Practice report today.

[gravedigger]

I got there about 45 min late due to church.

Stood on one end of the palmeiro center with my boys and richie browns parents. Very nice folks.

Basically watched 1,2 and 3 offense go against their counterparts. The number one offense did slightly better than the defense. Number 2 defense gets my nod over the defense and the number 3's on both sides looked raw as expected.

All three offenses worked on rb screens, rollout passes and 10-20 yd passes to either the tight end or the slot receiver splitting the safeties. More dropped balls than I prefer but not an awful amount. Jameon and Brandon made very nice plays and so did Perkins and josh Robinson on the rb screens. 1 team off endive line performed better in pass coverage than in run blocking.

Both Perkins and Robinson loo quicker than last year.

When I say the 2 defense won I mainly mean the front 7. However I'm not sure how accurate an evaluation of DBS are when the qb is in no jeopardy of being hit.

I saw Chris jones run left de on a couple plays and we didn't run his side either time. He manhandled the tackle both times with no issue.

For this to be the last time ill see them before the game in Houston I have to say I'm feeling better about or chances of winning 7 games than I did. Collins is well respected by players.

We still have some issues to resolve. James on the dl is going to have to learn how to focus his energy to activity between the whistles. Tyler is going to have to make the decision to throw or tuck and run quicker. And our tackles will need to step up their overall game or they will cost us one we shouldn't lose.

Well. Hope the farm resolves it all.

[msstate7]

Were the rb screens & passes to te's out of shotgun or under center?

[gravedigger]

Screens were under center. Rollouts were under center. TE passes down the middle and passes down the middle to Jameon were mixed. I think we are using the under center look to disguise things. Mainly passing plays.

My mistake on my earlier post: the # 2 Defense beat the # 2 offense. It wasn't really about Dak either. We just don't have as good a second offensive line as compared to our 2nd team defensive linemen and linebackers. That shouldn't come as a surprise to many. bohanna, Richie Brown, and company are an eyelash from the first team while the second team OL is not nearly that close to pushing the #1's.

Malcom Johnson played more like like a wr and didwell. Morrow didn't do great but caught more passes. Chappelle did very well on some deep outs. Bohanna broke up a 35 yard pass deep in the endzone in one on one coverage against jameon that I was VERY impressed with. The ball was thrown well, Jameon ran a great route and Bohanna just covered him like a blanket. Got a good deal of 'oohs and ahhhs'.

ashton shumpert made some good runs on 3rd team and he will push for the job next year vs Milton and Robinson.

I still like Damian Williams though I realize he's at least a year from being ready for this level of football.

Richie Brown is a smart leader of the # 2 defense and will be an on the field leader for the #1 defense by next year.

[msstate7]

So from watching the practices how much under center do you expect us to run this year?

[Coach34]

Richie Brown is a smart leader of the # 2 defense and will be an on the field leader for the #1 defense by next year.

Richie gonna have to beat our Bennie Brown for that job next year- will be a helluva battle. We'll still have McKinney and Wells back

[t45fixer]

Thanks to those that go to the practices and report back. Well done

[gravedigger]

Just remembered another thing Richie Brown's dad told me during the practice.

He an James were high school teammates. Richie had a record number of tackles. Reason. So many linemen were required to block james that it freed Richie to blitz and make a ton of tackles without being blocked. If I remember correctly, this is the same affect we got 2 years ago with Mcphee and others. Their stats went down on tackles and sacks but they went down and our LB's looked like world beaters.

I think we should see this same affect over the next few years with Autury, PJ Jones, James (if we focus that raw emotion), Chris Jones, Preston Smith and A.J. Jefferson and Quay.

[gravedigger]

Good grief. Forgot about Wells and McKinney. They were excellent in coverage. But our offense is clicking on first team.

I don't give one rats ass about the worry over our schedule or the way we played last year. Turner and Collins and Townsend have that covered.

This is all about blocking and developing depth on the OLine. I'm willing right now to forego the hoopla around next years skill players to win the ultimate battle of recruiting the trenches.

It may not be sexy on signing day, but if we can pull it off, we will be a force for the next 2-3 years offensively.

[msstate7]

Thanks to those that go to the practices and report back. Well done

I second this.

[gravedigger]

So from watching the practices how much under center do you expect us to run this year?

Hard to tell. WAY more than last year but that is not saying much because I don't remember us under center at all last year.

I'd say right now between 30% to 50% more often with the qb under center. That is to say at least 1-2 more times per set of downs.

[Coach 57]

About James is almost exactly what I said yesterday. Mullen basically had to baby him yesterday in the Palmerio.

[msstate7]

About James is almost exactly what I said yesterday. Mullen basically had to baby him yesterday in the Palmerio.

James and Evans are the key to whether we're just good or really good this year IMO. Do you agree with this?

[Political Hack]

James and Evans are the key to whether we're just good or really good this year IMO. Do you agree with this?

I do. We need 4-5 DTs and they have to be two dominant ones.

[Coach34]

James and Evans are the key to whether we're just good or really good this year IMO. Do you agree with this?

Them playing to their potential would make us top notch- no doubt. But if Virges is playing well, he makes a solid back-up. We need 4 of them to play well

[Coach 57]

We need 4 DTs to be competitive in the SEC. If they can get James' head straight & Quay in shape we will be a FORCE inside.

[Esmerelda Villalobos]

Hope quay gets it together. He has a ways to go.

[gravedigger]

I do from a standpoint of depth and situation. We have the talent right now on the front without either of those two to be good, but maybe not for 60 minutes against sec offenses. This is where James and Quay and Aj Jefferson and the 2nd team will really make the difference.

If we can bring the 'relentless effort' toward pressure on the qb's and running backs of our opponents, our Linebackers, safeties, and corners will handle the rest. And yes....I mean that for Oklahoma State too. They rely on teams not being able to hang with them and Texas A&M did it to Bama last year, but they did it with an all world talent at qb who couldn't be caught by your average all American linebacker.

We will disguise some things but I really think the key to winning vs the quick snap offenses is to put pressure on them early to force them to sub in players and that, by rule, allows the defense to do that as well.

We will also grind that clock down with ball control offense. If a team plays us with the cover two defense we played other teams last year we are going to make them pay BIG. We are going to play fast. Not necessarily hurry up. But we are going to stretch the field as wide as it goes and if anyone wants to prevent that from killing them, we have three great backs and some pretty good tight ends to exploit the middle of the field.

Timing plays, timing plays, timing plays. If this fall set of practices taught me one thing. Mullen is making this offense click with spreading the field. Which will also create mismatches when Dak gets the field and can use his legs if the field is spread, or his throws is defense plays back into cover 2.

Our kicking game might be called on a couple of times this year too. We are going to have to produce points on nearly every drive if we are going to eat clock with our offense.

[NorCalDawg]

Man, you have got me stoked after reading that. I hope it plays out that way on the field.

I don't know other than what I read on this board about any kind of issues our players are having. But, so far this staff has proven they can do a pretty good job keeping our guys heads screwed on straight. Let's hope this carries over to Quay and James and whatever issues they may be dealing with.

[Political Hack]

it's just maturity issues in general and not realizing that they can't rely on talent alone at this level.

[mic]

I think the biggest issue with Nick and Quay is they HATE to practice.. I bet I heard Coach Turner on Thursday when I was there tell Nick to get down and get ready at least 5 times..
maybe it will click for them when the realize they can make millions of $$$ if they bust their ass this year and next year..

[engie]

Richie gonna have to beat our Bennie Brown for that job next year- will be a helluva battle. We'll still have McKinney and Wells back

Think Richie has to wait his turn behind McKinney...

Of course, we need to keep in the back of our minds that Benardrick IS draft eligible this season as a rsSO...

[NorCalDawg]

Got it. Thanks, guys.

Yep, it doesn't matter how much others believe it - until you believe it yourself, it's not real.