SB Nation User Blog: matsumoto720

Spring Practice Update 4/16/09

matsumoto720 — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 06:04:09 -0000

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

Here We Go ... Day 1 Practice Notes

matsumoto720 — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 05:00:28 -0000

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.

spring scrimmage report

matsumoto720 — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 05:17:50 -0000

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...

RN knows how to play the crowd...provided he stays within the rules while here, he is the perfect fit for us.
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
i think we have some reasonable optimism for next year

1) RN did a few things and said a few things that were awesome. he welcomed us all in after a series (which i missed) and kind of woke up the crowd a bit, telling us that we were going to "have some fun" tonight.

second, he did something really classy. towards the end of the scrimmage, he brought both Ben and Pat out to midfield on the logo, on their crutches, and asked the crowd to give them some applause. people came to their feet and gave some love for both senior quarterbacks, which i thought was a tremendous gesture by RN...unfortunately we're without cowan for 2008, but here's to hoping we can salvage something out of Big Ben.

finally, to end the evening, he said "i apologize to you guys down here (referring to some fans) who wanted us to throw deep. but we WILL throw deep this year. we WILL run the ball this year. and we'll do what we need to do to make this an exciting program, not only this year, but also in the years to come."

the guy is a TREMENDOUS public speaker...the passion bucket was overflowing tonight!

neither Craft nor Forcier stepped up and took control of the offense, but if you remember back to last year's scrimmage, we didn't score any touchdowns. If I'm remembering correctly, Craft led one long touchdown drive, and Forcier led one, with Craft adding another TD during red zone situationals. both made some nice throws, made some bad throws, and didn't necessarily have a complete grasp of the offense, especially since cowan has been getting a majority of the reps to this point.
the fact that the offense put the ball in the end zone a few times without PC or BN, without Khalil Bell, Raymond Carter or Aundre Dean, was encouraging. i'm not sure, but this year's defense should be just as good as last year, because i never did really think our seniors last year were that great as all-around football players. davis and trey brown always talked a good game, but i think this year's defense will be more disciplined, won't give up personal foul penalties at the end of the half to give the other team gifts, and will play more disciplined. that being said, the fact that both Craft and Forcier led a TD drive against the D when last year neither BO or PC could get us in the end zone until red zone says something, and i think it's because of NORM CHOW. i think we will move the ball despite our serious talent deficiencies, and with RN and NC in control of this team, i think we can be competitive, and i'm looking forward to our BN discussion about our expectations for the 2008 team.

GO BRUINS

Spring Practice Notes 4/10

matsumoto720 — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 11:10:50 -0000

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 ...

6) Then we did some 9 on 9s, which is basically 7 on 7s, with 3 O-lineman and 2 DLine rushing, to create some simulated pressure while working on pass plays.

# of reps:
Cowan 14
Olson 4
Craft 4
Forcier 4

Cowan, 8-13 for 45 yds...one nice TD to TA during red zone.
Olson, 3-4, 62 yds...one nice 25 yd. TD throw to Jamil Turner, and one Norm Chow FB Wheel throw to Theriot for 25 yds. Olson looked pretty good during this drill, but it did not earn him more reps.
Craft 4-4, 35 yds...some blown coverage by the 2s involved.
Forcier 1-2 12 yds, the incompletion being a drop by the walk-on TE.

I was surprised to see Forcier in there, but it appears that RN is looking for options, even with PC getting the majority of the workload. I couldn't hear what was said to RN, but as he put Forcier in there, he said to someone..."Don't tell me which QB is hot...I need a QB to GET hot!"

7) End of practice with 11s ... I would say that if PC is our guy...RN appears to just be riding him no matter what happens in practice, but i didn't see that much from Cowan...(although he would still be my choice to start)

Cowan vs. the 1s:
Moline 3 yd carry, POPPED by Reggie Carter.
9 yd pass to DJ
Fumbled Snap
Moline -1 yd loss (Carter, Siewerzki)
Ramirez no gain (Siewerzki...who had a GOOD day)
Incomplete deep ball to DJ, slips with the ball in the air...

Olson vs. the 2s:
Overthrows on PA, into triple coverage
Fumbled Snap
Overthrows Graves
10 yd bootleg PA to FB Theriot

Cowan vs. 1s and 2s
Moline 4 yd gain
Batted ball
Bubble Screen Batted down
Pass broken up nicely by LB Boz
Moline 7 yd gain out of a check by Cowan
8 yd swing pass to Ramirez
Coverage Sack
Sack by Price on PA
Ketchum drops a nice throw on the post pattern
Ramirez -2 yd loss, nice play by DE Blake

Olson vs. 2s (Red Zone)
TD Pass to Moya on TE Seam...NICE throw
Sheppard 10 yd gain
Moline 3 yd loss (Chase Moline on the tackle)
8 yd pass to DJ in the flats

Cowan vs. 1s
Ramirez 6 yd gain
Ramirez no gain POPPED by Reggie Carter again...
1 yd swing pass to Moline, nice stop by Hale
Moline 10 yd on draw
DJ drop in the flats

then the offense started from the 24 and actually advanced the ball in game situations...

Forcier vs. 2s

9 yd pass to WR Embree (ball tipped, broken play)
Defense offside
Moline 3 yd run
Forcier 2 yd run
Sheppard 3 yd run
Field Goal

Cowan vs 1s

4 yd curl to DJ
12 yd curl to DJ
Moline 4 yd run
Moline 2 yd run
Incompletion
FG

Craft vs 3s

Now it started to get intense because the defense was giving up yards but would NOT let the offense into the end zone, and RN announced that this would be the last series...

Nice PA, 13 yd pass to TE Martin
Incomplete, Craft overthrows receiver
Sheppard 9 yd run

1st and goal...both O and D started to hoot and holler and encourage the 2nd and 3rd string players, both wanting to win...

1st: Sheppard 3 yd loss (Chase Moline nice tackle)
2nd: Forcier throws ball away on PA
3rd: Sheppard 2 yd run to the 1.

RN says..."4th and goal...we're going!"

Sheppard gets LIT by DT Siewerzki, fumbles the ball, recovered by the D, with all the defense streaming onto the field in celebration.

The defense won today...

Anyways, impressive players continue to be the same: Reggie Carter, Courtney Viney, Trevor Theriot, Terrance Austin, but you can add Chase Moline and Jerzy Siewerzki to that list...we look pretty good at the 2 deep at DT, but a lot of that may be our OLine that is STILL struggling.

But the big news I would say is the amount of reps that Cowan got...probably more than the other QBs combined...let's get ready to go to battle with PC!

I would say that the offense does look better scheme-wise. Cowan and Craft know when the short stuff will be available from their pre-snap reads. Cowan has learned how to check into a play to run away from whichever side the defense is favoring.
Olson looked really good at times, and really bad at times, and so I think we just need to ride with Cowan, which it appears RN is looking to do.

However, I didn't make practice Monday or Tuesday (grad school and jobs are getting in the way) and so if someone else saw a different amount of reps on those days, then maybe i'm reading too much into the fact that PC is getting as many reps as BO, Craft and CForce combined (with OR not getting any during 7s, 9s, or scrimmage action)

I’m 50-50 for Saturday's practice...can likely make it back for Tuesdays practice, but not Monday's.

GO BRUINS

"king of the jungle day"

matsumoto720 — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 00:48:15 -0000

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.

1) first drill i saw after seeing 2 min. of position drills was a one on one battle on the line with a QB and a RB, so for example, first off it was micah reed (the center) blocking brigham harwell. let me tell you from playing a bit of defense (in flag football but still) that one on one drills after EXTREMELY difficult...for one, the lineman knows which way the ball carrier is going and the defender does not...there were groups: 1) linemen v. linemen, TEs and FBs vs. LBs, and then WRs against DBs. C Reed blocked DT Harwell nicely, FB Trevor Theriot OWNED OLB John Hale and then got the offense all fired up with some emotion after his block, and then believe it or not, WR Terrance Austin, who looked terrific in this drill, pushed CB ATV off the ball...

i like the idea of this drill for the offense (who won probably 80% of the rest of the snaps), especially since we're struggling on the OL right now. this is a great way to build the confidence of our lineman with this drill. that being said, the guys who were impressive in this drill were FB Theriot (31) who was pushing LBs all over the place, MLB Reggie Carter (51) who stopped the ball carrier EVERY time, (and remember, this is an offense advantaged drill), WR Austin (4) like i mentioned, and RS Fr. CB Courtney Viney (7) who was doing a nice job getting off the block. (uniform numbers are in parentheses)

2) then we got to see some 11 on 11 for just 4 series, mostly focusing on running plays and mixing in play action to keep the defense honest. and here's my snap by snap notes:

a) Olson against the first string D

Chane Moline breaks a 25 yd run, followed by a mini skirmish at the end of the play...no doubt some yapping going on, and the defense frustrated by the nice blocking.
RB Ramirez, 4 yd. gain off tackle, then POPPED by MLB R.Carter.

b) Cowan against the 1s

Moline 3 yd gain up the middle, tackle by DT Harwell
Fumbled Snap, causing OL Coach Bob Palcic to blow a gasket...

c) Craft against the 2s

Moline -2 yd loss (nice stop by MLB Sloan) followed by a skirmish. RN let the first skirmish go, but dropped out of CEO mode to give the team and earful on clean play and immediately make all 22 players on the field do 10 up downs...love the coaching
Broken play, Craft touched for sack by DT Siewerzki
Ramirez 3 yd gain (sloan on the tackle)
David Martini? 5 yd gain

d) Olson against the 1s again

PA low throw incomplete, ATV good coverage
Ramirez 5 yd counter (LB Bosworth)
Moline 5 yd gain off tackle
PA Olson overthrows WR Taylor Embree by a mile
Moline no gain (DE Boz)

the defense looked great except for the 25 yd gain on the first play...absolutely nothing on the play action. gotta put some of that on the OL, but the RBs were gaining a few yards here and there...not too bad on run blocking.

3) Punt coverage time and more of ST Coach Ganz.

John Hale called the wrong snap count on the first attempt and Ganz went crazy and pulled Hale out. After that, his attention to detail, giving the punt coverage team one by one instructions for what they do on the snap, block, and then coverage. TREMENDOUS! Ganz then told the punt team that they needed to line up correctly, pay attention to detail and focus, or all of them would have zero oxygen in their body at the end of practice. he had the punt team do all situations, regular punt formation, max protection, from the 2 yd line (short snap), and from both hashes. we will not be unprepared on special teams this year.

during this time, the QBs were working on footwork with Chow, and RN was in full-scale CEO mode talking to some parents of recruits on the sideline. (i wish i can tell you who the recruits were...there were a lot of them there, but i cant see faces from lot 6)

4) 7 on 7s, so basically offense v. defense without the linemen.

here we go, bear in mind the QBs were alternating plays and personnel to boost the tempo (remember, we're playing FAST and practicing FAST...tempo was definitely up)

1st string D:

1)Cowan, coverage sack...it's spring ball. make a throw! dont run it for 2 yds...that was a theme with cowan during the entire day. it worries me.

Olson, drop by TE Paulsen. big surprise.
Cowan, 7 yd completion to TE Moya, crossing route. i LOVE this play design by Chow.
Olson underthrows receiver.
Cowan, 12 yd completion to TE Moya (thank God Moya's back!)
Olson 8 yd gain to FB Theriot on the RB Angle, slant out then back in. *to me, this means that FB Theriot really knows the playbook, since usually the RB angle is run for the tailback, but maybe we're gonna run it with the FB this year.
Cowan, bad pass. he was noticeably frustrated with the route that the receiver ran, and this led RN to pull Cowan aside for a bit.
Olson, nice post pattern to WR Turner for 15 yds.
Cowan good throw, WR Ketchum drops the 12 yd out

during this time, TE Nate Chandler was working with the linemen on blocking drills. i sure don't think he's ready for prime time yet...

Olson 2 yd dump off to RB Ramirez. good coverage
Cowan fake run, then tries to throw on the run and misses badly. DONT RUN IN 7 ON 7S!!! this is the time to make mistakes...
Olson 5 yd completion to TE Chandler.

2s now, and exculsively QB Craft...

Craft 4 yd pass to Paulsen (curl)
Craft 4 yd pass to Graves (curl)
Craft 16 yd completion to Ketchum (not a great throw though, nice catch by Ketchum)
Craft overthrows Everett on the deep ball

back to the 1s on D, and 2 quick series with OR and CForce

OR no throw...surprise surprise
OR 5 yd pass to TE Chandler
OR 2 yd pass to WR Graves, missed tackle, runs for TD (not sure if they were going full bore on tackling though since its 7 on 7)
False Start
OR overthrows WR

CForce

Forcier 12 yd completion to TE Travis Martin, nice scramble and throw on the run.
Forcier 10 yd completion to WR Embree on a curl
Forcier overthrows WR

i would say this for the 7 on 7s...Cowan and Olson did not make quick decisions. I trust that Chow will work with them, and RN pulling Cowan aside says a lot about his willingness to bring him along right now. Remember, it's day 3 of a new offense. Craft, however, would have his mind made up and make a quick throw. The first 2 plays, his receiver was open. I don't know if this means he knows Chow's offense better than Cowan and Olson, but he made quicker decisions. Olson showed the same old indecisiveness in the pocket, and i still don't understand why Cowan tries to run in 7 on 7s. 7 on 7s, if i'm not mistaken, are made for passing drills mostly. this shows that Craft made quicker decisions than the other two...

anyways, i stayed for a bit of 11 on 11 as well... here's the notes:

1) Olson with the 1s.

a) Bubble Screen to Moya, high throw by Olson, 1 yd. (nice tackle by Lockett)
b) Ramirez for no gain POPPED by MLB Carter (Carter was ballin' today)
* Reminder that Sean Sheller was playing Tackle with Aleksey Lanis slightly banged up. I'm sure N had notes on this earlier...
c) Moline 2 yd loss off tackle, Tom Blake beats Micah Kia and makes the tackle
d) Olson throws wide of TE Moya on the curl...incomplete

2) Craft with the 2s

a) 4 yd completion to RB Ramirez
b) Sack...the entire DL was in the backfield. our 2s on the OL are not very solid...
c) Sheppard 1 yd run up the middle (Nice hit by Sloan, tackle broken, CB Meadows cleans up)
d) Martini 3 yd loss. (stop by DE D.Carter)

3) Cowan with the 1s

a) Bubble Screen to Everett for 3 yds. Nice move on Everett to juke Lockett, but then trips.
b) Cowan 10 yd Play Action Bootleg pass to FB Theriot for 10 yds.
c) Fumbled Snap
d) Moline 6 yd gain off tackle, nice block by Sheller. (tackle by DE Boz)
e) Cowan sacked.

Let's sum things up today:

1) Impressive players today, in order of my observations:

a) MLB Carter
b) FB Theriot
c) WR Austin
d) MLB Sloan (was very active)
e) CB Viney (also active)

Of the QB Situation, it's going to take time. in terms of making reads, i would say Craft is the best, but i worry about the experience factor, something that Olson and Cowan have more of at the D-I level. but again, it's gonna take time. but in order of the reps, it's olson first always, and then cowan. i think i would honestly rather see cowan at this point, but i really don't know. i'll trust chow's judgment.
i liked the tempo, and again, the attention to detail, especially during the special team drills. RN has assembled a solid staff and these guys know what theyre doing.

it's a sad day today. thanks to our basketball players for a memorable season. LMR, we wish you well and thanks for 4 years of a job well done. we'll be back next year.

i got class on monday and tuesday....can probably swing by on thursday.

GO BRUINS

spring practice day 1

matsumoto720 — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 02:32:17 -0000

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.

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
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.

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.
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.
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

pre-game den going ons

matsumoto720 — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 23:50:37 -0000

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...

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
the den was reppin' with the "digger is still a wimp" sign
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

under the bus

matsumoto720 — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 23:01:38 -0000

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

just chatting with a buddy of mine and he asked a great question...

"why was chris meadows in the game in the first place?"

it leads me to compile a list that we can call "under the bus" which refers to the position that many of our players have unfortunately been placed in.

1) since it was mentioned, we've got the Chris Meadows drop. now i've heard all these nice practice reports from the guys over at BruinGold that do a good job posting up summer and fall practice reports about meadows making these amazing one handed catches and a 30-plus vertical...

the problem is that you can see all kinds of things from a player in practice, but then you put a player in a relatively new position during a game and you do not know how he will react...why not put meadows in on offense on some other plays at the end of the wsu game to get some experience? even jamil turner and ryan graves would be better options for that play, (each has 1 catch on the year i believe) not to mention that either joe cowan or terrance austin or BOTH were on the bench on that play...

2) the terrible ATV punt muff that brought back horrible memories of wyoming that i didnt want to be reminded of...a punt off the face mask? the sad thing is that ATV is one of our guys who plays his heart out, doesn't pop off in the press or after he makes a play (see Loudmouth Bruce Davis, Trey "I can't cover any player on the field" Brown, and Dennis Keyes with his BS walk-it-in TD against washington)

the problem is that ATV has only been returning kicks (which are DIFFERENT than returning punts) in his past experience, and so against the #9 team in the nation, why do we go to the 2 returner set, especially when austin proved that he is more than capable of making plays back there.

the saddest part of the decision to put ATV back there is that he has had such a fine career in his 2 years here so far, and then he gets put into the game doing something he has little to no game experience doing (i believe we did the 2 PR thing a few times, with austin or ryan graves handling the ball every time) in the middle of an important game (despite all the problems this year, had we won we would still be in rose bowl contention) and it sets the poor kid up to fail when he has done nothing but work as hard as he can and play as hard as he can in his prior experience

3) we all know what happened against ND and don't really need to relive it, but how about the 4th and 1 decision to roll mac out when we should have run the ball...all on a 4th and 2 from the 22, which could have been a FG that put us up 9-3. based on the way the D had played that day, this lead may have held up...

we all know MBT was put in a position to fail...dont need to say much more about that.

4) how about OR, who i hope to see turn into a great UCLA QB by next year's head coach, hopefully in the spread or in an offense that is designed for him to SUCCEED and not to fail...the problem with getting excited about OR's athleticism is that we run the "unstoppable" WCO. so on the first series (and for much of the first half) we call these QB draws when we do all these short routes, keeping 8 guys in the box...the ludicrous last play does teach us something, and that is that if we want to see OR running with the ball, then it isnt a bad idea to send our receivers on deep routes (which is not really the WCO) to pull the DBs and a LB or 2 back deep, giving him more room to run. now i know that that was the last play and the defenders were deep, but the principle is still there...running a curl or a crossing route isnt going to help ORs athletic ability.

and how about when we actually called a pass play that wasnt a swing pass to breazell? never mind that these actually worked and that weve got a guy named dominique who can go up and get the ball, but instead we decide to go run-run-qb draw for the ENTIRE first half...

5) and how about the defensive secondary against WSU and Arizona, first being the excessive PI calls in Pullman, and then the most amount of jump balls thrown in the history of football by Willie Tuitama. yet we put our DBs in man coverage on every play...verner has been able to get the job done, and even rodney Van, for as bad as he's been over the years had an excellent game oN Saturday. but putting trey brown or michael norris on a receiver one on one has almost been an automatic completion, TD or flag over the last few games. and to top it off, we put christian taylor, fresh off his unfortunate injury a few weeks ago, into one on one coverage against a faster RB in the first half of his first game back from a seizure...talk about putting our players in a position to fail

it really makes me feel bad for our players, because we do have some guys on our team who play hard, and i really do feel bad that they are not being put in a position to succeed...chris horton and reggie carter come to mind. from section 22, it looked like horton was flying on the field 2 days ago, and when he gets interviewed, he doesnt talk about "dominating" or give the other team BB material, but he just talks about being focused on what the team can still do...another example is reggie carter...another is ATV...kids with great character who come and bring it on saturdays.

i would love to go on but i have class registration soon, and thank God for basketball season being here so we can watch a team where the coach brings his players along at the right speed, in the right situations, and giving them as much as they can handle but not more...i guess i could have summed this post up as "dorrell needs to go" but i think we can keep coming up with new and inventive ways to say that before dec. 1.

GO BRUINS

today's practice thoughts...

matsumoto720 — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 22:49:03 -0000

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

Spring Practice tidbits

matsumoto720 — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 06:25:09 -0000

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...