Bumped. GO BRUINS. -N

Got to practice as the 7 on 7s were finishing up...didn't have paper or a pen so i couldn't take my stats down, but i hadn't planned on going anyhow.

I went with a buddy that I sit with for home games that I went to school with, and both of us remarked how much energy there is and how much it starts with CRN and how refreshing it is to have that in our program!

Photo Credit: E. Corpuz

As everyone's reporting, it's clear the decision has already been made. Kevin Prince is the man. He's head and shoulders above everyone else in all facets:

Photo Credit: E. Corpuz

His arm strength lets him make throws that Brehaut and Craft simply can't make.There was one play when Prince looked far right to the receiver, then checked to his near right, the tight end, and then finally stepped left and fired a corner pattern to DJ who had been in the slot. This is encouraging because he knew where all the receivers were, threw to the correct one, and is the only QB we have who could make that throw and put it in a place where only the receiver could catch it.

Some other highlights/happenings

- Craft did throw a beautiful deep ball to Moutra for a TD, outthrowing the double coverage!

- Aaron Hester continues to be a player for us...he's all over the receivers, and even when a RB or WR is "finishing the play" (which means running to the end zone whether touched down or not...today was no pads btw) he runs with the ballcarrier all the way and is in his ear. it's like he's saying he's there and he's not backing down. the kid is a MAJOR athlete and player and while we're going to have to endure some holding calls and PI calls because he's so physical, he's going to be solid. i think that corner spot is closed for competition...

- Brian Price is unblockable. he ran right through Ekbatani several times, and nothing against Ek, but we need to go with the Freshmen when the season starts and get some more talented linemen in there...if he bulked up, it hasn't really shown.

- That being said, the OL is run blocking better. granted the only two practices i have seen have been helmets only and no pads, but there are holes where there weren't holes in previous year's spring practices!  If you remember back to last year, the DLine DOMINATED the point of attack, but we're able to get some good 3-6 yd. runs which is all we need come game day. 4 yards a carry will open up our passing game.

- Aundre Dean continued to struggle. he still runs too upright and had a bad fumble. CRN didn't chew him out and put his arm around the kid, but he's gonna have a hard time getting on the field this year. I know we had high hopes for him, but it's really looking like a Ramirez:

Photo Credit: E. Corpuz

and Coleman combo:


Photo Credit: E. Corpuz

with Franklin being the change of pace back here and there.

- There was extensive use of the 2 minute drill at the end of practice, and then CRN would run out the FG unit to kick a field goal. Forbath drilled his from around 35-40 yds. (reports are that he's been lights out this spring) and then Locke tried a 45-50 yarder that went just wide right. CRN said "nice kick Locke" and slapped his helmet...the kid has a solid leg and i'm sure he'll be a decent option for us at kicker if we eventually need it!

- As Dohn reported, there was a scare when MP went down:

Photo Credit: E. Corpuz

But apparently it was just a cramp:

Photo Credit: E. Corpuz

Let's hope we don't get more ravaged at the TE spot.

That's all for today...i only caught the last 45 minutes or so and tomorrow looks doubtful for me, but we'll see.

GO BRUINS

Bumped. Would love to read more reports like this from other practice goers on BN. GO BRUINS. -N

Apologies in advance...I'll have all this detail from day 1, but I have no clue when i expect to get back to Spaulding (likely a week or two) and I know that you can't really base too much on any one day, especially the first day.

That being said, time to crown the Prince!

Photo Credit: E. Corpuz

In both individual drills as well as the 7s and the light scrimmage, prince was the most consistent. If you watch all the small details of the QBs, his footwork, arm angle, and efficiency set him way apart from the others...that and he got almost 75% of the 7s and roughly 50% of the 11s, with Craft and Brehaut splitting everything else.

I mostly just watched the QBs during the individual drills. Like I said before, Prince's footwork looked to be effortless and concise. Brehaut, while having a strong arm, struggled a bit with his footwork. Craft looked like the same old Craft, throwing on target at times, and way behind receivers at others.  According to a friend of mine who was on the training staff last year, Crissman is still working through his shoulder surgery, which showed because his arm angle and delivery needs A LOT of work.  Rashaan stood off to the side and helped hand the ball to the center.  I feel for the guy.  In another system I think he could be really successful.

Anyhow, Prince looks the part. According to Dohn, Neuheisel said that both Prince and Brehaut did some good things and bad things, and he called a few of Prince's throws "horrendous." but all that to say, Prince's footwork and delivery and ultimately his knowledge of the playbook (which is no fault of RB that he hasn't learned it all yet...it was fairly evident) will likely make him our #1 qb next year. I say this all knowing well that you shouldnt read too much into one practice.

7 on 7 stats:

Prince 10-13 for 78 yds. 1 forced into coverage that Paulsen made a nice grab on...

Craft 1-2 for 13 yds. completely forced the throw, Harkey makes a nice catch...

Brehaut 0-3 a little high and inaccurate

Crissman 0-2 both slant throws were way behind the receiver

Catches:

Paulsen 3-33 nice catch for 20 yds on a seam, partially forced into coverage by Prince

Moline 3-23

Harkey 1-13

Rosario 1-8

R. Carter 1-5

Coleman 1-5

Ketchum 1-4

This displayed a theme.  9 of the 11 catches went to backs or tight ends.  The QBs, especially Prince, wee mostly looking to check down to the closer receivers, ie. the backs and tight ends. this isn't something to be concerned about yet.  If anything, it was nice to see Prince take what the D gave him and not force any throws (although he did on a few and got away with them).

The fact that throws were being forced showed that our D looks similar to past years.  Stick close to the man and have good coverage, but we often don't look for the ball, or we would have more interceptions for sure.

11 on 11 light scrimmage stats:

Rushing carries-yards: (23 carries-102 yds)

Ramirez 4-31

Coleman 2-16

Carter 2-14

Knox 4-13

Franklin 5-12

Dean 3-10

Moline 3-6

A few things to note. There are no pads, so there is no tackling.  I'm fairly certain that our D was not going full strength, because the runners had a lot more room than usual. on the flip side, some of the holes were pretty big, and I wonder if that's due to the OL's assignment blocking, and the backs were doing a really good job finding the holes.  It will be interesting to see what happens once the pads come on! But we will take 23 carries for 102 yards any day.  That would be a great situation for our offense if we can get the running game on track!

Passing stats:

Prince 8-11, 71 yds. 1 interception STRAIGHT to Viney, and one more that easily could have been picked by ATV

Craft 0-1, had 2 fumbled snaps on consecutive plays, and mostly just handed the ball off...

Brehaut 2-3, 18 yds. The one incompletion was a decent throw, but dropped by TE Miller.

Receivers:

Presley 3-21...was nicely moved around on the outside as a receiver, catching slip screens in the slot, and being a factor on play action!

Photo Credit: E. Corpuz

Paulsen 2-35...also did a nice job getting open on play action...TE will be in good shape when the season starts and Moya comes back!

Rosario 2-10

Moline 1-15

Austin 1-4

Coleman 1-4

Again, that's only 3 out of 10 being caught by receivers.  We'll see how this develops as time goes on.

That's all for the numbers. I thought in all, there was a high level of intensity (a few scrums breaking out here and there, mostly involving E.J. Woods) and a lot of good stuff that got done for the first day.

Stood out:

1) By my watch, Prince is already the guy...not based on the amount of reps (thats got a lot to do with RB not being fully comfortable with the playbook) but based on his footwork. he seiously looks more comfortable in the pocket, and did a great job completing the passes in both the 7s and the 11s

2)The strength training was noticeable...for one, Paulsen and Ayers definitely looked MUCH bigger, but both were moving well...

3) The holes that the RBs had! No one back looked better than another, and thats to be expected because there's so many guys...Franklin got the most carries, but it depends when they call a run, as Ramirez, Coleman, Dean, Carter, Knox, Franklin and Moline were ALL rotating at TB. but let's see if the holes are still there once the pads come on...

4) Coleman was already in at FB in a few situations, even one where he lined up at FB with Moline at TB...looks like we'll be seeing him there more often.

5) Antwon Moutra did some nice work and showed great hands in the individual drills, but once the D came in, he didn't look the same...let's hope he can step it up with game time speed!

6) Forcier was in there at WR, and obviously didn't know where to go or what to do, but based on the amount he was thrown in, i think the staff is excited to see what he can do at this spot.

7) Hester looks to be pretty athletic, although he did get beat by Rosario and then had to wrap him up for pass interference...let's hope he can

It was cold, but a good day to be out there at Spaulding. I know we should take day 1 with a grain of salt, but i hope to see the receivers more involved as the practices go on, and also to see how the battles at QB, RB, and CB shape up!

I hope to make it back tomorrow or Monday, but it's not looking very likely at all.  I hope we can look forward to some other reports of the other days!

GO BRUINS.

i left my notebook at home tonight...wanted to enjoy the scrimmage without charting play by play, but i'll offer my thoughts. i wish i had made it to a few more practices in the last few weeks, but my semester is coming to a close...

1. RN knows how to play the crowd...provided he stays within the rules while here, he is the perfect fit for us.
2. i would say Craft and Forcier were about even...there's a reason why Ossar doesn't get much time in practice....i'll get back to that
3. i think we have some reasonable optimism for next year

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Bumped. GO BRUINS.-N

Here we go... I took way too many stats, and so we'll see if I actually get this all in cause I'm not sure if everyone cares about the amount of stats from the entire 7 on 7s, 9 on 9s and 11 on 11s.

1) Got there as stretches were finishing up, and it went into position drills. the offense then did some basic plays as a unit without the defense...toss plays, the norm chow bubble screen, and then a play action screen.

The important thing to note is that Cowan was working with the 1s and Olson with the 2s...this became the theme for the day, and if today's practice is any indication, i don't think there's any doubt that PC is RN's guy as of right now.

2) Field Goal time...what i LOVED was that there was no hesitation...both units huddled and lined up for the first FG and Forbath DRILLED it with authority. then, there was ZERO hesitation...the units lined up and forbath made another one.

If you remember back to my first day of practice notes, ST coach Frank Ganz had to correct the foot position of the guards...EVERY single time the guards lined up perfectly. Ganz was still stressing the details, barking out the to corners on the FG Defense that BOTH of them are assigned to count up the number of players on the field. attention to detail is DEFINITELY there on special teams.

Then the 2nd teams went at it, and Rotstein missed 2 and then had his 3rd blocked by Courtney Viney...I imagine Viney is finding his way on to RNs board as he has been getting a lot of verbal praise from the coaches during drills.

3) One on one pass protection drills...I have to say that Nate Chandler had his moments today...on Saturday he didn't seem to be in the drills, didn't know where to lineup, etc. you could still see some of that today, but he was looking more active and starting to get some good feedback from the coaches as well.

Anyways, during the one on one pass protection drills, Ramirez and Carter fought to a draw, Akeem Ayers worked Logan Paulsen, Ryan Moya stood up John Hale (who i have to say is not very impressive as a senior), Kyle Bosworth popped Chane Moline and got to the QB, and then Craig Sheppard, who i have to say is pretty solid for a small guy, stood up Steve Sloan.

4) Some one on one WR vs. DB drills, took place, and then Punt team duties. Ganz was using today to walk us through different formations for punting and punt return depending on situations. As I have said before, we WILL not lose games because of special teams this season.

5) Then we did some 11 on 11 scrimmage, just for a bit. The way we do our 11 on 11s is to run a few in the middle of practice, exclusively working on the running game and mixing in a PA here and there, and we do the full scale 11 on 11s at the end of practice.

Of 18 plays, Cowan took 10 of them, with Olson taking 4 and Craft taking 4...seems pretty clear to me that Cowan is our guy.

Here's my unofficial stats on 18 plays:

Chane Moline 5 car, 15 yds...
Ramirez 5 car, 10 yds...
Sheppard 3 car, 10 yds...

Cowan 0-1, under throwing a WIDE open TA by 10 yards...and then sacked by Brian Price.

Olson did not throw
Craft attempted one pass and was sacked by LB Mike Schmitt.

Tackles: Harwell 3, D.Carter 2, lots of others with 1.

More after the jump ...

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it is a sad day today, and let me say congratulations to the memphis tigers. as we have said, this season was an incredible success, and i'm looking forward to seeing us reload and come back for more in the coming years...

that said, on to football. i started this at halftime since i cant even see the tv with 20 ppl at my friends apt, and so im gonna finish it up now post game....

didn't see the whole practice...showed up a little bit after the stretches and boned out during the 11 on 11s...while i LOVE ucla football, and love football as a sport more than basketball, today was not the day to be an idiot...had to leave at 2:45 to make sure i made it to a TV for tip-off.

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i know all of our minds are elsewhere today, but in between meetings in first culver city and then westwood, i was able to get to Lot 6 and watch about an hour and a half of practice.

1. right under me was new special teams coach Frank Ganz. Ganz was coaching a handful of players for punt returns...austin, lockett, norris, courtney viney, ryan graves, marcus everett...all of them seem to be in the running for the return game. i was impressed with Ganz and his energy level. he's extremely vocal, both positively and negatively. when lockett had the wind blow the ball a bit, yet still hang on, Ganz was encouraging and said..."hey sometimes the balls gonna move...let me tell you something. in december, when it's cold, it's impossible to catch the ball, but you gotta do it." Ganz is tremendous
2. Depth Chart notes...
   

• Cowan and Olson seemed to be rotating in and out with Micah Reed (the 1st team Center)
  
• because josh edwards is out at WLB with injury, John Hale was the #1 WLB with Boz still #1 at SLB.

3. The running back situation may be okay. Khalil Bell was in gear, catching punts, and looking a lot better than someone coming off a torn ACL 6 months ago...Raymond Carter looks FAST as well... he was out there in the red non-contact jersey... but he looked pretty good as well.
4. I didn't see any shotgun. it looks like we're using USC pro sets under Chow. if CalPolyBruin's writeup on Chow is any indicator, we'll learn ALL of our basic pass patterns in the first 2 days of practice. they're pretty basic...curls, WR screens, slants, and go routes.
5. When the team went into FG drills, one player was out of place and late getting into the huddle and Ganz went Larry Bowa...

"Guys we have 2 depth charts...one for field goals and one for punt...GET IN THE HUDDLE AND LINE UP CORRECTLY." did i say Ganz was tremendous? also, his attention to detail was tremendous as well, telling the Guards to line up with their inside foot behind the long snapper's leg to prevent any inside rush. (could have used it against BYU)

remember when our guys were fumbling punts away and dorrell claimed that we didn't have time to practice special teams because of the ncaa mandate on practice lengths? like Neuheisel said, we need to win the close games this year to be competitive, so thank God we have a competent coaching staff stressing the details on special teams.

6) Offensive drills...

all 5 QBs were rotating evenly throwing some of Chow's basic routes...

he started with the WR Screen that USC always loved to run, and of all 5, the only one who didn't botch a throw was Cowan.

second was the 7 yard curl, and i'd say olson threw these the best...all 5 QBs threw pretty good curls...it's hard to mess that up.

next they threw slants, and all 5 were mediocre...great. chow's offenses love the slant, and so we'll need to get this one right quick. same can be said for the look-in route (5 yards) as the curls..all 5 qbs threw pretty well.

finally the go route...patrick cowan was all over the place...short, wide, etc. cforce and craft weren't much better. craft looked rusty, consistently underthrowing the receiver. in all honesty, OR was throwing the best deep balls, with Ben not being too bad.

then we got into what i'm sure is the first half of Chow's 9-10 passing plays. i saw the USC FB Wheel, and a lot of simple stuff that attacks the cover 2...good stuff.

since we're rotating 5 QBs until we learn the offense, the tempo was tremendous today...we would have two formations going at once to speed things up. i can imagine RN using woodenisms..."be quick but dont hurry..."

7) With the DLine right in front of me, Brigham Harwell waved to me and my buddy who were at the top of Lot 6. he seems incredibly happy to be out there again after the injury frustrations from last year. good luck to you this year BH, and we're glad that you're back on the field. between him and Price, we're going to be SOLID in the middle.

in any case, our QBs looked inadequate today, but from what i saw from the coaching staff, i know we're in good hands. RN was in full scale CEO mode, going from group to group during the position drills, and showing some energy, encouraging the players, high fiving michael norris after a blocked FG.

i had to get to another meeting so i missed the last 2 plays that chow was going to install. i cant make it tomorrow, but i'll have more after saturday's practice as we're counting down til our epic game against the Tigers on Saturday.

in RN we trust

GO BRUINS

some news on the den prior to the beatdown of the standard...

not that i was there, but a friend of mine who was in the den before the gameday crew even got in gave me the lowdown...

1. as the guys came in (i think it was specifically directed at hubert davis?) but the immediate chant of the entire den was "east coast bias" clap-clap- clap clap clap
2. the den was reppin' with the "digger is still a wimp" sign
3. also present were the "pitcrew has a potty mouth" sign as well as something like "it doesnt get any hotta then mata!" after all the pit crew business, it's great to see the den supporting our players in full.

it's been a few yrs since i've been in there but i'm proud to see the greatest student section in the game carrying on...i'm hoping i see the cameroonian flag in there as well...in any case, it's incredible to have the gameday crew in our house and i have to say the atmosphere among many of the students i came across both today and this week was phenomenal...

while i'm trying to make this 200 words, i'm wondering if marcus williams will be able to catch this game tonight, but if my research is correct, he'll be in Tulsa, OK preparing for his D LEAGUE game tonight...

GO BRUINS

the chronicles of a coach putting his skilled players in positions to fail...

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just got back from spring practice today. there's been a lot of positive posts over at Bruin Gold about the weekly practices but i can't say today was encouraging, especially on the offensive side of the ball.

when i got there around 1:45, after a few position drills, the team went into some red zone 7 on 7 drills and it seemed like the same old story. i know there's been discussion this week here on BN in regards to the QB controversy and it seemed like the same old problems. cowan can't make the throws, and ben only looks at one receiver for the ENTIRE play.

that being said, olson did get the ball in the end zone a few times. on a new formation we seem to be running quite a bit we had 2 receivers on the outside and a tight end in each slot so we had twins on both sides. bell then went right up the seam and olson lofted it right over the head of the linebacker and in between both safeties for a TD. he also threaded the needle to Gavin Ketchum, showing off the arm strength that makes us all remember why he was the 5 star recruit coming out of HS.

meanwhile cowan did a better job than olson in terms of checking down to another receiver if the first guy was covered. however, the only touchdown i remember cowan throwing was to dominique johnson who may have pushed off on michael norris in coverage. in any case, it isn't that difficult to pick on norris in the first place who will probably lose his 2 deep job to courtney viney come august...but on an out route to austin, the ball skipped into him and on a crossing pattern to ryan graves the ball was like 3 feet in front of him...typical cowan stuff...

once the team went into the 11 on 11 scrimmage it became apparent that the offense couldn't really move the ball.

first series: (Olson with the 1s)

1st down: play action out of a 2 back, 2 TE set, olson sacked for an 8 yard loss by Bruce Davis.
2nd down: incomplete short pass towards the sideline
3rd down: incomplete pass again

2nd series: (Cowan with the 2s)
1st down: play action, 30+ yd. completion to Jamil Turner, covered by Michael Norris. again, not that impressive as turner was wide open.

however, cowan couldn't move the ball after that and the team settled for a 35 yd forbath FG (no good)

it quickly became apparent in the next 5 series that the offense was not going to move the ball and the team went into red zone 11 on 11, which resulted in, you might have guessed it, a ton of field goal tries. it was the same old problems. ben not looking off his receivers, letting trey brown and ATV stay in excellent coverage all day. cowan checking to another receiver only to run the ball but not gain too many yards against our athletic defense. terrance austin dropping the ball and not running the correct routes. the most impressive sequence was big ben running the play  action bootleg on 4th and 1 and picking up 8 yards, and then hitting paulsen from the 3 on nice sprint out pass.

a few other notes from today's practice:
1) tom blake looked impressive. on one play, chane moline had a HUGE hole and then blake threw the guard right into moline, stopping him for a 5 yard gain on what could have been much more.
2) quite a bit of chippiness, as both bosworths were right in the middle of a number of scraps, often with 3rd string tackle scott glicksburg.
3) trey brown had an excellent day and was talking trash to the receivers all day.

in all, norvell's offense does indeed look more creative, but creativity doesn't always lead to effectiveness. it's hard to say what it will be like come september, if our defense is really that good or if our offense is really that bad...

GO BRUINS

I wasn't able to make it to Spaulding today, but I did have a few friends send me a gold mine of information.

First about the defense:

"The practice went well. No injuries. I sat in front of the defensive linemen and watched them hit and shed blocks. Kevin Brown looks real agressive and so did Harwell. They both looked like they're close to 280-290 pounds. I saw Bruce Davis use his speed and quickness in the flesh! He's blazing fast!"

I had multiple people say that Kevin Brown looked extremely impressive so far this season. I believe he was instrumental in the success of Hickman and Davis last year since he had to take on so many double teams.

There have been some concerns about our offense so far, especially with Olson tweaking a hamstring. First Markey and then this...

"On the offensive side of the ball, T. Austin made two circus cathces from Pat Cowan. Cowan over threw him both times and the Jackrabbit from LB Poly made him look like a hero! Bethel-Thompson had great throws to the sidelines hitting WR D. Johnson and WR #3 (I think McGee) over the middle. He seems to have better touch than Cowan. Both QBs threw mostly out of the shotgun. In my opinion they should have Cowan roll out more and throw on the run. He's more accurate that way. I also think Cowan held on to the ball too long today. I'm sure he would have scrambled or suffered coverage sacks after 4 seconds in the pocket."

Good to hear that TA is making some plays in practice. I know he's had a tough go with the injuries and the curious lack of playing time last year, but it's good to know he's out there making plays for us.

At the same time, Olson's injury really concerns me because I had 4 different people who were at practice say the same thing...We will struggle offensively with Cowan at the helm. It's not good to know that he was holding the ball too long because one of his best attributes is that he makes quick and for the most part, good decisions. We need Olson to be able to compete for the job now and if he can't go 100% for Spring, it COULD mean that Cowan gets named the starter at the end of Spring ball.

"T. Austin struggled on the sweep run blocking drills. He's simply too small to block bigger, taller DBs. Joe Cowan looked great in his agility drills and caught a few good short routes. I think D. Johnson is going to create match-up problems if he's on the field. The WR corps looks deep!"

Other people told me that DJohnson looks good so far and that he could give us a good lift this year. It would be great to see our receiving corps being used like they were in 2005 when DO was able to spread the ball around despite KDs ridiculous amount of substitutions. In '05, Marcedes, Joe Cowan, Everett, Breazell and Ketchum all made significant contributions and it would be great to see more than just Everett have a good season at the WR position this year...

I've also heard that Brian Price was there again today and I believe that makes him 3 for 3 in the last few days. Great to see that he's a Bruin through and through.

One other interesting tidbit from those I talked to at practice was how involved Eric Scott is in practice. He's out there running back punts, getting tackled and extremely active with the players. Great to see what we've missed when we lost Bienemy...

Any other thoughts from Spring ball observers? I'll be out there next Saturday...

why do they get PT?

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