The team had a lot of 7v7 reps for their lead-up to Saturday’s spring game and I can’t help but feel less and less confident in Ryan Agnew the more I watch him drop back and throw.
With Christian Chapman sitting out 75 percent of the time, Agnew has had a ton of opportunities this spring to make improvements with his accuracy but I just haven’t seen it. He had a couple good practices midway through camp but he’s struggled during this second half so far.
Agnew has thrown a good amount of interceptions along with a lot of passes that could have been easily intercepted - mostly because he stared down his receiver, didn’t look off the safeties or just threw an inaccurate ball. He’s a solid passer on the run (which is admittedly a huge part of this offense) but even during a bootleg call yesterday, he threw a deep ball right into the gut of CB Kyree Woods. Woods dropped it but it was still a head-scratching, inaccurate throw.
Another instance occurred earlier in the practice when Agnew didn’t recognize DE Miles Cheatum dropping back into coverage, leading to a pick six.
TE David Wells was lined up on Agnew's right side and Cheatum was on the left side of the defensive line. Wells came across the middles and Agnew stared him down the whole way, not once realizing that Cheatum was in position to jump the pass as soon as he let it go. I credit Cheatum for the heads up play and catching it with his hands but the INT could have been prevented if Agnew read the coverage before throwing it.
After practice I asked Rocky what he thought of Agnew’s progression at this point of camp and his answer was exactly what I expected: “He’s gotten better, but he still throws too many interceptions.”
Agnew will get a LOT of reps during the spring game on Saturday because he needs them. So instead of Boudreau and Agnew being in charge of the first team offense and second team offense separately, Agnew will take reps with both units every now and then in place of Boudreau.
He better show out soon or else I’d write in Rutgers transfer Chris Laviano as the backup entering fall.
Moving on...
-Juwan Washington gets up to his top speed so quickly in both the run and pass game. His stop and go speed after the catch is especially impressive. I bet he’s going to shock some people on his catch and runs next year just like how he surprises the DBs in practice when they take really bad angles on him.
-WR Isiah Macklin’s speed continues to impress, but his hands and physicality need to pick it up if he wants to be in the rotation this year. I expect him to be a taller version of Eric Judge, someone that can stretch the field and be a consistent threat. But whether or not he develops his game in other areas will determine if he has a more productive career than Judge.
-Other than walkon WR Kaylen Williams' really tough catch over Kam Kelly during one on ones, the WRs weren’t fighting for catches as much as you’d like to see during practice 12.
It was sort of an off day for them in terms of the number of drops they had and the amount of times they gave up on balls early. Some of the blame could be put on the ball placement by the QBs though.
-Even though the wide receivers need to be more versatile than in years past, I really like how walkon freshman Collin Andrews executes as a run blocker. He gets to his blocks very fast and is an an aggressive, hard hitting crack back blocker too. He’s not as big as Christian Cumbelander or Curtis Anderson were but I’ll be monitoring him more closely now to see if he can fill that void.
-On the the offensive line, the first team during live periods was, from left to right: Ryan Pope, Keith Ismael, Derrick Achayo, Antonio Rosales and Nick Gerhard.
This was because Tyler Roemer was not at practice. I like the idea of this if we can assume Joe Salcedo will be the starting right tackle in the fall and Gerhard will be ahead of Ismael at guard.
That said, based on this practice, I REALLY liked how Gerhard looked at right tackle. He’s a better pass blocker than you’d think and he’s extremely physical when he gets his hands on a defender.
-The possibilities the o-line can have if Derrick Achayo continues to progress or Dominic Gudino comes in during the fall and dominates at center is very, very promising in my opinion. The top eight would be in a fantastic position if the center position can be figured out, especially if Gerhard doesn’t have to be limited to that spot.
-My current top eight offensive linemen, in order, are: Antonio Rosales, Ryan Pope, Joe Salcedo, Nick Gerhard, Tyler Roemer, Derrick Achayo, Keith Ismael, Zach Thomas.
-I think, by the fall, this will be a very good group for the offense to count on.
I should add that Douglas Tucker just missed the cut because of his inconsistency - although he’s improved as a blocker - while Daishawn Dixon has sort of fallen out of the picture. I honestly thought Dixon would be right in contention to start but he has been really struggling both in one on ones and live periods.
-I’d also say that Keith Ismael would be higher up in the top eight - ahead of Roemer - if he played more consistently. He’s had the most up and down camp, though, with his best practices showing serious talent and his worst practices making me think he’d be a huge question mark in the fall.
The staff seems confident in his potential, though, because he’s continued to take reps with the first team throughout spring.
I would consider Ismael as another major x-factor because if he can improve over the summer, it will prevent the staff to try something drastic such as moving one of the tackles (Salcedo, Pope) to left guard when that’s definitely not a great fit for them athletically.
-On the defensive line, Miles Cheatum had another really strong practice and continues to make a case to start in the fall. I mentioned the interception he grabbed at the top of the post, which was a great sign of improved instincts, but he’s also really shown the ability to make a major impact playing against the run. He’s involved in almost every stop whenever he comes out onto the field.
-DEs Anthony Luke and Damon Moore continue to look very effective as pass rushing specialists. They are at their best when they get off the ball quickly and they win their one on one reps almost instantly when lining up against the bulkier guards.
-LB Troy Cassidy had a great start to camp but he really came on during yesterday’s practice. He was taking on blockers, sneaking into the backfield and making some plays back in coverage too. He’s a very good athlete but I still think Kyahva Tezino has made the most strides forward and has been the most consistent out of the young linebackers.
-CB Kameron Kelly has continued to improve at corner this week. He’s sticking to receivers more and running through the play when he gets beat deep, rather than getting beat and looking back for the ball when you’re best chance of making a play at that point is to run it out and knock it out of the receivers hands.
-CB Garrett Binkley had the interception of the day during one on ones, snatching it out of the air on a go route against 41.
-A sleeper at defensive back continues to look like freshman Will Stricklin. He plays extremely physical and reads and reacts against the run very well. There was one power run where he took on Antonio Rosales’ pull at the line of scrimmage and it was the first time I’ve seen Rosales get stopped in his tracks and even knocked back a little. I wouldn’t be surprised if he becomes the backup Aztec ahead of Dwayne Johnson.
-I mentioned Kyree Woods above and it can’t be understated how much of a missed opportunity his dropped interception was. He saw the pass coming the entire way and right into his stomach but he couldn’t hang onto it. In my mid-spring review, I said that Woods’ only flaw seemed to be his top end speed but I think his hands may become a big question mark too.
-I really just want to see more out of Ron Smith during one on ones. He's too athletic to allow so many completions by the receivers.
With Christian Chapman sitting out 75 percent of the time, Agnew has had a ton of opportunities this spring to make improvements with his accuracy but I just haven’t seen it. He had a couple good practices midway through camp but he’s struggled during this second half so far.
Agnew has thrown a good amount of interceptions along with a lot of passes that could have been easily intercepted - mostly because he stared down his receiver, didn’t look off the safeties or just threw an inaccurate ball. He’s a solid passer on the run (which is admittedly a huge part of this offense) but even during a bootleg call yesterday, he threw a deep ball right into the gut of CB Kyree Woods. Woods dropped it but it was still a head-scratching, inaccurate throw.
Another instance occurred earlier in the practice when Agnew didn’t recognize DE Miles Cheatum dropping back into coverage, leading to a pick six.
TE David Wells was lined up on Agnew's right side and Cheatum was on the left side of the defensive line. Wells came across the middles and Agnew stared him down the whole way, not once realizing that Cheatum was in position to jump the pass as soon as he let it go. I credit Cheatum for the heads up play and catching it with his hands but the INT could have been prevented if Agnew read the coverage before throwing it.
After practice I asked Rocky what he thought of Agnew’s progression at this point of camp and his answer was exactly what I expected: “He’s gotten better, but he still throws too many interceptions.”
Agnew will get a LOT of reps during the spring game on Saturday because he needs them. So instead of Boudreau and Agnew being in charge of the first team offense and second team offense separately, Agnew will take reps with both units every now and then in place of Boudreau.
He better show out soon or else I’d write in Rutgers transfer Chris Laviano as the backup entering fall.
Moving on...
-Juwan Washington gets up to his top speed so quickly in both the run and pass game. His stop and go speed after the catch is especially impressive. I bet he’s going to shock some people on his catch and runs next year just like how he surprises the DBs in practice when they take really bad angles on him.
-WR Isiah Macklin’s speed continues to impress, but his hands and physicality need to pick it up if he wants to be in the rotation this year. I expect him to be a taller version of Eric Judge, someone that can stretch the field and be a consistent threat. But whether or not he develops his game in other areas will determine if he has a more productive career than Judge.
-Other than walkon WR Kaylen Williams' really tough catch over Kam Kelly during one on ones, the WRs weren’t fighting for catches as much as you’d like to see during practice 12.
It was sort of an off day for them in terms of the number of drops they had and the amount of times they gave up on balls early. Some of the blame could be put on the ball placement by the QBs though.
-Even though the wide receivers need to be more versatile than in years past, I really like how walkon freshman Collin Andrews executes as a run blocker. He gets to his blocks very fast and is an an aggressive, hard hitting crack back blocker too. He’s not as big as Christian Cumbelander or Curtis Anderson were but I’ll be monitoring him more closely now to see if he can fill that void.
-On the the offensive line, the first team during live periods was, from left to right: Ryan Pope, Keith Ismael, Derrick Achayo, Antonio Rosales and Nick Gerhard.
This was because Tyler Roemer was not at practice. I like the idea of this if we can assume Joe Salcedo will be the starting right tackle in the fall and Gerhard will be ahead of Ismael at guard.
That said, based on this practice, I REALLY liked how Gerhard looked at right tackle. He’s a better pass blocker than you’d think and he’s extremely physical when he gets his hands on a defender.
-The possibilities the o-line can have if Derrick Achayo continues to progress or Dominic Gudino comes in during the fall and dominates at center is very, very promising in my opinion. The top eight would be in a fantastic position if the center position can be figured out, especially if Gerhard doesn’t have to be limited to that spot.
-My current top eight offensive linemen, in order, are: Antonio Rosales, Ryan Pope, Joe Salcedo, Nick Gerhard, Tyler Roemer, Derrick Achayo, Keith Ismael, Zach Thomas.
-I think, by the fall, this will be a very good group for the offense to count on.
I should add that Douglas Tucker just missed the cut because of his inconsistency - although he’s improved as a blocker - while Daishawn Dixon has sort of fallen out of the picture. I honestly thought Dixon would be right in contention to start but he has been really struggling both in one on ones and live periods.
-I’d also say that Keith Ismael would be higher up in the top eight - ahead of Roemer - if he played more consistently. He’s had the most up and down camp, though, with his best practices showing serious talent and his worst practices making me think he’d be a huge question mark in the fall.
The staff seems confident in his potential, though, because he’s continued to take reps with the first team throughout spring.
I would consider Ismael as another major x-factor because if he can improve over the summer, it will prevent the staff to try something drastic such as moving one of the tackles (Salcedo, Pope) to left guard when that’s definitely not a great fit for them athletically.
-On the defensive line, Miles Cheatum had another really strong practice and continues to make a case to start in the fall. I mentioned the interception he grabbed at the top of the post, which was a great sign of improved instincts, but he’s also really shown the ability to make a major impact playing against the run. He’s involved in almost every stop whenever he comes out onto the field.
-DEs Anthony Luke and Damon Moore continue to look very effective as pass rushing specialists. They are at their best when they get off the ball quickly and they win their one on one reps almost instantly when lining up against the bulkier guards.
-LB Troy Cassidy had a great start to camp but he really came on during yesterday’s practice. He was taking on blockers, sneaking into the backfield and making some plays back in coverage too. He’s a very good athlete but I still think Kyahva Tezino has made the most strides forward and has been the most consistent out of the young linebackers.
-CB Kameron Kelly has continued to improve at corner this week. He’s sticking to receivers more and running through the play when he gets beat deep, rather than getting beat and looking back for the ball when you’re best chance of making a play at that point is to run it out and knock it out of the receivers hands.
-CB Garrett Binkley had the interception of the day during one on ones, snatching it out of the air on a go route against 41.
-A sleeper at defensive back continues to look like freshman Will Stricklin. He plays extremely physical and reads and reacts against the run very well. There was one power run where he took on Antonio Rosales’ pull at the line of scrimmage and it was the first time I’ve seen Rosales get stopped in his tracks and even knocked back a little. I wouldn’t be surprised if he becomes the backup Aztec ahead of Dwayne Johnson.
-I mentioned Kyree Woods above and it can’t be understated how much of a missed opportunity his dropped interception was. He saw the pass coming the entire way and right into his stomach but he couldn’t hang onto it. In my mid-spring review, I said that Woods’ only flaw seemed to be his top end speed but I think his hands may become a big question mark too.
-I really just want to see more out of Ron Smith during one on ones. He's too athletic to allow so many completions by the receivers.
