So.)
rs: Keith Washington (Fr.)
NB
1. Jabrill Peppers (RS Fr.)
2. Wayne Lyons (RS Sr.)
3. Tyree Kinnel (Fr.)
S
1. Jabrill Peppers (RS Fr.) / Jarrod Wilson (Sr.)
3. Wayne Lyons (RS Sr.)
S
1. Delano Hill (Jr.)
2. Dymonte Thomas (Jr.)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
K
1. TBD
P
1. Blake O'Neill (RS Sr.)
2. Kenny Allen (RS Jr.)
KO
1. TBD
*think about it
...now tear it apart.
FYI - this isn't just based on this thread and one day of practice.
August 23rd, 2015 at 3:51 AM ^
August 23rd, 2015 at 7:28 AM ^
August 23rd, 2015 at 10:44 AM ^
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August 23rd, 2015 at 6:07 AM ^
Thanks. Now maybe skip the cocaine for a couple days.
August 23rd, 2015 at 7:57 AM ^
August 23rd, 2015 at 9:21 AM ^
you are really taking a lot and feeling pretty upbeat from a practice....
August 23rd, 2015 at 9:29 AM ^
Pretty sure D. Smith has been all but named the starter for Utah at rb, other than that this looks correct
August 23rd, 2015 at 10:33 AM ^
Fumbles or "Boo Boos" for Green? Lack of meaningful reps for Isaac? Lack of experience for Higdon? Not recovered sufficiently for D. Johnson? Any or all the above?
August 23rd, 2015 at 11:45 AM ^
The vast majority of people on here want "expolsiveness" and pop and big plays. Steak is better than sizzle though. Deveon might be the slowest starting running back we've had since Hart, but he blows everyone else on the roster out of the water in terms of vision and toughness. I expect him to run for 1000 yds this year barring injury. He runs through contact, doesn't fumble, and hits his hole. I'd rather be guaranteed 3.5 ypc and never see a 4th down than have a guy who might be able to go 60 yards on any given play, but usually runs into the backside of his line or gets tripped up by a corner's arm tackle.
Smith runs real tough, gets yards, and doesn't mess up.
Green is blind as a bat and is a weight room warrior (Smith has caught up to him in the freak dept. though), but that toughness disappears when he has a football in his hands.
Isaac has a ton of potential and size but the light is not always on for him, and he is a less-than-willing pass blocker...that's a no-no.
Drake is good but he is not a load-bearing RB, he is still getting healthy and should be used to spell your workhorse (Smith). I think when he is 100% Drake can eat up 20% of the carries and be the #2.
Higdon will be good one day, but he is young and was a little hurt the last few days.
Smith is a lot like Rudock - and you should be seeing a theme here - in that he isn't flashy, he won't be a first round pick that scouts drool over. But he is efficient, he protects the ball, and he moves the team forward. Right now I think Isaac is #2 with Green third, and Drake will slide in somewhere between Smith and Green when he is ready to roll. Don't get sold on "explosiveness" or the plays that make sportscenter. This staff doesn't want flashy they want the guy that will do his job to win us games and that is D. Smith.
August 23rd, 2015 at 8:27 PM ^
He was clearly the #1 in past seasons.
The only question is the status of his ACLs--which as of this practice, are not ready to scrimmage.
August 23rd, 2015 at 10:01 AM ^
In the end, the only depth chart that matters is the one the coaches release the week of the first game, and even that one will probably have lots of "OR"s, and be highly subject to change at a lot of positions. And more injuries will likely happen over the next two weeks, so some of the guys playing with the ones last night will be unavailable for the opener and possibly longer.
August 22nd, 2015 at 11:47 PM ^
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August 22nd, 2015 at 11:51 PM ^
Yes. He rotated in at DT with the first team
August 22nd, 2015 at 11:56 PM ^
Ok, so to start off I was one of the first 200 in the door so I got to watch practice from the field, which was cool, but affects my analysis along the lines because I was at a bad angle to watch the interactions between the offensive and defensive lines. Play calling was very vanilla, which I fully expected, no reason to show anything off for the only practice that was semi-open to the public. That being said, here we go.
OFFENSE
QB - Rudock looked like the starter at this point, ran with the first string much more than Morris, and just plain looked better. The offense moved much better with Rudock at the helm, quite noticeably in my opinion. Rudock also showed off a little scrambling ability that I was unaware he had, a naked bootleg play was called for him a couple times and he was able to get the edge pretty quickly, reminded me very much of watching the highlights from the 1997 season, where the naked boot was something of a calling card for Griese and the offense. Wilton Spieght looked ok, pretty good arm strength, but he also threw the only interception of the day, so take that for what it's worth. Gentry is an absolute monster, he's astoundingly huge, I did a double take the first time I saw him. O'Korn looked pretty good in the pre-scrimmage warm ups, lots of zip on the ball, excited to see how the race shakes out next year
RB - There wasn't very much notable seperation between the running backs, but I would feel confident saying that the top two were Deveon Smith and Ty Isaac. There weren't any huge gainers from the running backs, but there also weren't any massively negative plays... Whether that is a compliment to the running backs or the offensive line remains to be seen, but it was encouraging nonetheless.
FB - No suprises here, Joe Kerridge will be the man here.
WR - The receivers were an interesting bunch, nobody stood head and shoulders above the rest, but the first string was a notable combination of Drake Harris, Jehu Chesson, and Grant Perry. Harris still looks painfully thin, but he also looked like he could finally be coming into his own, which would be so great for an offense desperately needing a playmaker on the outside. Chesson was the Chesson we know, nothing flashy, but if Harris truly is stepping up he'll be a solid number two. The Grant Perry hype is real ladies and gentlemen, he gets really good seperation, and I think he'll be an important contributor to this offense as a freshman. Of the the guys lower on the depth chart, Moe Ways stood out to me, made a couple nice catches. *Notable DNP's: Amara Darboh was not dressed, and I'm not sure if Brian Cole was either, I know he switched his number to 41, but I did not see him at all, was there an injury earlier in the offseason that I missed?
TE - This spot has me really excited, Harbaugh's offense is well known for utilizing it's tight ends, and we have a bevy of guys that could contribute IMO. Jake Butt is the clear number one here, he's was just flat out impressive. On the receiving side of things, Bunting looked pretty good, really tall and long arms, could be used as great size mismatch against average sized linebackers and safeties. On the blocking side of things, AJ Williams is looking good, and Poggi got some run with the ones, which was cool. Khalid Hill did not show me much after a somewhat promising season last year, but it could be chalked up to just one bad day for him. Regardless, we won't be sorely missing him even if he doesn't take that next step.
OL- Again, because of the bad angle, I couldn't get the looks I wanted on the offensive line. Starters were from left to right: Cole, Braden, Glasgow, Kalis, Magnuson. From what I could tell, it is obvious that the line has come a long way since the horror show that was the 2014 Spring Game and early 2014 season, which is reassuring, to say the least. *Notable DNP: Patrick Kugler was on crutches, looks like he will not be pushing for the center spot like some on the board were hoping.
DEFENSE
DL - Couldn't get too much on the defensive line again because of the bad angle, but it didn't seem like we've found that pass rusher yet. Kind of scarily, Rudock was able to break contain pretty easily on the naked bootleg plays mentioned earlier, I hope that's not a sign of things to come, because Taysom Hill of BYU will be a nightmare if this defense cannot contain mobile QBs, let alone the two-headed monster in Columbus.
LB - Morgan, Bolden, and Ross all looked pretty good here. Near the beginning of practice, the team ran a version of the Oklahoma drill with 2 offensive guys but only 1 defensive guy, and Ross absolutely stood up his block, to the delight of the crowd. I think we'll be very comfortable here with the depth we have at the moment, such as Gedeon, especially because we're running a 4-2-5 look defense I would say at least 60% of the time.
CB - Jeremy Clark and Stribling were the starters here, and they looked pretty good. I'm excited to see what Clark can do, he's nice and long, should play very well in press coverage, although I wouldn't put him on an island quite yet. Lyons was not on the field with the first string but this could simply be because of the abundance of talent we have at safety, and the desire to have Peppers rather than Lyons at the nickel. It is interesting that Stribling was playing in front of him though. *Notable DNP: Jourdan Lewis was dressed but did not practice, not sure what to make of this, because it wasn't clear to me wether this was an injury or disciplinary action. IMO it would be a very Harbaughesque punishment to be forced to sit on the sidelines and watch your teammates get better while you could not.
S - This was the highlight of practice for me. The safeties rotated often and without a noticeable dip in the caliber of player. Peppers was almost always on the field and moving all over, the jack of all trades suggestions seem to be spot on. This will be the strong spot of the defense, if we can get any semblance of a pass rush going, this group will terrorize opposing teams.
SPECIAL TEAMS
The only special teams we really saw were the place kickers. At this point it looks like a race between Allen and Seychel, and I'm not sure which one I'd go with at this point, Seychel looks like he puts more on the ball, but it doesn't spin as much which worries me if we play on a windy Saturday. I think we'll be good either way, doesn't look like we'll have distance concerns with either kicker. O'Niell was the holder from what I saw.
UNIFORMZ
Kind of weird here, the team seemed to be wearing the 2015 helmet and pants, but the 2014 tops. The difference between the Maize on the jerseys and the helmets/pants was quite noticeable, I much prefer the 2015 Maize, it looks much less washed out in comparison. I can confirm that the block M thigh pads are real, and can also reassure the board that you can only see them if the player is 5 yards or closer to you. Also, I'm sure this will break WD's heart, but not all of the cleats were black, there was Maize on many of the cleats, Peppers' and Gedeon's cleats were noticeably all Maize, although these could be remnants from last year like the 2014 tops we wore tonight.
August 23rd, 2015 at 12:07 AM ^
I noticed Brian Cole on the sideline in uniform before the game, but didn't see him at all during the practice. I was also thinking that he could be injured.
For the uniforms, I didn't notice the helmets being a different color than the pants, but the jersey maize and pants maize was quite different. Hopefully the uniform color is more like the pants and less like the goal posts.
August 23rd, 2015 at 12:10 AM ^
August 23rd, 2015 at 12:15 AM ^
Am I the only person disappointed in knowing that a college aged person is lucid enough on a Saturday night at 11:56pm to write something as insightful and thorough as that post?
Haha just kidding!! Great analysis and reply! Plus 1 to you.
PS EDIT this was in reply to post 290.
August 23rd, 2015 at 1:07 AM ^
August 23rd, 2015 at 1:46 AM ^
Nice writeup and impressive use of "bevy".
August 23rd, 2015 at 2:23 AM ^
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August 23rd, 2015 at 11:22 AM ^
for the play of the QBs and RBs last year. Not, the other way around.
August 23rd, 2015 at 8:10 AM ^
August 23rd, 2015 at 11:24 AM ^
FYI - 3 yards per carry for RBs is not good and would not put the O in "a decent shape"
August 23rd, 2015 at 12:16 PM ^
August 23rd, 2015 at 8:10 AM ^
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August 23rd, 2015 at 9:18 AM ^
August 23rd, 2015 at 9:56 AM ^
How'd Gentry look throwing?