Spring Ball 2024

[Jkobe03]

1 hour ago, LZIp said:

My takeaways (and I’ll add that in my opinion it’s hard to take much from this with so many players rotating in and out):

 

-seems like starting OL was James, Lyons, Williams, Davis, and Blanchard. Did not notice Shor in, but may have missed it. Same with Seymore.

- like others have said, Finley seems like he’ll be the starter. Didn’t see anything in terms of bad decisions, and seemed to throw a good, accurate ball. Doesn’t look like Bullock has improved a whole lot.

- I see Simmons and Kellom getting bulk of the carries with Williams a more distant #3.

-saw some young guys looking like they’re more ready to contribute this year. James as mentioned, also Catrell White and Jean Louis look like they can play. Laing-Taylor had a nice int as others have said and I thought he had a nice hit on Paul Davis as well.

- players I noticed not dressed included Phaizon Wilson, Alex Adams, Jarvis Rush, Iesa Jarmon, Kabbash Richards

 

looking forward to reading other takeaways.

Shor had a brace on his knee and Seymore had a boot on his foot both were out

[MangoZip]

Was really impressed by the whole scene today. Great weather, good crowd and some good football. Loved having the band there too, great atmosphere. Glad they had the pro shop and concessions open also. Football wasn’t perfect but really hard to tell where they are at this point. 

[Hilltopper]

Finley is legit. Hopefully we figure out a way to keep him healthy until the MAC games start.

[catdaddyp]

I was distracted a good portion of the time, but here were some things I gathered.

 

Most of these names have already been mentioned that were held out: 

OL - Seymour and Shor

WR - Adams, Wilson, Rush

DL - L Jackson and Richards 

LB - Spriggs

DB - Jarmon and Hunter

 

QB - Finley is head and shoulders above the other quarterbacks. Bullock should be effective in situational setups, but the offense will struggle if he’s thrust into the starter role again. Roggow looked further along than Wasel to me. Take that with a grain of salt as it was only one day and one scrimmage. All the QBs have some mobility.

 

RB - Definitely no one with the size or ability of Lingard, although Simmons had a nice run and will likely be the starter. No power backs on the roster may come back to bite us in short yardage situations.

 

WR - Norton is the real deal at WR. I’m calling it now, All-MAC year coming his way. I thought JUCO transfer Campbell looked good too. It’s easy to see the upside in Louis and Davis. Not sure if they are quite ready to consistently contribute, but maybe they will have a strong summer and fall camp.

 

TE - The TE group looked good blocking and receiving. This should be the best group of TEs to date.

 

OL - The offensive line had their moments, but were overwhelmed for a substantial part of the scrimmage. To be fair, the defensive front is extremely impressive. Missing a player like Seymore can make a difference. James has come a long way at left tackle. Blachard also looked good. I saw redshirt freshman Mann pancake someone (didn’t get a number) and I think it was redshirt freshman Morris who crushed someone on a pulling block. All that being said, we are still not where we need to be along the OL. We have a chance to be decent if everyone is healthy and development continues, but the recent portal offers make sense.

 

DL - Nunnally is a terror coming off the edge and seems to have added mass. Adler was the other starter at DE. The rotation of Lavea, Kapongo, and Moore at DT is incredibly stout. Easily one of the best (if not the best) interior DL rotations in the MAC this year. I also noticed Cheatom making some plays, but not entirely sure if he was lined up at DE or LB. 

 

LB - Linebackers basically blended with the DL, which is a good thing. We already know what have with McCoy, Fish, and Cooper. 

 

DB - The secondary looks long, physical, and athletic. I believe the starters were David and D. Johnson at Safety, D. Lewis at Nickel, Golden-Nelson and P. Lewis at Cornerback (I could be wrong on that though). Laing-Taylor easily had the most impressive play with an athletic interception. He covered ground quickly and made the diving snag.

 

ST - I unfortunately managed to miss all the kicks (outside of the opening kickoff by Jackson), so I have nothing to report about special teams.

 

All in all the program is in a great place. The team physically looks the part and much of the young talent is impressive. The defense should be one of the best units in the MAC. The offense has a chance to be really good if Finley is healthy and the OL progresses. There will certainly be more roster movement ahead, so we’ll see what happens.

Edited April 28 by catdaddyp

[taylormade28]

6 hours ago, catdaddyp said:

I was distracted a good portion of the time, but here were some things I gathered.

 

Most of these names have already been mentioned that were held out: 

OL - Seymour and Shor

WR - Adams, Wilson, Rush

DL - L Jackson and Richards 

LB - Benege and Spriggs

DB - Jarmon

 

QB - Finley is head and shoulders above the other quarterbacks. Bullock should be effective in situational setups, but the offense will struggle if he’s thrust into the starter role again. Roggow looked further along than Wasel to me. Take that with a grain of salt as it was only one day and one scrimmage. All the QBs have some mobility.

 

RB - Definitely no one with the size or ability of Lingard, although Simmons had a nice run and will likely be the starter. No power backs on the roster may come back to bite us in short yardage situations.

 

WR - Norton is the real deal at WR. I’m calling it now, All-MAC year coming his way. I thought JUCO transfer Campbell looked good too. It’s easy to see the upside in Louis and Davis. Not sure if they are quite ready to consistently contribute, but maybe they will have a strong summer and fall camp.

 

TE - The TE group looked good blocking and receiving. This should be the best group of TEs to date.

 

OL - The offensive line had their moments, but were overwhelmed for a substantial part of the scrimmage. To be fair, the defensive front is extremely impressive. Missing a player like Seymore can make a difference. James has come a long way at left tackle. Blachard also looked good. I saw redshirt freshman Mann pancake someone (didn’t get a number) and I think it was redshirt freshman Morris who crushed someone on a pulling block. All the being said, we are still not where we need to be along the OL. We have a chance to be decent if everyone is healthy and development continues, but the recent portal offers make sense.

 

DL - Nunnally is a terror coming off the edge and seems to have added mass. Adler was the other starter at DE. The rotation of Lavea, Kapongo, and Moore at DT is incredibly stout. Easily one of the best (if not the best) interior DL rotations in the MAC this year. I also noticed Cheatom making some plays, but not entirely sure if he was lined up at DE or LB. 

 

LB - Linebackers basically blended with the DL, which is a good thing. We already know what have with McCoy, Fish, and Cooper. 

 

DB - The secondary looks long, physical, and athletic. I believe the starters were David and D. Johnson at Safety, D. Lewis at Nickel, Golden-Nelson and P. Lewis at Cornerback (I could be wrong on that though). Laing-Taylor easily had the most impressive play with an athletic interception. He covered ground quickly and made the diving snag.

 

ST - I unfortunately managed to miss all the kicks (outside of the opening kickoff by Jackson), so I have nothing to report about special teams.

 

All in all the program is in a great place. The team physically looks the part and much of the young talent is impressive. The defense should be one of the best units in the MAC. The offense has a chance to be really good if Finley is healthy and the OL progresses. There will certainly be more roster movement ahead, so we’ll see what happens.

I told you about AD last year at WR he's NICE!!!!!!!!

[zipsrowdy88]

Hey all, didn’t get a chance to get to the spring game due to living OOS. 

 

Can someone sum up or quote a summary of how it went? I am finding it hard to get back on the wagon for this team but I figure that one positive summary will help

 

 

[Head coach Huell Jackson]

2 hours ago, zipsrowdy88 said:

Hey all, didn’t get a chance to get to the spring game due to living OOS. 

 

Can someone sum up or quote a summary of how it went? I am finding it hard to get back on the wagon for this team but I figure that one positive summary will help

 

 

Great Crowd, New QB Ben Finley looked solid, Bullock still cannot throw accurately passes 10 yards down the field. Special teams were making every field goal. 3rd String QB is Brenden Raggow the Freshman who graduated HS early. He has looked good in camp and right now has beat out Steele Wassel for the 3rd string. Wassel has looked absolutely horrible tho and very disappointing. 

 

Everything is riding on Ben Finley 

[Captain Kangaroo]

1 hour ago, Head coach Huell Jackson said:

Great Crowd, New QB Ben Finley looked solid, Bullock still cannot throw accurately passes 10 yards down the field. Special teams were making every field goal. 3rd String QB is Brenden Raggow the Freshman who graduated HS early. He has looked good in camp and right now has beat out Steele Wassel for the 3rd string. Wassel has looked absolutely horrible tho and very disappointing. 

 

Everything is riding on Ben Finley 

For a spring game the crowd was ok. Nice to have the band there.

 

Agreed that Finley is the hands-down starter. Need him to stay healthy. 

 

Special teams is scary. At least the FG kicking. Zips were trying a couple different holders, so maybe that contributed to some of the misses. But if nothing changes, fans will be sweating out every FG, whether it's a 27 or a 45 yarder.

 

In the two scrimmages I attended up to the spring game, Wasel was the 3rd QB, and Roggow was 4th. Neither got very many reps up until the spring game. Both played a fair amount last Saturday and Roggow looked much more comfortable.

 

Jordon Simmons looks to be the #1 RB. Seems to have both power and speed. Kellom looks to be #2. To be honest, I'd put Blake Hester at #3. He had a nice spring.

 

Defense looks solid. Corners played well. Stout up front. LB's are the strength.

 

OL has a ways to go. Hopefully it gets sorted out in August.

 

Adrian Norton looks like the #1 WR. Walker and Campbell seem to be solid. I hear JD is on the road, meeting with a couple Portal WR's this week. 

 

Seems like Joe is happy with the assembly of talent he has this season. I'd like to think in Finley can stay healthy that we'll finally see Joe's offensive reputation manifest itself on the field. It should be MUCH better than when Irons, Tahj  and Undercuffler were taking snaps.

[MangoZip]

40 minutes ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

For a spring game the crowd was ok. Nice to have the band there.

 

Agreed that Finley is the hands-down starter. Need him to stay healthy. 

 

Special teams is scary. At least the FG kicking. Zips were trying a couple different holders, so maybe that contributed to some of the misses. But if nothing changes, fans will be sweating out every FG, whether it's a 27 or a 45 yarder.

 

In the two scrimmages I attended up to the spring game, Wasel was the 3rd QB, and Roggow was 4th. Neither got very many reps up until the spring game. Both played a fair amount last Saturday and Roggow looked much more comfortable.

 

Jordon Simmons looks to be the #1 RB. Seems to have both power and speed. Kellom looks to be #2. To be honest, I'd put Blake Hester at #3. He had a nice spring.

 

Defense looks solid. Corners played well. Stout up front. LB's are the strength.

 

OL has a ways to go. Hopefully it gets sorted out in August.

 

Adrian Norton looks like the #1 WR. Walker and Campbell seem to be solid. I hear JD is on the road, meeting with a couple Portal WR's this week. 

 

Seems like Joe is happy with the assembly of talent he has this season. I'd like to think in Finley can stay healthy that we'll finally see Joe's offensive reputation manifest itself on the field. It should be MUCH better than when Irons, Tahj  and Undercuffler were taking snaps.

I think we have a portal kicker coming this summer?

[Zipsfan10]

The crowd was better than anticipated!

 

Agree on Finley being the stand out, but the amount of turn overs given his history is still concerning. 
 

Not a lot of faith in Taj, but he has tools. 
 

Wasel is somewhat unorthodox, but showed some flashes and mobility. I can’t remember a turn over, but he also had less opportunities. 
 

Roggow throws a pretty ball. I believe he had one turn over, but again less opportunity. 
 

Overall, I’m pleased with the depth at QB. 
 

Simmons looked good. 
 

Defense was the highlight of the day in my opinion and brought great energy. 
 

Agree definitely improvement needed with the OL, but not terrible. 
 

Norton should be fun to watch. 

[clarkwgriswold]

50 minutes ago, MangoZip said:

I think we have a portal kicker coming this summer?

I have 4 years of eligibility and can make 50% of extra points if the linemen are 5'10 and under.

[MangoZip]

Did anyone who was at the spring game notice how poorly lit the indoor facility was? So many lights were out in the ceiling that it seemed like they were almost playing in the dark. It’s another alarming sign how much this athletic program must be struggling for cash. So many different teams use that facility, this should be a very high priority for resources. 

[ZippityDoooDuh]

It was dark in the facility and the last of the practice was pretty anticlimactic. Didn’t match the energy the game had before the rain.