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Don't forget Bonner at WR too. Him and Neyor were the most impressive IMO.
Post-Spring Game Feelings
- Thread starter Lionsfan93
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You think you are worried? We are all freaking out about the knee injuries.
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I have us 5-7 with 7 walk-off 1 point losses.
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As has been said by @Hedley Lamarr the defensive starters were out so not too worried about the defense overall. Also, I think that with the split between 1s and 2s, the white team who had a starter resting ended up having to run with the 3 or 4 in terms of depth. So, it really made the squads difficult to evaluate.
What I liked:
Raiola. Could we have a 70%+ passer this year? In this game he was 16/22 which is 73%. What we knew was that he was accurate and has a strong arm, but he clearly throws a good, catchable ball on top of that. Kaelin would throw to Hall and Bonner and it would bounce off their hands and be a little off target. Raiola, they're catching it and immediately heading up field. The pass to Lloyd was so perfectly in stride and that's not a pass we've seen since maybe Adrian's freshman season. On the RPO's he got the ball out quick. He had a quick release, dart, yet catchable pass all day. And that includes the screens which have been bad plays for us for years.
This is a two-fer; the RB's were taking what was available to them while the OL was creating holes for them. Not willing to say we should expect 200 yards a game rushing next year given we rolled out there with a below average B1G defensive line, but after a couple years of Anthony Grant always trying to make more than what was there, I enjoyed us taking what we could.
I'm becoming optimistic about our WRs. I didn't trust that Lloyd was going to grow into something beyond the deep ball threat, but I recall seeing him make a catch in semi-traffic. Banks seemed slow, and he's who I thought would be our #1 target. Neyor seems legit. I think we've successfully pushed Isaiah Garcia-Castenada and Alex Bullock down to single digit snaps. And this isn't a knock on them. They are limited but fine. When Coleman comes back, we're really going to be able to threaten opposing defenses with our ability to "run past them" like Rhule said in the game.
What I'm keeping an eye on:
We knew Corner opposite Tommi was going to be a concern. It will be a concern going into next year. The good thing is that I'm not sure anyone other than Colorado, USC, and Ohio State can exploit that weakness and perhaps pile on points. We were already searching for another corner. Our budget may have gone up to bring in a potential starter.
Special Teams. As @Pipe Line said, Alvano could cost us some games. And Buschini is going to make it harder for us to flip the field which is clearly something Rhule is stressing. Special Teams was really bad. Hopefully we weren't repping special teams in spring and that's why we sucked so much. But doesn't make sense why pure special teams players also stunk. I believe Koch is grey shirting this year, otherwise we'd look to give him a chance.
Our Play Action was god awful. Either the QB or the RB was wrong almost every time we ran it as we were PA'ing it to a side without any RB. I'm not concerned, but it'll be something I'm watching out for come September.
I plan on watching the game more intently when I'm able to get it on my lappy and I'm able to more effectively fast forward and rewind. I want to see what how often we blitzed (I think it was minimal) and I want to see how we lined up against four wide. I remember the offense doing that at least once but I really spent more time watching the offense while the game was live, so I plan on spending more time seeing how the defense matched up.
Also want to take a stab at what our current depth chart is.
What I liked:
Raiola. Could we have a 70%+ passer this year? In this game he was 16/22 which is 73%. What we knew was that he was accurate and has a strong arm, but he clearly throws a good, catchable ball on top of that. Kaelin would throw to Hall and Bonner and it would bounce off their hands and be a little off target. Raiola, they're catching it and immediately heading up field. The pass to Lloyd was so perfectly in stride and that's not a pass we've seen since maybe Adrian's freshman season. On the RPO's he got the ball out quick. He had a quick release, dart, yet catchable pass all day. And that includes the screens which have been bad plays for us for years.
This is a two-fer; the RB's were taking what was available to them while the OL was creating holes for them. Not willing to say we should expect 200 yards a game rushing next year given we rolled out there with a below average B1G defensive line, but after a couple years of Anthony Grant always trying to make more than what was there, I enjoyed us taking what we could.
I'm becoming optimistic about our WRs. I didn't trust that Lloyd was going to grow into something beyond the deep ball threat, but I recall seeing him make a catch in semi-traffic. Banks seemed slow, and he's who I thought would be our #1 target. Neyor seems legit. I think we've successfully pushed Isaiah Garcia-Castenada and Alex Bullock down to single digit snaps. And this isn't a knock on them. They are limited but fine. When Coleman comes back, we're really going to be able to threaten opposing defenses with our ability to "run past them" like Rhule said in the game.
What I'm keeping an eye on:
We knew Corner opposite Tommi was going to be a concern. It will be a concern going into next year. The good thing is that I'm not sure anyone other than Colorado, USC, and Ohio State can exploit that weakness and perhaps pile on points. We were already searching for another corner. Our budget may have gone up to bring in a potential starter.
Special Teams. As @Pipe Line said, Alvano could cost us some games. And Buschini is going to make it harder for us to flip the field which is clearly something Rhule is stressing. Special Teams was really bad. Hopefully we weren't repping special teams in spring and that's why we sucked so much. But doesn't make sense why pure special teams players also stunk. I believe Koch is grey shirting this year, otherwise we'd look to give him a chance.
Our Play Action was god awful. Either the QB or the RB was wrong almost every time we ran it as we were PA'ing it to a side without any RB. I'm not concerned, but it'll be something I'm watching out for come September.
I plan on watching the game more intently when I'm able to get it on my lappy and I'm able to more effectively fast forward and rewind. I want to see what how often we blitzed (I think it was minimal) and I want to see how we lined up against four wide. I remember the offense doing that at least once but I really spent more time watching the offense while the game was live, so I plan on spending more time seeing how the defense matched up.
Also want to take a stab at what our current depth chart is.
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MOAR coaching, less food-from-the-road reviewing.
In all seriousness, I think it's the kids. Some of them aren't phased by the bright lights and big moments; others seize up and fail to execute what they've done repeatedly in practice. It may be time to give someone else a shot, because the inconsistency is appalling.
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Damn if only the spaghetti monster could help us win games
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Bonner killed it.
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Yeah - he had some key 4th quarter drives that won us games many forget about
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P/K feels like the one area that isn't peaches & cream for Rhule right now. IIRC he really didn't talk much about either during the spring. Which makes sense, who's gonna ask about those guys.
But he's in a tough spot. It's pretty obvious both P and K are probably bottom 5 level of the B1G. So what do you do? Foley can't magically make them better players. They both just kind of suck.
Rhule's hope (my guess) is that the problem is 95% mental for each kid and he can address that this summer and fall camp. He's not going to portal recruit over them. He won't publicly dump a Westside player like that after all the inroads he's tried to make there.
Seems to me Rhule is fucked on this issue. Which means we could be fucked. Bc as others have mentioned, those 2 guys might be your difference between 9-3 and 6-6,
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It’s like you’ve all instantly forgotten the past 20 years and are drinking the off-season koolaid with a fire hose.
I’m hoping for, at minimum, 6 wins and a bowl game. Setting my expectations low so anything above that is pure joy.
I’m squarely in the I’ll believe it when I see it in the W-L column camp. Just not ready to be hurt again, but that will likely change come August (as always).
I really like Rhule and the direction we all think the program is heading, just tempering my expectations.
Sorry if this hurts your feelings
I’m hoping for, at minimum, 6 wins and a bowl game. Setting my expectations low so anything above that is pure joy.
I’m squarely in the I’ll believe it when I see it in the W-L column camp. Just not ready to be hurt again, but that will likely change come August (as always).
I really like Rhule and the direction we all think the program is heading, just tempering my expectations.
Sorry if this hurts your feelings
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Same. I'll be happy with a bowl game and everything else will be gravy at this point.
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I’m in the same boat. Set my expectations low and that way hopefully exceeded.
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