Have some takeaways from another light practice today but I first want to point out that Rocky was pretty open/joking about Bob Toledo and his playbook today. Basically made fun of how Toledo probably had about 150 passing plays and 40 trick plays compared to about eight or nine run plays in his playbook.
“He never got rid of a play, he just added them on through his 40 year career.”
Horton’s playbook is basically half the passing plays that Toledo had the players learn, and that’s why you hear a lot of guys on the offensive side, especially the receivers, mentioning how much simpler the offense now is. With Horton doing so, it allows the players to practice less plays, thus execute the plays they do use during games much better.
“It makes it tough on the younger inexperienced ones [when you have so many plays],” Long said.
Also...
There was a tussle today. Kalan Montgomery pushed Daniel Brunskill out of bounds following a catch, straight toward the defensive players sideline. I didn’t see who got into a shoving match with Brunskill but I know he was involved and left the scrum with his helmet no longer on. This caused Rocky to pull all the veterans aside toward the end of practice, basically telling them that stuff like that is a waste of time and that it takes away from the practice. He doesn’t want the older players to let the younger guys think that shoving matches like that is acceptable, because over time it leads to habit, which leads to penalties and ejections during games.
Moving on...
At QB, another so-so day for Christian Chapman. It was good to see him try some deeper throws today and his timing on most of them seemed about right. He also ripped some nice completions when guys were wide open on hitches to guys like Holder and Mills. He's throwing with more authority and confidence compared to this time last year (he used a lot of time in the pocket last fall). For a smaller guy, the ball really shoots out of his hand thanks to his clean and crisp footwork.
It’s pretty clear that Maxwell Smith is starting to take command of the offense now that he’s been with the team for about eight months. I saw him correct a bunch of receivers today when they lined up wrong; just seems much more vocal and assertive. His actual throws alone were pretty inconsistent, however, and he definitely let a lot of balls get too much air under them today. He’s actually really accurate over the middle and on 5-to-15 yard sideline throws but he tends to make some head scratching throws on deep balls and in the flat from time to time. I also should note that if he gets the starting job, don’t expect him to have that much better of an arm than Kaehler. I’m not saying it’s something to worry about - just don’t expect anything above average on deep balls. His arm on medium to short throws is solid - closer to above average than average, actually. But he's no Lindley on the 30+yard throws.
As for Jake Rodrigues, he’s probably the most improved QB out of the three. Better at making decisions. He’s making throws without as much hesitation as he did during the spring and he’s throwing tight balls with zip, leaving little room for errant, inaccurate throws. Still his a slow throwing motion when throwing deep balls though Even if he doesn’t have a starting role I can see SDSU using him as a weapon like they used the young Adam Dingwell.
I should note that I think Ryan Anderson should be good. Really reads the field well and quickly. Completed most of his passes and I didn’t see him throw any passes that touched a defender's gloves at any point of the freshman period.
At WR, Eric Judge ran the best route of the day (a stop-n-go which completely fooled Whittaker) while Favreau, Mills, Pitts and Judge all made highlight catches during one-on-ones. Pitts is getting much better at tracking the ball and adjusting his body before the catch. Favreau was the most consistent wide receiver today, running good routes, catching everything and making tough catches against defenders. I’d say Mills was right behind him in the consistency dept. He actually left practice limping a bit but looked OK.
Jack Bailey made a bad drop after Smith connected with him on a double move. Jemond Hazely also had a couple bad drops.
At DB, I thought Damontae Kazee had a great practice. Ron Smith looked good in coverage but he didn’t do a great job tracking balls coming over his shoulder and often gave up completions despite being in the right place (just failed to locate and make a play on the ball). Billy Vaughn looked a little stiff turning his hips today. Really struggled in that aspect which makes me think he’s still recovering from injuries. Pierre Romain is likely the 3rd corner right now. Kalan Montgomery has impressed through two practices. He’s not getting fooled by advanced or complex routes as much as he used to. Definitely has starter-level athleticism and should be used this season against 6-4+ non-primary receivers.
During the skelly portion there were at least four picks that I saw. Munson got the first (on the very first play), Ron Smith got another (against J-Rod) and then again during the later session. Ryan Dunn also got a pick on Maxwell Smith. Every interception was the QB just being unaware of the defensive guys shading the areas where the WR made their cut. You can place the blame on QBs not reading the coverage completely or the WRs not adjusting to the coverages.
Looked like the second team d-line unit was Julian Rochelin, Dakota Turner and Noble Hall at nose. I think Hall would be a good option to rotate with Heyward this season as I expect to see more reps from him than people may expect this year (even though it won't be too much with Heyward looking really really good so far).
On the o-line, I’m liking Maass for the center spot as of now. Again, no pads have been put on but he’s very consistent and that’s what Schmidt is looking for. Flores is bigger/wider and very strong (especially lower body), and Phillips has great feet and explosion, but in terms of looking for the total package, my early prediction is on Maass. Still a very close race with all three guys having different attributes to offer.
By the way, Schmidt said that with Ryan Pope out, Joe Salcedo will likely be the backup left tackle and right tackle (there’s not many other options at this point). He also pointed Salcedo out as a guy who really improved his size/weight since he’s arrived on campus.
If you guys ever make it out to a practice, one of the better matchups to watch is between Heyward and Siragusa during one-on-ones. Always a good rep for those two. The standouts today were Heyward, Barrett, Flores, Pope, Slater and Siragusa.
Lastly, here’s a list of some new walk-ons:
OT David Servatius from LBCC
OL Elijah Wofford from La Costa Canyon
OL Lucas Hassett from Novato (same school as Damon Moore)
DB Garrett Binkley from Ramona
WR Liam Cabrera from Canyon Country
DB Israel Cabrera from Canyon high (twin)
WR Dominic Rose from King City
DB/LB Ardis Perez from Gardena Serra
WR Taylor Dodds from El Toro
LS Ryan Simmons from Dana Hills
TE Kahale Warring from Sonora
DL Thomas Browne from St. Augustine.
“He never got rid of a play, he just added them on through his 40 year career.”
Horton’s playbook is basically half the passing plays that Toledo had the players learn, and that’s why you hear a lot of guys on the offensive side, especially the receivers, mentioning how much simpler the offense now is. With Horton doing so, it allows the players to practice less plays, thus execute the plays they do use during games much better.
“It makes it tough on the younger inexperienced ones [when you have so many plays],” Long said.
Also...
There was a tussle today. Kalan Montgomery pushed Daniel Brunskill out of bounds following a catch, straight toward the defensive players sideline. I didn’t see who got into a shoving match with Brunskill but I know he was involved and left the scrum with his helmet no longer on. This caused Rocky to pull all the veterans aside toward the end of practice, basically telling them that stuff like that is a waste of time and that it takes away from the practice. He doesn’t want the older players to let the younger guys think that shoving matches like that is acceptable, because over time it leads to habit, which leads to penalties and ejections during games.
Moving on...
At QB, another so-so day for Christian Chapman. It was good to see him try some deeper throws today and his timing on most of them seemed about right. He also ripped some nice completions when guys were wide open on hitches to guys like Holder and Mills. He's throwing with more authority and confidence compared to this time last year (he used a lot of time in the pocket last fall). For a smaller guy, the ball really shoots out of his hand thanks to his clean and crisp footwork.
It’s pretty clear that Maxwell Smith is starting to take command of the offense now that he’s been with the team for about eight months. I saw him correct a bunch of receivers today when they lined up wrong; just seems much more vocal and assertive. His actual throws alone were pretty inconsistent, however, and he definitely let a lot of balls get too much air under them today. He’s actually really accurate over the middle and on 5-to-15 yard sideline throws but he tends to make some head scratching throws on deep balls and in the flat from time to time. I also should note that if he gets the starting job, don’t expect him to have that much better of an arm than Kaehler. I’m not saying it’s something to worry about - just don’t expect anything above average on deep balls. His arm on medium to short throws is solid - closer to above average than average, actually. But he's no Lindley on the 30+yard throws.
As for Jake Rodrigues, he’s probably the most improved QB out of the three. Better at making decisions. He’s making throws without as much hesitation as he did during the spring and he’s throwing tight balls with zip, leaving little room for errant, inaccurate throws. Still his a slow throwing motion when throwing deep balls though Even if he doesn’t have a starting role I can see SDSU using him as a weapon like they used the young Adam Dingwell.
I should note that I think Ryan Anderson should be good. Really reads the field well and quickly. Completed most of his passes and I didn’t see him throw any passes that touched a defender's gloves at any point of the freshman period.
At WR, Eric Judge ran the best route of the day (a stop-n-go which completely fooled Whittaker) while Favreau, Mills, Pitts and Judge all made highlight catches during one-on-ones. Pitts is getting much better at tracking the ball and adjusting his body before the catch. Favreau was the most consistent wide receiver today, running good routes, catching everything and making tough catches against defenders. I’d say Mills was right behind him in the consistency dept. He actually left practice limping a bit but looked OK.
Jack Bailey made a bad drop after Smith connected with him on a double move. Jemond Hazely also had a couple bad drops.
At DB, I thought Damontae Kazee had a great practice. Ron Smith looked good in coverage but he didn’t do a great job tracking balls coming over his shoulder and often gave up completions despite being in the right place (just failed to locate and make a play on the ball). Billy Vaughn looked a little stiff turning his hips today. Really struggled in that aspect which makes me think he’s still recovering from injuries. Pierre Romain is likely the 3rd corner right now. Kalan Montgomery has impressed through two practices. He’s not getting fooled by advanced or complex routes as much as he used to. Definitely has starter-level athleticism and should be used this season against 6-4+ non-primary receivers.
During the skelly portion there were at least four picks that I saw. Munson got the first (on the very first play), Ron Smith got another (against J-Rod) and then again during the later session. Ryan Dunn also got a pick on Maxwell Smith. Every interception was the QB just being unaware of the defensive guys shading the areas where the WR made their cut. You can place the blame on QBs not reading the coverage completely or the WRs not adjusting to the coverages.
Looked like the second team d-line unit was Julian Rochelin, Dakota Turner and Noble Hall at nose. I think Hall would be a good option to rotate with Heyward this season as I expect to see more reps from him than people may expect this year (even though it won't be too much with Heyward looking really really good so far).
On the o-line, I’m liking Maass for the center spot as of now. Again, no pads have been put on but he’s very consistent and that’s what Schmidt is looking for. Flores is bigger/wider and very strong (especially lower body), and Phillips has great feet and explosion, but in terms of looking for the total package, my early prediction is on Maass. Still a very close race with all three guys having different attributes to offer.
By the way, Schmidt said that with Ryan Pope out, Joe Salcedo will likely be the backup left tackle and right tackle (there’s not many other options at this point). He also pointed Salcedo out as a guy who really improved his size/weight since he’s arrived on campus.
If you guys ever make it out to a practice, one of the better matchups to watch is between Heyward and Siragusa during one-on-ones. Always a good rep for those two. The standouts today were Heyward, Barrett, Flores, Pope, Slater and Siragusa.
Lastly, here’s a list of some new walk-ons:
OT David Servatius from LBCC
OL Elijah Wofford from La Costa Canyon
OL Lucas Hassett from Novato (same school as Damon Moore)
DB Garrett Binkley from Ramona
WR Liam Cabrera from Canyon Country
DB Israel Cabrera from Canyon high (twin)
WR Dominic Rose from King City
DB/LB Ardis Perez from Gardena Serra
WR Taylor Dodds from El Toro
LS Ryan Simmons from Dana Hills
TE Kahale Warring from Sonora
DL Thomas Browne from St. Augustine.
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