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Spring Game—Saturday, April 16th


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Ohio.com post-game story.

 

http://www.ohio.com/sports/zips/ua-football-plenty-of-positives-emerge-from-spring-game-for-zips-1.676497

 

The offensive line will be young, but in this game, they, for the most part, looked solid giving Woodson ample protection.

Edited by Blue & Gold
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1 hour ago, Dr Z said:

Unfortunately I am out of town, and was unable to attend.

 

Thanks.  I wasn't able to make it this year either which is why I asked.  But it seems that we had enough members there to comment that it's almost as good.  I'll tweet  at ZipsFB video to see if they can post the footage. 

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One thing that really caught my attention was how much we were working on passes to both sidelines.  When coverage was soft, we went wide with a quick pass.  When coverage was tight we lobbed over the top of the CB.  It seemed like I was that scenario 50 times yesterday.  I wonder if this is an early indication of what we wanted to work on with the WR corp because this is how we might be planning to attack defenses this year?

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2 hours ago, Blue & Gold said:

Ohio.com post-game story.

 

http://www.ohio.com/sports/zips/ua-football-plenty-of-positives-emerge-from-spring-game-for-zips-1.676497

 

The offensive line will be young, but in this game, they, for the most part, looked solid giving Woodson ample protection.

Both QBS had ample time for the most part, although the second team allowed more pressure on Chapman. The other big change with Chapman was being able to stay in the pocket longer. He was able to be patient and find that second receiver. The panic seems to be gone. He has a very nice touch on his passes and once threw a catchable 45 yard pass off his back foot. He can throw the ball very well. I also thought Brian Homer and Caleb Chapman looked improved, as well. 

 

 

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13 hours ago, Blue & Gold said:

Ohio.com post-game story.

 

http://www.ohio.com/sports/zips/ua-football-plenty-of-positives-emerge-from-spring-game-for-zips-1.676497

 

The offensive line will be young, but in this game, they, for the most part, looked solid giving Woodson ample protection.

 

Hey, the ABJ pays so much attention to Zips Athletics that they write that we WON the 2005 Motor City Bowl.  Woo Hoo :cheers:   

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57 minutes ago, uhgrad2002 said:

Perhaps they just could not believe that anyone would make such a huge banner to celebrate simply getting to a mid-major bowl game.

 

That's an entirely different point, but I agree.  I thought it was rather odd.  I think the MAC Championship from 2005 would be a far greater accomplishment to warrant a banner than recognizing that we simply played in a Bowl Game that very few people even knew about, and it doesn't even exist anymore.   

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The rings are really nice. They have a jeweled center with a blue "Z" in the center. On one side it has the player's name, the Zips 2015  record and said, "Best D1A record ever" with a helmet and the other side had the bowl game score and bowl game logo. 

Edited by zipsoutsider
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On ‎4‎/‎17‎/‎2016 at 8:15 AM, skip-zip said:

One thing that really caught my attention was how much we were working on passes to both sidelines.  When coverage was soft, we went wide with a quick pass.  When coverage was tight we lobbed over the top of the CB.  It seemed like I was that scenario 50 times yesterday.  I wonder if this is an early indication of what we wanted to work on with the WR corp because this is how we might be planning to attack defenses this year?

I'm with you on that one.  If the fade route in the real season represents the same proportion of plays as it did Saturday.................

It's not typically a high percentage play.

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1 hour ago, clarkwgriswold said:

I am hoping Warren Ball can help make us our shortcomings at RB.  He's been buried on the bench at OSU, but being behind guys like Hyde and Elliott is certainly not an indictment of his talent.

 

I think a lot of people are waiting to see if this is the magic addition that we need this year, including me.  

 

Here's my take, in response to your assumptions:

If all this was about was that he was behind the last two starters, wouldn't he have certainly stayed for another year?  Can't we guess that he might be buried much further than that on the depth chart, and had no prospect of playing next year?  So, assuming that there were no other issues, one has to be at least a little concerned about what might be left of his talent since he's played very, very little football over the last 4 years?  

 

Regardless, if this guy was a legitimate 4-Star recruit out of high school, we certainly owe it to ourselves to give him enough carries to see if he has it.  

 

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1 hour ago, skip-zip said:

 

I think a lot of people are waiting to see if this is the magic addition that we need this year, including me.  

 

Here's my take, in response to your assumptions:

If all this was about was that he was behind the last two starters, wouldn't he have certainly stayed for another year?  Can't we guess that he might be buried much further than that on the depth chart, and had no prospect of playing next year?  So, assuming that there were no other issues, one has to be at least a little concerned about what might be left of his talent since he's played very, very little football over the last 4 years?  

 

Regardless, if this guy was a legitimate 4-Star recruit out of high school, we certainly owe it to ourselves to give him enough carries to see if he has it.  

 

I think he was just that deep on the depth chart.  I don't think he was in the discussion to play at OSU this year.  He just wasn't a top 10 team talent.  However, that does not mean he can't be very productive at the MAC level.  His high school highlight videos are certainly indicative that there's some talent there.

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2 hours ago, clarkwgriswold said:

I think he was just that deep on the depth chart.  I don't think he was in the discussion to play at OSU this year.  

 

I think you're right.  Here's one thing to look at (sorry for linking a red and silver page to this forum).

http://scarletandgame.com/2014/10/30/ohio-state-football-warren-ball-moved-3-tailback/

According to this, he "moved up" to the #3 spot at one time in 2014, but only after one guy left the program and another was injured?  So, he was apparently 5th on the depth chart at that time. 

 

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6 hours ago, clarkwgriswold said:

I think he was just that deep on the depth chart.  I don't think he was in the discussion to play at OSU this year.  He just wasn't a top 10 team talent.  However, that does not mean he can't be very productive at the MAC level.  His high school highlight videos are certainly indicative that there's some talent there.

If he does materialize as a threat it will be the icing on the cake. I think we have some decent potential at RB with Means, Lawrence, and Jones so I am not really sweating the RB position. The pass game seems strong enough to really open the run up this year.

 

Game highlights

http://gozips.com/sports/fball/2016-17/releases/20160416p2ai1s

 

 

 

Edited by zipsoutsider
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23 minutes ago, zipsoutsider said:

If he does materialize as a threat it will be the icing on the cake. I think we have some decent potential at RB with Means, Lawrence, and Jones so I am not really sweating the RB position. The pass game seems strong enough to really open the run up this year.

 

Game highlights

http://gozips.com/sports/fball/2016-17/releases/20160416p2ai1s

 

 

 

I didn't see the game. Do you mean Van Edwards or did Means make the move to RB?

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8 hours ago, LZIp said:

I didn't see the game. Do you mean Van Edwards or did Means make the move to RB?

 

Idk, but I say Zipsoutsider almost certainly meant Van Edwards.  I wasn't able to attend the spring game, but I was impressed with the burst Edwards has in the handful of carries I saw from him last season.

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Did he mean DJ Jones? Has he even carried a ball in 2 years?

 

RB is a concern to me. Hundley and Chisholm were serviceable, dependable backs. But Bowden is emphasizing "big play" offensive guys this year, and what we have in the backfield today is either unproven, or has been on the roster for 4 years and done little. I really hope Ball is a baller.

 

Bowden has never really utilized the RB much. So it's not a deal-breaker if we don't have a game-breaker at that position. But it sure would be nice. It's been a decade since we had an RB that was a threat to make 1st or 2nd team all MAC.

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2 hours ago, Blue & Gold said:

 

Idk, but I say Zipsoutsider almost certainly meant Van Edwards.  I wasn't able to attend the spring game, but I was impressed with the burst Edwards has in the handful of carries I saw from him last season.

Yes, I did mean Van Edwards, thanks.

 

1 hour ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

Did he mean DJ Jones? Has he even carried a ball in 2 years?

 

RB is a concern to me. Hundley and Chisholm were serviceable, dependable backs. But Bowden is emphasizing "big play" offensive guys this year, and what we have in the backfield today is either unproven, or has been on the roster for 4 years and done little. I really hope Ball is a baller.

 

Bowden has never really utilized the RB much. So it's not a deal-breaker if we don't have a game-breaker at that position. But it sure would be nice. It's been a decade since we had an RB that was a threat to make 1st or 2nd team all MAC.

DJ Jones looked very good on Saturday as did Manny Morgan. They both looked very quick. They had little trouble with the few carries they received at picking up posit ve yardage. They were not necessarily game-breaking plays, but they hit the holes really fast. The whole offense just looks really fast and although the run game was not featured (It was a long time into the action before we saw a run), to me, the run game looked healthier than it has at either of the previous 2 spring games. The RBs run north-south and hit the holes fast. Hakeem Lawrence did not play on Saturday but was recognized in the awards, so I would assume he has had a good spring. Here are the stats:

 

http://gozips.com/sports/fball/2016-17/files/Spring_Game_Stats_041616.pdf

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11 minutes ago, Blue & Gold said:

 

Man... only 2:34 of highlights?  :unsure:

 

Most of those highlights involved Tra'Von Chapman, btw.  Woody's the man but Tra'Von looked to be putting a nice touch on those passes.

Agree. At first I was having trouble believing in the talk of Chapman's improvement, especially after all we heard last year, but those highlights changed my tune.

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Yes, Chapman really stood out, I thought. His passes were accurate, had a nice touch, and he didn't take off running much, at all (maybe 1-2 x?) Woodson has an energy when he runs the offense that stats don't capture, however. Also, Woodson was playing against our first team defense, which is never an easy task. It was, however, a pleasant surprise to see Chapman playing as well as he did. It really gave me a better feeling knowing that we have 2 guys who can competently run the offense. I was also pleased that none of the #3-5 QBs looked bad, either. IF your offense hangs around one kid, you are way too vulnerable. I was really nervous that Woodson would get hurt last year and we would go back to losing.

 

The very surprising thing to me was the amount of depth we have across the offense. It was very surprising (and exciting) to see the offense in such good shape during a spring game This, to me, is a sure sign that the program really made progress over the last year.

 

The kicking game was OK, but I still have reservations. No kicker will have the experience to kick FGs under pressure that Stein had and we used Zach Paul as an extension of our defense last year. If I remember correctly, in the bowl game his last punt pinned Utah state back under the 10 yard line. That's the type of thing that doesn't show up on paper. We rarely went for it on 4th down last year because Zach could be depended upon to place the ball where our defense could contain the opposition. The punter was not bad on Saturday, and there were no real similar situations, so we will have to wait and see. Hopefully, Zach gets a shot with an NFL team.

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GT was on 1590 WAKR yesterday talking about Zips spring ball. I didn't get to hear all of it since I was busy at work. I'm hoping to find a link to listen to all of it.

 

What I did hear was George talking about the improvement from the QB's and how much Chapman has picked up the offense and is now pushing Woodson. He also touched on how this WR core could be really exciting. GT also went into how there are a lot of holes to fill this year but Bowden has brought a lot of talent to the program and groomed them ready to play. He kept saying there is reason for optimism this year with this team. I also caught him saying even with just a couple of weeks of spring ball and that he doesn't count that 1st week due to spring brake right after, That everyone is playing as a team. Something he could ever say about Icoach teams.  

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It's so true. The second half of last season really brought about the culture change we were all waiting to see. I thought attendance was higher than last year, but this is a pretty subjective take. The concession stand was running out of food and water and I guessing it was because they forecasted based of historical attendance. I am really sorry some of you had to miss it for other commitments. It was actually pretty exciting to watch.

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