From “Bill”, AB commenter. Any else take notes?
Here are my takeaways from the spring showcase(definitely not a game)
1. Del Rio is the future. He got more looks than any of the other QBs. Looks the part.
2. Jarmon could be ready to make an impact this year. Looked good.
3. Running game is still a work in progress. Very dependent on the health of the o-line.
4. Boom looked good in the pass rush. His long arms help him keep the OL from locking him up. Should only see the field in passing situations only. Too light to be in run situations. My guess is that he’ll look good in non-conf but then struggle in conf games.
5. Dline looks good. Athletic and no holes in the middle.
6. Steven Nelson should have a standout year. Whoever the other CB is, is going to see a lot of action.
7. Defense looked good.
Interesting points made by the commentary crew about the state of offenses. They were saying that most offenses in college football are pure progression, meaning the QB just goes through his reads, regardless of the defense. OSU does the pro style, adjusts to the look of the defense
Some highlights, Haskins has some nice runs at the end.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u6Bpz9HEM4
Thanks, BILL!
I like what Del Rio is showing……going to be a big hole to fill next year.
I guess we will know more on the OL with fall camp and what warm bodies are present.
What?
http://adsoftheworld.com/media/tv/gnc_beat_average
Feeling masochistic, I watched the 60 minute version of the Civil War yesterday. We really should have won. On the two point try after our last TD, Sean missed Clute wide open right in the center of the end zone. He had locked on the Brandin for the better part of the fourth quarter and tried to force the ball to him on that play. In trying to find a silver lining to losing such a great player, is it possible that without having a security blanket like Cooks, Mannion is forced to spread the ball around and it makes us harder to defend? I know it is a reach.
Spring thoughts:
Jarmon looks like the next great reciever
Brown is the best pure runner. Needs touches this year
Romain misses a FG. Time to move on?
O line made Boom look like Lawerence Taylor, minus the cocaine and child sexual misconduct.
D looked good. If Peko can finally pass the “the one last class” he has been working for several years, the D Line could be really good.
Steven Jackson is one big dude and had great things about the school and program.
If he keeps lifting he might match my guns LOL. Hopefully he gets more engaged with the program.
Go Beavs!
http://www.stlouisrams.com/videos/videos/Rams360-Johnny-Hekker/08afd13b-7347-4abe-a9ea-d21337ceea5d
Good press for the Beavs & Riley – but I don’t know if that translates into contributing 10% of his salary to OSU.
I feel like I can go die in peace now that I’ve made it as a blog post.
Some additional thoughts.
1. It would be great if Kline decided to come. Del Rio could use some quality competition.
2. Chris Brown will get more carries this year. Storm woods will get the hook quickly if he doesn’t produce early. Haskins looks to be a short yardage guy.
3. Nice to see that the defense was allowed to tackle for the most part.
4. The WRs looked raw but showed flashes of ability. Just looked at the roster and there are no Sr WRs and Mullanney is the only Jr. The TEs are going to have to help out quite a bit. Maybe split out Hamlett and Perry at times? Maybe Garrett can work wonders here with his background as Jason Witten’s position coach.
My opinion of the team given only a brief look is that, they should be better than last year. The defense is what will make the difference. Other than DE, there are no major holes. Depth is there so players can rotate freely vs the spread offenses.
I agree with your opinion that the D will make the Beavs better as a whole than they were last year. I don’t even see DE as a position with MAJOR holes. I’m hoping to see Wynn, Grimble, and the LB’s take away the rush and push opponents to become one dimensional.
In addition to the depth and experience on D, I think Garrett could bring some good things to the O and to overall game management (I include here the use of timeouts, sideline organization and enthusiasm, and reaction to blatant dirty play and zebra incompetence).
what signees do you think will make an immediate impact this year?
I don’t see any true freshman cracking the 2 deep. It looks to me like it could be a 100% redshirt class. Maybe some special teams players…but it depends on what kind of shape the freshman come in at.
The transfers though need to make an impact. Obviously the reports are that Keenan sucks. Of the dline, only Pritchard is here and I haven’t heard much. The others, Peko and Hollingsworth need to break into the dline rotation since they don’t have a redshirt year. Morris though, has a redshirt year available.
A few pearls from Jim Wilson: Bolden will be #1 target; stronger & confident. LB corps talented & deep. Off. Tempo improved. Grimble looks part. OL thin, Del Rio in, Kline out. Scott & Hunt C’s opp. Nelson. Top 11 on ‘D’ solid. 4 serviceable RB’s. B. Cavanaugh will play
Bolden looked completely clueless out there last year. He does have a strange running style; looks very awkward. Hoping he shows noticable improvement this year.
Watched a chunk of the Spring practice/scrimmage/whatever you call that. Vanderveen looked very bad. He was incredibily late on his throws. First time I noticed an easy first down that should have been caught without a defender within 3 yards was instead incomplete and dropped after being way late and allowing some contention.
Then from inside the 10, he had one player with noone within 10 yards who could have at first walked in and then for 4 more seconds just stood an inch inside tbe goalline and been thrown to wide open. Brent didn’t hit him with a 4th grader throw on the way to the endzone or once he reached it and was just standing there. Nope, I counted a full 5 seconds and then he threw it and it should still have been caught but was dropped as a defender from 10 yards away earlier had time enough after 5 seconds to give the receiver just enough doubt about what should have been the easiest score ever in OSU Spring ‘game’ history. Despite hearing optimism about Garrett, if Vanderveen can be frickin’ 5 seconds late on a 2 foot egg toss at the fair equivalent then it shows me that Riley and the rest of the staff still have some considerable holes in their teaching.
QBs need to see plays as or before they develop and get the ball there in stride. This play burned my eyes with its ineptitude and I have Del Rio a clear 2nd in my mind behind Mannion after seeing a slam dunk with everyone else standing behind the 3 point arc missed. Garrett and Riley have alot of work to do and Del Rio did not lollygag like this so I would hope until Brent’s timing gets drastically better that he is the starter next year.
who could fill the last open scholarship for basketball?
Eggers with a couple quotes from Ward. He seems very high on Garrett and says this about the running game, “Our (ground-game) production is based on our linemen,” Ward said. The running backs “have a little thing to do about it, but without them, we’re nothing. We need to get those guys back healthy for camp and be ready to go. We get the line right, we’re going to be good.”
Even if it’s true, I haven’t often heard a statement from a RB that is this direct.
http://portlandtribune.com/pt/12-sports/219373-80054-defense-not-bad-as-osu-caps-spring
1. Del Rio is a great add and likely putting some pressure on Mannion to perform. Was nice to see his dad there and spoke well of the program. I hope he gets a bunch of snaps this year.
2. Blair Cavanaugh looked surprisingly good in the slot. He will be part of the rotation and showing that hard work and good attitude makes a difference.
3. Not sure about the ground game at this point. The backs are hitting the hole before the line has created space. In all fairness, the defense looked really polished this year. Haven’t seen the defense look this good in the spring for several years now.
4. Hunter Jarmon is ready to step in this year and Bolden will get the attention of our opponents.
5. I always thought that Steven Nelson was good but this year we’ll see a much better Steven Nelson. There is NO question that he’s going to challenge for the top Pac12 CB this year. I felt that last year he let receivers get behind him and gave up short yardage catches when he played ‘safe’ coverage. Yesterday he looked like Dockery in short coverage and was all over the receivers down field.
6. There was a young place kicker that booted a ~35 yd FG. Nice elevation over the line, split the uprights, and landed deep into the end zone. Looked alot better than Romaine’s earlier FG.
One last observation – the team appears to be in better shape. Didn’t see a bunch of out of shape linemen and last years’ freshman class has definitely been in the weight room. A couple of friends had lunch with the team on Friday and saw that every player is on a dietary plan – each has a red or green card that is exchanged in the food line – diets are designed to cut weight or building weight.
Spring Showcase was underwhelming, I hoped for more.
Really feels like we are reaching with some of the comments, but then that’s what Spring is for. Like the fact that the receivers get more time with S. Mannion over the Summer to “run some routes”. Given all the good things I hear about everyone’s Spring sessions, sounds like Defense will be better across the major Pac12 contendors, or perhaps this is always the case; were Offense has the edge, early in the year.