I kind of wish the lacrosse game had been after the basketball game. (Yes, I mean Syracuse - and yeah, I kinda like this deal where we get both of those games on the same weekend.) I might've stuck around for the second half. I guess the lax crew looked a lot better after halftime. I wouldn't know, having had my fill after two quarters of only winning faceoffs if the ball first found its way to one corner of the field.
I don't need to learn that lesson for basketball, because Tony always figures it out. I suppose one day maybe he won't, but, I mean, if you've been paying attention you know how he preaches, and even the worst fifteen minutes of offense in anyone's recollection isn't insurmountable if the defense is still defensing.
For all the criticism announcers take, sometimes they hit the target, and the crew on Monday night did just that when they said all it took to fix the putrid offense was an attitude adjustment. Might be that Evan Nolte's three-pointer kicked off the run, but what made it a run was the decision by the ballhandlers to attack the zone. It's amazing how things just fell into place after that.
And through it all, the defense. The offense swung as violently between extremes as any team's offense ever did this season, and the defense was the defense, which makes it sort of fitting the Hoos wrapped up the regular-season title that way, because it was Tony's preaching brought to life in lurid fashion.
Myron Medcalf can keep on being snide. (And he does, believe me.) Anyone who isn't entertained by this team has no business watching college basketball. Three games in a week, all of them vastly different from one another yet all of them with unmistakeable Tony Bennett fingerprints. Tony just engineered two of the three double-ups in ACC history, in one season. If the Hoos win in Louisville, Tony will be, as far as anyone can tell, the only ACC coach, probably the only coach in any conference, to improve his win total six years in a row. These are mind-boggling feats of strength. Are you not entertained?
**************************************
-- I found myself caught in the trap that most writers fall into, to wit: pre-forming a narrative and hoping the facts turn out to fit it. In this case I was planning on writing about how last week was revenge on a pair of teams that woke the dragon by daring to play the two closest games we've seen all season. Wake certainly obliged. VT basically did, too, but undermined the narrative by getting three of the stupid-luckiest rolls on three-pointers I've ever seen. Tech did make the first half close, but try landing a shot like they did, just so, on the back of the iron. Take away blind luck and the VT game is a plain-Jane blowout.
-- I'm almost always a huge fuddy-duddy about showboating and punking your opponents - I thought, for example, that Kevin Stallings of Vanderbilt was 99% in the right in berating his player for clapping in someone's face. (The only quibble is that I do think there's wisdom in the maxim "praise in public, criticize in private.") But I also know the difference between having fun and being a dick, which is why I don't mind one bit that Darion Atkins got T'ed up. Except that maybe that would've been a solid time to swallow the whistle and not call an I'm-in-charge-here foul.
-- Jim Boeheim's not a bad guy, as coaches go. But Rob Vozenilek and Maleek Frazier checked in at the scorers' table to finish out the VT game. One game later, the TV cameras panned to Syracuse's Carter Sanderson sitting at the end of the bench in the final seconds of a blowout while the announcers set up the replay of his portion of the senior day festivities. That's the Tony Bennett Difference.
-- An appendectomy??? What's next for Justin Anderson, Lyme disease? Sheesh.
-- Interesting bit of news on the football side, where UVA will bolster the tight end depth chart with former QB Brendan Marshall. Makes sense, since he was being rapidly buried in the QB hierarchy and tight end is completely lacking in experience and depth. It's still lacking in experience, but the more pieces you throw at the wall, the more likely one will stick.
Showing posts with label marshall. Show all posts
Showing posts with label marshall. Show all posts
Thursday, March 5, 2015
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
quarterbacks, finally
I've avoided this subject on purpose for a while now. Mike London has always insisted on making it a pretty painful one, because he refuses to make a decision. His waffling on this issue is without doubt the most frustrating thing about him as a coach. More so than his constant haranguing of the refs or his exceedingly questionable decision to have the not-strong-armed Mike Rocco try to lead a game-winning drive into gale-force winds down in Blacksburg. These are frustrating as a fan. The quarterback thing is frustrating as both a fan and a blogger, because it makes any prediction I try to make turn to dust a few days later. Analysis is what I do, more or less, and analysis is pointless when not even the head coach knows who's going to take the next snap.
Why the change? Because London appears committed to change. Or less change. He told the assembled media throng at ACC media days that he would pick a quarterback early in camp, and that guy would actually be the guy. What a helluva concept.
A quick review of the spinning carousel in the three years of London: In 2010 it was Marc Verica, while some backups came in and tossed the ball a little as well. This was not offensive to my sensibilities, since there was an established starter, but the signs were there even if we missed them. Mike Rocco and Ross Metheny split the garbage-time snaps, a pretty clear indication that London had no idea what to do with the #2-on-down pecking order. 2011 was a wishy-washy disaster in August, September, and October, until London appeared to come to his senses, put Rocco in for the rest of the season, and watched him win four straight to clinch a Peach Bowl trip. It might've stayed that way if Phillip Sims hadn't arrived on scene, and suddenly it was back to the well of indecision. Depending on who you believe, it might've been fueled by London promising to give Sims the starting job, followed by Sims not exactly seizing it. Politics, in other words.
Rocco left last winter, not knowing that Sims's eligibility wouldn't survive the spring. Spring practice saw more of the same ol' stuff, too, but Sims's departure took a chunk out of our depth yet cleared up the picture. Also clearing up the picture: almost certainly Tom O'Brien. London by himself might have been moving toward the realization that the waffling wasn't helping, but TOB was brought on for his experience and sage counsel, and no doubt delivered some on the subject.
So, at the moment, there are two contenders for the job. Matt Johns and Brendan Marshall will be on the roster as well this season, but Johns sat out spring and is naturally behind, and Marshall is a true freshman. That leaves David Watford and Greyson Lambert.
Lambert probably has the stronger arm, and he's been putting in the appropriate work. Watford redshirted in 2012 after the snaps he played in 2011 proved that, more or less, he wasn't ready. That redshirt could turn out to be one of the best things the program has done for itself, because almost every observer labels Watford the frontrunner. It makes one think about the merits of a redshirt season after a season on the field. There's something to be said for learning what you don't know and then having a year-plus to work on that stuff.
Besides that, there are more than a few people praising Watford's leadership efforts. Not that Lambert hasn't also been making himself known in that regard, but Watford seems to have a good combination going for him: leadership, command of the offense, and the ability to move around a little bit. Watford isn't going to be an electric runner, but he can keep a play alive with his feet longer than Lambert is ever likely to be able to.
If Watford gets the nod, it'll be a new experience for our new OC, Steve Fairchild. The vast majority of his experience (if not all of it) comes from dealing with big-armed pocket passers, QBs much closer to Lambert's style than Watford's. I couldn't find any examples of quarterbacks Fairchild has worked with that have a skill set like Watford's. That said, I don't know how adaptable Fairchild is but it's a little on the encouraging side that the coaches are picking a quarterback based on who's the best quarterback, rather than who's the best fit with the coach's history. We're not talking about a Rich Rodriguez here, who has done one thing all his life, done it very well, and wouldn't know how to run a pro-style offense in a hundred years. Fairchild is still going to run whatever offense he runs, he'll just have to figure out how best to use Watford's skills in it.
In any case, though, we'll be going into the season with yet another brand-new starting quarterback. No matter who gets picked. Watford has some starts under his belt....two years ago, and with a different OC, and frankly very little he did in 2011 was effective. I don't think his freshman season is a useful indicator of anything. Lambert is a redshirt freshman and therefore has never taken a game snap. Sims was a likewise unknown commodity in 2012, just like Rocco was in 2011. UVA hasn't had the same quarterback take the majority of snaps in two consecutive seasons since 2006-2007, with Jameel Sewell. That won't change this year, either. However, if Mike London has truly decided to join the rest of college football and stop indecisively platooning his quarterbacks, he might just be laying the foundation to end that streak. Which in turn would mean the kind of stability that one frustrated blogger has never had the privilege to write about.
Why the change? Because London appears committed to change. Or less change. He told the assembled media throng at ACC media days that he would pick a quarterback early in camp, and that guy would actually be the guy. What a helluva concept.
A quick review of the spinning carousel in the three years of London: In 2010 it was Marc Verica, while some backups came in and tossed the ball a little as well. This was not offensive to my sensibilities, since there was an established starter, but the signs were there even if we missed them. Mike Rocco and Ross Metheny split the garbage-time snaps, a pretty clear indication that London had no idea what to do with the #2-on-down pecking order. 2011 was a wishy-washy disaster in August, September, and October, until London appeared to come to his senses, put Rocco in for the rest of the season, and watched him win four straight to clinch a Peach Bowl trip. It might've stayed that way if Phillip Sims hadn't arrived on scene, and suddenly it was back to the well of indecision. Depending on who you believe, it might've been fueled by London promising to give Sims the starting job, followed by Sims not exactly seizing it. Politics, in other words.
Rocco left last winter, not knowing that Sims's eligibility wouldn't survive the spring. Spring practice saw more of the same ol' stuff, too, but Sims's departure took a chunk out of our depth yet cleared up the picture. Also clearing up the picture: almost certainly Tom O'Brien. London by himself might have been moving toward the realization that the waffling wasn't helping, but TOB was brought on for his experience and sage counsel, and no doubt delivered some on the subject.
So, at the moment, there are two contenders for the job. Matt Johns and Brendan Marshall will be on the roster as well this season, but Johns sat out spring and is naturally behind, and Marshall is a true freshman. That leaves David Watford and Greyson Lambert.
Lambert probably has the stronger arm, and he's been putting in the appropriate work. Watford redshirted in 2012 after the snaps he played in 2011 proved that, more or less, he wasn't ready. That redshirt could turn out to be one of the best things the program has done for itself, because almost every observer labels Watford the frontrunner. It makes one think about the merits of a redshirt season after a season on the field. There's something to be said for learning what you don't know and then having a year-plus to work on that stuff.
Besides that, there are more than a few people praising Watford's leadership efforts. Not that Lambert hasn't also been making himself known in that regard, but Watford seems to have a good combination going for him: leadership, command of the offense, and the ability to move around a little bit. Watford isn't going to be an electric runner, but he can keep a play alive with his feet longer than Lambert is ever likely to be able to.
If Watford gets the nod, it'll be a new experience for our new OC, Steve Fairchild. The vast majority of his experience (if not all of it) comes from dealing with big-armed pocket passers, QBs much closer to Lambert's style than Watford's. I couldn't find any examples of quarterbacks Fairchild has worked with that have a skill set like Watford's. That said, I don't know how adaptable Fairchild is but it's a little on the encouraging side that the coaches are picking a quarterback based on who's the best quarterback, rather than who's the best fit with the coach's history. We're not talking about a Rich Rodriguez here, who has done one thing all his life, done it very well, and wouldn't know how to run a pro-style offense in a hundred years. Fairchild is still going to run whatever offense he runs, he'll just have to figure out how best to use Watford's skills in it.
In any case, though, we'll be going into the season with yet another brand-new starting quarterback. No matter who gets picked. Watford has some starts under his belt....two years ago, and with a different OC, and frankly very little he did in 2011 was effective. I don't think his freshman season is a useful indicator of anything. Lambert is a redshirt freshman and therefore has never taken a game snap. Sims was a likewise unknown commodity in 2012, just like Rocco was in 2011. UVA hasn't had the same quarterback take the majority of snaps in two consecutive seasons since 2006-2007, with Jameel Sewell. That won't change this year, either. However, if Mike London has truly decided to join the rest of college football and stop indecisively platooning his quarterbacks, he might just be laying the foundation to end that streak. Which in turn would mean the kind of stability that one frustrated blogger has never had the privilege to write about.
Friday, June 1, 2012
the recruit: Brendan Marshall
Name: Brendan Marshall
Position: QB
Hometown: Gaithersburg, MD
School: Our Lady of Good Counsel
Height: 6'5"
Weight: 210
24/7: 83; three stars; #46 pro-style QB; MD #27
ESPN: 76; three stars; #29 pro-style QB; MD #14; Atlantic #70
Rivals: 5.6; three stars
Scout: three stars; #49 QB
Other offers: California
Bill Lazor likes to keep the quarterback cupboard very well stocked, and take at least one every recruiting cycle. (Often two, as we've seen.) That particular box was checked very early this year, and could've been checked even earlier if things had fallen into place faster.
With Mike Rocco pretty well entrenched and Greyson Lambert as part of the 2012 class (not to mention Matt Johns) the UVA quarterback situation wasn't really amenable to pulling in a top-level prospect this year. The coaches went after the big three instate guys - Hackenberg, Burns, and Hodges - but the former two quickly committed out of state. When the coaches started realizing that Bucky Hodges was going to VT, they went for their next target: Marshall.
"Whitey" Marshall comes to us from one of those places that you always want to have a presence: Good Counsel. They were beyond a doubt the best team in the DC area last year and might be again this year. Last year it was their offense that led them to success - or at least got all the credit for it. Marshall was the new guy on the block (replacing previous starter Zach Dancel), and he had a ton of weapons at his disposal. Teams tried to shut down his running game and see what kind of stuff he was made of, and he was up to the task.
Even so, Marshall didn't have to throw much for Good Counsel to win. When he did, he impressed, but with guys like Wes Brown and Stefon Diggs around him, Marshall only needed to throw about 12 times a game, and didn't put up mindblowing stats as a result. This year might be a better test of his abilities; Brown and Diggs are gone, and though he's got guys like Andre Levrone (another UVA commit) to replace them, the truth is that Good Counsel's offense doesn't have the eyepopping talent it used to. (The defense is completely loaded, though, so I'll be surprised if they don't again go undefeated.)
Plainly enough, Marshall is a pocket passer. He doesn't look the part of an athlete and given the lack of any mention of athleticism whatsoever in his ESPN scouting report, it's probably not present. That report is full of praise for the technical aspects of Marshall's game: "takes pride in his drops, footwork and ability to freeze defenders," "very good at reading coverage," and so on. He doesn't have the zing on his throws that causes scouts to reach into their pockets for that fourth star, but he can lay it in there beautifully.
Those scouts are pretty well in agreement as to Marshall's abilities, as it turns out. ESPN appears higher on him than the others, but they're way behind the others in the number of prospects they've rated and there'll probably be some that move ahead of Marshall and place him right in line with the other services. Had he not committed so soon - he dropped barely a month after Signing Day - he'd certainly have garnered a few more offers, mostly from teams who didn't get their first choice at QB. As it is he really only got the Cal one, and depending on which source you read, maybe also Stanford and Syracuse. (The Stanford one is not that likely unless it came a looong time ago - that's where Ryan Burns went.)
You know how the depth chart is in front of Marshall. When he gets here next year he'll be in line behind all sorts of guys. Mike Rocco will be a senior, Phillip Sims and probably David Watford a junior, and there'll hopefully be two redshirt freshmen as well. ("Hopefully" because it would take either great catastrophe or great stupidity not to preserve the redshirts of Lambert and Johns.) So Marshall might be the most galactic lock to take a redshirt that we've had in some time.
He'll still be one year behind Lambert and Johns, though, without a year of separation (which is why it was so hard to get any top-tier names.) Looking three seasons into the future, Lambert is pretty likely to take over the starting job for a couple years, and if he doesn't, Matt Johns probably will. And who knows who'll be signing in 2014 or 2015. Marshall is going to have to absolutely fight tooth and claw to ever earn "the" starting job. His technical proficiency will ensure he's always in the fight, and he could rise to top backup relatively quickly; whether he can ever take the next step and start some games probably depends on the health and learning curve of the competition.
Position: QB
Hometown: Gaithersburg, MD
School: Our Lady of Good Counsel
Height: 6'5"
Weight: 210
24/7: 83; three stars; #46 pro-style QB; MD #27
ESPN: 76; three stars; #29 pro-style QB; MD #14; Atlantic #70
Rivals: 5.6; three stars
Scout: three stars; #49 QB
Other offers: California
Bill Lazor likes to keep the quarterback cupboard very well stocked, and take at least one every recruiting cycle. (Often two, as we've seen.) That particular box was checked very early this year, and could've been checked even earlier if things had fallen into place faster.
With Mike Rocco pretty well entrenched and Greyson Lambert as part of the 2012 class (not to mention Matt Johns) the UVA quarterback situation wasn't really amenable to pulling in a top-level prospect this year. The coaches went after the big three instate guys - Hackenberg, Burns, and Hodges - but the former two quickly committed out of state. When the coaches started realizing that Bucky Hodges was going to VT, they went for their next target: Marshall.
"Whitey" Marshall comes to us from one of those places that you always want to have a presence: Good Counsel. They were beyond a doubt the best team in the DC area last year and might be again this year. Last year it was their offense that led them to success - or at least got all the credit for it. Marshall was the new guy on the block (replacing previous starter Zach Dancel), and he had a ton of weapons at his disposal. Teams tried to shut down his running game and see what kind of stuff he was made of, and he was up to the task.
Even so, Marshall didn't have to throw much for Good Counsel to win. When he did, he impressed, but with guys like Wes Brown and Stefon Diggs around him, Marshall only needed to throw about 12 times a game, and didn't put up mindblowing stats as a result. This year might be a better test of his abilities; Brown and Diggs are gone, and though he's got guys like Andre Levrone (another UVA commit) to replace them, the truth is that Good Counsel's offense doesn't have the eyepopping talent it used to. (The defense is completely loaded, though, so I'll be surprised if they don't again go undefeated.)
Plainly enough, Marshall is a pocket passer. He doesn't look the part of an athlete and given the lack of any mention of athleticism whatsoever in his ESPN scouting report, it's probably not present. That report is full of praise for the technical aspects of Marshall's game: "takes pride in his drops, footwork and ability to freeze defenders," "very good at reading coverage," and so on. He doesn't have the zing on his throws that causes scouts to reach into their pockets for that fourth star, but he can lay it in there beautifully.
Those scouts are pretty well in agreement as to Marshall's abilities, as it turns out. ESPN appears higher on him than the others, but they're way behind the others in the number of prospects they've rated and there'll probably be some that move ahead of Marshall and place him right in line with the other services. Had he not committed so soon - he dropped barely a month after Signing Day - he'd certainly have garnered a few more offers, mostly from teams who didn't get their first choice at QB. As it is he really only got the Cal one, and depending on which source you read, maybe also Stanford and Syracuse. (The Stanford one is not that likely unless it came a looong time ago - that's where Ryan Burns went.)
You know how the depth chart is in front of Marshall. When he gets here next year he'll be in line behind all sorts of guys. Mike Rocco will be a senior, Phillip Sims and probably David Watford a junior, and there'll hopefully be two redshirt freshmen as well. ("Hopefully" because it would take either great catastrophe or great stupidity not to preserve the redshirts of Lambert and Johns.) So Marshall might be the most galactic lock to take a redshirt that we've had in some time.
He'll still be one year behind Lambert and Johns, though, without a year of separation (which is why it was so hard to get any top-tier names.) Looking three seasons into the future, Lambert is pretty likely to take over the starting job for a couple years, and if he doesn't, Matt Johns probably will. And who knows who'll be signing in 2014 or 2015. Marshall is going to have to absolutely fight tooth and claw to ever earn "the" starting job. His technical proficiency will ensure he's always in the fight, and he could rise to top backup relatively quickly; whether he can ever take the next step and start some games probably depends on the health and learning curve of the competition.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
recruiting board update
If they gave out an award to the animal that least gave a shit about anything except grass, the llama would be the runaway champion.
UVA scored its first commitment today, as was somewhat expected, so today is the recruiting board update that I'd otherwise have dropped on Monday. The commitment? The classy-named Brendan Marshall, quarterback from Good Counsel. Two of the big three quarterbacks from the state decided to leave the state, so Marshall is a little bit of a consolation prize; that said, he comes from a powerhouse program that's in the middle of a mini-golden age, and of course he's a pretty-OK quarterback in his own right. Marshall had an offer from Cal and was probably gonna get one from Boston College; all the schools that were interested in him are of the academic upper crust. Some people considered it hugely important to get one of the big three instate quarterbacks (Burns, Hackenberg, or Hodges) but the truth is Good Counsel may as well be instate; it's just as important as any school that happens to be within the Commonwealth's borders.
Marshall is a three-star, as compared to the Virginia four-stars, but is there a major need for maximum stars? No, not with two quarterbacks showing up this year and now one in 2013.
Here are the formal updates to the board:
-- Moved QB Brendan Marshall from blue to orange.
-- Moved WR Andre Levrone from green to blue. Levrone is from Good Counsel as well; getting his quarterback is worth a one-level bump.
-- Moved ATH Michael Parker from yellow to blue. Rivals' Mike Farrell tweeted some interesting stuff about him. We shall see. Parker seems like the type that you take and unfuck his grades later, if they need it.
-- Moved LB Micah Kiser from yellow to green. Don't ask me why exactly, but I have good feelings about Kiser and NJ LB Buddy Brown, and I bet UVA picks up at least one or the other.
-- Moved QB Bucky Hodges and DE Naim Mustafaa from yellow to red. Mustafaa will probably stay in the deep south. Hodges, well, we just got a quarterback and with space in the class the way it is, I'll venture to say we don't get two. I've been out on that limb before and seen it break right under my feet, so Hodges stays on the board, but you have to figure the door is closed here now.
-- Removed TE Adam Breneman from green. Penn State commit.
-- Removed QB Ryan Burns (Stanford) and QB Christian Hackenberg (Penn State) from yellow. Suspect the loss of two of the three VA quarterbacks helped convince the staff to crank up the dial on Marshall some.
-- Added LB Alex Anzalone to yellow. Because why not.
The early 17th-century Peruvian saint, San Juan Macias, is always depicted with a basket. This is his basket.
A request there was to see the inner workings of my tournament bracket. OK then. First you should know that I didn't exactly spend a bazillion hours on it. I find that there is zero correlation between time spent filling it out and success. So there are no special secrets to share. I'm not going to post the whole thing and you probably don't care what I think of the 8/9 matchup in the West or whatever, but here are the major incidentals:
-- The champion is Kentucky over Kansas. Kind of distasteful, but I simply take solace in the likelihood that, UK being coached by John Calipari, the banner will be in the same dusty storage room where Michigan keeps its Fab Five banners by 2016.
-- The Final Four is Kentucky (over Baylor), Missouri (over Michigan State), Florida State (over Syracuse and yes this was chosen before Fab Melo's ineligibility was announced), and Kansas (over North Carolina.)
-- The 5/12 upsets, of which you must always pick at least one, are Cal/USF over Temple and Harvard over Vanderbilt. Only two other upsets exist: NC State over San Diego State and Texas over Cincy. It is not a very ballsy bracket and has no double-digit seeds in the Sweet 16. Obviously what I've done is given St. Bonaventure the go-ahead for a Cinderella run.
-- UVA beats Florida but loses to Mizzou.
-- There is also a homer bracket. You must always have a homer bracket if your team is in. In this case, UVA advances to the Elite Eight (by beating Florida, Mizzou, and Murray State) where we are eliminated by Michigan State. This bracket also has Michigan in the Final Four and the mighty Detroit Titans knocking off Kansas thanks to about a thousand points from Ray McCallum and a thousand more from three-point specialist Jason Calliste. Gotta hit your threes if you're gonna pull off the upset. In reality UDM doesn't play near enough defense to stop Kansas and is a little too enamored with the alley-oop and I expect them to lose 95-75 or so. I love Eli Holman's confidence in talking about the matchup with Thomas Robinson, but, uh....well, hopefully he's right for the sake of my homer bracket.
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