-The battle for the No. 2 quarterback spot goes on... and Monday's winner, in my opinion, was Chris Laviano. It keeps going back and forth between he and Ryan Agnew but Laviano's upside - relating to this particular season - is starting to look better and better. He's not forcing bad throws nearly as much as he did during week one and he's delivered some of the most impressive passes of camp at times (mostly fastballs).
-One of the things holding Chase Jasmin back from locking down the 3rd running back spot is his catching. He's not horrible or anything but he's dropped some freebies in the flat pretty consistently as of late.
Once again my pick has to be Kaegun Williams for the third spot. Jeff Horton already has plenty of top end speed with Penny and Washington (who had another strong practice today in case there are any doubters) but Williams overall style and tenacity is just infectious that I can easily overlook his long speed. Even during 7v7s, he's going into defenders head on, moving his feet, spinning off guys and just fighting for every yard. I just can't see him failing Rocky or Horton's eyeball test.
-Myles Cheatum was back at DE on Monday and he started off with a bang, flattening Tyler Roemer onto his back after a quick inside move that got Roemer off balance. I thought Cheatum had a great practice.
-Anthony Luke is back and so is his bend, balance, hip flexibility and basically everything he flashed in the spring - all the stuff you look for in a starting DE. I know he's "fresh" compared to the rest of the team entering week three, but man, he's really, really good when he's at his best. It doesn't look like the knee injury will linger at all in his case. He looks fine. His swim move is also a thing of beauty.
-I'm really liking the move to DE for Randy Ricks. First off, he's more dedicated to doing well at this position since he's the one that requested it. And secondly, he's a prototypical pass rusher. There won't be a two or three week waiting period for him to get comfortable launching himself out of a three point stance. The transition has already been seamless.
-DE Connor Mitchell could still use a bit more size on him but he has steadily improved since the spring. His hands and drive really stick out. I still think he's a year away but he's a legitimate prospect.
-The second team d-line yesterday was Chibu Oneyuwku, JonDarius Gardner, Randy Ricks and LB Andrew Aleki. Talk about a combo of size and speed!
-With freshmen DBs Tariq Thompson and Darren Hall getting some first team reps, it was cool to see Kameron Kelly directing them pre-snap even though he is usually on the very opposite side of the field from them. Kelly is handling his role as a leader very well, and it works out well with the two freshman since the warrior safety spot is where Kelly first saw the field as an Aztec when he was a freshman.
-Rocky wasn't kidding about Tyler Morris and Temerick Harper being good special teams players. Harper made a huge crack back block during Saturday's scrimmage while Morris looked like a great lead blocker during the special teams periods on Monday.
Onto the trenches....
-It was funny listening to Jeff Horton hint at the right tackle spot being up for grabs because I thought both Ryan Pope and Joe Salcedo had really poor days. I still think Pope will ultimately get the job but it wouldn't surprise me if Zach Thomas, Douglas Tucker etc. snuck in there.
-Of the entire current starting five I'd rate:
Rosales, Ismael, Roemer, Dixon and then Pope
in terms of who has the most secured spot.
The last two might surprise you but Dixon has proven to be pretty damn consistent this fall.
-Keith Ismael has been fantastic and I have no problem saying that I'm a full-on believer in him as a four-year starter and multiple all-conference player. I don't know if he had his shoulder surgery done by some German specialist or something but he's just so much more comfortable and confident than he was in the spring (which was still a pretty decent camp for him).
My biggest concern entering camp was whether or not he improved on keeping his eyes up and reacting faster to blitzes, not to mention improving his technique in "trading" blocks with the linemen next to him (to not allow defenders to come through the line free/untouched). I kept a close eye on this yesterday and it's like Ismael is a completely different player. What makes it even better is that he's such a physical blocker. He's going to flat out embarrass linemen this season that have 2-4 years of experience under their belt compared to his 0.
-Rosales and Dixon are so fun to watch on power runs. Watching them completely wiping out a linebacker with Nick Bawden following behind is just scary. Imagine you're a safety coming down and you have no choice but to take on either Bawden/Dixon or Bawden/Rosales running at you full speed? Man...
-I noticed that Salcedo got some reps at left tackle with the second team and he still hasn't looked much better. His reactions should be much quicker and he shouldn't be reaching for his blocks (because he's not sliding his feet quick enough) at this point of his career. He got beat very bad by Tezino on consecutive drives - once on a blitz toward the inside that left Salcedo diving and missing at Tezino's legs and another on the outside when Tezino hit him with an outside swim move. My guess is that Salecedo's injury has severely limited him.
-Zach Thomas has improved a bit with his pass set since the start of camp but I noticed a few times in 11v11 where he made a bad initial read and missed some blitzes running by him. The same could be said for Tucker. What also hurts Tucker is that he kind of has short arms for how big he is. So if he does have a slow reaction post-snap, he can't use his arm length to compensate for his mistake like some of the other guys.
-Nick Gerhard on the other hand looks like he's prepared every snap and keeps his head on a swivel. It's crazy how much it helps when o-linemen know what they're doing and who their assignment is. All of a sudden they come off the ball with more confidence and really explode into defenders. Gerhard pancaked Glass in one instance where several other backup o-lineman wouldn't react quick enough to even block Glass based off where he lined up.
I still think Gerhard has a chance to challenge Gudino and Young for the backup spot at center.
-My favorite play of practice was when Rocky blitzed the three linebackers while dropping back Cheatum in coverage. Gudino and Dixon recognized Cheatum dropping back, so (center) Gudino was able to get ahold of Damon Moore trying to sneak past him up the middle. Roemer handled a power speed rush by Henderson while Nick Bawden took out Ronley Lakalaka who came off the opposite edge. Pope handled Hall's spin move and (right guard) Ismael picked up Troy Cassidy's bull rush blitz...
While all that was getting contained, Juwan Washington ran away from Ron Smith on a drag route across the field while Collin Andrews (on the opposite end) ran a 10-yard in route vs. Kam Kelly. With Kelly's momentum now going toward the middle of the field, Washington was able to make the catch and run in the opposite direction, toward and up the sideline for a huge gain. He also out sprinted Parker Baldwin.
-One of the biggest signs of improvement with the offensive line is that they are handling three and four man rushes MUCH better than they did during the spring. This bodes well for the season when they play more traditional style defenses (with Arizona State being the exception - the Sun Devil defense is another version of the 335).
-Defenses will have to blitz very frequently in order to challenge this offensive line, which is exactly why SDSU is looking forward to responding back with its deep threats in Macklin, Wilson and Trevillion at receiver. If they all can improve their consistency and hands (which is a huge if) the passing game WILL be one of the most improved in the conference.
-The main weak links in terms of blitz recognition on the offensive line's potential starters are Dixon and Gudino. The good thing about them is that they both are improving in that area and they also got another very important thing going for them: pure, brute strength.
There are so many instances on film where I notice Dixon and Gudino reacting late, only to take the blow from the defensive player off balance like a brick wall and subsequently maintain a solid block. This only works for o-lineman that were blessed with strength genes(?).
The same could be said for Ismael, who has that Polynesian strength in him somewhere, but his case is a bit different because he has turned into one of the top o-lineman at blitz recognition this fall....
....
....
....
Hopefully I'm not hyping up Ismael too much. I just couldn't help but mention him again.
-One of the things holding Chase Jasmin back from locking down the 3rd running back spot is his catching. He's not horrible or anything but he's dropped some freebies in the flat pretty consistently as of late.
Once again my pick has to be Kaegun Williams for the third spot. Jeff Horton already has plenty of top end speed with Penny and Washington (who had another strong practice today in case there are any doubters) but Williams overall style and tenacity is just infectious that I can easily overlook his long speed. Even during 7v7s, he's going into defenders head on, moving his feet, spinning off guys and just fighting for every yard. I just can't see him failing Rocky or Horton's eyeball test.
-Myles Cheatum was back at DE on Monday and he started off with a bang, flattening Tyler Roemer onto his back after a quick inside move that got Roemer off balance. I thought Cheatum had a great practice.
-Anthony Luke is back and so is his bend, balance, hip flexibility and basically everything he flashed in the spring - all the stuff you look for in a starting DE. I know he's "fresh" compared to the rest of the team entering week three, but man, he's really, really good when he's at his best. It doesn't look like the knee injury will linger at all in his case. He looks fine. His swim move is also a thing of beauty.
-I'm really liking the move to DE for Randy Ricks. First off, he's more dedicated to doing well at this position since he's the one that requested it. And secondly, he's a prototypical pass rusher. There won't be a two or three week waiting period for him to get comfortable launching himself out of a three point stance. The transition has already been seamless.
-DE Connor Mitchell could still use a bit more size on him but he has steadily improved since the spring. His hands and drive really stick out. I still think he's a year away but he's a legitimate prospect.
-The second team d-line yesterday was Chibu Oneyuwku, JonDarius Gardner, Randy Ricks and LB Andrew Aleki. Talk about a combo of size and speed!
-With freshmen DBs Tariq Thompson and Darren Hall getting some first team reps, it was cool to see Kameron Kelly directing them pre-snap even though he is usually on the very opposite side of the field from them. Kelly is handling his role as a leader very well, and it works out well with the two freshman since the warrior safety spot is where Kelly first saw the field as an Aztec when he was a freshman.
-Rocky wasn't kidding about Tyler Morris and Temerick Harper being good special teams players. Harper made a huge crack back block during Saturday's scrimmage while Morris looked like a great lead blocker during the special teams periods on Monday.
Onto the trenches....
-It was funny listening to Jeff Horton hint at the right tackle spot being up for grabs because I thought both Ryan Pope and Joe Salcedo had really poor days. I still think Pope will ultimately get the job but it wouldn't surprise me if Zach Thomas, Douglas Tucker etc. snuck in there.
-Of the entire current starting five I'd rate:
Rosales, Ismael, Roemer, Dixon and then Pope
in terms of who has the most secured spot.
The last two might surprise you but Dixon has proven to be pretty damn consistent this fall.
-Keith Ismael has been fantastic and I have no problem saying that I'm a full-on believer in him as a four-year starter and multiple all-conference player. I don't know if he had his shoulder surgery done by some German specialist or something but he's just so much more comfortable and confident than he was in the spring (which was still a pretty decent camp for him).
My biggest concern entering camp was whether or not he improved on keeping his eyes up and reacting faster to blitzes, not to mention improving his technique in "trading" blocks with the linemen next to him (to not allow defenders to come through the line free/untouched). I kept a close eye on this yesterday and it's like Ismael is a completely different player. What makes it even better is that he's such a physical blocker. He's going to flat out embarrass linemen this season that have 2-4 years of experience under their belt compared to his 0.
-Rosales and Dixon are so fun to watch on power runs. Watching them completely wiping out a linebacker with Nick Bawden following behind is just scary. Imagine you're a safety coming down and you have no choice but to take on either Bawden/Dixon or Bawden/Rosales running at you full speed? Man...
-I noticed that Salcedo got some reps at left tackle with the second team and he still hasn't looked much better. His reactions should be much quicker and he shouldn't be reaching for his blocks (because he's not sliding his feet quick enough) at this point of his career. He got beat very bad by Tezino on consecutive drives - once on a blitz toward the inside that left Salcedo diving and missing at Tezino's legs and another on the outside when Tezino hit him with an outside swim move. My guess is that Salecedo's injury has severely limited him.
-Zach Thomas has improved a bit with his pass set since the start of camp but I noticed a few times in 11v11 where he made a bad initial read and missed some blitzes running by him. The same could be said for Tucker. What also hurts Tucker is that he kind of has short arms for how big he is. So if he does have a slow reaction post-snap, he can't use his arm length to compensate for his mistake like some of the other guys.
-Nick Gerhard on the other hand looks like he's prepared every snap and keeps his head on a swivel. It's crazy how much it helps when o-linemen know what they're doing and who their assignment is. All of a sudden they come off the ball with more confidence and really explode into defenders. Gerhard pancaked Glass in one instance where several other backup o-lineman wouldn't react quick enough to even block Glass based off where he lined up.
I still think Gerhard has a chance to challenge Gudino and Young for the backup spot at center.
-My favorite play of practice was when Rocky blitzed the three linebackers while dropping back Cheatum in coverage. Gudino and Dixon recognized Cheatum dropping back, so (center) Gudino was able to get ahold of Damon Moore trying to sneak past him up the middle. Roemer handled a power speed rush by Henderson while Nick Bawden took out Ronley Lakalaka who came off the opposite edge. Pope handled Hall's spin move and (right guard) Ismael picked up Troy Cassidy's bull rush blitz...
While all that was getting contained, Juwan Washington ran away from Ron Smith on a drag route across the field while Collin Andrews (on the opposite end) ran a 10-yard in route vs. Kam Kelly. With Kelly's momentum now going toward the middle of the field, Washington was able to make the catch and run in the opposite direction, toward and up the sideline for a huge gain. He also out sprinted Parker Baldwin.
-One of the biggest signs of improvement with the offensive line is that they are handling three and four man rushes MUCH better than they did during the spring. This bodes well for the season when they play more traditional style defenses (with Arizona State being the exception - the Sun Devil defense is another version of the 335).
-Defenses will have to blitz very frequently in order to challenge this offensive line, which is exactly why SDSU is looking forward to responding back with its deep threats in Macklin, Wilson and Trevillion at receiver. If they all can improve their consistency and hands (which is a huge if) the passing game WILL be one of the most improved in the conference.
-The main weak links in terms of blitz recognition on the offensive line's potential starters are Dixon and Gudino. The good thing about them is that they both are improving in that area and they also got another very important thing going for them: pure, brute strength.
There are so many instances on film where I notice Dixon and Gudino reacting late, only to take the blow from the defensive player off balance like a brick wall and subsequently maintain a solid block. This only works for o-lineman that were blessed with strength genes(?).
The same could be said for Ismael, who has that Polynesian strength in him somewhere, but his case is a bit different because he has turned into one of the top o-lineman at blitz recognition this fall....
....
....
....
Hopefully I'm not hyping up Ismael too much. I just couldn't help but mention him again.
