Well not so much but let me further clarify that. Our DLine is much improved from last year and so our OLine was definitely more challenged today. Second, our OLine was not fully intact today yet due to injuries. Daniel Burton was not playing and that is an important link to the line, Lalk is still probably developing at center and we still have some players not in that they are hopeful will be contributors to the squad. I did feel the RB did a nicer job which I would guess is a combo of both line and improved talent in RB. I would say the OLine is still a work in progress, but there were missing links today, so kinda hard to tell.
Spring Game
- Thread starter swiacy
- Start date
Well not so much but let me further clarify that. Our DLine is much improved from last year and so our OLine was definitely more challenged today. Second, our OLine was not fully intact today yet due to injuries. Daniel Burton was not playing and that is an important link to the line, Lalk is still probably developing at center and we still have some players not in that they are hopeful will be contributors to the squad. I did feel the RB did a nicer job which I would guess is a combo of both line and improved talent in RB. I would say the OLine is still a work in progress, but there were missing links today, so kinda hard to tell.
Derp what? Was that a belch?
If the defense makes more stops, it helps the offense.
go go ahead and inform espn then.. They have been doing it wrong the last couple years.
Lol oh boy. It's spring. They weren't going all out or into the playbook. Offense is almost always behind the defense this time of the year. And it's only a small sample size, not a whole game to get going.
Ya several schools (I think all but ISU in the Big 12) have their spring games televised. Would have been a stellar marketing ploy for the SEZ.
The defense has definitely taken a step in the right direction. Tucker is fun to watch and I'm glad he's a cyclone. Offense is still hard to tell, but that doesn't mean bad. We pretty much know our WR group is good, I liked what I saw with the RB and they are young, Oline still has missing pieces and I would say they are no worse than last year, but that's still a positive because there are important pieces out which will only improve the line. Miss Bibbs of course, but Boessen made some nice catches, we played a lot of two tight end sets and I really like the body of Justin Chandler. Bibbs body 2.0.
Montgomery was held out of the game. In the Podcast, Blum and Williams were impressed with Tucker, Harris, and Brian Peavey. Said Peavey was able to stay with Allan Lazard physically. And that it looks like we have 4 legit corners. They also said good things about Jones and Northrup. Leath was there to watch the game. No doubt the defense should be much better.
My two cents from the game -
Experience: Awesome! Got to take the kids, close parking, sat close to the field, and it was free!
Offense in general: Seemed to really sputter especially early on. Screen pass city. About 4-5 poor shotgun snaps. Obviously the loss of Farniok is a valid concern. It was almost like the skill players weren't trying very hard, that may be because it's more of a practice atmosphere, and the playbook is vanilla.
Offensive players of note:
Sam R.: Really kept a tight leash on him. Didn't see much.
Grant: Looks OK. Not great, but OK.
Lanning: Throws a nice ball. Made a couple silly decisions.
Tyler Brown: Was the workhorse at RB and did a pretty decent job. Broke some tackles.
Bundrage: Despite early reports, he did play, but with a green shirt on. There was a bit of a small gasp moment early on where he was kind of "half tackled" (he didn't try to avoid contact) going out of bounds, and a couple coaches yelled, but he was fine.
Lazard: Kind of seemed to be going thru the motions. A couple nice catches.
Boesen: Had a least once nice looking grab.
Trever Ryan: Johnny on the spot. Spring game rising star.
Cole Anderson: Big dude TE! Made at least two grabs.
O-Line: No particular reaction. Looked serviceable, but not great. Brock Dagel was right in front of me a couple times and he was looking very strong in pass protection. Wendell Taiese is a big dude.
Defense in general: They out-shined the offense. D-line and linebackers looked pretty good. The depth on the D-line was especially encouraging.
D-line: Improved.
Dale Pierson: played with a lot of anger and I saw him twice keep going after his man well after the whistle! Good to see that heart.
Tucker: I only saw one play that was "special" but maybe I just wasn't looking at the right moment.
Kamari Syrie: Really played his tail off and I'm guessing led in tackles.
Experience: Awesome! Got to take the kids, close parking, sat close to the field, and it was free!
Offense in general: Seemed to really sputter especially early on. Screen pass city. About 4-5 poor shotgun snaps. Obviously the loss of Farniok is a valid concern. It was almost like the skill players weren't trying very hard, that may be because it's more of a practice atmosphere, and the playbook is vanilla.
Offensive players of note:
Sam R.: Really kept a tight leash on him. Didn't see much.
Grant: Looks OK. Not great, but OK.
Lanning: Throws a nice ball. Made a couple silly decisions.
Tyler Brown: Was the workhorse at RB and did a pretty decent job. Broke some tackles.
Bundrage: Despite early reports, he did play, but with a green shirt on. There was a bit of a small gasp moment early on where he was kind of "half tackled" (he didn't try to avoid contact) going out of bounds, and a couple coaches yelled, but he was fine.
Lazard: Kind of seemed to be going thru the motions. A couple nice catches.
Boesen: Had a least once nice looking grab.
Trever Ryan: Johnny on the spot. Spring game rising star.
Cole Anderson: Big dude TE! Made at least two grabs.
O-Line: No particular reaction. Looked serviceable, but not great. Brock Dagel was right in front of me a couple times and he was looking very strong in pass protection. Wendell Taiese is a big dude.
Defense in general: They out-shined the offense. D-line and linebackers looked pretty good. The depth on the D-line was especially encouraging.
D-line: Improved.
Dale Pierson: played with a lot of anger and I saw him twice keep going after his man well after the whistle! Good to see that heart.
Tucker: I only saw one play that was "special" but maybe I just wasn't looking at the right moment.
Kamari Syrie: Really played his tail off and I'm guessing led in tackles.
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It's so hard to tell with QB because the playbook is so simplified for this but SR looked about the same to me. Bundrage had 2-3 steps on his defender and overthrew him. Remember a pass in the ground at the receivers feet and one to the sideline that was caught with a good jump which lead to little yards after the catch. Had nice screen passes and short yardage middle of the field passes.
GR looked about the same as well. Made some nice plays, but also some not nice plays. Just nothing memorable.
JL, that kid has some velocity on his ball. Between the 20's I thought his throws were spot on even on the run. He struggled with a corner endzone touch pass, but each time the receiver was tightly covered. Low production in the red zone, but thought he did alright between that.
I guess on thing to remember for those not in attendance most of the first half the 1's played against the 2's. So SR threw against the 2's and GR and JL threw against the 1's or 2's. Second half 1's played the 1's, but SR only played one series then I believe.
Again so hard to tell because the offense is so basic and vanilla.
GR looked about the same as well. Made some nice plays, but also some not nice plays. Just nothing memorable.
JL, that kid has some velocity on his ball. Between the 20's I thought his throws were spot on even on the run. He struggled with a corner endzone touch pass, but each time the receiver was tightly covered. Low production in the red zone, but thought he did alright between that.
I guess on thing to remember for those not in attendance most of the first half the 1's played against the 2's. So SR threw against the 2's and GR and JL threw against the 1's or 2's. Second half 1's played the 1's, but SR only played one series then I believe.
Again so hard to tell because the offense is so basic and vanilla.
Thank you for the response. Unfortunately I left last year's spring game hoping they were simply a work in progress and turns out I was wrong, they just weren't that good. With that said I am cautiously optimistic going into the season. If Tucker and Harris are healthy and one or two more defensive tackles aren't awful the defense will be much improved, and I'm glad to hear that showed today.
Here's my unprofessional opinion on what will make the biggest difference on the Oline: Campos, Taiese, Burton, Philbert and Lalk/Scoggins.
Weren't Coe and Irving still on the team at that point? I thought the VEISHEA shenanigans happened the weekend after the spring game last year.