Danwillhor

April 15th, 2017 at 4:21 PM ^

and it's hard to take anything from a Spring Game but he looked exactly like 2016 Speight. He lost weight, sure. Yet, that won't help him read a basic defense. He still breaks the huddle knowing who his target is and triple coverage be damned he's going to that guy 90% of the time. I think he's likely topped out. Can it keep the job in 2017? I think so. 2018? No.

Night_King

April 15th, 2017 at 3:46 PM ^

Haven't watched yet, but read a lot on twitter about Hudson, Bush Jr., Tarik Black, and Peters. 

Also saw Nate Johnson had 2 fumbles. He'll have to clean that up, or Oliver Martin may jump him on the depth chart over the summer. 

Anyone see McDoom's injury, hopefully just a sprained ankle?

MichiganTeacher

April 15th, 2017 at 3:58 PM ^

I also thought it looked bad. Looked like knees do when they end your season. But it still could just be an ankle. Looked like it was on the plant*; he planted his left foot and the defender was on his left side. Could have rolled up the ankle under there. Could also have buckled the knee. Sigh.

* just going on memory, and keep in mind I'm sitting here in a hotel room with a sick (but somehow still energetic and yelling) kid + sibling.

DrMantisToboggan

April 15th, 2017 at 4:17 PM ^

I mean I could be wrong, but the way he was moving after he got up said knee to me. It's hard to tell because it wasn't something that stood out like with an awkward movement in the replay. But, having watched a lot of football and having hurt my knee myself that's what it looked like to me. Someone else said calf muscle, which I could also see and might explain the hands on the shin.

Qmatic

April 15th, 2017 at 3:47 PM ^

D Line is going to be great. McCray, Bush, Hudson/Furbush are going to be real good. We have a pretty deep rotation at WR.

Speight may still be hurt. He was #3 as far as throwing the ball today.

DrMantisToboggan

April 15th, 2017 at 3:48 PM ^

Some intel from practice suggests otherwise, but I think there should be a real competition at QB. Peters looks very good. He was going against the worse D unit most of the time, but they both dealt with wind and he has a lot more natural talent than Speight. I'm pretty torn here.

 

If the D stays healthy, I am fully on board with the "no drop off" takes. Dudes look like dudes. Hudson, Bush, the whole DL. DBs looked fine. Should be another top 3 unit, assuming health holds up.

Night_King

April 15th, 2017 at 3:50 PM ^

He also had the benefit of the O Line, but from what I read on twitter, Peters was throwing dimes today. All competition is good competition for this young squad.

How did Long/Hill look today at corner? Saw Black got the best of St. Juste more than a few times. Black seems to be a very polished route runner with solid hands. 

DrMantisToboggan

April 15th, 2017 at 3:55 PM ^

I thought Long was good, I honestly didn't notice Hill. I didn't hear Long's name much either, tbh, I need to rewatch a few times to focus on individuals. Despite getting beat by Black a few times I thought St. Juste looked good at times, made a nice play on for an interception. I thought Keith Washington looked bigger and less of a liability in run support - made a nice play to stop Higdon on one run.

JayMo4

April 15th, 2017 at 4:06 PM ^

Washington looks like he's developed, and he has the athleticism so if he knows how to cover then I think we've got something after all.

St Juste never got beat beat.  He was right there on every completion, just got out-adjusted for the ball by Black looking like a polished veteran on those catches.  It reminded me some of Stribling when he was younger, being in the right place most of the time but not quite making the play.  St J is also bigger than Strib, so I'm optimistic he'll be very good at some point in his career.  As a backup - which is what he figures to be in the fall - I'm perfectly satisfied with what I saw today.  The future is bright at CB.

DrMantisToboggan

April 15th, 2017 at 3:57 PM ^

At times today he looked bad. Someone posited that he may still be hurting, I thought others had said he was healthy, but I'm not so sure. He didn't look right out there. That being said he was usually going against the 1s on Defense which are going to be very good. There was also wind. But he looked markedly worse than Peters today and Peters was playing in the same wind.

JayMo4

April 15th, 2017 at 4:15 PM ^

He looked hurt, but then he's looked that way since the big hit in the Colorado game.

Having gone through some labrum/rotator cuff issues myself, I have to wonder if there's not some nagginginjury there that may never go away as long as large men are going to continue running into him.  It took me a long time to rehab, and I wasn't getting hammered by defensive ends when I did it.

JayMo4

April 15th, 2017 at 4:35 PM ^

I don't mean to say he's never produced since Colorado.  I mean he's shown symptoms of nagging shoulder injury since then (see the OSU game.)

Maryland's defense was pathetic last season.  Speight put up some big stats throwing to a lot of open guys.

But in the games where he's been under pressure, some of those balls really wobble and it looks at times like he's adjusting his release to avoid another big hit to that side of his body.

 

This is just my amateur analysis.  I'm making a guess based on observation, but it could well be he's perfectly fine and just prone to lapses in mechanics when pass rushers are coming at him.

reshp1

April 15th, 2017 at 4:48 PM ^

Doubtful they'd let him play pretty much the whole game if he wasn't 100%. Might be a mental thing (yips), which would make more sense to give him more reps to work on it.

Still have to re-watch, but live his mechanics were awful,seemed like his upper and lower body were all out of sync. He also seemed like he was pushing the ball on release too.

drzoidburg

April 16th, 2017 at 1:38 AM ^

Secondary looked very well considering the concern there, but OL did not look great against what i suspect will be one of the top DLs in the country (which will be rotated a lot more than the OL)

Nonetheless, enough holes that there were a few breakout runs, and a few downfield completions. It looked like overall, a team that can compete for a title again, provided we don't have Ohio refs