catdaddyp

Depth Chart from Week 1 and snap count is below. I put an asterisk by the players who backed up two positions. DE 1) Morton (39) 2) Johnson (42)* DT 1) Hawkins (41) 2) Wilson (27) 3) Thomas (3) DT 1) Harper (60) 2) Sy (19) DE 1) Jones (70) 2) Johnson (42)* LB 1) Arslanian (46) 2) Behm (29) LB 1) Boateng (20) 2) Terry (42) 3) Fish (17) OLB/Nickel 1) Thomas (24) 1) Hence (13) 2) Lewis (41) CB 1) Golden-Nelson (57) 2) Durant (40)* CB 1) Hooks (55) 2) Durant (40)* S 1) Martin (38) 2) JKP (49)* S 1) Thompson (64) 2) JKP (49)* Notable ST Players: Howze = 20 Adler = 19 Thomas = 19 Arslanian = 15 Terry = 14 Conroy = 13 Jackson = 12 Behm = 11

Someone asked about PFF ratings. Take it with a grain of salt as they weight big plays like sacks and interceptions way too heavily in my opinion. Here are the highest rated per position. QB - Irons = 64.8 RB - Wiley = 73 WR - George = 72 WR - SJL = 71.8 TE - Banks = 64.9 OL - Banes = 75 (WTF?) OL - Whigan = 67.2 OL - Gray = 64.4 OL - Williams = 63.3 DL - Harper = 64.1 DL - Johnson = 73 DL - Morton = 71.1 DL - Jones = 62.4 (WTF?) LB - Terry = 64.2 CB - Durant = 83.1 (see what I mean) CB - Hooks = 68 CB - Lewis = 66.8 S - Thompson = 59.9 I don’t want to blast individual players, so I’ll just say Whigan was our best OL. SJL best WR. Jones best DL. Bubba best LB (not listed). Golden-Nelson and Lewis best CB. JKP best S. None of that reflects in these PFF ratings. JoeMo even mentioned Jones as standing out in his presser today.

MSU by 3 scores. I do not expect to win this game and I’m not too concerned with the final score. I just want to see improvement and also some other players given a chance that did not see much, or any, PT last week. Games like this are a great time to find who is a “gamer.” Some players perform better in game situations than in practice. We also need to build depth and the best way to do that (with the current roster) is give guys PT.

43 minutes and not a peep about Akron. If you’re curious about what Tucker is displeased with in game 1, check it out.

While I agree with Irons having issues and not running him more as bewildering, I think last year’s team would have lost this game. I saw improvement along the defensive line and linebackers. In particular Jones, Wilson, and Harper at DL. Bubba and Terry at LB. Their fits were mostly on point and they flowed to the football. Fish also flashed a ton of potential. The secondary is a concern outside of Golden-Nelson, JKP, and Lewis. Those 3 were strong. Offensively, we have a strong WR corps and TEs. Whigan and Williams were very good along the OL, but the rest need work. Too bad I can’t say much about RBs as we only saw Wiley tote the ball and Price give up a sack. Glad your wife enjoyed the game!

Great question. I have to think Robinson and Holt could help us. I was surprised not to see Fann or Lawson get any PT. If they did, I missed it. Someone has to step up at the CB spot opposite Golden-Nelson. Not to mention depth needed there. I’d think Threatt would get a chance. Safety spot opposite JKP also needs work. When we went man…it was ugly. I thought Hence did a nice job until he was injured, playing what I think was the Nickel when Thomas came out the game. Great seeing Lewis take advantage of his opportunity filling in for Hence. Im guessing Richardson plays that hybrid OLB spot that Thomas was playing. As for the new comers on D. I’m high on Golden-Nelson, Jones, Harper, Terry, and Fish.

https://michiganstate.rivals.com/news/w2w4-spartans-v-broncos A little more in-depth review by the Rivals site. Should be a free read.

Double reflection. Very nice. No idea why Wiley was the only one who ran the ball. It’s not like he was doing anything special.

Went back through and rewatched the game. Here’s my reflective take. QB - Irons was far too inconsistent. I tallied up 23 for 30 with a clean pocket and 1 for 9 under pressure. He can’t miss on those wide open deep balls and also can’t take some of the sacks he took. If Irons can’t be more consistent, he either needs to be replaced or used more heavily as a runner. RB - Wiley was ok. On the zone runs he has to be able to make at least one defender miss. He struggled to do that in the first half but did a better job in the second. Our OL also got more push in the second half, so that helped. WR - This is an explosive group with SJL, George, Adams, Gathings, and Golden. Gathings may have dislocated or broken his finger in the 2nd quarter on the under thrown deep ball by Irons. No complaints here whatsoever. TE - Brank and Banks make for a really nice duo. I expect them to see more balls come their way as the season wears on. Brank also had a few key blocks in the game. OL - Mixed bag here. Williams and Whigan were excellent on the right side (RT and RG respectively). Daniels looked much better than Gray at LT. LG and C is where we struggled until the end of the 3rd quarter. Both centers Robarge and Georges were getting handled by those DTs the majority of the game. Banes at LG also had his issues. That area must improve for the run game to have success. DL - It’s clear that Jones, Harper, and Wilson are the best we saw up front. Toss a coin between Morton and Johnson at the other DE spot. LB - Bubba was Bubba. Terry should be starting beside him. Terry was in on almost every play, but didn’t always finish off the tackle. Fish is a time bomb waiting to happen- in a good way. He’s big, fast, and explosive. When the light goes on for him mentally, look out. DB - Oh boy. Golden Nelson looked solid at one CB spot. JKP looked good at Safety and Darrian Lewis is a baller at Nickel who should never come off the field. Safety play besides JKP and the other CB spot was rough at times. Maybe Durant gets his chance to claim it now? The other S spot, I don’t know. Maybe Threatt will see time next week after mysteriously not seeing the field yesterday. This team is better than last year despite what it may have seemed like yesterday. Still some questions that need to be answered though.

Agreed, I don’t recall seeing Robinson or Threatt which is odd after the amount of highlights we saw of them in the spring and fall. I believe Price was the cause for one of the sacks. I’m not sure if he got in again after that. I know many P5 teams play a number of starters on ST. Pretty sure I saw a handful of backups on ST too. I think I saw Hester as a gunner on punts. I believe it was long snapper Kyle Bauman who caught my eye as someone who was quickly getting down the field on punt coverage.

I hope I’m able to watch this game again, because I definitely missed some things that I’d like to have a second look at. - A win is a win. I would be concerned if we lacked talent, but most areas of improvement can be fixed through coaching and not having to wait another year for more talent. - Tim Terry needs to play more. He and Bubba ought to see the majority of snaps at LB. - Outside contain was a sore spot. - I need to rewatch, but it seemed SFU often attacked OLB Thomas or whoever the DB was that came in as a Nickel. - The OL showed some improvement, especially in the run game when Daniels came in at LT. - SFU threw alot of blitzes at us. The pressure and sacks weren’t all on the OL. Sometimes it was poor pickup by the RB while others were on Irons for holding the ball too long. - Irons must be more consistent. He missed way too many throws tonight, especially on deep balls and crossing routes. - Surprising that Wiley was the only one to see carries at RB. I was not impressed with him the majority of the night. He missed a number of cutback lanes. - Whoever is blitzing on defense needs to get closer to the line of scrimmage. It doesn’t help in the slightest starting the blitz from 5-7 yards away. - Our DBs need to do a better job of getting off blocks. - Victor Jones does so many things well. All-MAC candidate this year. I firmly believe this is going to be a good year. So many coaching points from tonight that will clean up a number of mistakes in the coming weeks. There was a heavy rotation on defense and I’m surprised about the guys we did not see. I wonder if we’ll see more new faces next week. Proud of the way this team did not buckle under pressure.

Joe seems tired of this 💩 and just ready to play some football.

Real possibility there. BG is so far behind in commitments than the rest of the MAC. Similar to where Arth was at this point last year. Although a few recruits BG has committed are talented. I remember looking at Arth’s recruits and thinking “how is this class going to improve the roster?”

Thigpen to Bowling Green. Definitely did not see that one coming. Good for them, they got a good one.

I’m really excited about the potential of the DL. Without knowing what scheme we are basing out of I don’t know what to think about our LBs, but I do like the players we’ve brought in along with the obvious returning ones. I expect our secondary will also be improved and much more physical judging by the guys we’ve brought in. I think you nailed it on the offense. A lot of weapons there and if Irons steps up, this offense could be a juggernaut by year end. Looking forward to seeing the OL play. We’ve got a fantastic OL coach and it’s only a matter of time before they are one of the best in the MAC. May not be this year, but soon.

A few takeaways: - Moorhead said this recruiting class was Akron’s highest rated ever, including the transfers. - He was somewhat hesitant or reserved in answering a few questions. One of them being if this looked like an FBS team. He did say yes, but he clearly thinks we aren’t where we need to be yet. - Spoke highly of Irons. Also said Undercuffler doesn’t quite fit the mold for their offense but has enough mobility to do the things they ask out of RPOs, etc. - Blake Hester is still a walk-on.

JoMoe breaks it down. Enjoy.

WR Shawn Thigpen says “big announcement coming tomorrow at 1:30pm.” Assuming he is going to commit, but I have no idea where we stand.

I know every now and then St. Francis lands some kids who should be playing higher level ball. Just not enough of them. Jason Brown who was recently relegated to backup QB at Virginia Tech is a former SFU guy as well as EJ Jenkins, a 6’8” WR at Georgia Tech. Both players attended South Carolina this past year. Brown led the team to wins over Auburn and Florida, while surprisingly enough, Jenkins did not see a single jump ball thrown his way this past year.

Similar to what @blueandgold said. We will have more talent, size, and athleticism. Also have a better coaching staff in place. There will be some mishaps and kinks to work out, but this game shouldn’t be close. Most kids go to St. Francis in hope of eventually transferring to a bigger school. The majority of St.Francis kids had very few to no FBS offers.

I’m not sure if Nebraska can win more than 5 games this year. I enjoyed watching the Nebraska/Northwestern game, but I don’t think either of them are that good. Northwestern’s RB Evan Hull was fun to watch. Kid has great feet and vision.

Morris saw a good bit of playing time yesterday and Bielema has been really pleased with him throughout the offseason. From the sounds of it, Morris has been willing to do whatever is asked of him. Illinois has really revamped their offense and might be a dark horse in the BIG this year. I’ve been following them closely since Bielema arrived and it seems to be a perfect fit. Bielema came out and said something along of the lines of he was as excited abut this team as his Big Ten champion Wisconsin team and thought it could be a special season. They have some things to clean up, but after tracking what they’ve done in the offseason and watching them play yesterday I can’t say I disagree with him.

Here are where things stand as far as Rivals is concerned. None of the committed players will receive a ratings bump unless they decommit and commit to a P5 school. That goes for all G5 players. So at this point, for more 3 stars to be in the 2023 class they need to be rated as such before committing. I think the process needs some adjustment, but I’m not in a position to change it. There are some players in this class who should probably be 3 stars such as Lester Miller, Adrian Norton, and Max Tucker to name a few. In any case, I think this is a strong prep class and will continue to get better despite the player ratings. Not all of these players will contribute immediately, but the talent is certainly there to be successful at some point in their careers.

I’m guessing DJ is doing what he needs to do after being named a team captain and taken to MAC media days. He has the benefit of playing for one of the best offensive minds in college football, so we may see a night and day difference from last year. He wasn’t consistent from what I saw at the spring game, but he didn’t put the ball in harms way either. We won’t know for sure until live action. He shouldn’t have too much issue against SFU, but if he can put on strong performances against MSU and Tenn., then he should be able to handle MAC defenses as well.