Just got back from the scrimmage where several fans and local coaches were in attendance. Rocky Long said nearly 500 coaches signed up for the clinic last night and many of them watched practiced.
The first segment of practice consisted of the offense and defense splitting fields so the coaches could watch the position drills. Then SDSU ran situational scrimmage periods consisting of the offense starting at their 1-yard line, starting at the 25 yard line and overtime scrimmaging. Then SDSU did a full-speed scrimmage with the first, second and third team rotating each drive.
It went how you guys would expect: the run game was consistent (with two or three long runs), the passing game couldn’t complete many deep throws because of the offensive line, and the defense was dominant.
What stood out most was how fast the defense was playing. No matter which unit was on the field, the defense swarmed to the ball against the run and any completed passes thrown against them were put to a halt at the spot of the catch (other than a Mikah Holder deep ball touchdown).
That said, when brought up to Rocky after the practice, he agreed that the defense was giving effort and playing hard but he still wasn’t happy about alignment errors. He also really wasn’t happy with the o-line for “blocking the wrong guy” and said that’s why we saw so many hits at the line of scrimmage or in the backfield. In short: he was glad the defense played as hard as they did - now they just need to learn to line up right with more consistency.
A quick note: Rocky Long said the school has now in fact sent in a request to get Maxwell Smith an NCAA waiver for a sixth-year.
Smith, who is still in rehab and a few months away from being healthy enough to jog or practice, will not be the starting QB should he return, Long said.
Smith has also indicated to the coaching staff that he wants to be a coach or player-coach and that seems like the likely scenario at this point.
-It sounds like people around Smith still want him to play QB but I think Smith is moving on from the idea and will end up rejoining the team this summer to be a player coach.
- Rashaad Penny seemed like the most consistent player on the field today. He likely averaged five or six yards a carry and that average likely increased to about 8 or 9 after an impressive 50 yard run up the sideline where he nearly beat Jeff Clay and Kameron Kelly down the field (two of the best athletes on defense).
Penny constantly carried multiple defenders an extra yard or two near the end of every run. More importantly, a number of those carries were between the tackles. Rocky’s biggest question last season was whether or not Penny’s success as a returner and a slot receiver (who found a lot of success on end around runs) would translate to consistency between the tackles. Using today as an example, Penny for sure passed the test.
Penny also continued to impress as a pass catcher. He took a catch in the flat seven yards up the sideline before having a big collision with Kalan Montgomery. It looked like Montgomery came in with a full head of steam but Penny somehow looked unaffected while going out of bounds. Physically, he’s starting to look like Walter Payton
-Although Washington had some nice carries, performed fairly well and seemed to run harder as the day went on, he continues to look like a one trick pony who will find the majority of his on field success via outside pitch runs. Washington's just more comfortable in that role - and there’s nothing wrong with that. He also had a few plays where he lined up in the slot today. If not for end arounds, his role seemed to be as the check down option over the middle which suits him perfectly. Chapman used him as a check down on one play where Washington turned around, made a guy miss and gained 13 yards. He’ll be a fun weapon to watch in open field situations.
-The other offensive players who have shown consistency continue to be Mikah Holder and Christian Chapman. The offensive line really struggled today in pass pro so Chapman and the other QBs didn’t have much time to connect with their targets farther than 20 or so yards away. To nobody’s surprise, Chapman connected with Holder over the top during the first drive of the scrimmage for a 99-yard touchdown. That was the only touchdown of the scrimmage.
Later on, the offense nearly scored on a 3rd and goal situation inside the five when Chapman threw a quick out to Chase Favreau on the field side with the ball right on the money. Favreau lost possession as he fell toward the grass though, and the drive ended. Billy Vaughn Jr. was beat by Favreau's cut outside so he's lucky Favreau didn't maintain possession.
Chapman also connected with Holder on a 35-yard jump ball against Billy Vaughn Jr. along the sideline, but it was called back due to a “sack” by Jay Henderson.
Some QB cons:
-Chapman did have one bad overthrow and then nearly threw a pick in the end zone (Kameron Kelly jumped the route and would have intercepted the pass but Montgomery jumped in his way) but the rest of his passes seemed to be on target. I have no doubt that Chapman will be your 2016 starter.
-Ryan Agnew couldn’t get in any rhythm at all because of the pass protection (whereas Chapman made the most of it). He was very quick to scramble on a few occasions though. The one time I felt like he had time to show what he’s got, his 12 yard pass to Darryl Richardson was dropped (although it could have been deflected). I think D-Richardson may eventually get passed on the depth chart by walk on TE Kahale Warring, who had one or two catches with Jimmy Walker and the third team today.
-Walker didn’t get very many reps and some of the passes he threw were flat out inaccurate or wobbly. He did throw a six-yard in to Jerry Chaney for a first down. That said, Agnew and Walker made Chapman look very very good today - take that as you may.
Defense
-There were a lot of sacks and TFLs today, and although that’s not a good sign for the offensive line - it also shouldn’t take away from the play of the defense.
-The defense was tremendous today. Sergio Phillips, Jay Henderson, Austin Wyatt Thayer, Kyavah Tezino, Derek Babiash, Jeff Clay, Trey Lomax and even Julian Rochelin were all over the field.
-Babiash, Henderson and Tezino all made very strong cases for hit of the day. Babiash stayed patient on a play action rollout with Curtis Anderson running across the field directly at him and he gave him a very nice lick. Henderson does a lot of stunts and slants and he had a handful of big hits inside the box. It’s worth noting that Rocky wants Henderson to play defensive line full-time moving forward. He was a fringe starter behind Ricks last season but that position required to many assignments and responbiilities. Now, as strictly a defensive end, Henderson can really show off his athleticism and quickness instead of thinking about assignments too much. His motor is also improving, he chases down plays or scrambling QBs to the very end and his effort has really improved.
The hit of the day may have been made by Tezino, though, because of his face up form and how he drove back a walk on running back five yards before bringing him down. It was a textbook tackle when the two met just before the line of scrimmage and was exciting to see Tezino finish off the play strong. This play happened right after Babiash’s hit on Anderson, so the sidelines and crowwd got really pumped up.
-Ryan Dunn really struggled today. Missed a lot of tackles in the hole at the line of scrimmage whereas guys like Tezino and Thayer really stood out. Billy Vaughn also had an ugly missed tackle against Stamps. Lakalaka also seemed pretty tentative for most of the scrimmage and I doubt he had many tackles.
-Because of time the QBs had to throw, the secondary started to cheat up a bit and it led to more stops against the run. Na’Im McGee and Trey Lomax continue to look like the best DBs in run support (other than Kazee who didn’t play much).
-After Favreau’s bad drop early on, he bounced back with a couple strong catches on short ins and slants. He got the wind knocked out of him after one in route led him toward Jeff Clay for a big collision.
-There was a little scuffle after a play when Malik Smith and Nick Bawden were shoving each other to the point where Bawden’s helmet came off and Smith whipped/threw it at Bawden. Antonio Rosales and Sergio Phillips also got into a bit of shoving match after one play.
-The bad snaps continued and I identified that the majority of them occur between Ryan Agnew and Derrick Achayo. I brought it up to Rocky and he made a good point: Both Agnew and Achayo played in shotgun systems at their former schools so that is why they are struggle to adapt to SDSU’s under center exchanges. It’s something they can only improve on with experience.
-Dwayne Parchment had some moments - a sack and a deflected pass - but I still don’t think he will pass guys like Clay, Baldwin and Lomax on the two deep yet.
-One of the big question marks Rocky has is who will backup Randy Ricks now that Ryan Dunn moved over to inside linebacker next to Munson and Jay Henderson is with the d-line? Currently, it’s looking like it will be Reggie Murphy. He’s not very athletic for a linebacker but he and Ricks will create a nice combo during the season based off how he played today.
-One of the funnest matchups to watch this spring has been Judge vs. Babiash. Agnew threw a deep ball their way today and Babiash played it as well as he could have. Babiash ran in front of Judge while remaining very tight in coverage. This kept Judge from running at full speed toward the ball and it didn’t warrant a pass inteference penalty. Opposing wide receivers are really going to hate Babiash this year. His athleticsm allows him to really frustrate wide outs.
-Former players Jon Sanchez and Darrell Greene were in attendance.
-I’ll have more scrimmage info and video up later on.
The first segment of practice consisted of the offense and defense splitting fields so the coaches could watch the position drills. Then SDSU ran situational scrimmage periods consisting of the offense starting at their 1-yard line, starting at the 25 yard line and overtime scrimmaging. Then SDSU did a full-speed scrimmage with the first, second and third team rotating each drive.
It went how you guys would expect: the run game was consistent (with two or three long runs), the passing game couldn’t complete many deep throws because of the offensive line, and the defense was dominant.
What stood out most was how fast the defense was playing. No matter which unit was on the field, the defense swarmed to the ball against the run and any completed passes thrown against them were put to a halt at the spot of the catch (other than a Mikah Holder deep ball touchdown).
That said, when brought up to Rocky after the practice, he agreed that the defense was giving effort and playing hard but he still wasn’t happy about alignment errors. He also really wasn’t happy with the o-line for “blocking the wrong guy” and said that’s why we saw so many hits at the line of scrimmage or in the backfield. In short: he was glad the defense played as hard as they did - now they just need to learn to line up right with more consistency.
A quick note: Rocky Long said the school has now in fact sent in a request to get Maxwell Smith an NCAA waiver for a sixth-year.
Smith, who is still in rehab and a few months away from being healthy enough to jog or practice, will not be the starting QB should he return, Long said.
Smith has also indicated to the coaching staff that he wants to be a coach or player-coach and that seems like the likely scenario at this point.
-It sounds like people around Smith still want him to play QB but I think Smith is moving on from the idea and will end up rejoining the team this summer to be a player coach.
- Rashaad Penny seemed like the most consistent player on the field today. He likely averaged five or six yards a carry and that average likely increased to about 8 or 9 after an impressive 50 yard run up the sideline where he nearly beat Jeff Clay and Kameron Kelly down the field (two of the best athletes on defense).
Penny constantly carried multiple defenders an extra yard or two near the end of every run. More importantly, a number of those carries were between the tackles. Rocky’s biggest question last season was whether or not Penny’s success as a returner and a slot receiver (who found a lot of success on end around runs) would translate to consistency between the tackles. Using today as an example, Penny for sure passed the test.
Penny also continued to impress as a pass catcher. He took a catch in the flat seven yards up the sideline before having a big collision with Kalan Montgomery. It looked like Montgomery came in with a full head of steam but Penny somehow looked unaffected while going out of bounds. Physically, he’s starting to look like Walter Payton
-Although Washington had some nice carries, performed fairly well and seemed to run harder as the day went on, he continues to look like a one trick pony who will find the majority of his on field success via outside pitch runs. Washington's just more comfortable in that role - and there’s nothing wrong with that. He also had a few plays where he lined up in the slot today. If not for end arounds, his role seemed to be as the check down option over the middle which suits him perfectly. Chapman used him as a check down on one play where Washington turned around, made a guy miss and gained 13 yards. He’ll be a fun weapon to watch in open field situations.
-The other offensive players who have shown consistency continue to be Mikah Holder and Christian Chapman. The offensive line really struggled today in pass pro so Chapman and the other QBs didn’t have much time to connect with their targets farther than 20 or so yards away. To nobody’s surprise, Chapman connected with Holder over the top during the first drive of the scrimmage for a 99-yard touchdown. That was the only touchdown of the scrimmage.
Later on, the offense nearly scored on a 3rd and goal situation inside the five when Chapman threw a quick out to Chase Favreau on the field side with the ball right on the money. Favreau lost possession as he fell toward the grass though, and the drive ended. Billy Vaughn Jr. was beat by Favreau's cut outside so he's lucky Favreau didn't maintain possession.
Chapman also connected with Holder on a 35-yard jump ball against Billy Vaughn Jr. along the sideline, but it was called back due to a “sack” by Jay Henderson.
Some QB cons:
-Chapman did have one bad overthrow and then nearly threw a pick in the end zone (Kameron Kelly jumped the route and would have intercepted the pass but Montgomery jumped in his way) but the rest of his passes seemed to be on target. I have no doubt that Chapman will be your 2016 starter.
-Ryan Agnew couldn’t get in any rhythm at all because of the pass protection (whereas Chapman made the most of it). He was very quick to scramble on a few occasions though. The one time I felt like he had time to show what he’s got, his 12 yard pass to Darryl Richardson was dropped (although it could have been deflected). I think D-Richardson may eventually get passed on the depth chart by walk on TE Kahale Warring, who had one or two catches with Jimmy Walker and the third team today.
-Walker didn’t get very many reps and some of the passes he threw were flat out inaccurate or wobbly. He did throw a six-yard in to Jerry Chaney for a first down. That said, Agnew and Walker made Chapman look very very good today - take that as you may.
Defense
-There were a lot of sacks and TFLs today, and although that’s not a good sign for the offensive line - it also shouldn’t take away from the play of the defense.
-The defense was tremendous today. Sergio Phillips, Jay Henderson, Austin Wyatt Thayer, Kyavah Tezino, Derek Babiash, Jeff Clay, Trey Lomax and even Julian Rochelin were all over the field.
-Babiash, Henderson and Tezino all made very strong cases for hit of the day. Babiash stayed patient on a play action rollout with Curtis Anderson running across the field directly at him and he gave him a very nice lick. Henderson does a lot of stunts and slants and he had a handful of big hits inside the box. It’s worth noting that Rocky wants Henderson to play defensive line full-time moving forward. He was a fringe starter behind Ricks last season but that position required to many assignments and responbiilities. Now, as strictly a defensive end, Henderson can really show off his athleticism and quickness instead of thinking about assignments too much. His motor is also improving, he chases down plays or scrambling QBs to the very end and his effort has really improved.
The hit of the day may have been made by Tezino, though, because of his face up form and how he drove back a walk on running back five yards before bringing him down. It was a textbook tackle when the two met just before the line of scrimmage and was exciting to see Tezino finish off the play strong. This play happened right after Babiash’s hit on Anderson, so the sidelines and crowwd got really pumped up.
-Ryan Dunn really struggled today. Missed a lot of tackles in the hole at the line of scrimmage whereas guys like Tezino and Thayer really stood out. Billy Vaughn also had an ugly missed tackle against Stamps. Lakalaka also seemed pretty tentative for most of the scrimmage and I doubt he had many tackles.
-Because of time the QBs had to throw, the secondary started to cheat up a bit and it led to more stops against the run. Na’Im McGee and Trey Lomax continue to look like the best DBs in run support (other than Kazee who didn’t play much).
-After Favreau’s bad drop early on, he bounced back with a couple strong catches on short ins and slants. He got the wind knocked out of him after one in route led him toward Jeff Clay for a big collision.
-There was a little scuffle after a play when Malik Smith and Nick Bawden were shoving each other to the point where Bawden’s helmet came off and Smith whipped/threw it at Bawden. Antonio Rosales and Sergio Phillips also got into a bit of shoving match after one play.
-The bad snaps continued and I identified that the majority of them occur between Ryan Agnew and Derrick Achayo. I brought it up to Rocky and he made a good point: Both Agnew and Achayo played in shotgun systems at their former schools so that is why they are struggle to adapt to SDSU’s under center exchanges. It’s something they can only improve on with experience.
-Dwayne Parchment had some moments - a sack and a deflected pass - but I still don’t think he will pass guys like Clay, Baldwin and Lomax on the two deep yet.
-One of the big question marks Rocky has is who will backup Randy Ricks now that Ryan Dunn moved over to inside linebacker next to Munson and Jay Henderson is with the d-line? Currently, it’s looking like it will be Reggie Murphy. He’s not very athletic for a linebacker but he and Ricks will create a nice combo during the season based off how he played today.
-One of the funnest matchups to watch this spring has been Judge vs. Babiash. Agnew threw a deep ball their way today and Babiash played it as well as he could have. Babiash ran in front of Judge while remaining very tight in coverage. This kept Judge from running at full speed toward the ball and it didn’t warrant a pass inteference penalty. Opposing wide receivers are really going to hate Babiash this year. His athleticsm allows him to really frustrate wide outs.
-Former players Jon Sanchez and Darrell Greene were in attendance.
-I’ll have more scrimmage info and video up later on.
