further Spring game observations

Submitted by Alumnus93 on

So I re-watched the spring game on DVR.  Am surprised there hasn't been more of discussion of the observations, unless I missed it., and if I did so I apologize. Nonetheless, here are mine...

-Ulizio looked fantastic... he was holding off Wormley quite well. Ulizio jumped out at me, more than any other OL.  Was playing RT, which was surprising, for I thought he was a G.  Did anyone else have the same observation?

-brings me to Newsome.  he seems very raw, didn't have good bend and got blown back by many smaller players... he has a ways to go. This is our proverbial achilles heel this season.. if we don't make the playoff, this will be it.    He looks the part, but is gonna be a liability unless he progresses and fast... Wow we are short at LT, the one position I'd think with our storied history, we'd have no trouble with.  Losing that kid Hamilton to Stanford, and losing LTT, and this position is scary thin.  Im hoping Harbaugh has an ace up his sleeve, as in a grad transfer LT.

-Pliska looked ok, he took out Godin for that TD run, I think.

-McCray is a man.  Incredible that our LBs looks miles ahead of last years lbs, and those were 5 seniors.  The backup Wroblenski blew alot of gap assignments.  If Furbush is what I think he is, our lbs may be perceived as our best unit by the end of the season, only because the DL will be so dominant that it'll make the LBs look great.  Hats off to Partridge here? 

-Mitchell looks like a senior, physically. 

-And this is what totally floored me.....All the early enrollees,  Mitchell, Walker, Bush, Kemp.. do not look like freshmen at all. Wow, what a difference between Hokes incoming freshen, and Harbaughs.  All of them look that they can contribute immediately. Let that settle for a moment. This is quite remarkable.  Bush looks ready to start if need be.  Walker too.    

 

M-Dog

April 4th, 2016 at 9:29 AM ^

I have not had a chance to re-watch it.  Just curious, what % of the time were we in shotgun vs. under center?  It seemed like the coaches mixed it up pretty well.

markp

April 4th, 2016 at 11:01 AM ^

I hope they UFR the whole spring game. Sure, this was somewhat vanilla and featured split units, but there's probably a lot of cool stuff to glean that my eyes don't catch.

I always find the UFRs interesting because they are written by people with much higher football IQs than I have.

Do I have a 2nd?

Sam1863

April 4th, 2016 at 12:14 PM ^

Agreed. I think the UFR's are great, because I end up learning so much about the minute parts of the game. They may be the part of this blog that I enjoy the most.

Well, besides Jessica, Alison, and The Muppets. (I mean, there's enjoyable, and then there's ENJOYABLE.)

CoachBP6

April 4th, 2016 at 12:00 PM ^

Speight was the most calm, and ready to play QB IMO. Every single time O'Korn dropped back he immediately ran If his first read wasn't there. I don't think O'Korn is ready yet for such an in depth, pro style system.

Speight looked more poised, and he can also take off, though not nearly as fast as O'Korn.

At this point it is pretty obvious that the race is a two horse race between Speight and O'Korn. The summer and fall are pivotal to these fellas.




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Space Coyote

April 4th, 2016 at 12:09 PM ^

O'Korn just didn't look comfortable with the offense or defensive looks. I think it is a two horse race based on those two starting, but I actually thought Morris looked more comfortable going through the offense than O'Korn, though he wasn't without flaws.

This its Speight's job to lose unless JOK gets a lot more comfortable outside easier spread O reads

WolvinLA2

April 4th, 2016 at 12:20 PM ^

I agree with this, but I think JOK has the higher ceiling if he can get comfortable with the reads, and we all know how good his coach is at coaching QBs.  If JOK can make the same kinds of improvements throughout the year that Rudock made last season, JOK will be better than Speight, maybe by a healthy margin.  That said, there's no guarantee he makes those improvements, and for the time being, Speight looks more capable of winning games.  

Speight actually looks a lot like Rudock last year.  Not a cannon for an arm, but steady as hell everywhere else.  And although Speight looked quicker than I thought he was, he won't be getting first downs or TD with his feet as well as Rudock did.

Space Coyote

April 4th, 2016 at 12:39 PM ^

I think that's a big reason why JOK is getting the reps he is, the staff still feels a lot of untapped potential. While I thought Morris looked better, my feeling is that his room for improvement is less at this point. He may improve a little more, but JOK is less developed and the staff feels more confident they can eventually get JOK to that ceiling than Morris at this point.

michclub19

April 4th, 2016 at 11:49 AM ^

Since I was cheering for the defense, I cheered every time our defensive backs baited the QBs into throwing at a receiver who appeared open, only to be smothered by the defense /s

More importantly though, remember how early last season Rudock would lock onto a receiver and never make a progression through the entire play?  Obviously Harbaugh got that fixed quick so I'm not too concerned yet that the new QBs are demonstrating the same problem.

1VaBlue1

April 4th, 2016 at 9:36 AM ^

His name is Jake Raulerson, and he decided to go to UCLA.  He would have allowed Cole to remain at LT, thus leaving Newsome on the bench for another year.  And Devery Hamilton is a Guard, I believe.

I suspect Drevno will have Newsome playing well enough by mid-season that he won't be a liability.  May not be a strenght - but won't be a liability, anyway.  I can't imagine saying that had Drevno not arrived to replace Funk.

CorkyCole

April 4th, 2016 at 9:42 AM ^

I felt like Lawrence Marshall was near the ball a lot making plays, but I'm by far not an expert observer. I'm expecting to be corrected.

Bodogblog

April 4th, 2016 at 12:59 PM ^

I thought he was OK, though Bunting really caved him on one play (good for Bunting, his blocking really impressed me overall - his willingness and "contact courage").  He doesn't seem like the quick-twitch DE  I had envisioned/hoped for though.