re: Official Scrimmage Thread

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But 10-15 for 150 is huge improvement for JJ

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I would take that completion percentage/ypc anyday.

Meet threw the pick 6. Jj threw a pick to Liston but he went ob

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JJ was JJ no other way to put it

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Geez, how can so many people have such a different take on what happened?? It's either JJ was horrible or not bad at all. (Not that this scrimmage meant that much?)

Hightlights:

OFFENSE was very vanilla. A lot of what we saw towards the end of last season, specifically the TEXAS A&M game. Simplified and streamlined. We're sticking to our bread and butter while incorporating some more short throws to build QB confidence and spread the ball to our athletes at RB, TE and WR. As long as we avoid 3rd and long, I can handle that.

QB:

Jefferson had his usual mixed bag outing. Threw essentially a pick 3 to E. Reid who beautifully baited him into making a throw downfield to Shep and then stepped in front. Almost a carbon copy of the interception our boy Janzen Jackson had on JJ last year. The next play, though, he threw a bullet to Shep 15-20 yards downfield, who made a move on (I think) T. Simon and ran 40 yards to the endzone. JJ looked better on the short routes, but like other have reported he still held on to the ball for too long and tucked and ran quite a bit. His biggest problem is he doesn't have enough confidence to throw guys open--he waits until a guy is wide open before throwing. He's still not anticipating the routes like he should.

J. Lee had the best day. Threw two or three gorgeous deep balls, hitting O. Beckham in stride for a 50 yard TD with the 2s and (I believe) James Wright or Beckham the previous drive for a 30 yard pickup on a nice corner route. He executed the short passing game very effectively, getting rid of the ball quickly and hitting his recievers in stride. If I'm Les Miles, I script a J. Lee "Greatest Hits" CD and, if JJ struggles early, throw J. Lee in and let him air it out. Kid looked pretty damn confident today. He had another near TD on a deep post Beckham dropped right before redeeming himself.

Z Mett had a mixed bag. I didn't see the aforementioned INT, but I did see about 6-8 very nice throws as well as 2-3 that were a little off target. Not much different than his spring game performance. Enough to impress me, but not enough to pressure Lee for the #2 job. Still, I really loved the way the kid threw the ball. We were able to mix it up long and short with him in the game. He can truly make any throw.

J. Randall & S. Rivers didn't take part in the scrimmage portion. I watched them warm up and throw a bit. I really think J. Randall projects well at QB. I don't know what the hell Moscona saw, but Randall looks to me to have VERY solid mechanics--quick release and HIGH release point. For a 6'1.5'' guy, that's critical. It looks like he's running our scout team. AND BTW, it appears JRandall is indeed running scout as Darron Thomas. He looks F'n beautiful running that spread.

Rivers just needs to continue working on fine tuning his mechanics. Miles is VERY high on the kid tho.


RBs:

S. Ware is still my homeboy. Most versatile back we've had in ages, and we've had some good ones (including my former boy Ridely). I think he looks like a more fluid J. Addai. Great downhill runner who can make the first guy miss and perhaps the best reciever out of the backfield we've had since Addai. The only beef I had with him today was that he was shaking and baking a little more than he needed to. Make the cut, run downhill, fight for yardage. That said, he was going up against our 1 D, who looked phenomenal. More on that later.

M. Ford looked alright. Dropped a nicely thrown pass early on, but rebounded. Nothing too flashy besides his biceps.

A. Blue got a little playing time. Nothing huge to report. He's a nice tall back who I think has yet to really find an identity. He's one of those guys who can either put on 12 pounds and be a bruiser, or work on speed and be more of traditional back. I really like his upside though. Just not as flashy as the others yet.

J. Gore had a fumble with Mett in the game. Not sure if it was a bad exchange, but we ran him up the gut and Loston picked it up and ran it back for 6. Again, I like Gore's upside, but I won't be shocked if Les eases him into the lineup later in the season. At this point, he's taking reps away from Shep, who I still want to see getting touches in the running game.

Magee got some carries and looked solid, despite getting popped by Rasco. Apparently we won't be able to keep him off the field.


FB:

Stampley and Copeland were out today. Neighbors and HILLYARD filled in. Hard to project this position right now with your 2 potential starters absent, but I really like moving Hillyard to FB--as long as we continue to get him some reps with the ball in his hands. He blocks well and looks the part. I think he could follow a J. Hester trajectory, eventually becoming a feature back. HE might even see some touches in short yardage situations.


OL:

Very solid group. They didn't open up a ton of running room for our backs, but I credit our defense more on that. Also, anyone who played HS football knows its much easier for a defense to step their own offense in practice. Our running game was quite predictable. I think the OL will look even better against competition.

TEs:

We gotta get the ball to DeAngelo, and he's got to be more physical with the ball in his hands and when the balls in the air. There's no reason for not getting him 4-5 throws a game. He's a complete mismatch for any team. Can you imagine defending him on a jumpball in the endzone?

WR:

RR is still RR. The most impressive guy today arguably was Shep. He definitely looks like a WR now. His hands are much better, and he's constantly open. He's got his starting spot across from RR locked down.

O Beckham probably had the second most catches. He had one drop on a nice deepball from J. Lee but redeemed himself seconds later. He's as good as advertised. This might be the most polished group of freshman WR's we've ever had. Beckham, Landry and Turner will all play this year.

People shouldn't sleep on James Wright. He's the most solid blocker of the group, and a very solid receiver. I think he and Boone are more than likely capable of staving off the freshman surge. I'm not so sure about Williams and Fobbs.

DEFENSE:

Very impressive day overall. I love our D-line. The secondary is the most talented in the nation. And the LBs were the pleasant surprise of the afternoon.

We were much stronger at DT. Brockers, Downs, and Freak rotate as the 1s and reak a lot of havoc on the inside. I don't know if we get a guy as prolific as Drake of Glenn this year, but I don't see this position being a weakness. Ego and Logan also played well.

I should've spent more time analyzing how Montgomery and Adams looked. Clearly they didn't look that bad. Our 1 defense largely shut down the O. We were very physical at the line. S. Ware hardly got to the line of scrimmage without contact in the backfield. Again, I credit this more to our defense than weak offense. Rasco had the best hit of the day on Magee running with the 2s. It appears Rasco might pass up some upperclassmen.

Anyone remember if Maclin started off at LB? If so, I'd recommend moving him back there--simply because of depth. There's too much young talent at DE to let him sink on the depth chart. The kid is a physical freak at 6'4'' 240. We could use that size at LB.


LBs:

Again, solid day. Minter started at MLB, with Hatcher rotating occasionally. Hatcher certainly looks the part now. He's bulked up. Baker and Francios were solid. So long as someone steps up and replaces Kelvin, we should have an AMAZING defense. We'll find out come Sept.

DB's.

Our all-american was resting today, I take it. But damn what a lineup we have back here. The deepballs I mentioned earlier were mostly against the 2s, I believe, on perfectly thrown passes by J. Lee and/or Mett. I don't think there's much to report here we don't already know. Despite missing on Shep, I really liked Simon. Big, physical guy with great cover skills.

When we went 4-2-5, we had Simon, Mattheiu, Brooks, Taylor, and Reid out on the field. Loston, Bryant, etc all rotated in.



The best performer of the day probably was Jarrett Lee and our entire defense. Credit Lee for being so mentally tough and executing the short passing game so effectively, setting up the deep ball. All of the freshman we've heard so much about were as good as advertised.

Special teams, specifically punting, will be our biggest question mark. I don't trust Wing. The other guy (walk on) is more consistent, but less flashy. For all I know Alleman might win that job too.

Meh, JJ's stats were heavily inflated by Sheps YAC.

I'd say the numbers are about right for JJ. 10-15 for 140ish and a pick 6.

J Lee was probably 12-16ish for 180. No way you throw 3 bombs for TD's without going over 150.

Appreciate this report, no big surprises except maybe Rasco.

Maybe.

But I've watched him many times before outdoors and pregame last year. Unless he's got a magical middle foot, I've never seen consistency.

Don't know if I buy this Daniel Day Lewis crap regarding Wing. If he's so much better with his left foot, why don't we see it? Is Wing's left foot supposed to be his own personal version of "the secret playbook?"