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Post by nmerritt11 on Mar 1, 2015 9:51:52 GMT -5
Figured we could all do a spring update thread on our teams to keep everyone in the loop and give us some football talk. Heading into spring practice here are some notes from Dabo's pre-practice presser
-Watson is way ahead of schedule. "Said the medical staff applied its first "test marker" to examine where he is. He was supposed to be at 50 percent at this point and he was at 75 percent. Said he's already running, looks very good and very confident." Also said the staff has no plans to back off running Watson with the zone read. Said he'll be 225 pounds by the time he leaves Clemson and can easily be in the 210- to 215-pound range come August.
-DT Scott Pagano put up 225 pounds 38 times last week. Dabo said "That's what we've got to find out. Physically they're ready. Emotionally are they ready to do it? We're going to challenge them every day. Nobody I'd rather have doing it than Marion Hobby and Dan Brooks." when discussing Pagano and DE Ebo Ogundeko
-On secondary "He thinks the secondary can be special in 2015. Korrin Wiggins will cross-train at safety. Jayron Kearse will get a long look as a dime back because of his ability to wreak havoc off the blitz."
-On DL " As much as the defensive front lost from last year's team, he thinks the top four linemen right now entering spring (D.J. Reader, Carlos Watkins, Shaq Lawson, Kevin Dodd) will be drafted one day"
-On LB "On the redshirt freshman linebackers: Kendall Joseph and Korie Rogers will be second-team guys at MIKE and WILL. Joseph almost avoided a redshirt last season. Chris Register will be at MIKE backer. Jalen Williams will start out at WILL but will bounce around and could be a nickel/SAM weapon. As a whole, said the linebacker corps features "a bunch of guys that don't know anything as far as our system. They haven't been coached by Brent. We've got to start over." I think what he means by that is they spent a lot of time with the scout team because they werent part of day to day game planning...not real concerned about LB play honestly. First line guy are experienced and second line is talented
Also said he needs BJ Goodson to step up and take a leadership role along with Boulware at LB.
-On leadership "We lost some great leadership. We lost some tough, tough, battle-tested guys. And that's what we've got to develop in a hurry. Got to look for opportunities to challenge them in all those areas. That's a consistent theme."
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Post by nmerritt11 on Mar 3, 2015 8:41:56 GMT -5
Dabo is right...DeShaun Watson is a genetic freak. He was running and throwing yesterday at practice. Ahead of RB Adam Choice who had ACL surgery 2 months before him. Amazing 3 months removed and he is already running.
With knee at 75% strength right now, he should be full go for summer drills and full go for fall camp.
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Post by nmerritt11 on Mar 3, 2015 10:00:35 GMT -5
hell to the no! also Kelly Bryant is already up to 215 pounds. It is crazy there are 14 early enrolls on campus taking part in spring practice.
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Post by nmerritt11 on Mar 3, 2015 11:39:40 GMT -5
hell to the no! also Kelly Bryant is already up to 215 pounds. It is crazy there are 14 early enrolls on campus taking part in spring practice. Our early enrollees take was pretty good and included 3 5-stars. We just need your QB. ours included everyone of our OL and apparently Hyatt and Fruhmorgen looked to be the most athletic OL in practice 1 but can they learn the system fast enough to contribute. FSU and Clemson are both really talented and you are right...moving forward it would be wise to bet on the better QB. And right now that is Watson...I think Clemson gets the ACC title this year if he remains healthy. Both QB commits are on campus too but they said Kelly Bryant was obviously the more athletic yesterday. He needs to learn fast in case of an injury to DW. Who will be QB in Tally this year? Oh and Jayron Kearse went on record saying the defense would be just as good next year. Bold words
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Post by nmerritt11 on Mar 3, 2015 12:51:59 GMT -5
GT has to replace all their RB and two big ass WR. Great QB and experienced OL but they have to replace some serious yards produced and those outside WR being 6'3 plus gave them some match up help.
Not sure they are special
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Post by nmerritt11 on Mar 3, 2015 13:29:15 GMT -5
Those two were 1200+ of their 1800 yards receiving. They have to reload at WR and RB. Top 4 RB all gone
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Post by nmerritt11 on Mar 8, 2015 12:23:08 GMT -5
Went to Youth Day yesterday and watched about an hour and a half of "practice" . It was very vanilla but the few take aways
-The RB situation is going to be much improved and it seems like there is an emphasis of running up the gut. I saw rep after rep of backs going right up the centers ass crack. Zac Brooks looked a little better than expected after reading that he was a step slow. He really had a nice burst once he found a seam. Also, it seemed the running backs being involved in the pass game was emphasized as well. Lots of designed RB passes from different sets and multiple shorter designed screens. Gallman looks to have added 10 pounds this offseason so far. Looks much more filled out which is huge. He is still atop the depth chart with Brooks/Dye chasing him
During autograph session Tony Elliott was over with these guys and was busting Gallman's balls telling him to give the fans a legible autograph after he saw ours. It was hilarious.
-QB: I watched them an extra long time from drill to drill. Here is what you see...Kelly Bryant is the best athlete and it is not close. He has the biggest arm, moves the best, and is the guy that catches your eye but he was not very accurate at all today. He had some really bad misses to open WRs but overall seemed to make the correct read. Schuessler was the most accurate and actually surprised me with a few passes. I know on 2 or 3 occasions I said "shit that was one hell of a throw there." He put some passes into coverage where only the WR could catch them. Tucker was more accurate that Kelly and made some real nice throws but his arm isnt going to wow you. Strong enough to be effective but nothing special. But he has a nice touch and puts the ball where WRs can catch it.
One thing I loved is when Kelly would have a bad rep or a bad session, as he is walking off the field DW is right there in his ear talking to him and coaching him up. Loved seeing that. Watson was jogging, moving around with no limp, and was obviously pretty far along.
-DBs: We have ourselves a special group at DB. Alexander and Kearse have just stupid closing speed and the confidence the entire group has is incredible. Even Ryan Carter made a few plays that impressed the crap out of me and he was never expected to contribute. The corners were in the hip pocket of the WR which is saying something considering Clemson has one of the Top WR units in the nation. This group is not scared to man up and go at it with anyone and they were mixing it up. Several "post whistle scraps" out there. It was intense battle between the WR and DB's all day long. While Kearse is listed as free safety, with the depth at the position there are times Venables was placing him at the DIME and blitzing him off the edge or letting him blow up the RB screen. He had one interception where I think he made up 10 yards while the ball was in the air. He is just insane
I spent the most time during the autograph session with them because they were the furthest away and no real crowd. Alexander and Reed were also going back and forth giing each other crap. Alexander was signing autographs with no shirt on and just standing there like a boss.Coach Reed is absolutely hilarious. He looked at my youngest son (5) and asked him if he was gonna come play for him and my son said "no!" It cracked Reed up and he said "yeah you are probably one of those running back types arent ya!" Kearse is a freaking specimen to be playing safety
-WR: We know what we have here but the best catch of the day may have been by Thompson in the live scrimmage. Nice down field route and he went over DB and wrestled it away from him. Guy looks the part and looked smooth out there. I have no doubt we will have the best WR group in the nation this year. Williams made circus catch after circus catch, Peake finally looks 100% and was the fastest player on the field it seemed, and Artavis Scott just does his thing. Add in Cain and RayRay and this group is ridiculous. Also, Bell was an early enroll and had a one handed catch over the top of Edmund that was pretty insane. But he is raw and needs a redshirt.
DE: didnt see much to talk about but one time I did see Ebo in the back field about the time the QB take the snap. It was unreal how quick he got off the line and into the backfield to blow it up. Dude has a seriously fast first step. Also, Lawson (will start in Vc's place) was so disruptive, Elliott called a play action sweep play that was really well designed...the guard (couldn't see who it was) leveled his ass and a big ole offense v/s defense shit talking session got started. The scrimmage intensity went up real fast after that but damn he got leveled. Really have to develop some depth here and that is my biggest concern
OL: Too many bad snaps which was a theme last season...way too many shotgun snaps hit the ground resulting in timing issues. But overall the run blocking looked pretty decent especially in the interior. The OL should be pretty solid this season. But again it was so generic hard to take anything from what I saw in the trenches on either side
LB: hard to tell anything because they pretty much played base with no real blitzing. You could see the athleticism but not much to take out of what I saw. Boulware and Goodson play the fastest by far which is expected at this point being the veterans. O'Daniel and Korie Rogers are incredibly athletic and probably the two that catch your eye although they did get caught out of position a good bit. The TE were giving them some fits on shallow, 1st level releases and even on some seam routes.
Overall it was what you would expect from an early spring practice. Veterans looked more comfortable, young guys were swimming a bit but I loved the overall intensity and I loved seeing the guys interact with the kids. You can really tell this is a close, tight knit team.
The coaches wives and daughters lead the tours of the facilities which I thought was cool. Just has that family feel to everything around the program. Overall fund ay. I am going to go to a "real" closed scrimmage soon and will be able to get a better feel. Really hard to tell anything from a generic, vanilla drill session/ short scrimmage like that
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