The VIIIth
8/13/2006, 08:30 AM
Thompson settled into the saddle last night. I watched a tentative, rusty performance when the skel drills were running, two quick picks, lots of deep balls and no rhythm anywhere.
When the scrimmage started, PT's play action, his mechanics and his read progression seemed to meld. He went 11-13 with two scores and one osky(in the last 5 series). The passes were crisp and on target. The two misses were dropped passes. Once we stopped tossing bombs and concentrated on shorter to mid range passes, the offense got better and so did Thompson. Noticably better.
We have three damn good freshman running backs. Mossis Madu and Chris Brown are big, fast backs and have excellent vision when running the ball. Brown showed a nice ability to catch the ball out of the backfield and do something with it after the catch.
Adron Tennell had 4 snags and looks more well developed than a true frosh. He is an obviously, like Gresham, very talented athlete with a lot of potential and gobs of upside.
One of PT's td tosses was to my good buddy SBBD's favorite fullback, Matt Clapp. Zaslaw also looked good catching swing passes out of the backfield. Fullbacks were flying around catching balls right & left... and scoring. Very Cool.
There were a lot of swing passes last night, looks like that trip to the Denver Broncos had some ideas that stuck...Ian Pleasant had a couple coming out of the backfield and looked good after the catch.
No Malcolm Kelly (wedding), Manual Johnson (slight sprain) or AD, at least not much AD for obvious reasons.
The Oklahoman reports:"And, one program insider said, the offense, which was mostly bland, bore a pale comparison to the attack being polished behind closed practice doors."
TE's will be a strength with not much doubt that Gresham will start or at the least, play a lot. JG is a heckuva specimen who I believe will have to ability to dominate at his position. Technically, he is faster and bigger than Keith Jackson and he looks like his hands are as soft. I saw KJ play a lot. He never had the leaping ability of Jermaine Gresham. There was a reason JG had 25 tds and 1200 yards from a position you don't expect those kind of numbers from.
The OL was workmanlike and servicable nothing bad to report other than I wonder when Cordero Moore and Billy Blackard will make the move to the OL.
Punting looks like a different position than it did in the spring. The ball is exploding off of Michael Cohens foot and the Fl camp that Hartley and Knall trained at this summer was a huge success. The position is solid and can even now be called a weapon. All three guys were solid!
I was with my buddy Kurt Smith at the scrimmage last night, he was keeping an eye on the defense, I'll let him recant from that perspective.
When the scrimmage started, PT's play action, his mechanics and his read progression seemed to meld. He went 11-13 with two scores and one osky(in the last 5 series). The passes were crisp and on target. The two misses were dropped passes. Once we stopped tossing bombs and concentrated on shorter to mid range passes, the offense got better and so did Thompson. Noticably better.
We have three damn good freshman running backs. Mossis Madu and Chris Brown are big, fast backs and have excellent vision when running the ball. Brown showed a nice ability to catch the ball out of the backfield and do something with it after the catch.
Adron Tennell had 4 snags and looks more well developed than a true frosh. He is an obviously, like Gresham, very talented athlete with a lot of potential and gobs of upside.
One of PT's td tosses was to my good buddy SBBD's favorite fullback, Matt Clapp. Zaslaw also looked good catching swing passes out of the backfield. Fullbacks were flying around catching balls right & left... and scoring. Very Cool.
There were a lot of swing passes last night, looks like that trip to the Denver Broncos had some ideas that stuck...Ian Pleasant had a couple coming out of the backfield and looked good after the catch.
No Malcolm Kelly (wedding), Manual Johnson (slight sprain) or AD, at least not much AD for obvious reasons.
The Oklahoman reports:"And, one program insider said, the offense, which was mostly bland, bore a pale comparison to the attack being polished behind closed practice doors."
TE's will be a strength with not much doubt that Gresham will start or at the least, play a lot. JG is a heckuva specimen who I believe will have to ability to dominate at his position. Technically, he is faster and bigger than Keith Jackson and he looks like his hands are as soft. I saw KJ play a lot. He never had the leaping ability of Jermaine Gresham. There was a reason JG had 25 tds and 1200 yards from a position you don't expect those kind of numbers from.
The OL was workmanlike and servicable nothing bad to report other than I wonder when Cordero Moore and Billy Blackard will make the move to the OL.
Punting looks like a different position than it did in the spring. The ball is exploding off of Michael Cohens foot and the Fl camp that Hartley and Knall trained at this summer was a huge success. The position is solid and can even now be called a weapon. All three guys were solid!
I was with my buddy Kurt Smith at the scrimmage last night, he was keeping an eye on the defense, I'll let him recant from that perspective.