Practice Report - August 12

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winwave
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It was of course a hot and muggy morning at Yulman. There was a slight breeze from the south. At first players were spread out working in position groups. One of note was of centers practicing shotgun snaps to QB's. The three centers were Diaz, Dublin and Leglue. All the snaps appeared to be clean.

Team drill started with the offense having 11 going against 6. The defenders were basically just out there as they weren't rushing at all. Banks went first with a line that was from left to right- Leglue, Dublin,Diaz, Briggs and Mcleod. They were at the south 25 going south. Banks missed Encalade and then pitched to Hillard. The pitch was clean. Brantley came in. His line was Claybrook, Jackel,Diaz,Brown and Devon Johnson. Brantley made a clean pitch to Bradwell. He then threw a 25 yard TD pass to Robertson. The ball was under thrown and he had to come back for it. I'll note here that it didn't seem like the QB's were throwing 100% in this drill. At least I hope so. It appeared as if they were just loosening up. McClain came in and pitched left to Badie. He then hit Owens at the 5 on an underthrown pass that Owens had to stop for. Ledford then came in and underthrew a 10 yarder to Owens. Banks came in and hit Mooney in the end zone. He then overthrew a sideline route to Mooney. Brantley finished it off by hitting Robertsonat the 10 and then hit Glenn in the end zone from 25 out. The line at the end was left to right- Mcleod,Jackel,Leglue,Briggs and Tyler Johnson.

The next segment was FG kicking. Neenan went first. He hit a 31 yarder from the left hash. It was hit very well. He then had a 39 yarder from the middle of the field blocked. The snap was good. He just hit it very low. The next kick was a 38 yarder from the right hash that he again nailed. He then had a 40 yarder from the right hash blocked. This was again b/c of his low kick. He then missed from 42 on the left hash. Glover, a WO, then shanked a 43 yarder. He hit a 37 yarder from the middle of the field. Another WO,Singer , came out next. He missed from 35 and was short on a 42 yarder. I was surprised Harvey didn't kick. He was dressed out and didn't appear to be injured.

Block then came on to punt. The ball was being snapped from the south 25. His first kick went to the north 45 and then took a high bounce and rolled to the 20. His next punt went to the 50 and was almost blocked. The snap was good. He just takes a long time to get his kicks off.

The scrimmage was next. There were refs and all QB's were in red no contact jersey's. It started with ones versus ones. The ball was placed on the north 30 going south. Banks came out first. The D was Aruna, Wilson, Eldrick Washington and Carroll. The LB's were Marbley and Luke Jackson. The CB's were Nickerson and Lewis. The safeties were Teamer and Franklin with Shenall at the NB. Banks ran right for 2 . He then overthrew Encalade on a deep ball. There should have been a penalty as the DB was clearly holding Encalalde. He was then sacked by Aruna. Banks limped slightly going to the sideline but appeared fine the rest of the way. Banks then overtrhrew a pass. Badie went up the middle for no gain. He then hit Robertson for 8 on the left side.

Brantley came on also starting on the 30. HIs line was Claybrook, Dublin,Diaz, Briggs and Mcleod. Badie went up the middle for 6 and the ball was stripped and recovered by the defense who probably would have returned it for a TD. He came off holding his left wrist. He was looked at by a trainer. He did later come back in. They picked it back up as 2nd and 4. He pitched to Hilliard for 3. He then kept it going left and lost 2. On 4th down he faked a hand off up the middle and then went off the left side of the line for 22 yards. He was then sacked as no one was open. Huderson went left for 2 and then Huderson went left for 5. On his last play he threw it away as no one was open.

Banks came in with the 2's. They started at the south 40 going south. Huderson went up the middle for 7. Banks then went for 8 up the middle. Badie got 4 up the middle. Under pressure he took off and got 4. Hiliard got 1 up the middle. Hilliard then got 5 up the middle for a first down. Banks kept left for 5 . Hilliard then started up the middle and bounced it to the right and got 7. On first and goal from the 2 Hillard was stuffed for no gain. Banks then kept it right and got the TD.

Brantley came back out and they started on the south 28 going north. No one was open on 1st down so he threw it away. Badie then went for 12 up the middle. Hilliard got5. Then there was a fumble on the hand off to Huderson and Brantley recovered it. He then hit Robertson for 9 yards and a first down. I noticed Sample in at DT with the 2's.

Banks came back on with the ball placed on the north 47 going north. Banks started with a pass from the pocket to a wide open Huderson that he grossly underthrew to the left side. He then threw a TD to Robertson down the right sideline. Beautiful pass and catch. The throw was made as he scrambled right . It appeared to me that a DE could have sacked him but let up b/c of his red jersey and he released the ball right after that.

The next series had Banks hand the ball to Bradwell for 4 up the middle. He then kept it for 3 which was followed by a keeper for 7.

Next were kick-offs. Block kicked the first one to the goal line and Badie returned it to the 20. Harvey then kicked it to the 5 and Hilliard returned it to the 35. Block then kicked it to the goal line again and Glenn returned it to the 31.

McClain came in. He pitched right to Huderson and then threw incomplete to Fenroy. Bradwell went up the middle for 5. He hit Ledee for 20. He ended with an overthrow to the end zone.

Ledford came in and went to throw and the ball fell out of his hand behind him. Keyes appeared to hurt his ankle and went down for few minutes. He limped off.

McClain came back and overthrew Johnson deep. He then bit Bradwell for 10 on the right side. Dauphine took a pitch right and got about 7. He then kept it for 7. On the next play no one was open and he ran for 5. Things ended with a wobbily deep ball by Ledford to Owens at the 5 for a 25 yard gain.

Fritz then lectured the team from midfield for a good 10 minutes pacing back and forth the whole time. I couldn't hear him but his body language made it appear that he was not pleased. After he finished the O-Linemen were taken by Atkins and made to do a series of up and downs. The LB group was made to do the same.

Fritz later came to the Glazer Club. He asked the Glazer Club members to come early and party and then get in their seats for 7 for the Grambling game. When asked about anything different being done on offense he said yes-WE WILL SCORE A LOT MORE which brought loud laughter. Asked about the RB's behind Hilliard and Badie he really talked up Huderson. He made note the he can run it inside and outside and most importantly that he was good in pass protection. He then mentioned Bradwell and noted he wasn't that good with pass protection and needed work and said he is a power runner. He said Neenan is the kicker. He said Dannen was having 5 hogs cooked at this house for a team get together tonight.

By all accounts the line still just has too many breakdowns. Both Banks and Brantley can run and they both throw well on the run. This is more of a competition than many think. Fritz even called it that when he spoke to the crowd. Brantley's shoulder is fine now and he appears very capable. As for field goal kicking it was extremely disappointing to see today. That has to be cleaned up ASAP. The defense is solid and moves well at all levels. Hopefully the next few weeks lead to better offensive production and a better kicking game. There's a lot of work that must be done for us to see any improvement this season.


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capwave
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Thanks winwave for the rundown!
Here are just a few takes from my perspective.
1) Our offensive linemen look to be in much better shape. In the past we were either undersized or the ones that had size looked sloppy. They now pass the eye test. But there performance needs to improve. The D was in the backfield all day.
2) Our wide receivers have some serious size.
3) To me, McClain may well be the real deal at QB in a couple years. He is big, can run and has a hell of a good arm. His deep ball overthrow to Johnson may well have been on Johnson letting up a bit.
4) Defense should be good!
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You're welcome. As to your #3 remember that Johnson is still recovering from his knee surgery and is at about 85 % so that may have contributed to Johnson letting up.
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Thanks, win!
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Good to hear about McCLain. He really intrigues me as QB of the future. He was highly recruited by p5s for his athleticism Would be awesome if he's in the mix as early as next year.
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GreenLantern
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As always, a very informative read by ww.
winwave
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You're welcome guys. Glad you enjoyed it.
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Thank you for the recap. Still sounds like we have some issues to resolve but doesn't sound quite as bad as your observations from last year around the same time. Good to hear Fritz is confident that the offense will be much more productive.
winwave
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Sure. It's funny you mention last years recap. I thought about that myself this evening when reflecting on what I saw today and said to myself hey it's not the complete mess it was back then. The main reason is that the QB's look more capable. Hopefully the line continues to make strides in the next three weeks so they can have a fighting chance.
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winwave wrote:Sure. It's funny you mention last years recap. I thought about that myself this evening when reflecting on what I saw today and said to myself hey it's not the complete mess it was back then. The main reason is that the QB's look more capable. Hopefully the line continues to make strides in the next three weeks so they can have a fighting chance.
Appreciate your honest opinion. I remember in Toledo's last year I went to a scrimmage and was appalled how bad we looked athletically. I was really pulling for Toledo cause he seemed like a good guy but I had to be honest and reported that we would win 4 games max. Some people absolutely flipped out at my observations. It even leaked to the yogwf board and some of the posters said I didn't know what I was talking about, lol.
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Well, I'm going to have my antacids ready for the Special Team and our kicking game. I do like hearing that we will score a lot more. The O-line is still a bit concerning but it will hopefully get better over time. Like always, thanks for the report Win.
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Glad to do it. I will say Fritz seemed very loose and up beat which I took as a good sign. I was surprised though when asked about the kicking game that he just quickly stated that it was Neenan and didn't note the obvious issues that had just happened.
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The obvious big difference from last year is that our starting Quarterback is now fifth string.
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i am not worried about special teams...if we score TD's we go for two...if we are scoring TD's we don't need to punt....what's the issue ?
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Thanks for this weinwave!
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Thanks for the report, ww. I am very curious as to how open Fritz is to having Brantley in the game if Banks is struggling? Brantley could clearly run, but had arm issues last year. It's been reported that he's fully healthy this year, and Banks seems to be inconsistent. I was glad that you reported this competition is a lot closer than most realize. Competition is good.
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winwave
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You're welcome. He has seemed to play two QB's at all of his stops so I don't think he'd hold back here.
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Thanks WW much appreciated!
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winwave
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Glad to do it and wish I could give everyone more of them. At the last meeting I attended Monica Lebron said the fans would be getting more access to the practices. That didn't happen.
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greenphantom wrote:
winwave wrote:Sure. It's funny you mention last years recap. I thought about that myself this evening when reflecting on what I saw today and said to myself hey it's not the complete mess it was back then. The main reason is that the QB's look more capable. Hopefully the line continues to make strides in the next three weeks so they can have a fighting chance.
Appreciate your honest opinion. I remember in Toledo's last year I went to a scrimmage and was appalled how bad we looked athletically. I was really pulling for Toledo cause he seemed like a good guy but I had to be honest and reported that we would win 4 games max. Some people absolutely flipped out at my observations. It even leaked to the yogwf board and some of the posters said I didn't know what I was talking about, lol.
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You didn't know what you were talking about --- you were off on your prediction by 50%!
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tpstulane
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BC Wave wrote:
greenphantom wrote:
winwave wrote:Sure. It's funny you mention last years recap. I thought about that myself this evening when reflecting on what I saw today and said to myself hey it's not the complete mess it was back then. The main reason is that the QB's look more capable. Hopefully the line continues to make strides in the next three weeks so they can have a fighting chance.
Appreciate your honest opinion. I remember in Toledo's last year I went to a scrimmage and was appalled how bad we looked athletically. I was really pulling for Toledo cause he seemed like a good guy but I had to be honest and reported that we would win 4 games max. Some people absolutely flipped out at my observations. It even leaked to the yogwf board and some of the posters said I didn't know what I was talking about, lol.
GP
You didn't know what you were talking about --- you were off on your prediction by 50%!
:)
That year, I won the GB annual Green Wave prognostication contest, beating TPS in a tiebreak!
True. Hey I won it last year! I actually picked every game correct which is very difficult.
Also won it once under the CJ years. Have to work on those tiebreakers though. :lol:
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Thanks Winwave. It's always great to read your reports.

Question:

Is Banks as solid as Fritz billed him to be?
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Eaglewave wrote:Thanks Winwave. It's always great to read your reports.

Question:

Is Banks as solid as Fritz billed him to be?
From listening to his pressers and reading recaps, Fritz really likes Banks and thinks Banks can be our stop-gap till our underclassmen step up. It is also sounding like Brantley might be our next guy up with Mcclain in the background being groomed. Our QB woes shouldn't be as big as last year is my take on it and we should see significant scoring improvement. We are 18 days till CFB, and 19 days away from Grambling St. kick-off. Happy Monday! Roll DAMN WAVE!
winwave
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Eaglewave wrote:Thanks Winwave. It's always great to read your reports.

Question:

Is Banks as solid as Fritz billed him to be?
He is definitely athletic and can throw on the run which obviously will be important considering our line woes. He has a strong arm and appears to be able to make all the throws. It's hard to judge when he's not live as far as tackling. He'll definitely start the first game. No one knows till then how he'll respond to live bullets. if he does handle it we'll have a chance at a decent season. As always how the line does will be a big factor in how much he or any of our QB's can help us improve.
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GreenPuddleSplash
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winwave wrote:
Eaglewave wrote:Thanks Winwave. It's always great to read your reports.

Question:

Is Banks as solid as Fritz billed him to be?
He is definitely athletic and can throw on the run which obviously will be important considering our line woes. He has a strong arm and appears to be able to make all the throws. It's hard to judge when he's not live as far as tackling. He'll definitely start the first game. No one knows till then how he'll respond to live bullets. if he does handle it we'll have a chance at a decent season. As always how the line does will be a big factor in how much he or any of our QB's can help us improve.
Win, was there live tackling on QBs?!? I just caught the part Ledford came in and hobbled off after a series?
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