Team returns to the practice field today

Yaller Jacket

Ramblin' Wreck
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979
Qua Searcy must be quite a talent. Next year will be interesting. No position drops off like wide receiver next year. Maybe he can go both ways.
 

forensicbuzz

21st Century Throwback Dad
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8,861
Location
North Shore, Chicago
I didn't hear Coach's comments, did he say they were going to give Qua a look at CB specifically or at DB? I believe he was a Safety in HS (Austin twins were CB's, I believe) and I think our backfield deficiencies are more glaring at Safety.
 

Dustman

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,246
I didn't hear Coach's comments, did he say they were going to give Qua a look at CB specifically or at DB? I believe he was a Safety in HS (Austin twins were CB's, I believe) and I think our backfield deficiencies are more glaring at Safety.
He said corner
 

Eric

Retired Co-Founder
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12,734
Qua Searcy is at boundary CB this week...they want to see how he preforms.

Not guaranteed they will pull his RS.
 

dressedcheeseside

Helluva Engineer
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14,220
Ken S. of the ajc says he's practicing at field corner:

Ken: He is training at the field cornerback position, where Chris Milton is starting. On the depth chart, Milton is backed up by Lawrence Austin and Lynn Griffin.

Also, I'm a little surprised that spot is open for tryouts with both Lance Austin and Lynn Griffin backing up Chris Milton. Really surprised LG hasn't stepped up yet.

http://www.ajc.com/news/sports/college/techs-searcy-getting-cornerback-tryout/nhTp3/
 

Bruce Wayne

Helluva Engineer
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1,870
Thanks, he may win us or lose us a game yet but I'd rather have Butker in for the 60 yard game winning attempt over anyone else..... 20-40 yards, maybe not. When we intercepted the ball on VT at the end of the game at about the 40, I was thinking that we were in FG range already.

I will take this opportunity to make my observation on Butker. Getting into a second year now he is incredibly consistent in what he does well and what he does poorly. He is a distance kicker, has an incredibly strong leg. But he cannot kick from hash marks unless he is very deep as well. It seems like he has so much power in the kick that they will stay straight way too long to be accurate from close in unless he is straight on in the middle of the field. I think he can't get the curve needed in his kicks unless the ball has enough space to fly and gently get into its cut. Probably due to leg strength again.

In a similar fashion he cannot angle kickoffs. Given the distance and his strength they end up out of bounds so far. In the GSU game I think he was at first being intentionally asked to try and angle some kickoffs or effectively kick them short enough to entice a return so our kick coverage team could get some work in. The first one went out of bounds. Then after that his short kicks to get a return were not that effective plus the kick coverage team looked real weak. Therefore, ever since he seems to have been told to just kick the ball out of the endzone. He is great at that, again tons of leg strength and distance.

So unless he can develop more in the areas he is not great at then I think CPJ needs to play to Butker's strengths and avoid his weaknesses. Or possibly even see if one of the backup kickers can prove to be consistent in the two areas Butker is weak in (angled or intentionally shorter kickoffs and hashmark fg attempts back to the 35).

I was not at all worried about if Butker was going to make the game winning FG because the offense was intentionally running to the exact middle of the field to set it up for him. I think the offense may need to run 3rd down plays with getting to the middle of the field in mind if it is a situation based on distance for the first down where a FG attempt on 4th down is highly likely. Otherwise go for it on 4th and short if we are stuck on a hash closer than 35 yards to the endzone.
 

Dustman

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,246
I will take this opportunity to make my observation on Butker. Getting into a second year now he is incredibly consistent in what he does well and what he does poorly. He is a distance kicker, has an incredibly strong leg. But he cannot kick from hash marks unless he is very deep as well. It seems like he has so much power in the kick that they will stay straight way too long to be accurate from close in unless he is straight on in the middle of the field. I think he can't get the curve needed in his kicks unless the ball has enough space to fly and gently get into its cut. Probably due to leg strength again.

In a similar fashion he cannot angle kickoffs. Given the distance and his strength they end up out of bounds so far. In the GSU game I think he was at first being intentionally asked to try and angle some kickoffs or effectively kick them short enough to entice a return so our kick coverage team could get some work in. The first one went out of bounds. Then after that his short kicks to get a return were not that effective plus the kick coverage team looked real weak. Therefore, ever since he seems to have been told to just kick the ball out of the endzone. He is great at that, again tons of leg strength and distance.

So unless he can develop more in the areas he is not great at then I think CPJ needs to play to Butker's strengths and avoid his weaknesses. Or possibly even see if one of the backup kickers can prove to be consistent in the two areas Butker is weak in (angled or intentionally shorter kickoffs and hashmark fg attempts back to the 35).

I was not at all worried about if Butker was going to make the game winning FG because the offense was intentionally running to the exact middle of the field to set it up for him. I think the offense may need to run 3rd down plays with getting to the middle of the field in mind if it is a situation based on distance for the first down where a FG attempt on 4th down is highly likely. Otherwise go for it on 4th and short if we are stuck on a hash closer than 35 yards to the endzone.
Bruce he should be able to correct this IMO. His kicks don't move that much from right to left. Now if it's me trying to hit a golf ball between the uprights, then I agree with you.
 

txsting

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
129
He hits a draw (curves it left, u non golfers) and seemingly aims right of center on purpose. On short kicks, if he pushes it a bit right, there isn't enough time for the ball to draw back in. At least he is consistent. That tells me it can be fixed. His post game comments sounded like he understood how to flush a mistake and move to the next kick, which is encouraging!
 
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