2017 Spring Practice

dressedcheeseside

dressedcheeseside

Helluva Engineer
Messages
14,218
It's good to be confident, bad to be overconfident. As a fan, it's less important, it doesn't affect game outcomes. Well, it does affect the outcome of your sanity. I wouldn't try to glean too much insight from this vid and, from it, predict a massive victory by the Jackets.

A lot is said about having extra time to prepare for the option. Well, this is the part that makes the most difference, imo. The defenders get extra reps practicing proper technique in defeating our style of blocking. I bet they're working on the interior cut block avoidance, too. That's the part that matters more, imo. If we can't control the LOS, it's gonna be a long night and it won't matter what the the little guys are doing on the perimeter.

Two more things to consider before getting too high on our chances: remember we always start slow and that we always seem to underperform when expectations are high. We usually seem to do better when expectations are low. Don't know why, it's just always worked out that way.

On second viewing, that drill is not bad. It's about stopping your forward momentum so you do run into the block and using "strong hands" on the helmet to push the blocker down. I'm sure they'll practice this technique in game speed situations, too. Anybody who's coached knows you introduce techniques in situations that are easier to understand. Major league hitters still hit off tees to work on proper form/technique.
 
Last edited:
PBR549

PBR549

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
837
dressedcheeseside said:
It's good to be confident, bad to be overconfident. As a fan, it's less important, it doesn't affect game outcomes. Well, it does affect the outcome of your sanity. I wouldn't try to glean too much insight from this vid and, from it, predict a massive victory by the Jackets.

A lot is said about having extra time to prepare for the option. Well, this is the part that makes the most difference, imo. The defenders get extra reps practicing proper technique in defeating our style of blocking. I bet they're working on the interior cut block avoidance, too. That's the part that matters more, imo. If we can't control the LOS, it's gonna be a long night and it won't matter what the the little guys are doing on the perimeter.

Two more things to consider before getting too high on our chances: remember we always start slow and that we always seem to underperform when expectations are high. We usually seem to do better when expectations are low. Don't know why, it's just always worked out that way.

On second viewing, that drill is not bad. It's about stopping your forward momentum so you do run into the block and using "strong hands" on the helmet to push the blocker down. I'm sure they'll practice this technique in game speed situations, too. Anybody who's coached knows you introduce techniques in situations that are easier to understand. Major league hitters still hit off tees to work on proper form/technique.
Click to expand...
I agree with you. You can't read much in to a few minutes of a cut block drill in spring practice. I'm sure they work those type of drills every week during the season because everyone cut block's on the edge so there's nothing new here.

Also the article posted in another thread with the interview with a sophomore DT from UT isn't much either as far as what will happen in the game.

Both teams will be well coached on both sides of the ball so it will come down to execution like always. I don't put much stock in to things like "we always start slow" or "they've had the entire off season to prepare" etc.

The fact is every year you have a new team and so do they. What we did against Notre Dame two years ago or what they did against Appy State last year has very little to do with this game. Execution by the teams on the field on that day is what counts.

The rest of the stuff is for fans to kill time with until the season starts.
 
dressedcheeseside

dressedcheeseside

Helluva Engineer
Messages
14,218
PBR549 said:
I agree with you. You can't read much in to a few minutes of a cut block drill in spring practice. I'm sure they work those type of drills every week during the season because everyone cut block's on the edge so there's nothing new here.

Also the article posted in another thread with the interview with a sophomore DT from UT isn't much either as far as what will happen in the game.

Both teams will be well coached on both sides of the ball so it will come down to execution like always. I don't put much stock in to things like "we always start slow" or "they've had the entire off season to prepare" etc.

The fact is every year you have a new team and so do they. What we did against Notre Dame two years ago or what they did against Appy State last year has very little to do with this game. Execution by the teams on the field on that day is what counts.

The rest of the stuff is for fans to kill time with until the season starts.
Click to expand...
I agree with almost all of that. I think there is something to the starting slow thing that is a constant with our teams even in openers where we've scored at will against inferior defenses. Execution is extremely dependent on precision. It's more than knowing what to do, it's knowing what everybody else is doing and how they do it, in time and space and at full speed. The only way to get that is by live game reps. It helps to have a lot of returning players with lots of game reps, but the qb will not be one of them. Even with past reps, a lot of timing is lost with the layoff and as you say, it's a new team and they have to learn each other.
 
Longestday

Longestday

Helluva Engineer
Featured Member
Messages
2,856
I did not post as a we will win post, but it looked like they never practiced defeating cut blocking drills. They looked very raw no matter how you look at it. I sure wish they only had a week versus all spring summer and fall to practice.

I do not predict a blow out. The game will be a hard faught game. 1st game of the season in the night with the big lights on will make this a tough game. I would rather have it at 12:00 against a lower ranked team as our warm up.

On second thought, I look forward to this night game and would not wish it any other way. It will take some maturity and leadership to overcome the hype and the moment.
 
dressedcheeseside

dressedcheeseside

Helluva Engineer
Messages
14,218
Longestday said:
On second thought, I look forward to this night game and would not wish it any other way. It will take some maturity and leadership to overcome the hype and the moment.
Click to expand...
Agree completely. This is where having a supremely confident jr qb in the huddle and at the LOS makes a big difference.... leadership and maturity and not letting the big stage/moment be a hindrance.
 
PBR549

PBR549

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
837
Longestday said:
I did not post as a we will win post, but it looked like they never practiced defeating cut blocking drills. They looked very raw no matter how you look at it. I sure wish they only had a week versus all spring summer and fall to practice.

I do not predict a blow out. The game will be a hard faught game. 1st game of the season in the night with the big lights on will make this a tough game. I would rather have it at 12:00 against a lower ranked team as our warm up.

On second thought, I look forward to this night game and would not wish it any other way. It will take some maturity and leadership to overcome the hype and the moment.
Click to expand...
It does look like a preliminary type drill but it probably wouldn't be any different with any preliminary drill video with any group and any technique. To most people it looks very elementary because most people would be unaware of the coaching points for that preliminary drill.

I'm very optimistic about our chances against them for a lot of reasons but this drill video is not one of them.
 

takethepoints

Helluva Engineer
Messages
6,095
awbuzz said:
Shamire won't play? :( was hoping he'd have a bust out spring and season.
Click to expand...
Just what I thought. Coach did say, however, that everybody who would be held out could play if it were the regular season. The coaches know that Shamire can play; that isn't the question. He's probably dinged up a bit and they don't want him to aggregate the situation.

I think he will play a lot in the coming year, especially in the red zone and against teams that line their DTs up so that he can drive block them. And there's no question who goes in first if Braun or (absit omen) Will get hurt. Still, I wish he was playing on Friday. It's always fun to see what happens to opposing DLs when he hits them.
 
Top