Toledo Game Preview

Preview of 9/15/18 game vs Toledo

Which back will fill the role of Walton in this game?

Highlights from Toledo's last game vs VMI

This is the block seen around the Sports World vs VMI back on 9/1/18

More highlights of Toledo's 66-3 vs VMI on 9/1/18

My take on the 2018 Spring Game

Yesterday, the Miami Hurricanes held their Spring Game over at Hard Rock Stadium. After seeing the videos (one from Richt Post-Game and one from College Football Viz) and the comments, I want to give my thoughts here. 

1. Poor OL play - This has been an issue for a while now. We will only go so far as our OL will take us. If you listen to Mark Richt's comments post-game, this is one reason why he couldn't fully evaluate Malik Rosier's performance last night (more on the QB's shortly). The DL was constantly beating the OL and getting to the QB and stopping the run. This to me, we have to got to get fixed before Fall Camp starts and before we leave for Arlington (JerryWorld) vs LSU on 9/2. Searels is on the hot seat this year for sure. 
2. The QB competition - As stated earlier, Richt could not fully evaluate Malik's performance because of the poor OL play. As for Kosi and Jarren, I felt they did very well, especially Kosi, who really needed to step up in this game because he had been sloppy at times throughout Spring camp. This will go a long way toward his progress and build some mo going into Fall Camp. As for Jarren, another solid performance yesterday, granted, he didn't play with the 1s, as he played with the 2s. I'd like to see Jarren work with the 1s, if not in Spring camp, which has a week to go, but for sure in Fall Camp. He has some promise here. Its going to be interesting in Fall Camp how the QBs fare and who starts in Arlington vs LSU. If I had to guess now, based on experience, I still think it'll be Malik, but if he struggles early and our O is struggling in the 1st half, we could see either Kosi or Jarren start the 2nd half of that game. 
3. The WR core - Like what Brian Hightower did yesterday. That kid is explosive and I think will be the next great one here. No TD catch for Mr. Clutch (Langham). Big Cage is going to be a force on the outside with hopefully a healthy ARich. 
4. The running game - Looks promising here given how poor the OL play has been. DeeJay had a solid game, ditto for Travis.
5. The Tight Ends - We won't know the full extent of this until Jordan and Mallory arrive in the Fall. My god, this Spring, its been awful for the most part, though Playmaker Jr. and Polendey have had their moments. 
6. The Defense - Lights out has its been throughout the Spring, except for one bad practice in which they paid the price for it. They have abused the OL this Spring and they've dictated how the games are going to go this year. 

In summary, I believe this year, we're going to win games with our Defense, and the O not going to need much for the D to make it stand up. The OL has GOT to come together before we leave for Arlington. 

The Spring game for LSU is Saturday Night at 6 pm on SEC Network. Believe me, that's going to be a game where we need to pay very close attention there as they will be our opponent on 9/2 in Arlington at 7:30 pm ET on ABC. 

A couple of takes the last few days

I've been off this the last few days, but I wanted to give my take on a few subjects here.

1. CANES Baseball winning a rain shortened game back on Sunday vs Carolina. Needed this win, given that we were struggling over the last week. Hopefully going into the UCF midweek game  tonight to end the homestand, we can build on the momentum from Sunday's win and complete the Home and Home sweep over the Golden Knights this evening and continue that mo going into Clemson this weekend. 
2. On the First Scrimmage this past Saturday, Malik and Kosi worked with the 1s and Jarren mostly with the 2s/3s. From all reports, Jarren did the best out of the three. Malik did ok for the most part, but Kosi really struggling this spring is an issue, big time. To be fair, the QBs weren't live in this first scrimmage. Hopefully in Saturday Night's Spring game at Hard Rock, they will be Live and then we'll hopefully start to get a better idea on where the QB competition still lies. Right now, it's still Malik's job to lose here. 
3. My expectations for the Spring Game on Saturday Night are that I want to see the QBs go Live and hopefully that will be the case. I want to see the TEs (Irvin, Polendey) really step their games up, but especially Polendey, who from all reports out there has had an awful Spring. I like that Irvin Jr is improving his game and working hard out there, which I like, but I need to see more and hopefully on Saturday Evening, we see that. 
4. The Defense to me has to continue the momentum from the First Scrimmage. It seems to me that Greg Rousseau is going to be in the rotation this season. It would not shock me if he starts in Arlington vs LSU at one of the DE spots. Going to real tough to keep him off the field. That guy is going to be a monster for OL to have to deal with. 
5. With ARich still recovering, I like that Big Cage is stepping his game up and ditto for Mr Clutch (Langham), and Dayall. When Richt first came here, I remember him challenging Big Cage to be the next AJ Green (whom Richt coached at UGa). 
6. The OL has been inconsistent and bordering on awful this spring. Look I realize losing Trevor and KC would be tough, but I didn't think it'd be this bad. In the first scrimmage, that OL was getting beat consistently. Saturday Night in the Spring Game, that OL MUST step up and produce a lot better than it did in that First scrimmage. 
7. Finally, Coach L got a two-year extension which runs through 2024. He's currently 68 and by the end of his deal, he'll be 75. Blake's statement reads on L's extension: "Coach Larranaga is an integral part of our athletics department's success, and he continues to demonstrate year after year that he is one of the best basketball coaches in the nation." If you read between the lines here, you have to believe that L is going to have a big say on who his successor will be when he hangs it up for good. With the Feds announcement yesterday on the investigation with Adidas, L said that he did nothing wrong and I have to believe in the end, he will be proven correct here. 

Bad news from CANES camp this morning 3/31/18

Not good in an area that is pretty thin at the moment and that's in the secondary. According to Christy Chirinos of the Sun-Sentinel in a Tweet this morning, Gurvan Hall will be out the rest of the Spring with a Knee Injury per Coach Mark Richt this morning.

That's a tough blow when you consider we're pretty thin there in the secondary. Per Richt, Hall will NOT need surgery, which is good news on that front and hopefully we'll have him back in time for Fall camp.

With Hall out, other guys in the secondary are going to have to step up their games namely, Ivey, Frierson, Bandy, etc.

Interesting take on QB situation after the 1st week and other key observations and my takes on them

An interesting take coming from Barry Jackson after the 1st week of Spring Camp.

I agree with Jackson that Jarren Williams won't be a factor this Spring, but interestingly, Richt believes he might in the fall. Something to watch there. As for Kosi, the deep ball isn't as good as Malik's is, but that arm is really second to none here. The scary part is that he's getting better with each passing day. Jackson says that Kosi does turn his back on plays (i.e., going into our own backfield), but that's easily correctable.

On Malik, according to Jackson's piece, he's had a solid camp so far, and for him, this is an important camp. On one play, he gets out of trouble, avoids the blitz and ran 40 yards for a TD.

As for Cade, you know I really like this kid, but I'm not totally sure he's out of Richt's doghouse after the off the field incident near the end of last season. The key with Cade, according to Jackson's piece is that he's gotten better and he's bigger and stronger than he was last year. Most importantly, he knows the offense and what Richt wants here.

A couple of other takes I have here on other positions.

At WR, we're solid here. Liking the fact that the early enrollees are making an impact this spring.

As for Playmaker II, he needs to improve at making tough catches and bail out our QBs. He needs to make an impression this spring because once Mallory and Jordan arrive in the fall, his time probably will be limited drastically.

As for the D, after Manny chewing them out yesterday and punishing them after a poor performance, I believe they're getting the message loud and clear. We're seeing that from a few players here.

One of which is Greg Rousseau, another one who's here early for Spring Ball. This guy is the real deal. Manny, CMR, and Simpson are raving about this kid.

Another is Jon Garvin, especially, since we won't have DJax back until Fall camp and he's making the most of his opportunity to make an impact this spring.

In the secondary, JD (Dean) has some work to do here. He's working on the 1st team, which is good for us here. I like the thought of having MJax, Bandy, and JD as the three players there. I'm liking that Gilbert Frierson, and D.J. Ivey as well as Gurvan are having solid Springs so far.

Liking what Big Mike is saying about Mike Smith stepping up in Zach's absence. Hopefully, we'll have Zach back in time for Fall camp.

Overall, like what I'm seeing so far, and hopefully, week 2 will be just as productive as Week 1 was.

Manny pissed at the D for lackadaisical effort at Practice

A good piece from Ryan Wooden over on the CANES Die Hards page about how upset Manny was on the D was just god awful yesterday.

You could tell this was coming after how the D was just mailing it in the last few practices. After yesterday, Manny had enough and needed to send a message. So, according to Wooden's piece, Manny had them against a chain linked fence in the back of Greentree, and had them do padded wall sits and those if you've done those, are painful and grueling.

Manny told Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald that he needed the players on D to understand, that last year is over and done with. The guys that were there last year (RJ, Jumbo 7, Chad, and Toolbox Trent) are gone and will soon be in the League and that they couldn't rely on last year.

You can read Manny's Quotes to McPherson here.

Some of the players to a man said that yesterday was a horrible day of practice. Hopefully, after yesterday's punishment, they get the message loud and clear, last year's effort and resting on their laurels, will not be good enough. They need to get better and I believe they will do so because this year, there are big things expected out of this Defense and this team. If they want to get to play on New Year's Day this year, its really going to be up to the D to make that happen.