Practice Today

[Captain Kangaroo]

Took in the Aeros/Mets game today, and stopped to watch the Zips practice on Jackson Field afterwards.

What I could see:

The Getsy/Arthur battle is for real. Both looked "ok," neither one looked stellar. The word on Getsy is he's having a tough time shaking off the rust from his transfer year...and beyond that he only played a handful of snaps at Pitt. Jabari has worked pretty hard in the offseason too, so the "battle" may rage into the summer. My edge would go to Jabari because I've seen him run...and with our OL, the QB is going to need to be pretty elusive.

Our CB's look pretty good.

We're pretty undersized at LB.

Rohr seems to have taken a vocal role in getting the youger LB's to step it up. If they F'd up a drill, he let them know it...especially if it meant everyone had to run the drill again.

Kasparek looks good. A lot bigger than before. He worked hard the entire practice.

A #44 was in the backfield (FB)? John Martin? He's a transfer...from Colorado as far as I can tell.

Our WR's are all small. Not that that's horrible...I like Hixson and Montgomery...but they're small. Ditto our DL's. In general, were a pretty small team.

Biggs looks fine.

You hear a lot about searching for leaders on this team...especially on offense. I have to believe that's a priority coming out of the spring, and maybe a reason JD might name a #1 QB after the spring game. Leadership typically comes from the QB position on offense, and it is tough to "lead" when you might be #2 on the depth chart.

Hey, it was a beautiful day...the guys were all working hard...and we're still undefeated in 2005. Life's good. Go Zips!

[Buckzip]

CK, how does the defensive team speed look?

It is ok to be somewhat undersized if you have speed.

It you're small, and slow, you have issues.

Also, how does the new o-line look?

[Captain Kangaroo]

CK, how does the defensive team speed look?

It is ok to be somewhat undersized if you have speed.

It you're small, and slow, you have issues.

Also, how does the new o-line look?

It is tough to say from only watching 80 minutes of just one practice. Most of what was done was drills on blocking sleds...stuff like that. My gut feeling:

Secondary seems to have speed. That will likely be our defensive strength.

Linebackers: Rohr is the best one. The others may be fast, but they are not as fundamentally sound as him. I saw quite a few of the LB drills. The young guys have decent size and speed, but that only goes so far. They will need to be in the right set at the right time, make sure tackles, "read" the offense...all that stuff only comes with experience. My guess is they'll struggle in the early half of the schedule and improve as the year goes on. It looks like Showers and Groza will struggle to break the 2-deep.

DL: Still seems small to me. Although it is a longshot, there's still some hope that Hight could make grades and be eligible in the fall. Tim Wilkes made a couple nice plays, pushing bigger OL's around.

OL: Really depleted. Spaulding (222 lb) was playing a bit of OL just to fill the slot. A couple of the true Fr.'s are going to see heavy PT this season. That will be a position to watch in the summer. Right now, you have to wonder where Biggs' holes are going to come from? Even with 4 senior OL's last year, the "better" teams contained Biggs pretty well. He got the bulk of his yardage vs. the bottom feeders.

RB: Ringer looked ok...made a couple nice moves here and there. Kennedy...McDaniel...couldn't get a read on either. Rumor has it the kid from Youngstown could be the steal of the 2005 class.

Swiger was booming 47 yarders pretty consistently. I don't see the Wisconsin transfer supplanting him.

[InTheZone]

CK, how does the defensive team speed look?

It is ok to be somewhat undersized if you have speed.

It you're small, and slow, you have issues.

Also, how does the new o-line look?

It is tough to say from only watching 80 minutes of just one practice. Most of what was done was drills on blocking sleds...stuff like that. My gut feeling:

Secondary seems to have speed. That will likely be our defensive strength.

Linebackers: Rohr is the best one. The others may be fast, but they are not as fundamentally sound as him. I saw quite a few of the LB drills. The young guys have decent size and speed, but that only goes so far. They will need to be in the right set at the right time, make sure tackles, "read" the offense...all that stuff only comes with experience. My guess is they'll struggle in the early half of the schedule and improve as the year goes on. It looks like Showers and Groza will struggle to break the 2-deep.

DL: Still seems small to me. Although it is a longshot, there's still some hope that Hight could make grades and be eligible in the fall. Tim Wilkes made a couple nice plays, pushing bigger OL's around.

OL: Really depleted. Spaulding (222 lb) was playing a bit of OL just to fill the slot. A couple of the true Fr.'s are going to see heavy PT this season. That will be a position to watch in the summer. Right now, you have to wonder where Biggs' holes are going to come from? Even with 4 senior OL's last year, the "better" teams contained Biggs pretty well. He got the bulk of his yardage vs. the bottom feeders.

RB: Ringer looked ok...made a couple nice moves here and there. Kennedy...McDaniel...couldn't get a read on either. Rumor has it the kid from Youngstown could be the steal of the 2005 class.

Swiger was booming 47 yarders pretty consistently. I don't see the Wisconsin transfer supplanting him.

I've passed by practice a couple of times but have never had time to really stop, watch, and take in what was going on. I've only been told from primary sources that were there at the practices themselves (I know some equipment guys, a trainer, and go to church with an assistant coach). I'm looking forward to the spring game to get a first hand look at what I've been hearing about. A few questions for you Cap'n, I know you couldn't possibly have taken notice of all of these but if you did....

At QB....did you notice who was taking more reps with the ones, Arthur or Getsy?? I had heard Getsy was getting more reps and had the position pretty well under wraps. Also, was John Ferguson getting any reps??

Who's our second string RB, Ringer or Kennedy? I'd heard Kennedy had come on real strong in the spring.

I've heard the OL is terrible and can't run block to save their life. Any truth to that??

Any recievers look good in drills or impress you at all?? How did Fuqua look at reciever?? Any of the young guys like Long or Williams look good? I've heard Kasparek's gonna have a big year, and your comments above seem to attest to that.

What's the rotation look like on the D-line with Reid out for the spring (according to the only depth chart released). Is Butler really the #2 DT or is he back at linebacker? How about Esau Hooks, he's a guy I'd never heard of before that depth chart. Is he taking any reps?? Brian White look alright??

How are some of those freshman from last year looking at LB?? I'd heard Grant and Benjamin were animals on the scout team last season. You see them making any plays??

Is Devanso Tate starting yet?? Is he everything that I've heard he is??

[Zipsrifle]

Whoever is QB is going to get killed this year. From what I've read on Gozips.com, and here, sounds like the D is having a field day during practice. Frye had a lot of experience running for his life, we'll need Jabari or Luke to pick that talent up quick! I guess there are two ways to look at this. Jabari is the more athletic, but I don't know how durable he is. I think he started out good last season, but was might have been hearing footsteps after he got hurt. I have no idea how durable Luke is. He was fighting for a starting spot with what turned out to be a GREAT QB last year at Pitt and if he is as durable as Frye, I think we've got a good replacement for 5.

Man, I can't believe how young we are! I was just paging through he press releases on gozips.com and it seems like everyone is a sophomore or junior! Sounds like JD likes the speed on D. Boy, would it be nice to see the decent D this year. I'll tell you what, with all the young guys that are going to be starting, and the recruiting class we had this year, we are going to be dangerous in a couple years.

JD and the staff had a great year last year, but it will be interesting to see how things turn out this year. Looks like on the Defensive side of the ball our athleticism has grown, but man are we inexperienced. Offense just scares me right now. Our line was bad last year, doesn't sound any better this year. If we can come out of this season at 6-5 again, JD is indeed the man. A winning season this year solidifies what appears to be a hell of a coaching staff so far.