Welp. Didn't take long. It hardly seems worth writing about the latest chapter in the Mike London story because it's so uncannily similar to most of the other ones. Talk up the latest new schemes, surprise with some swaggy hype-azz uniformz, lose by the book, chapter and verse. OK, sure, it lacked a little something in the clock-management dumbassery department, but London did burn at least two timeouts that I can remember just because of play-call confusion. So let's check that box.
Other boxes to check: annoying playcalling, offensive line depth biting us in the ass again, undisciplined penalties committed by seniors, crappy special teams, red zone ineptitude. The list goes on. A whole offseason and literally nothing has changed. I sound surprised here, which I guess I am a little, because this time I'm really gonna get to kick that football.
I really hated those helmets, by the way, which you can chalk mostly up to my reflexive get-off-my-lawnism about uniforms. UVA seems to be working on building a pretty solid brand identity. You can instantly recognize those gorgeous home whites the baseball team wears, and the school uses a uniform wordmark across most other teams, if not all of them.
Football? There's no brand identity anywhere. The navy blue helmets would work at least to anchor the zillion other looks they think are wonderful attention getters. Naw, let's ditch 'em and go with the marshmallow look. And the look on Saturday was a horrible mishmash. The pants are pure throwback - literally, because they come from the 1960s throwbacks they wore a while ago. The jerseys are a clean, unadorned, modern take on a classic look. And the helmets were $WAGGY HYPPPEEE, Oregon $tylez. Pick a look. (Preferably not swaggy hype.) There's absolutely no attempt at a brand, an identity, a foundation, it's just "hey this would be a cool idea," and they slap it up there and there's no reason to do it or even any connection with the rest of the athletic program.
I wouldn't usually spend two paragraphs on the uniforms, but if by now you can't get the connection to the actual state of the program then we'll just have to leave you here.
Notre Dame comes to town next weekend. Of the three difficult OOC games this is the one I expected to be toughest. They just got done steamtrucking Texas, so I think I'm still thinking that. If UVA is to steal an OOC win in one of those three games, Boise State is the place to look.
Some player-focused observations:
-- I was surprised Kelvin Rainey was credited with only five tackles. He seemed to be all over, making tackles in front of the secondary and generally being much more visible than you'd expect from a first-year starter. I liked it. And it looks clear too that Micah Kiser is the real deal.
-- I was much less pleased with the defensive ends. Mike Moore didn't look like a senior. Kwontie Moore was hardly visible. Trent Corney showed off his athleticism by actually juking his blocker, but then looked surprised that Josh Rosen actually moved away from the pressure. Fortunately, he kind of moved toward the rest of the defensive line, but Corney's tackle attempt on that particular play looked like he still hasn't picked up a lot of fundamentals.
-- Matt Johns reminds me of a youngish NASCAR driver who clearly can drive in the lower series but moves up to the big time and is stuck on an underfunded team with an uncompetitive car, which he can't crash because they can't afford replacements. He might compete for the winner's circle if he was allowed to drive aggressively into the corners, but he's just being asked to circle the track. That's Steve Fairchild's playbook in a nutshell. Johns can play quarterback, it's clear, but too often, he's not really allowed to. Sure, he threw a pick when he cut loose, just like the driver might find a wall or two the hard way. But in reading up about UCLA, one quote I saw was along the lines of Josh Rosen being handed the keys to a Ferrari, he just had to not crash it. Well, Rosen took a shot downfield the very first chance he got, and it's obvious he's not just driving the Ferrari around the block. Johns needs to be cut loose more too. He's capable of making it work.
Until then we'll just keep throwing screen passes on every third-and-long of the game which they totally won't be expecting this time.
-- One game in and the offensive line is already a smoking wreck. Eric Tetlow and Jake Fieler, out for the year. Ryan Doull and Sadiq Olanrewaju, no telling when they'll be back. Jay Whitmire, not ready to go full speed yet or he'd be out there at one of those positions somewhere. The interior line was absolutely owned; UCLA's DTs were exactly the problem I thought they'd be, and the "power running game" went exactly as far as I thought it would. I was openly skeptical of the power running thing; if I'd known we'd be missing four linemen going into the first game, I'd have been downright derisive.
That's OK, I'm sure we'll just recruit us a few more cornerbacks to make up for it.
It's pretty much official, I've skipped the optimistic, maybe-things-gonna-be-OK phase of the season and gone straight to snark. With any luck that'll last the next eleven (or twelve, if Lucy doesn't pull that football away again) games and we can minimize the burning apathy, which is all that's left at the end.
Showing posts with label offensive line. Show all posts
Showing posts with label offensive line. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Friday, January 11, 2013
too late review, too early preview, part 1: offense 2012-2013
Alright, I have had this post planned for this particular day for like two weeks, and I will be damned if I'm going to let the sorry events of the past 24 or so hours change that. By which I mean Wake Forest and Jeff Banks. I can sum these events up with something you already know: this is Virginia, and we can't have nice things at Virginia.
I will, however, elaborate just a touch on Banks, who is leaving after less than two weeks to take a similar job, only with more money, at Texas A&M. Man, we must have really hit a home run with that hire for him to be that much in demand. Banks is probably getting something like twice the salary he was going to get in Charlottesville; it would be only natural to assume the extra money A&M is making in the SEC is the reason they were able to pull Banks away, and that our place in the ACC makes us financially uncompetitive.
Not so. The SEC is the hotter place to be for an assistant coach, yes. Even if we had matched A&M's offer dollar for dollar, the SEC would still be the better place for a coach's career, and besides that, Banks is buddy-buddy with Kevin Sumlin. His UVA Twitter account follows Sumlin's, Sumlin's old Houston account, and a Sumlin parody which actually owns the name @KevinSumlin. Besides, UVA's athletic department has revenues of over 80 million dollars; it's not a question of whether they can shuffle around some money to find an extra couple hundred grand, it's a question of how much they want to.
So now it's back to square one to find a special teams coach, and if London just hands those reins back to Poindexter I'll kill him myself. Probably they'll go hire one of their other finalists, but at any rate now there's now more work to do. One train of thought would say that Banks did a damn sleazy thing to "the people here" in Charlottesville that he claimed to have fallen in love with. Show up, do a couple days' work, parlay that into a new gig, take the hell off and leave the people who gave you a great opportunity in the lurch. Another train of thought is that it's hard to pass up a chance to coach a better team in a better conference for twice the money and work for a pretty old friend. Coaching, after all, is that kind of a profession. Both are correct. But really, the least Banks could do is return whatever paycheck UVA may have given him or "owes" him for the "work" he did.
As for the Wake Forest thing, all I can say is the selection committee is probably going to spend more time on UVA than all the rest of the teams under consideration combined, if this keeps up.
Right, now for the part I had intended for this all along. One last look at the 2012 football season and the first one at 2013. There's no such thing as an offseason.
QUARTERBACKS
This year....
For this post last year I wrote of 2012: "There's no reason to think there will be any kind of competition in camp this year." At the time, of course, there was also no reason to think Phillip Sims would transfer to Charlottesville. He did, and just when it looked like we might finally have a drama-free season under center, instead the drama kicked into overdrive.
Sims and Mike Rocco were the only two players to take a quarterback snap, as David Watford and the rest of the gang redshirted. Neither played well. Sometimes they did, but more often they played worse, and you could never tell which you were going to get out of either. And yes, that's the scientific version.
After letting Rocco start the season and quarterback his way into a few losses, Mike London had Sims take over, and Sims's play went straight downhill until London decided on a full-on platoon. Sims's arm strength and beautiful spirals looked great except for when they landed harmlessly 20 yards from anyone who could catch them. Rocco's leadership and superior knowledge of the playbook were an asset until he led the ball straight into the hands of a defensive back. Ultimately the season was living proof that when you have two quarterbacks, you really have none; the only plausible justification for the platoon was that whatever skill one had, the other did not.
Next year....
It's totally possible we'll see more of the same. One really, really hopes that London will learn his lesson about QB platoons, or else let Bill Lazor and Tom O'Brien convince him to pick one guy and stick with him. At any rate, spring and fall camp will be interesting; with Watford, Matt Johns, and Greyson Lambert all having used up their redshirt (not to mention Sims) it will be a full-blown, no-holds-barred competition in the camps. Again. Brendan Marshall and Corwin Cutler will not be factors in 2013, so it's a four-way race. The favorites will be Sims and Lambert. Both are strong-armed pocket passers, which is a good thing if you're like me and in the pick-one-dammit camp; the differences between the two will be easier to spot because they won't be obscured by different styles. I'm not stupid enough to try and actually predict in January who'll take the snaps in September, though.
RUNNING BACKS/FULLBACKS
This year....
The biggest story was either Perry Jones's regression or the lack of use (yet no redshirt) for Clifton Richardson. Jones actually was UVA's top receiver, but somehow morphed from the one-cut back he was in his junior year to an indecisive nibbler, and ran for barely half his 2011 rushing total. Baffling. Richardson, meanwhile, got basically garbage-time carries and ran for fewer yards than both Rocco and Khalek Shepherd. If he was going to be so little-used there was really no reason for him to play at all. Also baffling.
Kevin Parks, meanwhile, emerged as UVA's top back, albeit with not many more rushing yards than he had in 2011. But he did show up as a much bigger threat in the passing game, and was an effective goal-line option when the line deigned to block for him. Parks, in short, has demonstrated the capability to be a workhorse; UVA probably will not ever use him like one, but he could carry the load if he had to.
Zach Swanson stepped in as the starting "fullback" but never carried the ball; he did get eight receptions but was rather a disappointment in the blocking game. Since Billy Skrobacz pretty much never got in the game after making a few waves in fall camp, UVA basically didn't have a fullback, since Swanson was more of an H-back anyway.
Next year....
There will be a new coach at the position and an embarrassment of riches on the field. Jones will be gone, which will deprive us of a pass-catching threat out of the backfield but also remove the temptation for the coaching staff to try and use a near-midget as a short-yardage sledgehammer. Parks will return, of course. Richardson will return, hopefully with too much talent to be wasted like he was this year. (He likely will need to work on his pass-blocking, though, or risk ending up like Torrey Mack, who was unplayable due to the fact that his presence on the field screamed run play.) Khalek Shepherd flashed some talent at times, and Kye Morgan comes off a redshirt year.
There will be an odd man out somewhere, though; UVA's freshman class will include a super-elite talent in the form of Taquan Mizzell, who ain't redshirting. Mizzell is an excellent pass-catcher to the point that he was asked to play slot receiver in the Army All-American game, and should more than make up for the loss of Jones in the receiving game. And he might just have the best pure running skills in a UVA uniform since Thomas Jones. If the offensive line improves and actually opens some holes, this is a group of running backs that will make life miserable for opposing defenses. They'll go as far as the line will let them.
WIDE RECEIVERS/TIGHT ENDS
This year....
He was only fifth on the team in receptions and sixth in yardage, but clearly, the biggest revelation in the receiving corps was tight end Jake McGee. He announced his presence in style against Penn State with a one-handed catch of a Rocco desperation heave - while being interfered with - on a drive that culminated in the game-winning touchdown. McGee made a few other early-season spectacular catches as well and proved to be one of the most difficult covers on the team.
There were a few disappointments in this group. Dominique Terrell wasn't very consistent and dropped too many passes, and he wasn't the only one guilty of the latter sin. Tim Smith had another injury-hampered season, and McGee was the only true pass-catching threat among the tight ends. But the good ultimately outweighed the bad. When on, Terrell was a very valuable slot receiver. When healthy, Smith was the dangerous medium-to-deep threat he was advertised to be. Darius Jennings emerged as a sophomore to be UVA's best and most versatile receiving threat, and E.J. Scott did a very nice job too as a guy who could keep defenses honest. There were problems here, but on balance the receivers were a clear asset.
Next year....
If those problems diminish with experience, things could go really well for these units. The only losses to graduation will be tight ends Colter Phillips and Paul Freedman, who were respectable blockers but didn't make a dent in the passing game. There are so many receivers that it would be hard to see this group not losing one or two more to regular attrition and transfers, but it's a very deep group and can take the hit.
I would expect Jennings to continue to develop into a potential all-ACC player. Scott, Smith, and Terrell will keep doing their thing, though Terrell is the most likely of those three to be marginalized if he doesn't fix the drops issue. McGee, if he can put on weight and still be a big athletic receiving target, has a chance to develop from a curiosity to a real terror. You'd like to see room for contributions from guys like Adrian Gamble and Canaan Severin, maybe Miles Gooch, but they'll probably be stuck on the fringes for another year unless something happens to one of the upper-echelon guys. Part of it will depend on who wins the quarterback derby; the winner may favor certain receivers over others, it's just the nature of quarterbacks.
OFFENSIVE LINE
This year....
Uck. The supposed strength of the line (the tackles) was a liability at times, and the supposed liability (the interior) was still a liability. Let's start on the inside. Cody Wallace was the chosen replacement for Anthony Mihota at center, but was replaced by Luke Bowanko in fall camp and bumped to guard. Then he was bumped to the bench by Conner Davis, who was better but not by a lot. Bowanko struggled with the transition, his shotgun snaps were noticably slow and floaty which threw off the timing of a lot of plays (though that improved as the season went on), and he had a tough time getting the snap off and immediately executing a blocking assignment. A lot of the pressure on the quarterbacks came straight up the middle. Sean Cascarano was OK at guard, but Matt Mihalik's snaps, when he came off the bench, were generally a waste of time.
Oday Aboushi was getting first-round talk as an NFL draft prospect, but murdered his draft stock this season and probably will not go earlier than the middle of the second round, or maybe the third. He was still good - he did earn a place on the all-ACC first team, after all - but not as good as the preseason hype. He racked up too many holding penalties. On the other side, Morgan Moses was abused all season by speed rushers taking advantage of his poor side-to-side footwork. He simply could not shuffle to his right quickly enough. The basic sum of it was that Aboushi was a very solid pass blocker and usually took his holding penalties in the run game, where Moses was still a devastating run blocker who got killed in pass protection.
Next year....
With any luck, adding TOB to the staff will be a boon for the offensive line. Aboushi will have to be replaced, and as much as I might have been down on him, he'll leave some big shoes to fill. Kelby Johnson probably gets the first crack at his left tackle job, but Jay Whitmire will push him. Moses will stick at right tackle.
The only graduation losses, though, are Aboushi and Mihalik, so there will be some good continuity. I suspect the center position will be up for some competition between Bowanko and Ross Burbank, the latter of whom has been groomed for the position for about a year and a half now. Cascarano and Davis are excellent candidates for improvement. The guards will be more critical than the tackles; there's less depth and therefore less margin for error. Two tackles - Michael Mooney and Sean Karl - are coming off redshirt seasons, but only one guard is (that'd be Ryan Doull.) Something tells me those positions aren't set in stone; London and Scott Wachenheim have shown a penchant for flexibility on the line and some of the depth might be moved around where it's needed. Burbank, for example, might get some work at guard if Bowanko hangs on to the center job.
Ultimately, this group will be the limiting reagent in the offensive chemistry equation. Plenty of talent exists at the skill positions, and we'll assume against all hope that not only will London settle on a quarterback, that quarterback will actually play pretty well. But Phillip Sims was awful under pressure and everyone else but Watford is a totally unknown quantity, so the line must improve its protection. And the offense's red-zone struggles were in direct proportion to the line's inability to block in short-yardage situations. You can't score in the red zone if you can't run the ball in the red zone, and we couldn't. Fix the line and we fix the offense.
***********************************************
Next week: the defense, assuming Jon Tenuta doesn't get offered a zillion bucks to go coach at Auburn or something.
I will, however, elaborate just a touch on Banks, who is leaving after less than two weeks to take a similar job, only with more money, at Texas A&M. Man, we must have really hit a home run with that hire for him to be that much in demand. Banks is probably getting something like twice the salary he was going to get in Charlottesville; it would be only natural to assume the extra money A&M is making in the SEC is the reason they were able to pull Banks away, and that our place in the ACC makes us financially uncompetitive.
Not so. The SEC is the hotter place to be for an assistant coach, yes. Even if we had matched A&M's offer dollar for dollar, the SEC would still be the better place for a coach's career, and besides that, Banks is buddy-buddy with Kevin Sumlin. His UVA Twitter account follows Sumlin's, Sumlin's old Houston account, and a Sumlin parody which actually owns the name @KevinSumlin. Besides, UVA's athletic department has revenues of over 80 million dollars; it's not a question of whether they can shuffle around some money to find an extra couple hundred grand, it's a question of how much they want to.
So now it's back to square one to find a special teams coach, and if London just hands those reins back to Poindexter I'll kill him myself. Probably they'll go hire one of their other finalists, but at any rate now there's now more work to do. One train of thought would say that Banks did a damn sleazy thing to "the people here" in Charlottesville that he claimed to have fallen in love with. Show up, do a couple days' work, parlay that into a new gig, take the hell off and leave the people who gave you a great opportunity in the lurch. Another train of thought is that it's hard to pass up a chance to coach a better team in a better conference for twice the money and work for a pretty old friend. Coaching, after all, is that kind of a profession. Both are correct. But really, the least Banks could do is return whatever paycheck UVA may have given him or "owes" him for the "work" he did.
As for the Wake Forest thing, all I can say is the selection committee is probably going to spend more time on UVA than all the rest of the teams under consideration combined, if this keeps up.
Right, now for the part I had intended for this all along. One last look at the 2012 football season and the first one at 2013. There's no such thing as an offseason.
QUARTERBACKS
This year....
For this post last year I wrote of 2012: "There's no reason to think there will be any kind of competition in camp this year." At the time, of course, there was also no reason to think Phillip Sims would transfer to Charlottesville. He did, and just when it looked like we might finally have a drama-free season under center, instead the drama kicked into overdrive.
Sims and Mike Rocco were the only two players to take a quarterback snap, as David Watford and the rest of the gang redshirted. Neither played well. Sometimes they did, but more often they played worse, and you could never tell which you were going to get out of either. And yes, that's the scientific version.
After letting Rocco start the season and quarterback his way into a few losses, Mike London had Sims take over, and Sims's play went straight downhill until London decided on a full-on platoon. Sims's arm strength and beautiful spirals looked great except for when they landed harmlessly 20 yards from anyone who could catch them. Rocco's leadership and superior knowledge of the playbook were an asset until he led the ball straight into the hands of a defensive back. Ultimately the season was living proof that when you have two quarterbacks, you really have none; the only plausible justification for the platoon was that whatever skill one had, the other did not.
Next year....
It's totally possible we'll see more of the same. One really, really hopes that London will learn his lesson about QB platoons, or else let Bill Lazor and Tom O'Brien convince him to pick one guy and stick with him. At any rate, spring and fall camp will be interesting; with Watford, Matt Johns, and Greyson Lambert all having used up their redshirt (not to mention Sims) it will be a full-blown, no-holds-barred competition in the camps. Again. Brendan Marshall and Corwin Cutler will not be factors in 2013, so it's a four-way race. The favorites will be Sims and Lambert. Both are strong-armed pocket passers, which is a good thing if you're like me and in the pick-one-dammit camp; the differences between the two will be easier to spot because they won't be obscured by different styles. I'm not stupid enough to try and actually predict in January who'll take the snaps in September, though.
RUNNING BACKS/FULLBACKS
This year....
The biggest story was either Perry Jones's regression or the lack of use (yet no redshirt) for Clifton Richardson. Jones actually was UVA's top receiver, but somehow morphed from the one-cut back he was in his junior year to an indecisive nibbler, and ran for barely half his 2011 rushing total. Baffling. Richardson, meanwhile, got basically garbage-time carries and ran for fewer yards than both Rocco and Khalek Shepherd. If he was going to be so little-used there was really no reason for him to play at all. Also baffling.
Kevin Parks, meanwhile, emerged as UVA's top back, albeit with not many more rushing yards than he had in 2011. But he did show up as a much bigger threat in the passing game, and was an effective goal-line option when the line deigned to block for him. Parks, in short, has demonstrated the capability to be a workhorse; UVA probably will not ever use him like one, but he could carry the load if he had to.
Zach Swanson stepped in as the starting "fullback" but never carried the ball; he did get eight receptions but was rather a disappointment in the blocking game. Since Billy Skrobacz pretty much never got in the game after making a few waves in fall camp, UVA basically didn't have a fullback, since Swanson was more of an H-back anyway.
Next year....
There will be a new coach at the position and an embarrassment of riches on the field. Jones will be gone, which will deprive us of a pass-catching threat out of the backfield but also remove the temptation for the coaching staff to try and use a near-midget as a short-yardage sledgehammer. Parks will return, of course. Richardson will return, hopefully with too much talent to be wasted like he was this year. (He likely will need to work on his pass-blocking, though, or risk ending up like Torrey Mack, who was unplayable due to the fact that his presence on the field screamed run play.) Khalek Shepherd flashed some talent at times, and Kye Morgan comes off a redshirt year.
There will be an odd man out somewhere, though; UVA's freshman class will include a super-elite talent in the form of Taquan Mizzell, who ain't redshirting. Mizzell is an excellent pass-catcher to the point that he was asked to play slot receiver in the Army All-American game, and should more than make up for the loss of Jones in the receiving game. And he might just have the best pure running skills in a UVA uniform since Thomas Jones. If the offensive line improves and actually opens some holes, this is a group of running backs that will make life miserable for opposing defenses. They'll go as far as the line will let them.
WIDE RECEIVERS/TIGHT ENDS
This year....
He was only fifth on the team in receptions and sixth in yardage, but clearly, the biggest revelation in the receiving corps was tight end Jake McGee. He announced his presence in style against Penn State with a one-handed catch of a Rocco desperation heave - while being interfered with - on a drive that culminated in the game-winning touchdown. McGee made a few other early-season spectacular catches as well and proved to be one of the most difficult covers on the team.
There were a few disappointments in this group. Dominique Terrell wasn't very consistent and dropped too many passes, and he wasn't the only one guilty of the latter sin. Tim Smith had another injury-hampered season, and McGee was the only true pass-catching threat among the tight ends. But the good ultimately outweighed the bad. When on, Terrell was a very valuable slot receiver. When healthy, Smith was the dangerous medium-to-deep threat he was advertised to be. Darius Jennings emerged as a sophomore to be UVA's best and most versatile receiving threat, and E.J. Scott did a very nice job too as a guy who could keep defenses honest. There were problems here, but on balance the receivers were a clear asset.
Next year....
If those problems diminish with experience, things could go really well for these units. The only losses to graduation will be tight ends Colter Phillips and Paul Freedman, who were respectable blockers but didn't make a dent in the passing game. There are so many receivers that it would be hard to see this group not losing one or two more to regular attrition and transfers, but it's a very deep group and can take the hit.
I would expect Jennings to continue to develop into a potential all-ACC player. Scott, Smith, and Terrell will keep doing their thing, though Terrell is the most likely of those three to be marginalized if he doesn't fix the drops issue. McGee, if he can put on weight and still be a big athletic receiving target, has a chance to develop from a curiosity to a real terror. You'd like to see room for contributions from guys like Adrian Gamble and Canaan Severin, maybe Miles Gooch, but they'll probably be stuck on the fringes for another year unless something happens to one of the upper-echelon guys. Part of it will depend on who wins the quarterback derby; the winner may favor certain receivers over others, it's just the nature of quarterbacks.
OFFENSIVE LINE
This year....
Uck. The supposed strength of the line (the tackles) was a liability at times, and the supposed liability (the interior) was still a liability. Let's start on the inside. Cody Wallace was the chosen replacement for Anthony Mihota at center, but was replaced by Luke Bowanko in fall camp and bumped to guard. Then he was bumped to the bench by Conner Davis, who was better but not by a lot. Bowanko struggled with the transition, his shotgun snaps were noticably slow and floaty which threw off the timing of a lot of plays (though that improved as the season went on), and he had a tough time getting the snap off and immediately executing a blocking assignment. A lot of the pressure on the quarterbacks came straight up the middle. Sean Cascarano was OK at guard, but Matt Mihalik's snaps, when he came off the bench, were generally a waste of time.
Oday Aboushi was getting first-round talk as an NFL draft prospect, but murdered his draft stock this season and probably will not go earlier than the middle of the second round, or maybe the third. He was still good - he did earn a place on the all-ACC first team, after all - but not as good as the preseason hype. He racked up too many holding penalties. On the other side, Morgan Moses was abused all season by speed rushers taking advantage of his poor side-to-side footwork. He simply could not shuffle to his right quickly enough. The basic sum of it was that Aboushi was a very solid pass blocker and usually took his holding penalties in the run game, where Moses was still a devastating run blocker who got killed in pass protection.
Next year....
With any luck, adding TOB to the staff will be a boon for the offensive line. Aboushi will have to be replaced, and as much as I might have been down on him, he'll leave some big shoes to fill. Kelby Johnson probably gets the first crack at his left tackle job, but Jay Whitmire will push him. Moses will stick at right tackle.
The only graduation losses, though, are Aboushi and Mihalik, so there will be some good continuity. I suspect the center position will be up for some competition between Bowanko and Ross Burbank, the latter of whom has been groomed for the position for about a year and a half now. Cascarano and Davis are excellent candidates for improvement. The guards will be more critical than the tackles; there's less depth and therefore less margin for error. Two tackles - Michael Mooney and Sean Karl - are coming off redshirt seasons, but only one guard is (that'd be Ryan Doull.) Something tells me those positions aren't set in stone; London and Scott Wachenheim have shown a penchant for flexibility on the line and some of the depth might be moved around where it's needed. Burbank, for example, might get some work at guard if Bowanko hangs on to the center job.
Ultimately, this group will be the limiting reagent in the offensive chemistry equation. Plenty of talent exists at the skill positions, and we'll assume against all hope that not only will London settle on a quarterback, that quarterback will actually play pretty well. But Phillip Sims was awful under pressure and everyone else but Watford is a totally unknown quantity, so the line must improve its protection. And the offense's red-zone struggles were in direct proportion to the line's inability to block in short-yardage situations. You can't score in the red zone if you can't run the ball in the red zone, and we couldn't. Fix the line and we fix the offense.
***********************************************
Next week: the defense, assuming Jon Tenuta doesn't get offered a zillion bucks to go coach at Auburn or something.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
we now return you to your regularly scheduled doldrums
So it was fun while it lasted. The driver's seat turned out to be more than our plucky little team could handle, and we got out and swapped drivers with Georgia Tech, who had just about the best Saturday they could have had. We can now stop pretending we were a contender for anything. Our position atop the standings was the result of a happy confluence of events that had us playing two of the crappiest ACC teams on the schedule (maybe the worst two) and everyone else playing all the good ones. Deep down, no doubt we knew that, but as long as they hadn't played the rest of the games yet, it was fun to play king of the hill.
Well, we know now who the king of the hill is. And not to brag, but actually yeah, to brag: I told you this at the beginning of the year. I let myself sorta believe we could swing a few key plays in our direction and pull off the upset, but deep down it's the same thing I've been saying all year - that was the best team in the ACC that just slobberknocked us. Clemson helpfully untied the messy knot in the Coastal by upsetting Miami, and Georgia Tech now needs only a pair of wins over Duke and Wake Forest and their ticket to Tampa is punched.
It's not a fun day when both your teams show up in the Yahoo college football headlines following the word "rips." The funny thing is, though, despite the similar losing scores for Michigan and UVA (35-10, 34-9) UVA put up one heck of a better fight. The game was closer than that. I will insist this. I know the defensive box score doesn't say so. But we were down 13-6 at the half, and if the offense wasn't a complete disaster, we'd have gone in there with the lead. Then, kicking a lamesauce field goal on our first drive of the second half would have felt less like a fraidy-cat copout and more like the smart play to get the points we need to be right there in the game.
Because, see, the thing about that 10-minute drive GT put together is that Paul Johnson does that every so often. It shouldn't come as a surprise. Back when he was coaching Navy, the Middies were in a bowl game against New Mexico and got the ball on their own 1, up 31-19 and 2 minutes to go in the third quarter. At 2:07 of the fourth, New Mexico finally got the ball back. The funny thing about a drive like that is, it can't happen unless you're getting stops. New Mexico held Navy to three yards or less on eleven plays in that drive. We did the same to GT nine times in their drive. Normal teams punt when you do that. We got our stops on that drive and we got our stops all throughout the first half. But the offense....
The offense let the defense down. Three trips to the red zone should result in more than two lousy field goals. (One field goal came after getting to the 21 and then going backwards.) I was mad that we didn't go to a power-I formation on the goal line and kept tossing it outside (and to the short side of the field no less - one of my major pet peeves) but really, every run play in your inventory longer than a QB dive should be good for two yards. When it mattered most, the offensive line rolled up and died. They even pass-blocked well all day, helped out by the new wrinkle of rolling Sewell out to his left and setting up a new floating pocket out there, but once in the red zone - gack. And the wide receivers - gack too. Kris Burd is supposed to be the one guy performing well and he drops a pass in the end zone.
This is now the part in the show where I come out and tell you What It Means Going Forward. Well, what it means is we're in a real scrap for bowl eligibility, and I have no idea whether we're going to get there. This game told us everything we need to know, and none of it's any use. The defense? Beastly, still, despite the 34 points. If they can keep us in that game they can keep us in any game. Any game, even Miami and Virginia Tech. They'll give us a chance in all of them. The offense? If they can't keep us in that game, what game can they keep us in? By now it's painfully obvious that the wide receivers can't get open and nobody's a guarantee to catch whatever's thrown at them; the line can't protect the quarterback and can only sporadically open holes for the running backs; the quarterback's accuracy is fair but not above average; and the playcalling is occasionally frustrating beyond belief. These are not issues that are going to be fixed. It's hard to see where we're going to get three of the next five, not with an offense that can't score a touchdown unless the defense hands them the ball on the one-foot line. That is literally how it's been the past two weeks. Forget the IU game - that was the one random, unexpected blowout that's allotted to us each year, and it came against a defense which just choked away a 28-3 lead against Northwestern.
So I dunno. What are you supposed to predict with a defense that looks like it's going to kick everyone's ass and an offense that couldn't find its way to the end zone with an atlas? It's gonna be a weird ride for the next five weeks - with any luck it'll end up in the E*******k Bowl or something.
Well, we know now who the king of the hill is. And not to brag, but actually yeah, to brag: I told you this at the beginning of the year. I let myself sorta believe we could swing a few key plays in our direction and pull off the upset, but deep down it's the same thing I've been saying all year - that was the best team in the ACC that just slobberknocked us. Clemson helpfully untied the messy knot in the Coastal by upsetting Miami, and Georgia Tech now needs only a pair of wins over Duke and Wake Forest and their ticket to Tampa is punched.
It's not a fun day when both your teams show up in the Yahoo college football headlines following the word "rips." The funny thing is, though, despite the similar losing scores for Michigan and UVA (35-10, 34-9) UVA put up one heck of a better fight. The game was closer than that. I will insist this. I know the defensive box score doesn't say so. But we were down 13-6 at the half, and if the offense wasn't a complete disaster, we'd have gone in there with the lead. Then, kicking a lamesauce field goal on our first drive of the second half would have felt less like a fraidy-cat copout and more like the smart play to get the points we need to be right there in the game.
Because, see, the thing about that 10-minute drive GT put together is that Paul Johnson does that every so often. It shouldn't come as a surprise. Back when he was coaching Navy, the Middies were in a bowl game against New Mexico and got the ball on their own 1, up 31-19 and 2 minutes to go in the third quarter. At 2:07 of the fourth, New Mexico finally got the ball back. The funny thing about a drive like that is, it can't happen unless you're getting stops. New Mexico held Navy to three yards or less on eleven plays in that drive. We did the same to GT nine times in their drive. Normal teams punt when you do that. We got our stops on that drive and we got our stops all throughout the first half. But the offense....
The offense let the defense down. Three trips to the red zone should result in more than two lousy field goals. (One field goal came after getting to the 21 and then going backwards.) I was mad that we didn't go to a power-I formation on the goal line and kept tossing it outside (and to the short side of the field no less - one of my major pet peeves) but really, every run play in your inventory longer than a QB dive should be good for two yards. When it mattered most, the offensive line rolled up and died. They even pass-blocked well all day, helped out by the new wrinkle of rolling Sewell out to his left and setting up a new floating pocket out there, but once in the red zone - gack. And the wide receivers - gack too. Kris Burd is supposed to be the one guy performing well and he drops a pass in the end zone.
This is now the part in the show where I come out and tell you What It Means Going Forward. Well, what it means is we're in a real scrap for bowl eligibility, and I have no idea whether we're going to get there. This game told us everything we need to know, and none of it's any use. The defense? Beastly, still, despite the 34 points. If they can keep us in that game they can keep us in any game. Any game, even Miami and Virginia Tech. They'll give us a chance in all of them. The offense? If they can't keep us in that game, what game can they keep us in? By now it's painfully obvious that the wide receivers can't get open and nobody's a guarantee to catch whatever's thrown at them; the line can't protect the quarterback and can only sporadically open holes for the running backs; the quarterback's accuracy is fair but not above average; and the playcalling is occasionally frustrating beyond belief. These are not issues that are going to be fixed. It's hard to see where we're going to get three of the next five, not with an offense that can't score a touchdown unless the defense hands them the ball on the one-foot line. That is literally how it's been the past two weeks. Forget the IU game - that was the one random, unexpected blowout that's allotted to us each year, and it came against a defense which just choked away a 28-3 lead against Northwestern.
So I dunno. What are you supposed to predict with a defense that looks like it's going to kick everyone's ass and an offense that couldn't find its way to the end zone with an atlas? It's gonna be a weird ride for the next five weeks - with any luck it'll end up in the E*******k Bowl or something.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Long brothers: collect 'em all
Dear Old U.Va reports, as do the premium boards at Rivals, that the wheels that were set in motion a few months ago are rolling toward their final destination, which is an overly wordy way of saying that Kyle Long will enroll at UVA this summer and be on the football roster in the fall as an offensive lineman. With Chris already graduated and Howie Jr. signed to play lacrosse, our Brothers Long collection is complete. Here's hoping Kyle is as good at protecting quarterbacks as Chris was at terrorizing them.
But that's not all. TheSabre also reports that Hunter Steward, who previously planned to enroll at Fork Union for a year, will do no such thing. Steward, too, now expects to join the team this fall. Here is the awesome part of the article:
So the depth chart is now updated with the assumption that both will enroll and be on the roster in the fall. There's no way of knowing, really, how many of those freshman tackles will be put elsewhere, not until spring (for the redshirt guys) and fall (for the incoming class) practices begin. I have Cascarano at guard but only because I took a SWAG that he'll end up there.
The real upshot for now is that basically all the world's potential now resides in that freshman class. Between Long, Stewart, Moses, Cascarano, and Aboushi, as well as the talent that resides in the sophomore class with guys like Bradley and Milstead and the junior class with incumbent starters Shields and Cabbell, there will be no excuse for not having a superb offensive line starting around 2010 and moving onwards.
There's one more change to the depth chart - had I been paying any attention when writing my weekend review yesterday, it would have been there, but no, I was in too big a hurry to finish the post and go play Super Smash Brothers. Sorry about that. Kinda. Anyway, what with the spread offense making its grand debut next year, and what with the tight end position being a big ol' afterthought in pretty much every variation of the spread (including ours), the coaches find themselves with an excess of tight ends, and whaddaya know, not enough veteran DEs. Andrew Devlin, therefore, is now a DE. Problem solved. The meaning of all this? Kevin Crawford likely backs up Matt Conrath, and Devlin and Zane Parr battle it out on the other side, the consolation prize being the #2 spot on the depth chart. However, that's one injury away from having to dip into the true freshman pool for the depth chart (Tory Allen is probably not a factor) and so I still anticipate at least one redshirt coming off this season.
The only question I have for now, and its a drum I've beat in the past, but, where are the scholarships coming from? Assuming Long and Steward each get one, I now count 91 scholarship commitments. That's not including Sean Gottschalk, who is no longer with the team and almost certainly will not ever be again, but does include Isaac Cain. That's six over the limit. Who is going to leave the team between now and fall practice?
But that's not all. TheSabre also reports that Hunter Steward, who previously planned to enroll at Fork Union for a year, will do no such thing. Steward, too, now expects to join the team this fall. Here is the awesome part of the article:
"One of the problems for me at the beginning was picking up on small parts of being an offensive lineman. For example, when I was pass blocking I would push guys too far and end up drawing a penalty for illegal man downfield."That's Steward talking. Steward, in case you didn't already know, weighs something north of 300 pounds, and in my very humble opinion someone who has a problem with pushing defensive linemen too far downfield does not have a problem.
So the depth chart is now updated with the assumption that both will enroll and be on the roster in the fall. There's no way of knowing, really, how many of those freshman tackles will be put elsewhere, not until spring (for the redshirt guys) and fall (for the incoming class) practices begin. I have Cascarano at guard but only because I took a SWAG that he'll end up there.
The real upshot for now is that basically all the world's potential now resides in that freshman class. Between Long, Stewart, Moses, Cascarano, and Aboushi, as well as the talent that resides in the sophomore class with guys like Bradley and Milstead and the junior class with incumbent starters Shields and Cabbell, there will be no excuse for not having a superb offensive line starting around 2010 and moving onwards.
There's one more change to the depth chart - had I been paying any attention when writing my weekend review yesterday, it would have been there, but no, I was in too big a hurry to finish the post and go play Super Smash Brothers. Sorry about that. Kinda. Anyway, what with the spread offense making its grand debut next year, and what with the tight end position being a big ol' afterthought in pretty much every variation of the spread (including ours), the coaches find themselves with an excess of tight ends, and whaddaya know, not enough veteran DEs. Andrew Devlin, therefore, is now a DE. Problem solved. The meaning of all this? Kevin Crawford likely backs up Matt Conrath, and Devlin and Zane Parr battle it out on the other side, the consolation prize being the #2 spot on the depth chart. However, that's one injury away from having to dip into the true freshman pool for the depth chart (Tory Allen is probably not a factor) and so I still anticipate at least one redshirt coming off this season.
The only question I have for now, and its a drum I've beat in the past, but, where are the scholarships coming from? Assuming Long and Steward each get one, I now count 91 scholarship commitments. That's not including Sean Gottschalk, who is no longer with the team and almost certainly will not ever be again, but does include Isaac Cain. That's six over the limit. Who is going to leave the team between now and fall practice?
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