Scrimmage

[william_brasky]

Anyone going?

If so, you better bring a report.

[Octavian]

I have an inside source that says we're gonna run AD 45 times up the middle.

He just parks cars and was wrong about the Calipari-to-OU info, but I'm sure he's right this time. ;)

[Jay C. Upchurch]

NORMAN — Oklahoma's football team will hold its first scrimmage of the 2006 preseason this Saturday at 6 p.m., in Gaylord Family — Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. The practice is open to the public and there is no admission charge.

Patrons should enter through Gates 1 or 12. Concessions stands and restrooms will be open in the facility. Updated rosters of the Sooner team are available at SoonerSports.com.

The OU Athletics Ticket Office, located off Asp Avenue on the west side of the stadium will be open from 4:30-7 p.m., selling single game tickets for all OU home games except the Texas Tech contest.

The exhibit area of the Switzer Center will be open from 3-6 p.m.

OU SID Report

[Jimminy Crimson]

Anyone else Riverwind-ing it up before the scrimmage?

[Stitch Face]

Oh boy! Open restrooms!

[Newbomb Turk]

If so, you better bring a report.

My report is that Halzle will be the starter - Book It!! :eddie:

[SoonerBBall]

Anyone else Riverwind-ing it up before the scrimmage?

I am seriously considering it.

3-6 tables are mighty juicy.

[snp]

This thing going to be televised? I gotta freaking work.

Or someone can come to Abner's afterwards and give me a full report. And a fat tip.

[william_brasky]

My report is that Halzle will be the starter - Book It!! :eddie:

You stole that from Brasky Central News Private Access Channel Z19 Green.

That's copyrighted material bucko. We're coming for you Newbomb.

Note: Brasky's had a couple drinks.

[Newbomb Turk]

You stole that from Brasky Central News Private Access Channel Z19 Green.

That's copyrighted material bucko. We're coming for you Newbomb.

Note: Brasky's had a couple drinks.


:D - So has Newbomb.

[Clever Trevor]

Trevor is hammah'd

[goingoneight]

goingoneight's Fall Scrimmage Report:

We won.

[Jimminy Crimson]

goingoneight's Fall Scrimmage Report:

We won.

:les: SPOILER TAGS!!!!! :mad: ;)

[nativesooner]

I'll be there. Went to the Riverwind last night and they're having their grand opening weekend. They have a free Vegas style show going on during the evening with lots of yummy dancers. If you get a chance check it out ;)

[Soonermagik]

I will be there!!!! I'll let you guys know what I think.

[jackietreehorn]

where can you get the most up to date roster?

[jackietreehorn]

i just don't want one with #7 on it.

[Paperclip]

i just don't want one with #7 on it.

Link (http://www.soonersports.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_LANG=C&SPID=190&SPORT_TAB_SEL=02&DB_OEM_ID=300&SPSID=2470&SORT_ORDER=1&Q_SEASON=2006)

[william_brasky]

I will be there!!!! I'll let you guys know what I think.

Thanks SM...looking forward to it. :twinkies:

[Snrfn4ever08]

i'm goin

[Big John]

I plan to go to the scrimage. I'm so ready for college football to start that I watched the 1990 Penn St. vs. Notre Dame game this morning on ESPN Classic.
Here is a printer-freindly version of the roster.
Link (http://www.nmnathletics.com//pdf5/40551.pdf)

[william_brasky]

i'm goin

Your report is expected and demanded. :twinkies:

Sincerely,
William_Brasky

[william_brasky]

I plan to go to the scrimage.

Yours too Big John.

[pb4ou]

Are they brodcasting the scrimmage on the radio?

[william_brasky]

Anything yet? I'm dyin' here Mr. Kotter.

[birddog]

well, you gotta give us something!!!

[IronSooner]

Are they brodcasting the scrimmage on the radio?

I couldn't find it...waiting for practice reports here sucks

[william_brasky]

well, you gotta give us something!!!

here :twinkies:

now let's have it.

[KC//CRIMSON]

you guys do know that this isn't the only sooner board on the planet, right?

[Big John]

I watched the scrimmage for about a hour and a half. I didn't take notes, so everything was just from memory, so correct me if I'm wrong.

Quarterbacks-Neither Thompson or Halzle looked impressive. Both struggled with accuracy and both threw too far ahead of their receivers. Halzle was picked off twice and Thompson was picked off once. During a passing drill Halzle threw a perfect deep ball to Adron Tennell. Thompson seemed to have moved the ball better than Halzle.

Running Backs-Both Adrian Peterson and Jacob Gutierrez had blue jerseys on. Allen Patrick and Mossis Madu took the most snaps from what I saw and both ran hard. Chris Brown also saw action, but didn't do anything special. I didn't see Demarco Murray on the field any, but did see him on the sidelines.

Fullbacks/Tight Ends-The fullbacks weren't on the field all the time, but Zaslaw seemed to have taken most of the snaps. Finley started and did a great job catching the ball. I saw Gresham get some snaps, but I didn't see him thrown to.

Defense:
Didn't allow much of a run game. Lendy Holmes picked off 3 passes. All of the passes that were intercepted were overthrown.

Special Teams:
Hartley looked good kicking. He hit all of the short kicks, but missed about a 45 yarder off the post and a 50+ yarder wide. The punters both did excellent. Hartley wasn't as good as Knall and the other dude punting. Reggie Smith and Allen Patrick were the returners. Smith dropped a punt later in the scrimmage.

[Sooner98]

According to OU Insider, PT didn't look very good. Threw several INT's (3 to Lendy Holmes alone). Halzle may have actually looked better. The D looked good. We'll have to wait and see how he develops in the next 3 weeks. Maybe it's just rust. Hopefully the defense and AD can carry us this year.

[william_brasky]

you guys do know that this isn't the only sooner board on the planet, right?

bane him! :texan:

[birddog]

you guys do know that this isn't the only sooner board on the planet, right?
as far as i'm concerned it is. i'm not readin' stuff from posters i don't know.:texan:

[william_brasky]

I watched the scrimmage for about a hour and a half. I didn't take notes, so everything was just from memory, so correct me if I'm wrong.

Quarterbacks-Neither Thompson or Halzle looked impressive. Both struggled with accuracy and both threw too far ahead of their receivers. Halzle was picked off twice and Thompson was picked off once. During a passing drill Halzle threw a perfect deep ball to Adron Tennell. Thompson seemed to have moved the ball better than Halzle.

Running Backs-Both Adrian Peterson and Jacob Gutierrez had blue jerseys on. Allen Patrick and Mossis Madu took the most snaps from what I saw and both ran hard. Chris Brown also saw action, but didn't do anything special. I didn't see Demarco Murray on the field any, but did see him on the sidelines.

Fullbacks/Tight Ends-The fullbacks weren't on the field all the time, but Zaslaw seemed to have taken most of the snaps. Finley started and did a great job catching the ball. I saw Gresham get some snaps, but I didn't see him thrown to.

Defense:
Didn't allow much of a run game. Lendy Holmes picked off 3 passes. All of the passes that were intercepted were overthrown.

Special Teams:
Hartley looked good kicking. He hit all of the short kicks, but missed about a 45 yarder off the post and a 50+ yarder wide. The punters both did excellent. Hartley wasn't as good as Knall and the other dude punting. Reggie Smith and Allen Patrick were the returners. Smith dropped a punt later in the scrimmage.

thanks dude.

[KC//CRIMSON]

as far as i'm concerned it is. i'm not readin' stuff from posters i don't know.:texan:

you just did.:texan:

[uncle mo]

Before anyone panics about Malcolm Kelly, he was at his brother's wedding as the best man. A player sent me a text message telling me that and it is also reported elsewhere.

[william_brasky]

thanks uncle mo.

[Frozen Sooner]

Apparently Thompson's three INTs to Holmes were all in the 7 on 7 drills before the scrimmage and he looked much better in the actual game simulation. I wasn't there, but that's what I've heard.

[MTSCSooner]

Apparently Thompson's three INTs to Holmes were all in the 7 on 7 drills before the scrimmage and he looked much better in the actual game simulation. I wasn't there, but that's what I've heard.

I am not sure who told you that but I did not see anything from Thompson that was very impressive. The 7 on 7 drills PT threw 3 INT's and 2 during the scrimmage. He did not complete many passes at all. In my opinion Halzle looked better; however, he was mainly playing against the 2's on defense.
Given that PT was playing against the 1's on defense I have to give him the benefit of the doubt because our D looks really good.

Hartley looked good kicking the ball and the punting did not look bad either.

Reggie Smith and Manuel Johnson returned kickoffs and looked impressive as Reggie would have taken one all the way.

[Frozen Sooner]

Cool, thanks for the clarification. I didn't hear anything about PT throwing picks in the actual scrimmage, just in the 7 on 7s. It was a second-hand report from someone on his cell phone with his wife, so the garble factor is high.

[Big John]

I also remember Alonzo Dotson making an interception, then going crazy. I'm not sure if it was Paul Thompson or Joey Halzle that he picked off though.

[MTSCSooner]

Lendy Holmes had a great day catching passes, who knew he needed to be moved to defense to make a catch (sorry I couldn't resist :) ). DJ. Wolfe had an interception as well in the 7 on 7.

Halzle threw a dump pass to Clapp in the 7 on 7 and as soon as Clapp turned around he was met by Rufus and fell flat on his arse.

Based on what I saw I do not think that anyone is going to score many points against that defense.

[Ash]

I am not sure who told you that but I did not see anything from Thompson that was very impressive. The 7 on 7 drills PT threw 3 INT's and 2 during the scrimmage. He did not complete many passes at all. In my opinion Halzle looked better; however, he was mainly playing against the 2's on defense.
Given that PT was playing against the 1's on defense I have to give him the benefit of the doubt because our D looks really good.


Hmmm...I was hoping he'd have a better showing. I'll go along with the defense looking pretty damn good and the old cliche that defense usually dominates these things.:twinkies:

PTs kinda been thrown into the fire, though, hopefully he'll get it ironed out soon.

[birddog]

you just did.:texan:
i've seen you around enough.

[Duke o Brewery]

I stayed for the whole scrimmage and I was pleasantly surprised by Thompson's performance, especially during the full scrimmage. He definately held his own today. According to SoonerSports "Thompson hit on 15-of-26 passes for 133 yards with two touchdowns, both in red-zone work, and one interception. The senior completed 11 of his last 13 attempts."

Halzle was 11-of-25 for 111 yards. He threw 2 INTs and I thought I saw him either pass or run for a TD.

First team defense looked very solid, as did Garret Hartley who went 10-12 on FG attemps including from 50 and 52 yards. He had misses from 47 and 49.

My only serious concerns were with the fullbacks, inconsistent O-line play, and a few bad center/QB exchanges.

[Ash]

I stayed for the whole scrimmage and I was pleasantly surprised by Thompson's performance, especially during the full scrimmage. He definately held his own today. According to SoonerSports "Thompson hit on 15-of-26 passes for 133 yards with two touchdowns, both in red-zone work, and one interception. The senior completed 11 of his last 13 attempts."

Halzle was 11-of-25 for 111 yards. He threw 2 INTs and I thought I saw him either pass or run for a TD.

First team defense looked very solid, as did Garret Hartley who went 10-12 on FG attemps including from 50 and 52 yards. He had misses from 47 and 49.

My only serious concerns were with the fullbacks, inconsistent O-line play, and a few bad center/QB exchanges.

So we've got some reports saying up to five int's, 2 in full scrimmage, or one...:pop:

[nativesooner]

PT didn't look too great but then again he didn't do too much. I did see him roll out a couple of times where he had the run/pass option and I think you'll see that more in a real game. The coaches didn't pull out too many plays though. Haz looked good but like earlier stated it was against the twos. I think we're all going to have to wait until our trip to Oregon before we really see what our O can do. I don't think they'll pull out too much against the first two opponents which is why I say our first road trip will show us what we're made of. Paul did throw the ball high on some plays but I think he'll be fine. The most impressive thing I saw was Lendy Holmes catching the ball over his shoulder with one hand on the first pick. I think the move to CB for him was a good one. I also think Smith and Johnson will both be good in the return game, but the kicking team wasn't really headhunting enough to say. Overall it was pretty vanilla, but I was impressed with the number of fans that showed.

[birddog]

http://www.soonersports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=300&ATCLID=539232

take that you SOB's.

[Ash]

http://www.soonersports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=300&ATCLID=539232

take that you SOB's.

According to the article PT completed 11 of last 13 attempts...pretty good.

Stoops:"I was very pleased," Stoops said. "There was a lot of clean play. Paul (Thompson) managed the huddle well and had good snap control all day. He still has some brushing up to do, but he really got in a rhythm as we went along"

Some coach speak there but I'll take it.

Lewis Baker ended with six tackles.

Any insight on how he looked tonight? Thanks!:)

[Duke o Brewery]

I think the descrepency has to do with the 7-on-7 section and the scrimmage section being statistically recorded separately.

[MTSCSooner]

http://www.soonersports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=300&ATCLID=539232

take that you SOB's.

What is with the hostility?:rolleyes:

I did miss the red zone work so I cannot speak for that part of the scrimmage (kids screaming so had to leave) but up to that point there was not much offensive movement. I do know that PT did have 5 INT's, a mixture between 7 on 7 and the scrimmage.

Apparently he did much better in the red zone portion and as I said, I was giving him the benefit of the doubt due to playing against the 1's.

[Soonermagik]

I went to the scrimmage and I'm worried about PT. He did good when they ran the boot leg and short passes other than that he was off on his accuracy. The main dissappointment for me (with the 7 on 7 drills) was he kept throwing into double coverage and the passes were not even close. I think he can get better, it will just take time. Halzle has a more accurate arm, but needs to make better decisions. If Halzle could be consistent he could be a decent QB.

The defense is dominant. The secondary has really turned around from the past few seasons. These guys fly all over the field I was really impressed with lendy holmes, reggie smith and kennan clayton

For some weird reason I never saw Malcom Kelly or Demarco Murray??

Joe John Finley has become a beast he's some where around 260 pounds, whereas he use to be like 216!!! From what little action I saw Germaine Gresham should be a stud too.

Peterson had a blue jersey on nuff said!!! Moses madu (sp?) played awesome and runs super hard, I was also impressed with Chris Brown these guys will be great backs, once again never saw Demarco Murray??


Lastly, Hartley was great along with #13 punting who is a stud. For some reason they didn't have his name on the roster??

[Duke o Brewery]

I do know that PT did have 5 INT's, a mixture between 7 on 7 and the scrimmage.

He definately did Not have 5 INTs. Not even in the whole two hours of work. I saw one pick during scrimmage work and I think one other during 7-on-7.
Both were fairly good passes that the DB was lucky to in position to snag.

Halzle did have two INTs during scrimmage work...

[OU_PhD]

I was at the scrimmage and I would not be too worried about PT at this point. I felt the line was somewhat effective but PT rushed a lot of his throws and seemed a bit nervous (and overthrew a bit). I think he'll get better and better as camp moves along--jury is still out. As a side note, while he didn't have any catches in the scrimmage, Jermaine Gresham looked very impressive in the 7-on-7 drills and made some big grabs--he will defintely be a HUGE asset to this team.

[Soonrboy]

Did GK McCoy get any time?

[OU_PhD]

BTW, I saw Jason White throw 6 INT's in a scrimmage before he won the Heisman.

[OUstud]

31 and 13 can punt the ball. When I was there (I left after our first rushing TD) PT looked bad. But apparently he got better. Hartley looked very solid, with a 57-ish yarder.

[Snrfn4ever08]

my report= neither paul thompson nor joey halzle looked impressive, but halzle was the better of the two tonight. i felt that quite a few of his interceptions i saw were more the fault of the receiver than the quarterback. paul thompson almost looked panicky to me. i have to give him this much though, i though our offensive line looked very shaky. there was no pass blocking whatsoever and they weren't able to open up any holes in the rushing game. the defense on the other hand looked impressive. garret hartley was hitting 50+ yarders and mike knall looked tons better than he did during the red/white game. not much to report on ad or gute since they donned the blue jerseys, but gute did have one run where he went untouched up the middle and the knee looks fine. i only stayed until about 7:15, so that's all i've got, but i hope it helps

EDIT: on another note, i didn't see Bradford take a snap, but i did see Hays McEachern. was i just not paying attention or did anyone else who went notice the same thing? does anyone know why he wouldn't get much time?

[birddog]

What is with the hostility?:rolleyes:

I did miss the red zone work so I cannot speak for that part of the scrimmage (kids screaming so had to leave) but up to that point there was not much offensive movement. I do know that PT did have 5 INT's, a mixture between 7 on 7 and the scrimmage.

Apparently he did much better in the red zone portion and as I said, I was giving him the benefit of the doubt due to playing against the 1's.
stick around awhile before you start taking things too seriously.:)

[OUHOMER]

PT had some rust but I think he will improve as time goes by. After looking at all three, he's the one to lead the team at this time. Looks like he was working on keeping his feet moving. but needs to look off his receivers, seemed to lock in. I was suprised by the O line. Not great but better than I expected. D look great.

[OUGreg723]

I was pleasantly suprised by the play of the entire team in the scrimmage..
Does anyone know where the heck Malcom Kelly was though??? Sorry if its already been posted.

[OUGreg723]

nevermind. he was serving as best man in his brothers wedding.

[soonerhubs]

Thanks to all who posted reviews on the scrimmage. I appreciate any morsel of Oklahoma Football News that I can get a hold of.

[Archangel]

ENA had 1 pick in scrimmage action, Halzle had 2, all 3 to Lendy Holmes. Lendy had 1 more(that I saw) in 7 on 7. I got there as 7's were winding down.

Gresham looks like a man child. Even through a WR screen to him wich he took 7 yards. Hell, he could fall down for 7 yards. One knock on Gresham, he needs to learn to use both hands to catch the ball. Went up for two with one hand and dropped them both, one of which would've been a TD.

Brown and Madu both looked very good catching out of the backfield.

I heard good things about Crow, but he didn't show me anything tonight.

Latimer had a knee injury late in the scrimmage. No trainers came out, he just got up on his own, hopped off the field and sat down. He didn't play anymore of the scrimmage, but later I saw him standing on the sidelines.

Tennel looked good. Needs some weight, but looked good.

[FaninAma]

. i have to give him this much though, i though our offensive line looked very shaky. there was no pass blocking whatsoever and they weren't able to open up any holes in the rushing game.


I think there was only 1 sack in the scrimmage and some of the running plays would have done better but the blue jersey's prevented a couple of longer runs.

The OL is significantly ahead of where it was at this time last year. The QB's have time to throw and while rushing yardage was limited there weren't a lot of DL running free in the backfield throwing the RB and QB for losses like there were last year.

PT looked absolutely horrible for all of the 7 on 7 drills and 1/2 of the scimmage but he seemed like he started seeing the field better the last half of the scrimmage. Hopefully he can build on how he finished up. Halzle did have 2 interceptions but at least one was due to the receiver running the wrong route. Halzle still threw the better long ball and again had the only long completion of the day. PT also threw into coverage more than Halzle did.

Lendy Holmes looked like all world on the long passes but was getting lectured by the coaches for some of his short pass coverage.

The punting looked much, much better. Knall looked like a different punter out there today and if he continues to punt like that then Hartley can concentrate on place kicking.

DL looked OK but they didn't put a lot of pressure on the QB which I take as a good sign for the OL. The schemes Wilson runs also keeps the defense more honest and doesn't allow the front 7 to tee off on the QB.

The d-backs, as a group, are the best OU has had since 2001 and I would go as far to say the depth of this team in that area is superior to 2001.

Biggest positives:
PT appeared to be gaining some confidence and seeing the defense better.
The amount of quality depth at DB, RB and TE.
Improvement of the punters.
Return of legitimate threats in the return game.
Halzle looking more comfortable in the offense.
OL allowing the QBs time to throw.

Biggest concerns:
PT's performance the first half of the scrimmage.
The lack of pressure by the DL(is the OL really that good?)
Lack of depth at LB. Did anybody notice how Crow did tonight?

Should be a fun team to watch.If the QB play is even average we will have a chance in every game.

[Octavian]

According to SoonerSports "Thompson hit on 15-of-26 passes for 133 yards with two touchdowns, both in red-zone work, and one interception. The senior completed 11 of his last 13 attempts."

We won several games last year when our former quarterback had worse numbers than that.

I know it's just a scrimmage but 15-26 for 133 yds passing and 2 touchdowns will be enough to take all the pressure off AD and win most of the games on our schedule.

It's certainly not gonna win any awards but none of us expect PT to put up Jason-type numbers. But I didn't think what's-is-*** would either.

Our defense is better and Adrian's healthy...maybe I'm being overly optomistic but Paul still has nearly three weeks to work out at the position before the first kickoff.

Oregon will tell the tale.

[Octavian]

how'd the OL look?

[Norm In Norman]

My few observations:

1. ENA kept throwing the ball into double or triple (or more) coverage. I guess you'd say he was throwing it into traffic. He completed a lot of those, but it just seemed to me like he had picked his receiver out before snapping the ball. I do that all the time on my NCAA game.

2. For some reason, Halzle looked better to me. I don't know why. There was something about his comfort level that seemed better. He actually ran it once pretty well.

3. Lendy Holmes sure seemed to be aorund the ball alot.

4. Our kickoffs need to go through the endzone, because we sure were having problems tackling the returners. Maybe they weren't practicing hard or something though. I couldn't tell if they were going by the plan or not.

5. Besides that, our special teams look like they've been worked on. Remember way back when our special teams were awesome? We need to get back to that so we can go back to ignoring them.

I'm not really football savvy enough to give too detailed observations of stuff, but it looked like our 2 defense might be better than 98% of everyone else's 1 defense.

[goingoneight]

**** U.A.B.!!! Get your arses down to Norman this instant!!!

[usmc-sooner]

heard from a friend I trust who went that there wasn't much difference between PT and JH. Same guy told me last year that Bomar would pass PT.

Kinda makes me wonder about QB's that we landed under Leach=Heupel, Hybl, and White vs the ones we got under Long=Wall, Rawls, Allen, Grady, Thompson and Bomar.

I think however KW will call plays that play to our strength and we will be alright this year.

[Boomer.....]

Well, I'm not discouraged about the team. It seems like the D will dominate and everyone else will come around. ENA will fill his shoes, just like Bomar did last summer. Good things are going to happen!

[Egeo]

Thompson: 15-26-133; 2 TD, 1 INT vs the ones without his number 1 reciever

Halzle: 11-25-111; 2 INT vs teh twos

ill take the former

who were the starting safeties
how did darien williams look against the pass?
thats my one defensive worry

*faninama - thats great to know about the oline

[BOOMERBRADLEY]

Of course I want Reggie Smith to return kicks and or punts, but does anyone else have a concern that our best corner may get taken out of a game on one of these plays ?

[william_brasky]

Thanks for the reports everyone.

[The VIIIth]

Thompson: 15-26-133; 2 TD, 1 INT vs the ones without his number 1 reciever

Halzle: 11-25-111; 2 INT vs teh twos

ill take the former

who were the starting safeties
how did darien williams look against the pass?
thats my one defensive worry

*faninama - thats great to know about the oline

Keenan Clayton is running with the ones and looks huge, much more so than last year. Williams had Tennell catch one in front of him but the rotations are so constant you barely had an opportunity to monitor a guy more than a series or more and I wasn't watching the defense as closely as the offense.

Mc Coy was with the 4's and didn't stand out. He didn't have a tackle.

[sai]

http://www.newsok.com/video/27639

short video of the scrimmage highlights and short after scrimmage interviews with Stoops, Thompson, and Wilson.

[The VIIIth]

heard from a friend I trust who went that there wasn't much difference between PT and JH. Same guy told me last year that Bomar would pass PT.

Kinda makes me wonder about QB's that we landed under Leach=Heupel, Hybl, and White vs the ones we got under Long=Wall, Rawls, Allen, Grady, Thompson and Bomar.

I think however KW will call plays that play to our strength and we will be alright this year.

If you were at the scrimmage you would have noticed PT's transformation in the 2nd hour. The passing game became intermediate to short and Thompson went 13 of 15 over the last 5 series with two scores and no picks. He looked sharp doing it, great mechanics, laser balls and the two misses were simply dropped by the receivers. PT was on target with his read progression and hit the secondary guy several times. Tennell is going to be an exciting player for OU, he is a man. If we had just Gresham and Tennell the future would be bright, but our receiving corps is sick.

I have a much, much better feeling about PT, the punting game and the deep snapper.

[OUGreg723]

Thompson will have a much better yeah than Bomar last year. He didnt play bad at all yesteray. Not to say he doesnt need to polish off some rust, but I aint worried. Lets not forget there was NO malcom kelly yesterday and AD barely played. Also our D is KILLER. It will be gravy when its on for real. Also, the o-line isnt that bad. There were limited penalties and the only false start was from chris mesner. The thing I like about the o-line from what ive seen is that they are alot more aggresive and have much more fight than last year. We just need to avoid the injury bug, which is hard to do. With a few more weeks of practice I think we could be a really good team with a top 5 defense.

[william_brasky]

Defense does win championships.

With a stout D, we have a chance to win every ballgame.

I hope our D is that good, and our O is just not that bad.

I like what I'm hearing about our O line so far.

Again, thanks for the reports folks.

[The Consumate Showman]

In regards to OUr OLine, I wasn't at the scrimmage, but you have to remember, we don't have ***** #1 and #2 this year, Millington and Keith. I think our OLine realizes that they have the potential to the best blocking crew int he country and help AD to a Heisman this year. I also think that maybe they realize that the starting five - Duke, Braxton, Cooper, Walker, and Messner - are ALL capable of playing in the NFL; but only if they show how mean and aggressive they can be. I think our OLIne has developed a lot of grit that they lacked last year for some reson and guys, keep in mind, these OLinemen are FREAKIN" HUGE!! If they have half as much talent as they have size....I will be extremely excited about them this year!!! (I am a former OLinemen myself, so I like to talk about them)

As far as the DE's and DT's not getting a wholw lot of puch up front that everyone seems to be reporting, I am hoping that is a sign that our OLine is just that damn good, and if that is the case boys, guess who else is going to have at least a good year????? ENA aka PT. If they can give PT time back there in the pocket, we will be fine this year. Remember, a relaxed QB in the pocket is a happy QB; and a happy QB is one that will beat your AZZ!

[sooner KB]

Some of my observations:

QB - I'm trying to stay optimistic about these guys, but I'm having a hard time doing so. The glowing reviews I read on this board and the actual performances I see just do not match.

Paul Thompson threw quite a bit of interceptions, and maybe about 3 passes that went right through a DB's hands. He repeatedly through into double and triple coverage, and drastically underthrew and overthrew passes all day. 75% of his completions last night seemed to be very short dump-offs out of the backfield, so the stats may be a little misleading.

People talk about how great of a runner Thompson is, but as far as I can remember he only had one good run last night. What does it matter if he can run if every time he can't find an open guy he just throws into double or triple coverage? He needs to learn to scramble a little more and utilize his feet.

That being said, Thompson still looks much better than Halzle. I had read on this board he was a decent deep passer, but he severly underthrew/overthrew deep passes all night. Hopefully this was just extremely uncharacteristic of him, otherwise these comments that he is a great deep passer are utterly baffling. I saw some of the most poorly thrown/wounded duck passes I've seen at OU since the Blake years coming out of Halzle's (and some from Thompson's) hand.

Halzle holds on to the ball too long. Countless times last night the the rusher could have easily sacked him, but causally ran by because of the blue jersey. I was surprised how the refs weren't blowing the whistle, and how fans hoot 'n hollered after completions that obviously should have been sacks.

One thing I immediately noticed in the pre-game drills was Halzle's slow, awkward release. The guy puts so much effort into every pass. 10 yars slants look like he's heaving a hail mary. The guy needs to build up his arm strength and develop a faster release. Halzle looks best on short routes in the middle of the field. One thing I noticed from spring practices and from last night he is repeatedly lobs passes to the sideline, and they are almost always close to being picked off.

RB - Moses Madu (sp?) looked great last night. He's a really hard, fast runner that broke through some tackles last night. Chris Brown looked pretty good as well. AD looked himself, DeMarco Murray didn't play.

WR - All of the number switches at WR just gave me headaches. New numbers, no announcer, no roster distributed at the game, and now no names on the back of jerseys. There was only one guy in my area with a roster and the poor dude was shouting out names all day. All in all they just looked decent, a few droped passes.

P - #13 (Cohen, somebody said his name was?) looked great. He consistently boomed 40+ yard punts straight down the middle all night. The defense wasn't putting much of a rush on him though, and he looked a little slow at getting them off. Don't be surprised to see some blocked punts at the beginning of next year.

I don't recall a #31 punting at all as someone else mentioned, but maybe I just didn't notice. Hartley punted quite a few as well. He got a couple goods one off but most were mediocre, and a few were knuckle balls. #13 is definitely our guy.

DB - Including the 7 on 7 drills, Lendy Holmes intercepted 4 passes. The first one which happened during the 7 on 7 drills was a sweet one-handed grab on a deep ball.

OK, that's all I've got for now. Maybe I'll post more on the defense soon...

[JLB]

I have a feeling that this team is going to be pretty good.As long as
the o-line doesnt have any injuries,with their size they will open up
holes for AD as well as provide protection for PT.
From what I have heard the Defense is going to be killer.The kicking team
units seem to have gotten their **** straight.
This team is gonna rock.Mark it down.

[william_brasky]

Some of my observations:

QB - I'm trying to stay optimistic about these guys, but I'm having a hard time doing so. The glowing reviews I read on this board and the actual performances I see just do not match.

Paul Thompson threw quite a bit of interceptions, and maybe about 3 passes that went right through a DB's hands. He repeatedly through into double and triple coverage, and drastically underthrew and overthrew passes all day. 75% of his completions last night seemed to be very short dump-offs out of the backfield, so the stats may be a little misleading.

People talk about how great of a runner Thompson is, but as far as I can remember he only had one good run last night. What does it matter if he can run if every time he can't find an open guy he just throws into double or triple coverage? He needs to learn to scramble a little more and utilize his feet.

That being said, Thompson still looks much better than Halzle. I had read on this board he was a decent deep passer, but he severly underthrew/overthrew deep passes all night. Hopefully this was just extremely uncharacteristic of him, otherwise these comments that he is a great deep passer are utterly baffling. I saw some of the most poorly thrown/wounded duck passes I've seen at OU since the Blake years coming out of Halzle's (and some from Thompson's) hand.

Halzle holds on to the ball too long. Countless times last night the the rusher could have easily sacked him, but causally ran by because of the blue jersey. I was surprised how the refs weren't blowing the whistle, and how fans hoot 'n hollered after completions that obviously should have been sacks.

One thing I immediately noticed in the pre-game drills was Halzle's slow, awkward release. The guy puts so much effort into every pass. 10 yars slants look like he's heaving a hail mary. The guy needs to build up his arm strength and develop a faster release. Halzle looks best on short routes in the middle of the field. One thing I noticed from spring practices and from last night he is repeatedly lobs passes to the sideline, and they are almost always close to being picked off.

RB - Moses Madu (sp?) looked great last night. He's a really hard, fast runner that broke through some tackles last night. Chris Brown looked pretty good as well. AD looked himself, DeMarco Murray didn't play.

WR - All of the number switches at WR just gave me headaches. New numbers, no announcer, no roster distributed at the game, and now no names on the back of jerseys. There was only one guy in my area with a roster and the poor dude was shouting out names all day. All in all they just looked decent, a few droped passes.

P - #13 (Cohen, somebody said his name was?) looked great. He consistently boomed 40+ yard punts straight down the middle all night. The defense wasn't putting much of a rush on him though, and he looked a little slow at getting them off. Don't be surprised to see some blocked punts at the beginning of next year.

I don't recall a #31 punting at all as someone else mentioned, but maybe I just didn't notice. Hartley punted quite a few as well. He got a couple goods one off but most were mediocre, and a few were knuckle balls. #13 is definitely our guy.

DB - Including the 7 on 7 drills, Lendy Holmes intercepted 4 passes. The first one which happened during the 7 on 7 drills was a sweet one-handed grab on a deep ball.

OK, that's all I've got for now. Maybe I'll post more on the defense soon...

that's a good report KB.

Just from what I know and have been reading/hearing, our O strengths are gonna be running the ball. Seeing PT over the years, he's just not a pocket QB. The run, with our hopefully improved OL and stockpile of RBs, is going to set up some play action, bootleg, rollouts, etc. where PT has a couple throwing options or just tuck and run. Remember the Holiday Bowl play calling? Ball control, don't turn it over, establish the run, play action here, play action there, keep 'em guessing regardless of down. Score 21-24 pts per game. Shut 'em down on D. That's what it's looking like to me.

[william_brasky]

quick question: Were the QBs lined up more in shotgun or under center?

[Desert Sapper]

Is there no consensus to be had? Even from the people that were at the scrimmage there isn't any real agreement. PT sucked. PT looked okay. PT looked great. Halzle is better. Halzle isn't better. Halzle is worse than PT. We have the potential to be great. We could be good. We might be okay. We have no chance and will probably suck. The worst QB play since the Blake era? Wow. It seems like there were about 10 simultaneous scrimmages going on in Norman on Saturday.

[Ash]

Is there no consensus to be had? Even from the people that were at the scrimmage there isn't any real agreement. PT sucked. PT looked okay. PT looked great. Halzle is better. Halzle isn't better. Halzle is worse than PT. We have the potential to be great. We could be good. We might be okay. We have no chance and will probably suck. The worst QB play since the Blake era? Wow. It seems like there were about 10 simultaneous scrimmages going on in Norman on Saturday.

LOL. Sunshine pumpers vs. chicken littles with a few moderates thrown in?

Thanks to all for the reports but it is kinda hard to get a handle on the situation.

[Partial Qualifier]

This much we all know: it's really hard to gauge the offense's development in a vanilla'd-down scrimmage against a killer defense. Someone mentioned JW throwing 6 picks in a scrimmage once; I remember seeing Huepel get roughed up in a similiar fashion in several scrimmages.

Someone at the D.O. (Trammel, I think) says a program insider told him the scrimmage's offense didn't resemble at all what they've been working on in practice.

Hey - you're a defense, you know AD ain't coming at you, et.al.... I'm not worried. No point in worrying until UAB comes rolling in, that will be the first we see of OU's offense this year.

[william_brasky]

I'm crackin' up at the "vanilla" offense.

[GDC]

OU's 'O' warms up
By JOHN E. HOOVER World Sports Writer
8/13/2006

Offense ends its first scrimmage looking better than it did at the start.
NORMAN -- Many of the estimated 20,000 Oklahoma football fans who turned out for Saturday's scrimmage didn't see the switch get flipped.

Maybe they were sapped by the heat. Maybe they were content with the Sooner defense. Or maybe it was just too difficult to watch the OU offense.

Either way, those who left early -- there were maybe 6,000 left at the end -- missed the offense coming to life.

"It did start off a little slow, but it wasn't really as bad as it might have looked from the outside looking in. We were just barely off on a couple things," said quarterback Paul Thompson. "We definitely picked it up toward the end."

OU put on its first public scrimmage of the preseason at Memorial Stadium, a two-hour, 82-play, full-contact game simulation.

"I was very pleased," said head coach Bob Stoops. "You go into these situations having only had one week of work with pads on. I thought it was really good. Clean line of scrimmage. Lot of clean play."

The first-team offense and the first-team defense faced off, as did the second-team offense against the second-team defense. There were 22 series from scrimmage, and the defense

easily had the better cards early.

Thompson and backup Joey Halzle -- with all attention turned to them, following the pre-camp dismissal of returning starter Rhett Bomar -- finished with so-so numbers. Thompson was 15-of-26 for 133 yards with two touchdown passes and one intercep tion. Halzle was 11-of-25 for 111 yards with two interceptions.

But it was late, after an offense sprinkled with newcomers and inexperienced hands at every position became more comfortable, that the offense heated up.

After six series each, Thompson and Halzle had combined to complete just 8-of-25 passes for 61 yards with no touchdowns and three interceptions. Of the first 12 series, eight lasted less than four plays.

But after a break to get some work for the punt team, both Thompson and Halzle settled in. Thompson finished 11-of-14 for 100 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions; Halzle ended 7-of-12 for 83 yards.

"I just feel like we started getting a few more receivers open downfield, got some good protection up front and everything started coming together," Halzle said. "Because we still haven't been practicing together as an offense very long. So, the more reps the better."

Also, the offense had running back Adrian Peterson protected with a blue no-contact jersey, didn't have wide receiver Malcolm Kelly (Stoops said he was best man at his brother's wedding this weekend), and starting wideout Manuel Johnson experienced what Stoops called a "mild sprain." The offensive line was without Brian Simmons (knee) and Ben Barresi.

Offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson said that the scrimmage was "formation-oriented," and explained that both the offense and the defense relied primarily on basic formations instead of trying to trick the other.

Still, an offensive line overwhelmed in the spring by a fearsome defense and decimated by injuries and defections (and further hindered by the dismissal of projected starting right guard J.D. Quinn) held its own. There was only one quarterback sack and little pressure despite no running threat.

"I was very pleased with their play at the line of scrimmage," Stoops said. "Their overall protection was solid. They need to keep getting better, but they have shown a lot of good improvement. We have some good d-linemen, we believe, and ends, and they really did a nice job competing with them."

Stoops said the offensive line -- targeted by many as a problem area going into the season -- has begun to form some solid chemistry.

"They're getting more and more confidence and there's chemistry and attitude coming."

Freshman running back Mossis Madu led the offense with 33 rushing yards on 12 carries, including a powerful 1-yard TD burst. Chris Brown, another freshman running back, caught four passes for 47 yards, including a pair of athletic grabs on the first touchdown drive. Freshman Adron Tennell led the offense with four catches for 37 yards.

"We had a lot of young guys going today," Halzle said. "We had a lot of freshmen on the o-line, a lot of freshmen at wide receiver and a couple freshmen at running back. We didn't really have very many busts on the offense as far as knowing what to do. All things considered, we looked pretty good."




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Scrimmage statistics
RUSHING

Mossis Madu 12-33, 1 TD, Allen Patrick 6-23, Jacob Gutierrez 1-11, Chris Brown 6-10,Adrian Peterson 1-1.

PASSING

Thompson 15-26-133, 2 TDs, 1 int., Halzle 11-25-111, 2 int.

RECEIVING

Tennell 4-37, Brown 3-47, Finley 3-27, Chaney 2-27, Strong 2-22, Zaslaw 2-15, Clapp 2-6 (TD), Madu 1-19, I. Pleasant 1-11 (TD), Iglesias 1-9, Caleb 1-7, Whitson 1-6, Patric 1-5, Gresham 1-4, M. Johnson 1-2.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


John E. Hoover 581-8384
[email protected].

[GDC]

Sooner hype becomes hope
By DAVE SITTLER World Sports Writer
8/13/2006

The always-talkative Larry Birdine comments on how the oft-praised Rhett Bomar wasn't OU's only weapon.
NORMAN -- Larry Birdine, defensive end and aspiring boxing promoter, used his expertise in both areas recently to describe departed Oklahoma quarterback Rhett Bomar.

"The Great White Hype," Birdine said.

Even Bomar fans (if there are any left) have to admit the always-opinionated Birdine knows what he's talking about. And let it be noted that Birdine, an expert at jabbering smack, wasn't practicing that art with his Bomar comments.

The Sooner senior was merely telling it like it is. And the way it had been for the past three years, ever since Bomar committed to play for the Sooners the great hype machines had cranked up to warp speed.

Before Bomar even stepped on campus some had ballyhooed him as the second coming of OU Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Jason White. Or perhaps it was the next Joe Montana or Brett Favre; those recruiting experts tend to get a little excited at times.

Some had all but suggested the NFL Hall of Fame folks in Canton, Ohio, might as well go ahead and get an early start on making a bust of Bomar for his induction.

It wasn't that Bomar was a bust in Norman.

But he did get busted for cashing paychecks for work never done at a car dealership, which got him permanently booted off OU's team.

"What I'm saying about The Great White Hype in respect to Rhett Bomar," Birdine said, "is that some people thought that he could just will us to a national championship by himself.

"I'm just trying to say football is a team game. It's going to take all the guys to contribute."

Several major publications had indeed predicted Bomar would lead OU to the 2006 national title. After he was dismissed last week, those same publications instantly downgraded the Sooners' title hopes.

Does Birdine think that Paul Thompson can save the Sooners' season?

"I wouldn't say he's all that," Birdine said of his fellow fifth-year senior. "But I will say that he's the best quarterback available.

"Paul has a lot of experience, and we feel he can carry us to the promised land."

The Sooner Nation has nervously placed its hopes on Thompson's shoulder pads. He felt the added pressure the moment coach Bob Stoops shipped out Bomar and moved Thompson from wide receiver back to quarterback.

At the outset of Saturday night's first scrimmage of fall camp, Thompson made the promised land at Memorial Stadium look more like a field of broken promises. The 6-foot-4, 210-pounder from Leander, Texas, certainly resembled a quarterback who hadn't played the position in nearly a year.

In the seven-on-seven drill that opened the 90-minute session before more than 12,000 spectators, Thompson was intercepted three times. He promptly had a fourth pass picked off early in the full-scale scrimmage.

But you could almost see the rust melt off of Thompson in the hot and humid conditions. In his last five possessions, Thompson was 9-for-11 passing with two touchdowns. Overall, he completed 15-of-26 for 133 yards.

Stoops immediately declared the scrimmage a roaring success. And he was especially pleased with Thompson.

But how can we really tell if Thompson and the offense were truly holding their own on those final possessions? Or were they as bad as they appeared early on?

After all, Heisman Trophy tailback Adrian Peterson had just one carry before taking a seat for the rest of the workout. And standout wide receiver Malcolm Kelly missed the scrimmage to be the best man in his brother's wedding.

But is Thompson truly the best man to run OU's offense? Is he the Great 2006 Hope? Doesn't matter; he's the best the Sooners have left after Bomar's dismissal.

It's also difficult to judge a quarterback's progress in early scrimmages because of what he's not allowed to do. Like every other team, OU keeps its offense vanilla in open scrimmages and then opens it up when the practices are closed.

"There's more to come," Stoops said. "There is no sense broadcasting it and putting it out there for everybody to see."

So all we really have to go on is the word of Stoops and Thompson. As for Thompson, he insisted he didn't play as poorly as those early interceptions indicated.

"People on the outside looking in might not have noticed, but we were almost right there. We just had little mistakes," Thompson said. "The guys loosened up, and after some of the jitters were gone we were able to make plays."

Thompson said he didn't experience any jitters in the early going. And no matter how it looked, he insisted he was relaxed throughout the scrimmage.

"A lot of people said it would be just like riding a bike," Thompson said of returning to quarterback. "It was. I'm probably 95 percent a quarterback again. We'll work on the other 5 percent the next couple of days."

Meanwhile, the Sooner Nation must hope that Thompson at 100 percent is comparable to what they lost in Bomar.

That's how rapidly things have changed for OU football. Hype has been replaced by hope..

[GDC]

OU scrimmage report
By GUERIN EMIG World Sports Writer
8/13/2006

POSITION BATTLE

Kick returns

Sophomore Reggie Smith, a player the Sooners would have liked to return kicks last year if he was a little more reliable, is the guy on punt and kick returns this year.

"We feel he'll be able to help us get some big plays," coach Bob Stoops said.

He didn't have that chance Saturday because he was only catching kicks and setting up blocks against a coverage unit not allowed to tackle.

OU used Allen Patrick, Adrian Peterson's backup, with Smith on kickoff returns, followed by Manuel Johnson and freshman cornerback Jonathan Nelson.

Smith was first option on punt returns, followed by Union freshman Dominique Franks.


SCRIMMAGE HIGHLIGHTS

Offensive player of the day: Garrett Hartley. On a night lacking in touchdowns, OU's sophomore kicker came on to drill 10-of-12 field goal attempts. He converted 50- and 52-yarders that would have been good from 60. His only misses were from 47, where he banged one off the left upright, and 49.

Defensive player of the day: Lendy Holmes. The Sooners' second-team cornerback picked off two passes

in the 7-on-7 prelude to the scrimmage, then two more during live play.

His first scrimmage interception was a freebie -- wide receiver Brandon Caleb broke off his route to give Holmes an easy play on Joey Halzle's overthrow. His second pick, though, was well-earned.

Holmes took a full stride lead on Caleb's deep route near the sideline and ran under Halzle's bomb as if he was the intended receiver.

Play of the day: Another interception, this time by defensive end Alonzo Dotson.

On an early third down, Paul Thompson rolled right and lobbed a ball toward what appeared to be open tight end Jermaine Gresham. Only, Dotson peeled back from the line of scrimmage to reach up and snag the underthrown ball.

The play also set off the celebration of the day -- Dotson's dance with gleeful defensive ends coach Chris Wilson.


NEWS AND NOTES

Tulsan's time: Franks wasn't the only Tulsa-area product to see a lot of Owen Field Saturday.

Malcolm Kelly missed the scrimmage to be the best man in his brother's wedding, which gave Booker T. Washington sophomore Quentin Chaney a chance to start at wide receiver. Chaney, who was nursing a slight hip injury in practice last week, made two receptions for 27 yards.

Reserve lineman Ben Barresi continued to miss action with an illness, allowing Jenks freshman Chase Beeler plenty of snaps at center. Beeler worked with the second line and also spelled starter Jon Cooper, who is still recovering from the broken ankle he suffered late last season.

Franks caught punts and also got some work at third-team cornerback.

Tulsan's times too: It appears Sand Springs walk-on Derek Shaw has pulled ahead of scholarship freshman Eric Mensik in the race to become OU's deep snapper.

"Derek did an excellent job snapping," Stoops said, "and Eric did well too."

Shaw was given first shot at snaps Saturday night.

Also, Kelly's absence and the slightly sprained ankle of starting wide receiver Manuel Johnson gave Broken Arrow walk-on Carter Whitson an opportunity Saturday. Whitson had only one catch, but he made it count for a 6-yard gain on third down to provide the second first down of the scrimmage.

Fresh legs: The Sooners took it easy with Peterson and reserve running back Jacob Gutierrez, who is coming back from a torn ligament he got in last December's Holiday Bowl. That opened the door for true freshmen Mossis Madu and Chris Brown Saturday.

Madu, a Norman product, carried 12 times for a scrimmage-high 33 yards while banging in a 1-yard touchdown run. He also broke more tackles than anyone and picked up 19 yards on his only reception.

Brown gained 10 yards on six rushes and added 47 yards on three catches. DeMarco Murray, OU's highest-touted freshman back, sat out with a sprained toe. Stoops said he hoped to have Murray back Monday.

No harm done: There didn't appear to be any significant injuries during the scrimmage. Those who sat out -- Johnson, Murray, Barresi, linebacker Ryan Reynolds (knee), offensive lineman Brian Simmons (knee), defensive back Brett Bowers (ankle) and tight end Aaron Cummings (leg) -- did so because of injuries already sustained..

[william_brasky]

"I was very pleased with their play at the line of scrimmage," Stoops said. "Their overall protection was solid. They need to keep getting better, but they have shown a lot of good improvement. We have some good d-linemen, we believe, and ends, and they really did a nice job competing with them."

Stoops said the offensive line -- targeted by many as a problem area going into the season -- has begun to form some solid chemistry.

"They're getting more and more confidence and there's chemistry and attitude coming."

I like that.

[Tulsa_Fireman]

1. ENA kept throwing the ball into double or triple (or more) coverage. I guess you'd say he was throwing it into traffic. He completed a lot of those, but it just seemed to me like he had picked his receiver out before snapping the ball. I do that all the time on my NCAA game.

I know this is a day late and a dollar short, but this is gospel true. Another thing I noticed, part of which has a tad bit to do with it is his checkdown. PT had a bad, and I do mean bad, case of vaporlock on his primary looks. Never saw him, in either the 7 on 7 skellies or full intersquad, check down past the 2. On numerous occasions, specifically the picks, he was eyes up, locked in, be danged with the world. The few times he did check down, he was under 3 seconds, so at least there's light at the end of the tunnel in that regard.

Halzle was crisp as fresh lettuce in this same vein. Saw him check down 3 deep on a few occasions, 2 to 2.5 seconds a read, and saw some VERY impressive technique in looking off the deep thirds to keep the safeties honest when going to the flat. He was humpin' for a job, looked like. Because they kidnapped the same kid that played in the spring game and replaced him with a pretty dang serviceable quarterback.

Overall? Like most of you guys said. Once they got the jitters out, they both smoothed out well. PT moreso than Halzle, as far as the difference. Between that and the rest of the performance on both sides of the ball, I think we'll be just fine. More than just fine.

Fine enough to bust a few whorn heads.

BOOMER!

[Norm In Norman]

I guess, according to the article, the scrimmage ended better than it started. Maybe that's why the reports were so varied. Personally, I stayed until they started punting - about 1:15 into it. It was too damned hot.

Our offense ALWAYS struggles against our D inscrimmages, no matter how good they are. I don't like watching that suff any more because practice situations are completely different han game situations.

Oh, and Gute was in there a bit. He had a play for 10 or more yards. It was amazing, because it was hard to pick him out of the crowd. he got the ball, disappeared in a pile of people, then came out the other end. That's good stuff.

[william_brasky]

I know this is a day late and a dollar short, but this is gospel true. Another thing I noticed, part of which has a tad bit to do with it is his checkdown. PT had a bad, and I do mean bad, case of vaporlock on his primary looks. Never saw him, in either the 7 on 7 skellies or full intersquad, check down past the 2. On numerous occasions, specifically the picks, he was eyes up, locked in, be danged with the world. The few times he did check down, he was under 3 seconds, so at least there's light at the end of the tunnel in that regard.

Halzle was crisp as fresh lettuce in this same vein. Saw him check down 3 deep on a few occasions, 2 to 2.5 seconds a read, and saw some VERY impressive technique in looking off the deep thirds to keep the safeties honest when going to the flat. He was humpin' for a job, looked like. Because they kidnapped the same kid that played in the spring game and replaced him with a pretty dang serviceable quarterback.

Overall? Like most of you guys said. Once they got the jitters out, they both smoothed out well. PT moreso than Halzle, as far as the difference. Between that and the rest of the performance on both sides of the ball, I think we'll be just fine. More than just fine.

Fine enough to bust a few whorn heads.

BOOMER!

Good first post Fireman.

Seems like the Fireman might have played a little QB in his younger years.