April 14th, 2019 at 11:17 AM ^
Jordan Anthony and Donovan Jeter both made nice plays. To say that they looked physically ready is also an understatement. Don Brown defenses do not rebuild, they reload...
I agree. The first team defense owned the first team O. It should at this point but it looked more than it should.
April 14th, 2019 at 11:23 AM ^
Watched on the app. Thought Jeter and Anthony looked good. Thought Glasgow looked faster. VanSumeren looked the part as a RB. Was very skeptical but he has some wheels for big guy.
QB/OL looked pretty good from what I could tell.
WRs were open most of the day but were overthrown multiple times. Thought the DBs were a step behind a lot of the times.
the most encouraging thing i saw was T. Black cut on a dime and didn’t even think twice about it. If he can stay healthy he’s going to be unstoppable.
April 14th, 2019 at 11:43 AM ^
Yeah, timing was off between the QBs and the WRs. Not incredibly concerned about that, though, as both units are the same as they were last season and their timing was good for the most part.
All in all, there were so many players being held out of Spring practice that it's hard to gauge much else but overall concepts. The offense looked quicker and we saw a lot of crossing routes which were few and far between these last few years. The talk of getting playmakers in space is a promise they seem to be intent on fulfilling. Most importantly, they seemed to work as a unit. I saw no confusion or miscommunication which I was expecting at least some of given the new offense. So that's encouraging.
Concur. The signs coming in never seemed to lead to miscommunication, even as the Walkons were running to O. Testament to coaching.
Also watched on the app.
Fairly certain alcohol was involved for many of the production crew.
As someone who coached the secondary and whose coaching specialty was man coverage, it was my experience that a player takes one year of seasoning as a starter before becoming consistently good at it. And that's with corners who can spend a lot more time on man technique in drills. With safeties the learning curve is longer.
April 16th, 2019 at 10:18 AM ^
Black is the one guy on offense I would really like to see have a full year on the field. Dude has great talent and speed and my God if he could just stay healthy for an entire season it will help us tremendously.
April 14th, 2019 at 11:23 AM ^
The throngs of Wolverine fans cheered mightily for their savior, the young Joshua Gattis.
April 14th, 2019 at 11:51 AM ^
#fansinspace
April 14th, 2019 at 11:23 AM ^
Most of the crowd looked bigger than last year. Not good weight.
April 14th, 2019 at 12:51 PM ^
#bigfansinspace
But doesn't Brian say "all weight gain is good..."?
April 14th, 2019 at 11:48 AM ^
It was beautiful seeing a no huddle offense, even in a limited contact scrimmage. When milton was running the offense he completed a sideline fade to All (I think?) for about 20 yards and they snapped the ball in five seconds after the last play was over, it was wonderful.
April 14th, 2019 at 12:16 PM ^
Are you talking about the one that was definitely not a completion but was called a completion at around the 5 yd line and then they snapped the ball before a hypothetical review could happen? Because that was the best part of the entire practice. Having the ability to steal yards with tempo and no huddle is as you say beautiful.
I’m pretty sure you are describing a play where Mckeon got the ball raked out by the D.B. near the north end zone.
The NCAA/SEC is preparing for this Harbaugh move by preemptively allowing for nonsequential play reviews.
No, I was thinking of a play that happened around midfield. Both plays were beautiful to see though.
Yep, then we'll only lose by about a dozen!
April 14th, 2019 at 11:49 AM ^
Both the offense and defense should be more excitingly unpredictable this year!
April 14th, 2019 at 11:56 AM ^
Did they throw on 1st down?
April 14th, 2019 at 12:06 PM ^
I read there were 15,000 in attendance.
There would have been 15001 if LD (Lacrosse Devotee) had shown up.
I heard the same number tossed around but when walked in at 4:50 PM, we were pretty shocked at how large the crowd was after hearing all week how many WEREN'T going to go. It certainly thinned out a lot after the “halftime” but I thought there was a lot more than 15,000 there at the start. My wife & I both thought that had you squeezed in both end zones that were sparsely populated & both sidelines you would have filled 1/3 of the stadium.
No matter what, the crowd size to me was very encouraging. Go Blue!
The pics I've seen look like a solid 20k-25k.
That’s about what we thought ... maybe 30. We pulled into Pioneer and we were shocked at how many were parked there. Pretty cool.
April 14th, 2019 at 12:07 PM ^
Definitely excited that the "i'll believe it when I see it" crowd now must find a new shtick.
April 14th, 2019 at 12:08 PM ^
Just my opinion:
Stock up: Gattis, All, Bell, Sainristil, Onwenu, Martin, Bredeson, Ruiz, Runyan, McGrone, Jeter, Hutch, Paye, Hudson, Moody, and Anthony.
Even: All the QB’s. Not sure anyone made a move. It’s clear by the reps/rotation who is 1, 2, and 3. Metellus, Woods, McKeon
Stock down: Not really sure. Mason (not ready for DL yet), JKP, Safeties as a group? I need to watch it closely one more time. Goal line offense inside the 5.
note: DL a little better than I expected. We will be okay.
April 14th, 2019 at 12:19 PM ^
The goal line offense was extremely frustrating but it's also hard to pound the ball into the end zone when the refs are blowing the play dead on 2 hand touch.
April 14th, 2019 at 12:23 PM ^
Exactly, given that goal line offense is often a downhill dude going through 7 guys to stick the nose of the football over the goal line, I'm not too concerned about the lack of it yesterday.
April 14th, 2019 at 12:24 PM ^
Still, there was not a big push and no real holes. Might have been some bad reads by backs, and we were shorthanded. I get it. It’s just a spring practice, so you can’t take too much away from it either way.
April 14th, 2019 at 12:35 PM ^
Yeah I'd be nice to see more scoring but offenses in spring scrimmages always seem pretty discombobulated. Lots of small mistakes to work out still.
April 14th, 2019 at 12:24 PM ^
Worried that we're going to lose Mason. Not to transfer or anything like that but he'll be lost in the wash without a solid position. He's too small for D line, probably way back in the LB depth, and BVS seems to be the Jumbo RB/FB hybrid position guy.
I'm not worried in the same way. He's not getting passed up on offense so easily. They just kept Mason on defense this spring since he has a lot to learn.
I don't think he's too small to be part of the pass rush package. Numbers forced him into a bigger role for the spring.
You’re probably right but I like to think Mason only played defense in the “game” because he’s too hyperviolent a runner.
Agree that he’s probably a pass rush package guy given they had Kwity and Chase occasionally inside on passing downs at about the same size.
You’re probably right but I like to think Mason only played defense in the “game” because he’s too hyperviolent a runner.
Agree that he’s probably a pass rush package guy given they had Kwity and Chase occasionally inside on passing downs at about the same size.
April 14th, 2019 at 12:44 PM ^
Alabama was 79th in the RZ last year. I think some offenses (like Gattis's) want/need more room to run and score, rather than punch it in.
Well that is kind of concerning because I don't remember being able to punch it in very well last year either.
I despised our red zone offense last year. It seemed like with the entire field ahead of the offense they had no problem getting the ball past the opponents 30/35 yard line but with a shortened field they couldn't do jackshit consistently
April 14th, 2019 at 12:26 PM ^
When Shea was in they seemed to call all pass plays, which makes sense. With Milton they were more run heavy, but they did let him sling it. Shea threw 2 TD type substances on crossing routes to slot receivers over the middle, though Sainristil's was called back, so that was good to see.
The broadcast team was pretty brutal, but I guess it was all thrown together at the last minute because they weren't expecting any form of game. But during the "commercials" Brandstatters mic was still hot and you could hear them talking.
April 14th, 2019 at 12:57 PM ^
Broadcast team needs an overhaul for sure. Time to upgrade.
Brandstatter's a great color guy, but PBP is not a strength for him. He's better than he was when he took over for Beckmann, but he's still mediocre at best at the basics of calling the plays. It's especially stark when you listen to the radio broadcasts of other programs who have real PBP guys in the booth.
I love Brandy and I love Dierdorf and it’s agonizing. I certainly don’t want Brandy to be fired, but he’s just not cut out for play-by-play. That’s not a referendum on his work ethic or his skill at other things; some guys just aren’t meant for Pbp. It’s a very specific skill that requires a certain voice and meter and pace that some people just don’t have naturally.
I think they should go to a 3-man booth just to avoid the disaster that would be firing someone that is both good at color and beloved, and they should hire someone who does play-by-play for a living.
I hate that I have to say this. But it’s not just people being picky; I’ve listened to entire games that Brandy has called (I had to drive an entire day during one crucial white-knuckle game and listened on Sirius) and you can’t follow the action. He often forget or delays calling out yardage, so you don’t know if a pass is for 3 yards or 30, and he gets tongue-tied describing rapidly developing major events like a big run followed by a fumble or a penalty. It is actively difficult to listen to.
The fact that it’s Brandy, for whom I maintain enormous fondness and respect, is the only thing that makes it tolerable at all.
Same. I LOVE those guys and want them around, but please put a decent PBP up there who can keep up. Mainly, I fear a generic replacement.
April 14th, 2019 at 10:29 PM ^
It is sadly brutal.
My favorite will be a sequence like this:
Michigan 1st and ten. Handoff to Higdon. Nice hole makes a man miss for 8 yards.
(Five seconds later)
Here comes Michigan, 2nd and 6.
Then you think - wait was it a 8 yard 1st down play or 4 yards. Then if Michigan throws an incomplete pass you can’t tell if you are annoyed because they passed on 2nd and 2 or it’s understandable because it was 2nd and 6.
This type of thing happens CONSTANTLY with Brandy on PBP. He just can’t do it.
Brutal...
"Sack time!"
He was horrible yesterday ! “ Tarik Block Blacking down the field “
April 14th, 2019 at 12:54 PM ^
Ed Kengerski said 25k on his update and that would be close to my guess (22 to 26k?). Play calling system ...2 interns holding up giant placards with just one image (not 4 quadrants) and three coaches gesticulating wildly for 5seconds as the whole team stares at the sidelines. I liked the Dolphins logo better than the Red Wings logo since we scored a fade on it. For a couple plays Nicholas Capatina (who?) shared the backfield with Joe Milton, seemed like 5’5”next to 6’8”, worth a laugh. Damn you AMRBHG. The flyover at Lacrosse was the coolest thing all day B-17 maybe?? ...so darn low and really quiet compared to most WWII planes.
Flyover at lacrosse was cool, PSU face off man was a beast.