Bumped. GO BRUINS. -N

I'm no football analysis expert, but for whatever it's worth, here are my thoughts on the scrimmage today. Forgive me if things are a little rough, but I wanted to get this posted ASAP.

Player of the Night- Brian Price. Every time he was on the field, he was making plays. He had a sack, a couple tackles for losses, and a pressure that caused an interception. He is going to be scary this year. I'm curious if he would have made as many plays with Kai Maiava in there, but Maiava sat this scrimmage out.

Pleasant Surprise of the Night - Damien Thigpen. He looked absolutely brilliant every time he touched the ball. He hits the line sooo fast and squeezes through the tiniest holes. He seemed to pass through the line like a ghost. Even after he got hit he was fighting for yards and always falling forward. He was fantastic on returns too, getting a huge kickoff return and a punt return. If I'm coach, I make him the starter tomorrow, even if he couldn't block a 120lb pregnant mother on a blitz. He's too dangerous to keep off the field.

Letdown of the Night - Carroll and Presley two of our biggest name freshmen, both had a tough night. They had opportunities, but couldn't really do anything with them.

Reality Check - Our offensive line still needs LOTS of work, especially in pass protection. Our run blocking was ok against the 2nd team, but really whenever Price was in, we couldn't go anywhere. We still didn't get to see Maiava (I'm getting worried about his tendency for injuries)[Edit- the announcer said Maiava wasn't playing, but LAT reports he was]. On the plus side, our freshmen didn't look like weak links out there although they were still getting beat at times.

Interesting Highlight - On one play Knox lowered his shoulder and delivered a pretty big blow to Viney, although Viney still took him down. A few series later Viney came back with vengance and delivered a big hit on Knox. It's fun to watch those little (literally they are both really small!) rivalries on the field.  

Funniest Moment- Demitrius Papadakis had a couple good runs. After his second good run, someone in the stands starting yelling, "Is Petros here? Your little brother is better than you! And he doesn't talk as much either!" (maybe not those exact words but close) I laughed and a lot of people around me did too.

The Team as a Whole - everyone looked a little tired out there today. The energy level didn't seem real high considering it was a scrimmage in front of thousands of fans. I know it's hard to get fired up for a scrimmage, but I would have liked to see a little more hustle. Everyone seemed kinda lackadaisical between plays. Multiple big returns against our coverage teams tells me that either we weren't hustling or we need to get some new guys on punt and kickoff coverage. The defense also seemed to slow down a few times before the play was over. On the Franklin touchdown, for a sec it looked like the defense thought he was stopped, and I think that brief hesitation allowed Franklin to break it. Then again there were a few times when practically the whole defense was in on a tackle. 

Continue reading this post »