Connect with your Facebook Account

• Contact

Football Articles

5

Spring Game notes

Posted by ChrisApplewhite on April 6th, 2009 under Football

Or, rather, note. There is only one thing worth talking about, and that thing is our completely disgusting secondary.

The offense was vanilla, obviously, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many check downs in a spring game before. There was just nothing available. Brown, Beasley and Williams might make up three of the best corners we’ve ever had at the same time. Curtis Brown is talented but you can tell he doesn’t really know what he’s doing yet. He’ll make one good play, then get completely turned around the next.

It’s hard not to get excited. Deon Beasley decided to fight for his job and might just earn it back. The only two thrown his way were under his close and personal supervision. He’s got to be the quickest player on the team. Chykie Brown only gave up one catch, a 30 yard fade that landed out of bounds. I’d like to see him not coast at the beginning of plays. WRs can get behind him because he jogs for the first 3-4 yards. He’s got the make up speed, but that’s why there is always a shot or two against him every game.

I didn’t really notice Aaron Williams, which is a good thing.

In the back we’ve only got one good (proven) player, Earl Thomas. The good news is twofold. One, Thomas is electric. His play of the day was jumping a short slant from Colt and taking it to the house. Safeties don’t do that type of thing. He was all over the field cleaning up other people’s messes and providing good coverage. He’s not the type of person you’d want covering WRs (Aaron Williams was in the slot, mostly) but put him on a TE or as a rover and he’s dynamite personified.

Two, Christian Scott was probably the second best safety. He’s fast, aggressive and brings a load. He ran down Malcolm Williams on a crossing route, from behind, and still managed to deliver a blow. H played with Thomas for the majority of the day and I hope he starts.

Gideon was Gideon, but he did have a very nice pass break up. He then ruined it by doing that white boy head down trot. You know the one. “I’m white so I have to play it cool, but I know what I just did.”

Ben Wells played with the walk ons, so I guess it’s Chinatown for him. Not sure what’s missing there.

There was a slot of switching and communication going on during the plays. We’re comfortable with the scheme, and it was very impressive to watch. No blown assignments (stark contrast to last year) and nothing available past 15 yards aside from a couple nice corner routes by Brandon Collins. We’re going to rival Florida for the best secondary in the country (which I think we’ll end up having), and we know what that means. Big Game Bradford.

Having watched the secondary, assuming that people could catch a replay on TV and see the rest for themselves, I can only offer  fleeting glimpses of any other players.

- Vondrell, other than an early fumble, looked fantastic. Fozzy is the best back on the team and did nothing to disprove that, but McGee was cat quick. He embarrassed Curtis Brown at one point, juking him so badly that my jock fell off.

- Sherrod Harris needs work. His mechanics and accuracy are there, but he’s not in sync with the offense. He has 6 months to work on that before it’s too late.

- Greg Smith dropped all three passes thrown to him.

- Malcolm Williams will have a big year. I’m calling that one.

- Ben Alexander is OK. I noticed him for the first time getting pushed 6 yards out of the way on a TD run, but he made up for it later. Not a pass rusher, obviously.

- Speaking of the pass rush, only Dravannti Johnson of all people did anything there. Our protection was solid as a whole. Sergio Kindle didn’t play.

- Kheeston Randall might be an option. Lamaar Houston was good, but after him, Randall was the best DT. He’s athletic enough to make noise, if not the play, which is all we need.

- The offense was even more vanilla than usual. I think they only ran a couple pass play, and the usual  gamut of running plays. I want to say the run defense looked good, which it did, but I think we all know what’s going on there.

- Mack addressed the crowd again, pregame. I think he’s starting to get the spotlight itch or something. Look out for a prima donna season from him.

- Hunter Lawrence had a huge day. Not only did he nail a three year old in the endzone with a practice kickoff, he made a tackle on a real kick inside the 30 yard line. And he ran the returner down, too. Not sure I’ve ever seen that happen before.

- The snow cone  man earns an F- from me for standing right in front of my row all afternoon. My vision was blocked for a good 15 minutes in total while every kid in the place stood in my way.

- Didn’t personally see any recruits, but Lache Seastruck and Darius White were there.

Article Tags:

, ,

More from this Barker


Share This

  • StumbleUpon

5 Responses

  1. Parlin Hall said:

    April 6th, 2009 at 7:09 am

    The snow cone guy can cover and disrupt? Get him a jersey.

  2. Ecurbmanchild said:

    April 6th, 2009 at 9:31 am

    From everything I am hearing on DT, the secondary better be all world. I think the offense was affected by the vanilla play calling and the wind. Otherwise, the offense totally sucked.

  3. Scipio Tex said:

    April 6th, 2009 at 9:50 am

    We’re in a agreement on the secondary. Just a crazy talented group with more help on the way. We’re going to able to challenge straight passing offenses in a way that we haven’t been able to do in years.

    The spread really thrives off of putting enough WRs on the field until you have to match them with a couple of bad coverage guys. It exploits bad DB depth, which is common throughout football at levels. When you’ve got as many guys who can play as we do, that option just isn’t there.

    If we get beat in the passing game, it will be off of play action by an OU/OSU type offense when we have to overcommit to the run to make up for our front 7.

  4. Beaten Dead Horse said:

    April 6th, 2009 at 3:34 pm

    Gideon was Gideon, but he did have a very nice pass break up. He then ruined it by doing that white boy head down trot. You know the one. “I’m white so I have to play it cool, but I know what I just did.”

    You still pissed about the busted hand dumbass?

  5. Hookah Horns said:

    April 7th, 2009 at 9:46 pm

    “Gideon was Gideon, but he did have a very nice pass break up. He then ruined it by doing that white boy head down trot. You know the one. “I’m white so I have to play it cool, but I know what I just did.”

    You’re the dumbest motherfucker on the internet and I’m nearly ashamed to follow the same team as you.

Leave a Reply

Follow Us

Related Articles

Hot Forum Topics

Activity

  • Blake Stansbery commented on the blog post Recruiting the Trenches   ago

    I like my wine in a box…. I like my wine in a box GIIIRL

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Sailor Ripley commented on the blog post Did Rick Barnes use a plant last night to distract KU players?   ago

    We commented on the lass during telecast. Thanks for, getting this up, so to speak.

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Mister Mike commented on the blog post Recruiting the Trenches   ago

    Sailor’s sponsoring it? Holy shit…that likely means goats, togas, and lots of cheap wine.

    Welcome to the network!

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • skymonkeyhorn commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Kansas: Post-Mortem   15 seconds ago

    Yeah your right, penders teams were at least fun to watch play. Barnes offense is pretty bad not as bad as Tom’s but its all relative to who is watching the worst offense in Texas history.

    “His teams did not play D, did not box out, and were generally unsound in the fundamentals of the game.”
    Close

  • czarcw commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Kansas: Post-Mortem   1 minute ago

    Our hoops team is the basketball version of Major League.

    Jake Taylor = Damion James
    Pedro Cerrano = Dexter Pittman
    Willie Mays Hays = Avery Bradley
    Roger Dorn = Justin Mason
    Isuro Tanaka (Major League II) = Dogus Balbay
    Rube Baker (Major Leauge II) = Jordan Hamilton

    If Craig Way starts drinking whiskey during the broadcasts, it’ll complete the analogy.

  • Farmer Ted commented on the blog post Recruiting the Trenches   3 minutes ago

    Nice job with this – and welcome to the network, on behalf of Better Off Red. See you at the Fantake retreat in Vegas that Sailor Ripley is sponsoring this summer!

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • J Rog commented on the blog post Game Day: Spurs vs. Lakers Open Thread   8 minutes ago

    Fell apart in the fourth quarter again. Can’t give up 28 points to close out a game. Spurs, Longhorns….heartache once again.

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Farmer Ted commented on the blog post Thoughts on the win in Austin   11 minutes ago

    Nice job Hiphop. Very nice to win what is probably the toughest game on the schedule handily, although the Hawks obviously caught UT at a good time.

    The Morningstar FT was terrible and hilarious. He said the ball was wet, which clearly means Texas was cheating somehow. Would the second chance off balance leaner

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Nickel Rover commented on the blog post Another night, another would-be hero   11 minutes ago

    I don’t think McCoy played anywhere near the level of Suh and the numbers make it clear that he did not. Suh had twice as many tackles (77-31), sacks (11-5) and nearly tackles for loss (22-14.5). Suh also broke up 10 passes, if he gets stonewalled on the rush he doesn’t allow it to take

  • skymonkeyhorn commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Kansas: Post-Mortem   13 minutes ago

    We are bound to the past no matter how great the past is, we are bound to fail if we do not look to the future.
    The End

  • J Rog wrote a new blog post: Missed Opportunities: Spurs vs. Lakers Recap   18 minutes ago

    Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot.  This game was served up on a silver platter for the Spurs and they managed to fumble it like a Minnesota Viking in the playoffs. 

    I think perhaps Will Ferrell can describe my emotions on the current state of the Spurs season better than I. 

     

    The Spurs hung around for most of the

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • slugfest commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Kansas: Post-Mortem   21 minutes ago

    EP, I get your point, but I don’t think the fact that Texas hasn’t won a tourney came as an underdog doesn’t support it. Teams are favored because they are better. The odds that they win are greater than those who are not favored. It’s not like Texas goes into games with a secret weapon

  • Mister Mike commented on the blog post Did Rick Barnes use a plant last night to distract KU players?   25 minutes ago

    I think KU should demand an immediate investigation. Find someone to get to the bottom of this.

    I volunteer myself.

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Trips Right commented on the blog post Top 8 Teams in College Hoops   29 minutes ago

    Georgetown?

  • RRR commented on the blog post Thoughts on the win in Austin   29 minutes ago

    Good write up, hiphop. I love the versatitility of the Morris twins on defense. Xavier Henry is probably the key to a big run in the tournament. If he starts hitting open looks, the inside game will really open up. Post to post passing is fun to watch.

    It’s pretty nice when

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Trips Right commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Kansas: Post-Mortem   33 minutes ago

    PB, just talking. I’m not ready to replace him but something has to change. The comment about playing 3 on 5 three quarters into the season is just astoundingly bad.

  • Blake Stansbery commented on the blog post Petrino Building Fence Around Arkansas   42 minutes ago

    Here is more info on Frazier. He is such a great player, and Arkansas needs to land him in a big way.

    http://www.kiehlfrazier15.com/Home.html

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow1mOrMQXYw

    These Highlights are from his Sophomore year, and he had a bigger and better 2009. OH MY!

  • Blake Stansbery commented on the blog post Petrino Building Fence Around Arkansas   42 minutes ago

    Here is more info on Frazier. He is such a great player, and Arkansas needs to land him in a big way.

    http://www.kiehlfrazier15.com/Home.html

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow1mOrMQXYw

    These Highlights are from his Sophomore year, and he had a bigger and better 2009. OH MY!

  • Blake Stansbery commented on the blog post Petrino Building Fence Around Arkansas   42 minutes ago

    Here is more info on Frazier. He is such a great player, and Arkansas needs to land him in a big way.

    http://www.kiehlfrazier15.com/Home.html

    These Highlights are from his Sophomore year, and he had a bigger and better 2009. OH MY!

  • Trips Right commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Kansas: Post-Mortem   44 minutes ago

    It takes more time…unless you’re a Kentucky fan.

  • RRR commented on the blog post Mid-Season Thoughts and OU Pre-Game   46 minutes ago

    Thanks Trips. I’m hoping for lots of Willie Warren trying to be Sheron Collins. TMG in sync is the scariest thing to face in Norman. That or we get beat up on the boards which seems to be recurring theme of Texas Tech road games.

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • slugfest commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Kansas: Post-Mortem   47 minutes ago

    I don’t think it’s a case of RB not being able to coach, or doing a poor job of coaching. If you read the entirety of Katz’ blog post, he clearly sounds like a coaching searching for answers — answers that come in the form of players contributing, doing what they are coached to do.

  • Blake Stansbery commented on the blog post John Pelphrey’s Unconventional Approach   54 minutes ago

    I agree that an NIT bid would be acceptable this year, but that if the Razorbacks can get to 20 wins they will have a very good chance at the NCAA Tourney.

    Our RPI is bad, and we have no signature wins.

    However, we have 8 games left on the SEC regular season schedule. If we

  • Blake Stansbery commented on the blog post John Pelphrey’s Unconventional Approach   54 minutes ago

    I agree that an NIT bid would be acceptable this year, but that if the Razorbacks can get to 20 wins they will have a very good chance at the NCAA Tourney.

    Our RPI is bad, and we have no signature wins.

    However, we have 8 games left on the SEC regular season schedule. If we

  • Blake Stansbery commented on the blog post Recruiting the Trenches   58 minutes ago

    TP welcome to the network.

    I like how you broke this down, and identified which positions history shows a high star ranking has proven to be important. I personally feel that after what all the recruiting sites dub their top players that there is a major falloff. We all love that the recruiting sites bring

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • Art Vandelay commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Kansas: Post-Mortem   58 minutes ago

    Groundhog Day said:
    February 9th, 2010 at 10:00 am

    “How can everyone on the team have worse basketball sense than my 5th graders? Honestly? We are the dumbest bunch I have ever seen. We weren’t earlier in the year. Hell, Bradley was smartest player, by far, in any of the summer h.s. games. Now he plays

  • Farmer Ted commented on the blog post Petrino Building Fence Around Arkansas   1 hour, 1 minute ago

    Good stuff JA. But the Huskers call dibs on any dual threat QB named Frazier thankyouverymuch.

  • Hiphopopotamus commented on the blog post Did Rick Barnes use a plant last night to distract KU players?   1 hour, 3 minutes ago

    I’m convinced.

    SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: ””, url: ”” });

  • skymonkeyhorn commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Kansas: Post-Mortem   1 hour, 8 minutes ago

    “No, but I became a man in Juarez.”
    I bet in your fantasy you were the donkey in the show ? No ?

    “Eight Dollar drink-and-drowns, and cans that merely say “beer” in Juarez will turn anyone into a man”
    That is why Trips was drinking river water by the bridge for too many years. In the

  • Darius Pourceau commented on the blog post John Pelphrey’s Unconventional Approach   1 hour, 9 minutes ago

    I don’t think we have to win the SEC tourny necessarily. If we make it to the SEC Tourny championship game and have won about 20 games, I would say a tourny bid would look likely. But that is a pretty big task. I know no one cares about the NIT, but that wouldnt be