I just returned from the Open Spring practice, and thought I'd share some notes from the scrimmage portion, bright points and things to watch. Individual player notes are subject to memory, I didn't take notes during the actual practice. Anyone else that was in attendance, please add to my notes.
WRs/TEs
- Freshman Mike Thomas had perhaps the most impressive play of the day, nearly jumping over Christian Bryant to haul in a catch and stay inbounds. Bryant went down on the play holding his leg, but was able to get up and resume activities.
- Chris Fields was targeted over the middle and near the sideline a number of times, as well as Devin Smith and Corey Brown. The option reverse that was alluded to from Wednesday's practice was used for about a 20-25 yard gain, to either Smith or Brown, I can't remember and if someone else does, feel free to add.
- Overall, recievers showed good hands.
Backfield
- Braxton Miller threw the ball well for the most part, but for one bad INT. Kenny Guiton showed proficiency in his reads and ability.
- Miller dropped a number of nice touches to recievers, including one for a touchdown early in the scrimmage to Devin Smith.
- Jordan Hall showed great quickness and ability to find holes. He was used in a number of options and counter-runs, and most went for reasonable gains against the first team.
- Carlos Hyde also took a number of pitches out of the option and showed great speed getting around the edge and through holes.
- Brionte Dunn took a few carries, and as I am told, had a long run.
OL vs. DL
- The Offensive line starters did well against the dominant DL, thought John Simon did disrupt a number of plays. For the most part, the big two on the Defensive Line (Hankins and Simon) were blocked well and did limited damage. However, when the second team OLs came in against the first team D, they were purely overpowered, which led to a number of blown up plays, sacks, and improvization by Kenny Guiton.
DBs and LBs
- The corners and safeties weren't great in coverage, but showed good recovery in a goal line stand in the first half of practice. Tyvis Powell looked comfortable in coverage, but many times the DBs were overmatched. This may have been because the above average play by the recieiving corps.
- Bradley Roby had an interception on a ball that really couldn't have been any easier for him to pick.
- The linebackers showed great quickness around the edge, recognizing and blowing up option reads on numerous occasions.
Special Teams
- Special Team coverage was worked on for a while, with drills meant to work on the coverage unit's reaction skills to various different return strategies, which was encouraging. The team has struggled in this area in the past few years.
Overall, the practice was encouraging, the players seemed motivated by the observers, and it was nice to get to see the offense run live as a primer for Saturday.
This is awesome, thank you.
Guiton had a terrible day...I'm not sure if it was the fact that it was the first team defense, but he was off target and Herman (who was about one foot away from me) was very displeased.
A few things (I was sitting front row on the twenty in the middle of the field):
"- Brionte Dunn took a few carries, but didn't do anything impressive."- I'm not sure you were watching then, because he ripped off a ~70 yard run (per BCast, who had a better view). This had the largest cheers from the crowd. Fields had the key block that sprung him.
"- The Offensive line starters did well against the dominant DL, thought John Simon did disrupt a number of plays. For the most part, the big two on the Defensive Line (Hankins and Simon) were blocked well and did limited damage. However, when the second team OLs came in against the first team D, they were purely overpowered, which led to a number of blown up plays, sacks, and improvization by Kenny Guiton." Simon only played one or two series. Steve Miller was in at LEO (as he has been, Simon has won the spot already). Hankins killed everyone.
-Devin Smith had a 45 yard touchdown reception on a very well thrown ball from Miller.
-Michael Bennett was the star of the first team DL. He pancaked his guy a few times and had two pass deflections (the second one should've been a pick six)
Besides that I agree. They also ran no huddle, fast paced stuff during all real plays. Zach Boren looked strong and broke several tackles in the hole.
Only got to see the second half of practice and didn't have the greatest view. Brionte Dunn had a 50+ yard cutback run off an option pitch from Kenny Guiton that I found pretty impressive. Got dragged down around the 5 or so and finished the possession off 2 plays later with a TD.
Also, Ohrian Johnson picked off a tipped pass from Braxton and took it to the house.
Agree about Bennett being the star on the line today
Urban Warfare
Also, Hankins had a blocked field goal.
thanks guys great stuff!
Just wrote up a blog post myself; was a good time. Was nice to see the reverse used, as well as Brionte's bounce outside to near-goal line.
Nicholas Eckert
vidstudent
Thanks Recruitbuck, didn't get to see Dunn's run, that's why I asked for added input. Mainly I saw the earliest portions, had to take a call towards the end, so I didn't see some of the conclusion, but heard the commotion, but Simon did play the majority of the time I watched.
As I posted on the front page story:
When everyone gathered in for the field goal, about 90% of the fans pulled out their phones at once, so I managed to get a shaky clip of one of the kicks. Not great quality, but it gives you an idea of the atmosphere. (Note: This kick was good, although one of the attempts did get tipped at the line and fell short).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NVCmXWSrb0
The ball to Smith that Miller threw was absolutely perfect. He had another great deep ball to Thomas that was somehow broken up on an insane play by Roby. The pick to Roby couldn't have been easier, but that looked like a miscommunication more than a bad throw. And Braxton is FINALLY hitting short and mid-range targets consistently. He threw a bullet to Smith on a ten-yard-out near the sideline that was in Smith's hands as soon as he made his break.
Last year, we saw Braxton miss easy swing passes to the running backs, but they were all on target today. Also, Boren played a pretty big role, getting some carries and catching some passes. He played the role of Hernandez on that forward-pitch option. Philly Brown played the Percy Harvin role, but didn't get any actual carries. Brionte Dunn had a VERY good run, cutting back and taking the ball about 70 yards. Amazing effort. Also, they only did one kickoff, but he was back to return next to Hall. I think Dunn is going to play a big role for us this year.
The offense looked VERY balanced, and we saw a variety of different options, different runs, and passes to pretty much every skill player.
The three guys who stood out the most for me, at least defensively, were J.T. Moore (who made some HUGE plays), Roby and Orhian Johnson, who had a pick off of a tipped ball, made some cuts and took it back about 80 yards. Other than that, Hankins looked amazing, and surprisingly enough, Sabino looked great IMO. I was right in front of the linebackers during their positional drills, and Sabino was hitting harder than anyone. Curtis Grant also looked great. And Ryan Shazier is, like, crazy fast. Way quicker first step than the others.
I didn't see Storm Klein. Not sure if he was there. Luke Roberts got some playing time, and so did a walk-on linebacker, I think he was number 59, but he made a few nice plays.
The defense looked VERY fast. Like, much better than last year. They made the offense look awful at times, but with that said, I still thought the offense looked very good.
Also, the best part of the practice was near the end. All of the spectators were sitting, sideline to sideline, from the 20 yard line all the way back to the end zone. Urban had the field goal and field goal block units on the field, kicking balls over the students, and he kept on moving them up. Eventually, the students, other players and coaches were making a circle around the field goal team, jumping and screaming. It was awesome. The coaches and players were firing up the fans.
Also, after practice, meeting the players and coaches was amazing. John Simon is a VERY big man, but I met his father there, and I swear that his father is bigger and scarier looking than he is. Also, Jacoby Boren was there, wearing his sling, saying that his rehab wasn't hard so far. As someone who's had the same surgery, I can tell you that the rehab usually sucks. He should be back in no time.
And I had a pretty funny moment with Philly Brown. I went up to shake my hand, and said that his Twitter was the most entertaining of all the players. He then turned and shouted at all some of his teammates and told me to repeat what I had said. Thus began the great Buckeye Twitter debate of 2012.
But yeah, overall this is a great tradition. I know a lot of people couldn't go because it wasn't in the shoe, but I loved having it in a venue that intimate. Can't wait to do it all again next year.
I wouldn't cheer for Michigan if they were playing the Taliban.
"WR Evan Spencer said he will miss 2 weeks with small fracture in shoulder" this was tweeted by Bill Rabinowitz. Do not like the sound of a small fracture in shoulder even though two weeks recovery makes it seem minimal.
I thought Connor Crowell really stood out at middle linebacker as well. This was the first time I have seen him play and it took me a while to figure out who #36 was...but that guy was all over the place today.
^Crowell filled in really well for Grant today. Really hope he develops this year, the guy was an uber-athlete coming out of high school.
I like Crowell. I'm not sure why he never gets mentioned in our crop of lbs. He's fast as hell. Ran a 40 right behind Shazier's at a hs combine. 4.51 I believe.
Video from practice
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CinkZoYyN1U&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ptMl8rqOJc&feature=relmfu
Thanks for all the contributions here. So jealous and appreciative of all the information. Just absolutely giddy about the upcoming season.
vacuuming sucks
Braxton was throwing tight spirals pretty much all day. His throws were a far cry from the wobblers that he was accustomed to throwing last year.
Thanks to everyone who contributed details from the practice!