Spring game thoughts

Scubapro

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Bingo!! We have spent 2 years with a focus on 1 thing - flipping the roster. I’d give that an A. This season is about the coaches. As mentioned by others there are going to be ways for this staff to maximize our players talents. The question is will they? So far based on what we’ve seen in 2 years I’m not confident at all. Love the recruiting and branding, but the actual coaching has been believe average even with the rebuild. If we get a first and goal from the 2 and we don’t have a jumbo package ready to go 4 straight plays then we are idiots. If we don’t just fair catch every kickoff then we are idiots. If we don’t utilize our richest at RB via the pass then we are idiots. Seriously, Gibbs, Griffin, Smith, and McGowan need touches via the short pass often and oftener. Let Mason and Bruce be the battering rams. And having Peery on the roster helps me sleep at night after what I saw. We now have a real backup who can win games if needed. I thought he looked fantastic given it was his first college experience.
This is what I thought...the coaches have the players they wanted....I don't want to hear any excuses from them about not knowing plays or what to do.
This season is squarely on the coaches.
 

SOWEGA Jacket

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Terrible. Plan apparently was to get nobody hurt. As a result, was unable to learn much, if anything, about whether the team would be better next fall or not.
Seriously? What spring game has ever showed us if we’d be better in the fall? Sure, would I have liked to seen real football, yes. But we had a lot of nice recruits there so putting on an infomercial while keeping ACL’s in tact wasn’t a bad plan. I’m just grateful we finally don’t have to open a season with an ACC opponent. This is a perfect year to get 8 quarters under our belt before we play an ACC game.
 

Jacketman99

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936
Seriously? What spring game has ever showed us if we’d be better in the fall? Sure, would I have liked to seen real football, yes. But we had a lot of nice recruits there so putting on an infomercial while keeping ACL’s in tact wasn’t a bad plan. I’m just grateful we finally don’t have to open a season with an ACC opponent. This is a perfect year to get 8 quarters under our belt before we play an ACC game.
I agree 100% with this. You still have the summer and almost twice as many practices in the fall to get ready for the season. I've seen us stink it up in the spring and go on to have nice seasons. I have seen guys look like world beaters in the spring only to not do much during the season. I think most coaches are looking at execution and to get through it without any injuries. I'm completely fine with that.

As others have stated, we definitely look the part. Now it is time to start putting some wins together.
 

danny daniel

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There’s a lot of height & mass for the OL, even the backups, good to see. Paula-Johnson-Williams-Cochran-Minihan are big, maybe they’ll be the starters? Green and Leftwich are there in size also.

Eley #10 and Tatum #40 were active on defense. Moreso than quez, but maybe they played more snaps. D-line added size & speed. Harris #11 was in the backfield a lot. Makius #90 was active.

Sims made some good plays, but threw one right in the hands of Tatum, which he dropped, reminder of last season.

Peery can throw for distance but a few arched very high, which could give a db time to catch up.

Yates on a few of his option reads didn’t keep his head forward, looked like he was telegraphing the pitch. But maybe he was doing this bc it was a practice game and they weren’t at full speed.

It was good to see a lot of fans in the lower west and north stands.
The options didn't work because there was no real option as the QB run was blown dead when he was touched so he had to pitch, and pitch early. I would like to see Knight in that roll when you had to put the ballcarrier on the ground.
 

alagold

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Tag fball is not going to show much good except passing.
McGowen (sp) showed what we need at slot.
We have too many RBs /talent and not enough LBs?.The 5th string RB gets the most plays.If Ely is the LB savior he needs to make that pick.
I just hope they were actually TACKLING all Spring-- since we didn't last Fall.
I'm not sure we have a Ctr.--poor snaps and erratic blocking.
true FR Edwards may need to start at rover.
I'm still not sure we have the #2 QB.
Nice unis.
 

g0lftime

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No reason to light up one of our own players in the spring scrimmage. Swilling looked very solid at RB but they may have been show casing him for a transfer. Kick-offs were better than last year. A couple of place kicks were a little low IMHO. TE got some love in the passing game. I agree still no clear QB backup but got to figure Yates. DK actually looked good running the ball. Punting-TBD??. I was hoping we would get a commit or two announced after the game. The kids on the team seem to really like each other and were very supportive of their teammates.
 

YJMD

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1,597
Glad they gave BJS lots of touches. Definitely showed some ability.

It is what it is. A chance to have some fun and get the fans the ability to see guys they aren't used to seeing.

Physically we looked the part. Man, Boyd is imposing. You could see where he needs work, though. Carter looked really slippery in finding the right spot to catch the ball. Multiple TE got involved which is good to see. Sims had some bad to go along with the good. The 2 minute drill was definitely promising. He was on time and on target. But of course he knew exactly the defense he was facing, and maybe even there was some scripting to that to pump us up. I hope the recruits came away with a great impression.
 

mtodd30

Ramblin' Wreck
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601
Anyone know why Dontae Smith was out? No obvious injury that I could tell from the stands.
He had a bit of an aggravation last week at the open practice, I couldn’t tell how bad the injury was, but he was standing up and walking on the sidelines towards the end.

probably just precautionary
 

SOWEGA Jacket

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I completely disagree on the backup QB. Peery has more training in this offensive philosophy than any of our current QB’s. And he looked every bit the part last night. Obviously, the staff is all in on Sims by giving him a free mulligan year last season. I feel real good about the QB position. I don’t have super high expectations because Sims and Peery are still young but now every receiver route is in the playbook and every run design is 8n the playbook. And they should keep getting better with every week.
 

wesgt123

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Sims looked sharper and a bit more accurate. We didnt see much from Gibbs but do we really need to? Offensive line looked better but need to see them in a real game to know.

McGowan may be a star for us this season. Peery looked decent for a true freshman. Couldnt tell much from defense but time will tell.

Only like 4 or 5 months til my next fix. Go jackets
 

GTRambler

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‘Ol Mack Brown up in North Cawrolina has his guys playing real tackle football in their spring game today. Only the QBs are off limits to tackling.

I like the football culture up there in Chapel Hill.

Just my opinion, which everyone here is entitled to, guys.
 

Sarrick

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‘Ol Mack Brown up in North Cawrolina has his guys playing real tackle football in their spring game today. Only the QBs are off limits to tackling.

I like the football culture up there in Chapel Hill.

Just my opinion, which everyone here is entitled to, guys.


Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but it doesn't mean their opinion has any value.
 
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