Continuing the series from yesterday with the camp issues for the defense.
1. Can Eli Harold be a terror on the edge?
The least proven ability on the entire defense is pass-rushing. Your starting defensive ends are Billy Schautz and Jake Snyder. Schautz has an outstanding head for football, but isn't athletic enough to speed-rush the quarterback, or powerful enough to bull-rush. When he gets by his man, it's through technique and footwork. Snyder is a big, strong-side run stopper, whose job is to hold the edge, and his backup, Brent Urban, is the same.
Mike London moved Ausar Walcott down from linebacker - for real this time, not as a wake-up call after offseason foolishness - in an effort to provide some speed-rush for pressuring the QB. But not one of these DEs has the raw athletic freakishness of top recruit Eli Harold. Harold will get a chance right off the bat to make his presence felt in the backfield. And truthfully, if he isn't yet up to the chore, this season's pass rush will be inconsistent and not terribly productive.
2. Is Steve Greer the real deal?
Greer was one of two Hoos named to the preseason all-ACC team. He's not very big and not very fast, but he's developed into a crucial player - captain on the defense, unquestioned leader, and team tackling champ for two of his three years on the field. And probably this year, too. He's always been able to work quietly in the background, though, or at least, as much as you can do that at middle linebacker. Being named one of the top three linebackers in the league is a high honor, but it means teams are gonna be gameplanning for him. He'll have a lot on his plate no longer being backed up by senior safeties, and UVA's defense is going to go as he goes. That's likely to be great news.
3. Do the defensive backs know what's about to hit them?
Folks had complaints about the play of our defensive backfield at times last year, but they still were mostly seniors, and the plaudits for Chase Minnifield outweighed any complaints about safeties sometimes giving up big plays.
As veteran as that group was, though, this group is greener. Let's put it this way: Tre Nicholson is a true sophomore and has six times as many starts as every other defensive back on the roster combined - which is because the only other player to have started a game is Rijo Walker, with two. The other safety, Anthony Harris, is as green as they come.
At cornerback, it looks like a three-man rotation (a familiar setup - you'll remember how much time Dom Joseph saw despite not technically being a starter) with Nicholson as the veteran leader and Drequan Hoskey and Brandon Phelps rotating. Hoskey - for now - has a leg up. There's a ton of talent in the cornerback group, but barely enough experience to fill a paper bag.
And if that weren't enough, it seems a near certainty that a true freshman will be forced onto the field, and it's anyone's guess who that might be. Defensive back might be the position that draws the most scrutiny in the whole camp.
4. Am I right about Chris Brathwaite?
I've long felt that Brathwaite is a sleeper talent in the truest sense of the word. I hate when people use the word "sleeper" or "diamond in the rough" because usually they do it wrong, but Brathwaite is the type the terms are meant for. And this is a possible breakout year for the big, strong DT from New York. Brathwaite is poised to leapfrog Justin Renfrow on the depth chart and earn a starting role alongside Will Hill, which is really great because I think there comes a time when Brathwaite is seen stepping on some right guard's face on the way to eating his quarterback as a light tea-time snack. Practically every time Brathwaite has been mentioned on this blog in the past it's accompanied by effusive praise for his future prospects, and now that he's getting first-team reps, I'm excited to find out if this praise is well-placed.
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Get excited yo: next week I kick off the ACC previews. As always, FOV readers will be the best-informed UVA fans on the competition. Can't get this stuff anywhere else, and you will be able to talk intelligently about the rest of the ACC and where the Hoos fit into the pecking order.
Oh, and finally, speaking of kickoffs, as the Olympics begin their two-week run tonight, check out the list of UVA athletes participating in the Games in London, as put together by Streaking the Lawn. Included are no fewer than three former Cavalier of the Year nominees as well; there's a reason that award exists.
Showing posts with label schautz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label schautz. Show all posts
Friday, July 27, 2012
Sunday, November 20, 2011
postseason update
In case you were wondering (I was) this is what it looks like:
And it is coming to a University of Virginia near you. It might not be the most historic of trophies or trophy games, but it does actually have a neat back story. Arizona and ASU claim their Territorial Cup is the oldest trophy in college football (the object itself, not the game in playing for the object), but they only started making the Territorial Cup a thing in 2001, and this pitcher is actually far, far older than their silly western cup.
Every single player yesterday can give themselves a big fat pat on the back. Kevin Parks for breaking the freshman TD record at UVA. Kris Burd for moving into 2nd place on UVA's all-time receptions list. Drequan Hoskey(!) for a huge, huge end zone pass breakup on FSU's last series. Bill Schautz for exploding around the edge and forcing an E.J. Manuel fumble and for a terrific pass breakup on his final play of the season. (Haven't felt worse about an injury in a long time.) Mike Rocco for standing in the pocket like a professional and delivering two picture-perfect touchdown drives. Perry Jones for a terrific touchdown catch. Everybody.
Chase Minnifield, however, gets the game ball. For hauling ass downfield, tackling Bert Reed at the 1, and setting up the defense to hold FSU to a field goal. Saving those four points out-and-out won the game, and I don't want to hear anything about how people might've made different decisions being down by 10 instead of 6 and so on and etc. Not for a play like that.
But the title promises postseason talk. The postseason - after losing to NC State about four eons ago, that felt just as it had for the past three long seasons: nothing most than a ghost story. You best start believing in ghost stories, Miss Turner. You're in one. Next Saturday is the division championship game. It's Hoos and Hokies for the season. Bowl games? It's the postseason right now.
But let's take a cursory look at the bowls anyway, just because that's what we do. And this week, we're looking at all the bowls. Time to start thinking with a winner's mentality. Everything's on the table. And just to switch things up, we'll start at the bottom.
-- Independence Bowl (Shreveport)
Matchup: MWC #3
Potential opponents: Wyoming, San Diego State
Thanks to Miami removing themselves from consideration, the Military Bowl is officially out of the running for UVA. Miami is self-banned and UNC can't catch up in the rankings, so only six teams can be selected ahead of the Hoos. So the Independence Bowl, picking 7th, is the worst-case scenario.
And I continue to maintain that no sane bowl official will choose Wake Forest over UVA, or really, any other ACC team, if they don't have to. Ending up here would also mean NC State got picked in front too, which I don't think will happen. Technically we could end up in Shreveport, though I'd rather not, and be playing probably Wyoming, or maybe SDSU if the bowl officials want a bigger-market team.
-- Music City Bowl (Nashville)
Matchup: SEC #7/#8
Potential opponents: Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Mississippi State, at-large
Again, with that FSU pelt on the wall, I no longer think UVA drops this far. Again again, though, possible. All of those possible opponents, however, need to win one more. All of them can do it - their last opponents, respectively, are Wake Forest, Kentucky, and Ole Miss. However, right now, the SEC only has seven bowl-eligible teams, and you can bet on two of them going to the BCS, leaving five. It may be that the Music City Bowl has to go hunting for an at-large team from like the MAC or something. In that case we definitely do not want to fall here.
-- The former Tire Bowl (Charlotte)
Matchup: Big East #3
Potential opponents: The whole conference minus a few from the bottom
Lose to Virginia Tech, and this looks like a very likely landing spot. You'd see one of Clemson or VT in the Orange, the other in the ex-Peach, FSU in the CS Bowl despite us beating them (I mean, they're right next door) and then....well, maybe the Sun Bowl picks us, and if they don't, these folks probably won't hesitate to snap up a next-door neighbor.
I have no idea who the opponent might be. Louisville and Rutgers currently sit atop the Big East, which makes all the sense of a penguin in the Sahara eating a peanut butter sandwich. That conference is absurd.
-- Sun Bowl (El Paso)
Matchup: Pac-12 #4
Potential opponents: Washington, Arizona State, UCLA, Utah, California
Both Washington and ASU completely biffed yesterday, opening up quite a few possibilities. I do think it's most likely that the Sun Bowl takes Arizona State due to proximity, as long as Pac-12 rules allow it and also as long as they win their last game.
Beating Tech would guarantee UVA falls no lower than this bowl per ACC selection rules. It's possible we may have already earned our way here anyway; it may depend on how bowl officials see us stacking up cash-flow-wise against Georgia Tech.
-- CS Bowl (Orlando)
Matchup: Big East #2
Potential opponents: Notre Dame or Big East mishmash
But there's no good reason to take the Big East mishmash when you can have a solid Notre Dame team. Hmm, Cincinnati or Notre Dame, Cincinnati or Notre Dame. Tough call. Notre Dame, for obvious reasons, falls under the Big East umbrella for bowl tie-ins, and is almost certain to be invited to this bowl. For equally obvious reasons, Florida State is likely to be their opponent. We can beat the Seminoles all we want but we can't beat them so hard their fanbase moves to Idaho. Only way FSU doesn't go here is if they go to Atlanta instead.
-- The former Peach Bowl (Atlanta)
Matchup: SEC #5
Potential opponents: Auburn, Florida
The folks in Atlanta have their eye on UVA. But - there are obstacles. We're not going if we lose to Tech, of course. If we do, the Peach Bowl will simply grab the ACCCG loser between Tech and Clemson. That much is obvious. If we win, and then lose the ACCCG, then what? The Peach's options would be 10-2 VT, 9-4 UVA, or 8-4 FSU. (Probably they wouldn't take them at 7-5 in the event of a loss to Florida.) And honestly, I have no idea how that decision would go, but VT and FSU both have a lot more name recognition right now than we do. So.
As for the opponent, think Auburn. I doubt Florida will beat FSU, and if they do they'd be a viable option, but the bowl folks state they won't take a 6-6 Florida. Win-loss record does matter for their promos (which is one reason I'm fairly confident NC State won't get picked ahead of us.) They don't want anyone at 6-6 if they don't have to, I'm betting. And in getting the fifth pick, they really have the sixth because two SEC teams will go BCSing. So that means South Carolina, Georgia, etc. are out of reach. Auburn is really the only team left worth having.
-- Orange Bowl (Miami)
Matchup: BCS at-large
Potential opponents: Whatever shitty Big East team ends up at the top of the scrum, or Houston
Here we are in dreamland. Either fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your view on things, the Orange Bowl has the dead-last selection in the at-large rotation. All the good teams will be taken by then, leaving the Orange Bowl with some team that automatically qualified and nobody wants. That's probably the Big East. The Sugar Bowl picks one slot ahead of the Orange, and if Houston is automatically BCS-eligible (which they will be if they win out) I think the Sugar would take the team from right next door. Obviously there's still a pile of work to be done before we have to worry about this.
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So, what do I think is most likely? There are three paths from here:
- Lose to Tech
- Beat Tech, lose to Clemson
- Win out
Door #3 is the Orange Bowl, but obviously also the least likely. Door #2 - probably the Sun Bowl, as even then, VT will have a better record, and better name recognition too, I suspect, meaning Atlanta will pass on us. They might not, but I think they would. We need a few years to take care of that problem. Door #1 means either the Sun Bowl or a trip to Charlotte for the Department Store Bowl; no way Wake gets picked over us, and I doubt NC State would, either.
Every single player yesterday can give themselves a big fat pat on the back. Kevin Parks for breaking the freshman TD record at UVA. Kris Burd for moving into 2nd place on UVA's all-time receptions list. Drequan Hoskey(!) for a huge, huge end zone pass breakup on FSU's last series. Bill Schautz for exploding around the edge and forcing an E.J. Manuel fumble and for a terrific pass breakup on his final play of the season. (Haven't felt worse about an injury in a long time.) Mike Rocco for standing in the pocket like a professional and delivering two picture-perfect touchdown drives. Perry Jones for a terrific touchdown catch. Everybody.
Chase Minnifield, however, gets the game ball. For hauling ass downfield, tackling Bert Reed at the 1, and setting up the defense to hold FSU to a field goal. Saving those four points out-and-out won the game, and I don't want to hear anything about how people might've made different decisions being down by 10 instead of 6 and so on and etc. Not for a play like that.
But the title promises postseason talk. The postseason - after losing to NC State about four eons ago, that felt just as it had for the past three long seasons: nothing most than a ghost story. You best start believing in ghost stories, Miss Turner. You're in one. Next Saturday is the division championship game. It's Hoos and Hokies for the season. Bowl games? It's the postseason right now.
But let's take a cursory look at the bowls anyway, just because that's what we do. And this week, we're looking at all the bowls. Time to start thinking with a winner's mentality. Everything's on the table. And just to switch things up, we'll start at the bottom.
-- Independence Bowl (Shreveport)
Matchup: MWC #3
Potential opponents: Wyoming, San Diego State
Thanks to Miami removing themselves from consideration, the Military Bowl is officially out of the running for UVA. Miami is self-banned and UNC can't catch up in the rankings, so only six teams can be selected ahead of the Hoos. So the Independence Bowl, picking 7th, is the worst-case scenario.
And I continue to maintain that no sane bowl official will choose Wake Forest over UVA, or really, any other ACC team, if they don't have to. Ending up here would also mean NC State got picked in front too, which I don't think will happen. Technically we could end up in Shreveport, though I'd rather not, and be playing probably Wyoming, or maybe SDSU if the bowl officials want a bigger-market team.
-- Music City Bowl (Nashville)
Matchup: SEC #7/#8
Potential opponents: Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Mississippi State, at-large
Again, with that FSU pelt on the wall, I no longer think UVA drops this far. Again again, though, possible. All of those possible opponents, however, need to win one more. All of them can do it - their last opponents, respectively, are Wake Forest, Kentucky, and Ole Miss. However, right now, the SEC only has seven bowl-eligible teams, and you can bet on two of them going to the BCS, leaving five. It may be that the Music City Bowl has to go hunting for an at-large team from like the MAC or something. In that case we definitely do not want to fall here.
-- The former Tire Bowl (Charlotte)
Matchup: Big East #3
Potential opponents: The whole conference minus a few from the bottom
Lose to Virginia Tech, and this looks like a very likely landing spot. You'd see one of Clemson or VT in the Orange, the other in the ex-Peach, FSU in the CS Bowl despite us beating them (I mean, they're right next door) and then....well, maybe the Sun Bowl picks us, and if they don't, these folks probably won't hesitate to snap up a next-door neighbor.
I have no idea who the opponent might be. Louisville and Rutgers currently sit atop the Big East, which makes all the sense of a penguin in the Sahara eating a peanut butter sandwich. That conference is absurd.
-- Sun Bowl (El Paso)
Matchup: Pac-12 #4
Potential opponents: Washington, Arizona State, UCLA, Utah, California
Both Washington and ASU completely biffed yesterday, opening up quite a few possibilities. I do think it's most likely that the Sun Bowl takes Arizona State due to proximity, as long as Pac-12 rules allow it and also as long as they win their last game.
Beating Tech would guarantee UVA falls no lower than this bowl per ACC selection rules. It's possible we may have already earned our way here anyway; it may depend on how bowl officials see us stacking up cash-flow-wise against Georgia Tech.
-- CS Bowl (Orlando)
Matchup: Big East #2
Potential opponents: Notre Dame or Big East mishmash
But there's no good reason to take the Big East mishmash when you can have a solid Notre Dame team. Hmm, Cincinnati or Notre Dame, Cincinnati or Notre Dame. Tough call. Notre Dame, for obvious reasons, falls under the Big East umbrella for bowl tie-ins, and is almost certain to be invited to this bowl. For equally obvious reasons, Florida State is likely to be their opponent. We can beat the Seminoles all we want but we can't beat them so hard their fanbase moves to Idaho. Only way FSU doesn't go here is if they go to Atlanta instead.
-- The former Peach Bowl (Atlanta)
Matchup: SEC #5
Potential opponents: Auburn, Florida
The folks in Atlanta have their eye on UVA. But - there are obstacles. We're not going if we lose to Tech, of course. If we do, the Peach Bowl will simply grab the ACCCG loser between Tech and Clemson. That much is obvious. If we win, and then lose the ACCCG, then what? The Peach's options would be 10-2 VT, 9-4 UVA, or 8-4 FSU. (Probably they wouldn't take them at 7-5 in the event of a loss to Florida.) And honestly, I have no idea how that decision would go, but VT and FSU both have a lot more name recognition right now than we do. So.
As for the opponent, think Auburn. I doubt Florida will beat FSU, and if they do they'd be a viable option, but the bowl folks state they won't take a 6-6 Florida. Win-loss record does matter for their promos (which is one reason I'm fairly confident NC State won't get picked ahead of us.) They don't want anyone at 6-6 if they don't have to, I'm betting. And in getting the fifth pick, they really have the sixth because two SEC teams will go BCSing. So that means South Carolina, Georgia, etc. are out of reach. Auburn is really the only team left worth having.
-- Orange Bowl (Miami)
Matchup: BCS at-large
Potential opponents: Whatever shitty Big East team ends up at the top of the scrum, or Houston
Here we are in dreamland. Either fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your view on things, the Orange Bowl has the dead-last selection in the at-large rotation. All the good teams will be taken by then, leaving the Orange Bowl with some team that automatically qualified and nobody wants. That's probably the Big East. The Sugar Bowl picks one slot ahead of the Orange, and if Houston is automatically BCS-eligible (which they will be if they win out) I think the Sugar would take the team from right next door. Obviously there's still a pile of work to be done before we have to worry about this.
*************************************************
So, what do I think is most likely? There are three paths from here:
- Lose to Tech
- Beat Tech, lose to Clemson
- Win out
Door #3 is the Orange Bowl, but obviously also the least likely. Door #2 - probably the Sun Bowl, as even then, VT will have a better record, and better name recognition too, I suspect, meaning Atlanta will pass on us. They might not, but I think they would. We need a few years to take care of that problem. Door #1 means either the Sun Bowl or a trip to Charlotte for the Department Store Bowl; no way Wake gets picked over us, and I doubt NC State would, either.
Monday, October 18, 2010
weekend review
I was sorely tempted to take all the recruiting board prospects that are considering both UVA and UNC and drop 'em into the red category. I mean, Travis Hughes had it in his head that UVA had no future until the USC game; did this Saturday convince you that the future is sunshine and oranges? I resisted the urge, however, in favor of calm, rational decision making, which is way less fun. So the recruiting board stays the same this week.
I did give the depth chart a once-over, though. The O-line shuffle continues; actually, it shuffled before the game and I didn't fix it because it was pretty close to game time by the time that was announced, and Friday is my self-allowed day off. Changes for this week:
- Morgan Moses is your new starter at right tackle, as I'm sure you noticed. Backing him up is Aaron Van Kuiken; Sean Cascarano backs up Oday Aboushi on the left side.
- Luke Bowanko moves back to guard to back up B.J. Cabbell.
- Billy Schautz steps in as a backup DE for Jeremiah Mathis, who is now an emergency tight end. That's a temporary arrangement; after the season, I'm moving Mathis back to DE.
Quarterback does not change, as London has announced Marc Verica's job is safe, at least for this week. Obviously an unpopular move, but - I cannot stress this enough - the right one. If there were an exactly equal chance of winning a game with one of the freshmen, then it would make sense to start up a platoon between Metheny and Rocco, and see if one can separate from the other. It would not make sense to pick one or the other. Suppose you choose incorrectly and that becomes evident either this fall or next year; you've wasted a golden chance.
But a QB platoon is a pretty poor way to win a football game. In 99% of QB platoons, the whole is less than the sum of the two parts. Marc Verica would have to be a tremendously awful quarterback to be worse than a platoon of two freshmen that can't separate themselves from each other, one of whom drops snaps. Metheny did that twice against UNC. And London has hinted that the freshmen really don't have full grasp of the offense.
I have serious doubts that the full playbook is in effect for the freshmen, when they come into the game. One or the other, or both, are messing it up. The coaches' job is to win games, not sacrifice games this year for a slightly better chance at winning next year. UVA fans need not worry that London is blind to Verica's many miscues; London sounds like he's more than painfully aware of them and doesn't have a choice.
*******************************************
Anyway, let's move on to what the future holds. Or what the present holds for our future. Or something. Going to arrange it a little differently this week. First, articles where our guy gets a mention; then, all the rest of the scores.
St. Christopher's 28, Bishop Ireton 20: Thompson Brown blocked an Ireton extra point.
Petersburg 31, Hopewell 21: Kevin Green rushed for 100 yards (including a 66-yard TD run), passed for 145 on 9-of-14, threw a touchdown pass, and ran for two more.
Hermitage 43, J.R. Tucker 0 (Diamonte Bailey)
L.C. Bird 34, James River 10 (Anthony Harris)
I.C. Norcom 20, Churchland 14 (Kameron Mack)
Ocean Lakes 43, Green Run 0 (David Dean)
Hampton 63, Bethel 7 (David Watford)
Bullis (MD) 42, St. S/St. A 31 (Darius Lee)
Phoebus 44, Menchville 6 (Caleb Taylor and Clifton Richardson)
Cox 14, Tallwood 0 (Ross Burbank)
Damascus 27, Sherwood 20 (Brandon Phelps)
Stone Bridge 28, James Madison 10 (Rob Burns)
Good Counsel 42, Paul VI 0 (Vincent Croce)
H.D. Woodson 20, McKinley 15 (Darius Redman)
DeMatha 21, St. John's 14 (Jordan Lomax/Kelby Johnson)
South Mecklenburg 42, Independence 35 (Adrian Gamble)
Archbishop Spalding 39, Boys' Latin 29 (Marco Jones)
Mt. Lebanon 21, Bethel Park 7 (Tim Cwalina)
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I've been working on a basketball depth chart similar to the football one. It's not easy to get it the way I want it, because basketball positions are a lot more fluid than football. The vast majority of the roster will show up at two different positions at some point in the season. It's not any easier when Sammy Zeglinski gets to have knee surgery. Going into a season suddenly without your veteran point guard is a scary proposition. It seems a safe bet that if he misses this season, he'd be awarded a sixth year, but I think from a program-development standpoint it's a lot better if he can return this year. I'm not holding my breath though. Jontel Evans and Billy Baron just got a lot more important.
Oh, and the AP poll study page is updated with the latest. Very interesting week, with Alabama losing; the voters got a chance to stray off the beaten path. The results are enlightening. Teams got an average of one-third of a rank boost from their regional voters. Whether that's significant, I'm not sure, but it's the strongest regional bias yet. Pac-10 voters were totally in the tank for Oregon State - I think the trend at the end of the day will be that Pac-10 voters are especially prone to overrating the daylights out of the less-known West Coast contenders. But it was Big Ten voters that took the crown for most regionally biased this time around.
I did give the depth chart a once-over, though. The O-line shuffle continues; actually, it shuffled before the game and I didn't fix it because it was pretty close to game time by the time that was announced, and Friday is my self-allowed day off. Changes for this week:
- Morgan Moses is your new starter at right tackle, as I'm sure you noticed. Backing him up is Aaron Van Kuiken; Sean Cascarano backs up Oday Aboushi on the left side.
- Luke Bowanko moves back to guard to back up B.J. Cabbell.
- Billy Schautz steps in as a backup DE for Jeremiah Mathis, who is now an emergency tight end. That's a temporary arrangement; after the season, I'm moving Mathis back to DE.
Quarterback does not change, as London has announced Marc Verica's job is safe, at least for this week. Obviously an unpopular move, but - I cannot stress this enough - the right one. If there were an exactly equal chance of winning a game with one of the freshmen, then it would make sense to start up a platoon between Metheny and Rocco, and see if one can separate from the other. It would not make sense to pick one or the other. Suppose you choose incorrectly and that becomes evident either this fall or next year; you've wasted a golden chance.
But a QB platoon is a pretty poor way to win a football game. In 99% of QB platoons, the whole is less than the sum of the two parts. Marc Verica would have to be a tremendously awful quarterback to be worse than a platoon of two freshmen that can't separate themselves from each other, one of whom drops snaps. Metheny did that twice against UNC. And London has hinted that the freshmen really don't have full grasp of the offense.
“We called a couple formations opposite of what the signal was,” London said. “So there’s issues that all of them have, and the one right now that’s best to run the offense is the one that started the game.
“So this week in practice we’ll continue to keep evaluating them. Maybe the young guy or the other quarterbacks can make the right calls and eliminate the quarterback-center exchange issues and all that. But for the most part, the guy that’s got the most significant reps is the guy that right now is the No. 1 quarterback. And like I said, every day next week is an evaluation day with all of these guys, and that’s the way it’s got to be.”
I have serious doubts that the full playbook is in effect for the freshmen, when they come into the game. One or the other, or both, are messing it up. The coaches' job is to win games, not sacrifice games this year for a slightly better chance at winning next year. UVA fans need not worry that London is blind to Verica's many miscues; London sounds like he's more than painfully aware of them and doesn't have a choice.
*******************************************
Anyway, let's move on to what the future holds. Or what the present holds for our future. Or something. Going to arrange it a little differently this week. First, articles where our guy gets a mention; then, all the rest of the scores.
St. Christopher's 28, Bishop Ireton 20: Thompson Brown blocked an Ireton extra point.
Petersburg 31, Hopewell 21: Kevin Green rushed for 100 yards (including a 66-yard TD run), passed for 145 on 9-of-14, threw a touchdown pass, and ran for two more.
Hermitage 43, J.R. Tucker 0 (Diamonte Bailey)
L.C. Bird 34, James River 10 (Anthony Harris)
I.C. Norcom 20, Churchland 14 (Kameron Mack)
Ocean Lakes 43, Green Run 0 (David Dean)
Hampton 63, Bethel 7 (David Watford)
Bullis (MD) 42, St. S/St. A 31 (Darius Lee)
Phoebus 44, Menchville 6 (Caleb Taylor and Clifton Richardson)
Cox 14, Tallwood 0 (Ross Burbank)
Damascus 27, Sherwood 20 (Brandon Phelps)
Stone Bridge 28, James Madison 10 (Rob Burns)
Good Counsel 42, Paul VI 0 (Vincent Croce)
H.D. Woodson 20, McKinley 15 (Darius Redman)
DeMatha 21, St. John's 14 (Jordan Lomax/Kelby Johnson)
South Mecklenburg 42, Independence 35 (Adrian Gamble)
Archbishop Spalding 39, Boys' Latin 29 (Marco Jones)
Mt. Lebanon 21, Bethel Park 7 (Tim Cwalina)
*******************************************
I've been working on a basketball depth chart similar to the football one. It's not easy to get it the way I want it, because basketball positions are a lot more fluid than football. The vast majority of the roster will show up at two different positions at some point in the season. It's not any easier when Sammy Zeglinski gets to have knee surgery. Going into a season suddenly without your veteran point guard is a scary proposition. It seems a safe bet that if he misses this season, he'd be awarded a sixth year, but I think from a program-development standpoint it's a lot better if he can return this year. I'm not holding my breath though. Jontel Evans and Billy Baron just got a lot more important.
Oh, and the AP poll study page is updated with the latest. Very interesting week, with Alabama losing; the voters got a chance to stray off the beaten path. The results are enlightening. Teams got an average of one-third of a rank boost from their regional voters. Whether that's significant, I'm not sure, but it's the strongest regional bias yet. Pac-10 voters were totally in the tank for Oregon State - I think the trend at the end of the day will be that Pac-10 voters are especially prone to overrating the daylights out of the less-known West Coast contenders. But it was Big Ten voters that took the crown for most regionally biased this time around.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
questions and unanswers
Spring practice wrapped up with the spring scrimmage on Saturday, which means that super-obsessive football fans have nothing to do until August and everyone else stopped ignoring spring practice. As a baseball player way back in high school I had a coach who liked to say, "Everyone looks good in the cage." I think that's sage advice, and so I don't obsess over who looks good and who beat who in spring practice, because they all looked pretty damn good last year in the spring and then we went 3-9 and fired the coach.
That said, however, spring can answer a few questions for us. So today I'll put my best foot forward in seeing what spring ball might have settled, and what remains to be seen.
Questions we now have answers to:
- Who's going to start at quarterback against Richmond?
That would be Marc Verica. I wish I wish I wish I could find the Jeff White article that more or less let it slip, but I can't - something about how the coaches were having a pretty spirited backup battle between Ross Metheny and Michael Strauss. Verica didn't blow away the competition, but his experience gave him a major leg up and he'll have to implode in the August to lose the job.
- What will the uniforms look like?
"Oregon of the East" caused a lot of consternation among tradition-minded fans (like me) who didn't really like the idea of diamond-plate patterns, random striping all over the place, or dressing like the Oakland Raiders when your school colors are those of the Green Bay Packers. Basically, those of us who don't want a clown show to take the field where the football team is supposed to. Fortunately, there's a much simpler, classier approach in place and we can step back from the ledge now.
- Will the offense still suck?
I think most folks are optimistically willing to keep this in the "unanswered" category, but in good conscience, I can't. The spring game generated two articles about the lousy offense on display - Verica was 8 for 23 and the entire running game stunk. And this was against a defense learning a totally brand-new playbook, featuring many players in entirely brand-new positions. This offense is going to need stability before it turns into something that coaches have to bother game-planning against, and that means a lot more than half a year figuring it out.
- How will the change to the 4-3 affect the defensive positioning?
You already knew some people were getting shuffled around, but moving Ausar Walcott and LoVante' Battle from safety to linebacker (which thanks to the alignment change already had a glut) necessitated even more movement. Mostly we know how that goes now:
* Walcott and Battle are outside linebackers.
* Terrence Fells-Danzer is a fullback, and Cam Johnson, Jeremiah Mathis, and Billy Schautz - all former linebackers - are defensive ends.
* Matt Conrath and Brent Urban are defensive tackles.
I'm still not sure I'm big on moving Walcott and Battle, by the way. Speed on defense is a good thing, but so is a depth chart in the secondary, where we're awfully thin. And we're even thinner at DT - I count four, which means there's no two-deep if even one goes down - so I expect at least one more move there. Wouldn't surprise me if incoming freshman Stephen Lawe finds himself on defense come fall camp.
Alright, but it wouldn't be any fun if we knew everything. Here's what remains to be seen:
- Who's going to start at quarterback in mid-October?
Verica has likely established himself as the first option, but not as the kind of guy who puts a deathgrip on a job. If we're an uncompetitive 2-3 (or, horrors, 1-4, meaning a Richmond loss) coming out of what'll probably be a total catastrophe of an Atlanta trip in October, you know it'll start to be time for a quarterback switch. Barring Richmond becoming the new William & Mary, Verica will probably keep the job throughout September because the competition isn't good enough (or is way too damn good) to properly gauge how the season is going. FSU and GT as the first two October games will be a much better yardstick as to whether we should start looking at the future.
- What will the running back depth chart look like?
Pure chaos right now, that's what. There are seven options here: Raynard Horne, Keith Payne, Torrey Mack, Perry Jones, Dominique Wallace, K.P. Parks, and Khalek Shepherd, and only four of them participated fully in spring practice and none of those four really grabbed hold of the job. Why don't we know anything?
* Horne has never really been much more than a change-up back, in to spell the starters.
* We really kind of know what Payne is capable of, and honestly it's not stardom.
* Mack flashed a lot of talent in spring ball last year but couldn't pass-block to save his life (and definitely not his quarterback's), thus whenever he was in the game, defenses keyed on the run.
* Jones is the size of the period at the end of this sentence, and not going to be an every-down guy, ever.
* Wallace might have the best size/speed combination but is still recovering from last season's injury.
* Parks and Shepherd ain't even here yet.
I don't see Horne, Payne, or Jones being #1 options. Any one of them might make a great change-of-pace type but they're not toting the load. There's a great chance here for Parks - who just might be the most talented of the bunch - to step in and make his name. Shepherd, too.
- Is the defense that awesome or is the offense that bad?
Such is the nature of spring practice that you can never really tell, unless you have a coach's eye, whether good results are really good results, or just bad news for the other side of the ball. The defense does remain highly talented, however, and I think they'll still look about as good as they did last year. But with the alignment switch, you never know.
- Who's the placekicker?
London said he'd pick one that would be the starter going into fall camp, but he hasn't told us who.
So with all that, I've updated the depth chart for ya, and today's addition of Ross Burbank to the commitment list (less than a week after his offer - this is a guy who definitely wanted to be a Hoo) merits a recruiting board update too. The depth chart, by the way, has one tiny format change: no more walk-ons, for the most part. It got to be annoying to track the comings and goings. If they've got a real shot to actually participate (Matt Snyder, for example, or the kickers) then they're still on there, but the ones who aren't a threat to see the field aren't there any more. Should be easier to track that way.
Tomorrow: uniforms!
That said, however, spring can answer a few questions for us. So today I'll put my best foot forward in seeing what spring ball might have settled, and what remains to be seen.
Questions we now have answers to:
- Who's going to start at quarterback against Richmond?
That would be Marc Verica. I wish I wish I wish I could find the Jeff White article that more or less let it slip, but I can't - something about how the coaches were having a pretty spirited backup battle between Ross Metheny and Michael Strauss. Verica didn't blow away the competition, but his experience gave him a major leg up and he'll have to implode in the August to lose the job.
- What will the uniforms look like?
"Oregon of the East" caused a lot of consternation among tradition-minded fans (like me) who didn't really like the idea of diamond-plate patterns, random striping all over the place, or dressing like the Oakland Raiders when your school colors are those of the Green Bay Packers. Basically, those of us who don't want a clown show to take the field where the football team is supposed to. Fortunately, there's a much simpler, classier approach in place and we can step back from the ledge now.
- Will the offense still suck?
I think most folks are optimistically willing to keep this in the "unanswered" category, but in good conscience, I can't. The spring game generated two articles about the lousy offense on display - Verica was 8 for 23 and the entire running game stunk. And this was against a defense learning a totally brand-new playbook, featuring many players in entirely brand-new positions. This offense is going to need stability before it turns into something that coaches have to bother game-planning against, and that means a lot more than half a year figuring it out.
- How will the change to the 4-3 affect the defensive positioning?
You already knew some people were getting shuffled around, but moving Ausar Walcott and LoVante' Battle from safety to linebacker (which thanks to the alignment change already had a glut) necessitated even more movement. Mostly we know how that goes now:
* Walcott and Battle are outside linebackers.
* Terrence Fells-Danzer is a fullback, and Cam Johnson, Jeremiah Mathis, and Billy Schautz - all former linebackers - are defensive ends.
* Matt Conrath and Brent Urban are defensive tackles.
I'm still not sure I'm big on moving Walcott and Battle, by the way. Speed on defense is a good thing, but so is a depth chart in the secondary, where we're awfully thin. And we're even thinner at DT - I count four, which means there's no two-deep if even one goes down - so I expect at least one more move there. Wouldn't surprise me if incoming freshman Stephen Lawe finds himself on defense come fall camp.
Alright, but it wouldn't be any fun if we knew everything. Here's what remains to be seen:
- Who's going to start at quarterback in mid-October?
Verica has likely established himself as the first option, but not as the kind of guy who puts a deathgrip on a job. If we're an uncompetitive 2-3 (or, horrors, 1-4, meaning a Richmond loss) coming out of what'll probably be a total catastrophe of an Atlanta trip in October, you know it'll start to be time for a quarterback switch. Barring Richmond becoming the new William & Mary, Verica will probably keep the job throughout September because the competition isn't good enough (or is way too damn good) to properly gauge how the season is going. FSU and GT as the first two October games will be a much better yardstick as to whether we should start looking at the future.
- What will the running back depth chart look like?
Pure chaos right now, that's what. There are seven options here: Raynard Horne, Keith Payne, Torrey Mack, Perry Jones, Dominique Wallace, K.P. Parks, and Khalek Shepherd, and only four of them participated fully in spring practice and none of those four really grabbed hold of the job. Why don't we know anything?
* Horne has never really been much more than a change-up back, in to spell the starters.
* We really kind of know what Payne is capable of, and honestly it's not stardom.
* Mack flashed a lot of talent in spring ball last year but couldn't pass-block to save his life (and definitely not his quarterback's), thus whenever he was in the game, defenses keyed on the run.
* Jones is the size of the period at the end of this sentence, and not going to be an every-down guy, ever.
* Wallace might have the best size/speed combination but is still recovering from last season's injury.
* Parks and Shepherd ain't even here yet.
I don't see Horne, Payne, or Jones being #1 options. Any one of them might make a great change-of-pace type but they're not toting the load. There's a great chance here for Parks - who just might be the most talented of the bunch - to step in and make his name. Shepherd, too.
- Is the defense that awesome or is the offense that bad?
Such is the nature of spring practice that you can never really tell, unless you have a coach's eye, whether good results are really good results, or just bad news for the other side of the ball. The defense does remain highly talented, however, and I think they'll still look about as good as they did last year. But with the alignment switch, you never know.
- Who's the placekicker?
London said he'd pick one that would be the starter going into fall camp, but he hasn't told us who.
So with all that, I've updated the depth chart for ya, and today's addition of Ross Burbank to the commitment list (less than a week after his offer - this is a guy who definitely wanted to be a Hoo) merits a recruiting board update too. The depth chart, by the way, has one tiny format change: no more walk-ons, for the most part. It got to be annoying to track the comings and goings. If they've got a real shot to actually participate (Matt Snyder, for example, or the kickers) then they're still on there, but the ones who aren't a threat to see the field aren't there any more. Should be easier to track that way.
Tomorrow: uniforms!
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