There was no filming allowed at tonight’s practice but there were plenty of takeaways.
-The first big thing was the amount of turnovers there were by the offense, mostly fumbles. Rocky seemed most concerned about that following practice because turnovers were the key reason SDSU was so succesful last year, and at the same time so dissapointing during non-conference play. His theory is that the reason there were so many fumbles was because the ball carriers haven’t been getting hit at full speed that much in camp and that makes a big difference. That said, the defense also deserves credit for forcing those TOs. Trey Lomax in particular made a great strip, or should I say rip, on the ball near the end of Wormhoudt's run.
-The whole scrimmage was very physical, as if the defense and offense weren’t wearing the same helmets. There were a lot of low blows, shoving after the whistle and even some huge piles getting unnecessarily jumped on.
-Christian Chapman threw one of his only bad interceptions all week but it was mainly due to great instincts by Calvin Munson hovering over the middle and breaking on the ball. Munson came out of nowhere so I don’t blame Chapman one bit. He was very accurate the rest of the night.
-Agnew found himself scrambling a lot behind the second team offensive line but he actually had his best scrimmage so far. I doubt Rocky is going to name a true backup quarterback at any point though. It would really be a bad situation if Agnew were named the starter, only for Walker to transfer out before school starts, leaving SDSU’s QB spot with worse depth than what the offensive line has seen.
-At RB, Penny showed more consistent improvement. My favorie play was when he took a quick out route and turned it from a 3 yard gain to an eight yard gain because of pure balance and strength. Munson hit him low just as he caught the ball and turned forward, but Penny somehow kept his legs underneath him. Then another safety came over for a low tackle and he was still able to keep his balance before running out of real estate and being shoved out of abounds. His forte this season will be doing exactly this, especially when small DBs try to hit him low.
-Here’s what the OL units looked like, by the way:
Daniel Brunskill Antonio Rosales, Arthur Flores, Nico Siragusa and Kwayde Miller
Derrick Achayo, Daishawn Dixon, Ryan Krum, Jordan Becar/Keith Ismael and Tyler Roemer.
-I asked Rocky who would be the extra o-lineman when SDSU used a 6 OL formation and he said Achayo.
-I don’t think Becar is playing at a second-team level at this point, but Ismael was limited a bit today due to a bum shoulder so he shared reps with Becar because of it.
The snapping hasn’t been much of an issue during the last few practices once Achayo was moved out. I think Krum will be the backup this year and as things look now Gerhard will be the third string, and the center of the future.
There was one bad snap that was bobbled/fumbled by Jimmy Walker but it wasn’t by Flores.
-Sergio Phillips won’t be moving back to the OL. Rocky thinks he’s better on defense regardless of depth.
-Rocky said for the first time today that Ryan Pope was anticipated to be the starter this season over Salcedo. If Brunskill ends up doing well at RT, there’s a possibilty Pope could come back to play guard depending on if that’s a question mark. It sounds look the earliers Pope will be back is during the fourth game at this point.
-Rocky actually confirmed that Phillips and Hall arre the top two nose tackles at this point.
-There was a lot of flipping again with the usual first and second team position battles (LB, NT, CB, FB, RG) but one of the new depth chart moves was seeing Fred Melifonwu getting a lot of reps with the second team alongside Noble Hall and Julian Rochelin. We'll keep track of this to see if he's consistently working with the 2s.
-The tight ends had a really good day, especially the freshmen and Warring. That didn’t drop anything and even turned upfield for solid gains. They were all used a lot in the slot today as well.
-Truxton and Judge were with the twos while Favreau and Holder were with the starting unit.
-Cumberlander was in full pads for the first time today and you could tell he was chomping at the bit right away. He’s much fresher than his teammates and he really wanted to hit people. While some of the shots were dirty, he really got after it in the run game, especially on crack back blocks.
-Cumberlander actually nearly scored a long TD on a sideline streak but Montgomery was able to break up the pass.
-Holder scored the only long TD of the day.
-In the secondary, Rocky basically said he considers Babiash/Vaughn and Lomax/Kelly as starters, meaning the secondary has seven starters instead of five.
-DB injury updates: Jeff Clay sprained his ankle prior to the scrimmage during a special teams rep. Vaughn was also limited due to a “bad leg.”
-The walkon freshman kicker needed the lucky bounce off the low post to make a field goal from the 20-yard line. Baron will be the guy.
-SDSU’s next scrimmage will be around Wednesday and will showcase a lot of the younger potential guys that can become contributors this season. They’ll have another one next Saturday, but primarily for the walkons and freshmen who likely won’t play this year. It will probably be their last chance to prove themselves before scout team work starts up.
- I should note now that my cell phone’s screen randomly went black today, and I won’t be able to get a new one until Tuesday. I have some interviews saved on that phone so those will have to hold off for a bit.
-The first big thing was the amount of turnovers there were by the offense, mostly fumbles. Rocky seemed most concerned about that following practice because turnovers were the key reason SDSU was so succesful last year, and at the same time so dissapointing during non-conference play. His theory is that the reason there were so many fumbles was because the ball carriers haven’t been getting hit at full speed that much in camp and that makes a big difference. That said, the defense also deserves credit for forcing those TOs. Trey Lomax in particular made a great strip, or should I say rip, on the ball near the end of Wormhoudt's run.
-The whole scrimmage was very physical, as if the defense and offense weren’t wearing the same helmets. There were a lot of low blows, shoving after the whistle and even some huge piles getting unnecessarily jumped on.
-Christian Chapman threw one of his only bad interceptions all week but it was mainly due to great instincts by Calvin Munson hovering over the middle and breaking on the ball. Munson came out of nowhere so I don’t blame Chapman one bit. He was very accurate the rest of the night.
-Agnew found himself scrambling a lot behind the second team offensive line but he actually had his best scrimmage so far. I doubt Rocky is going to name a true backup quarterback at any point though. It would really be a bad situation if Agnew were named the starter, only for Walker to transfer out before school starts, leaving SDSU’s QB spot with worse depth than what the offensive line has seen.
-At RB, Penny showed more consistent improvement. My favorie play was when he took a quick out route and turned it from a 3 yard gain to an eight yard gain because of pure balance and strength. Munson hit him low just as he caught the ball and turned forward, but Penny somehow kept his legs underneath him. Then another safety came over for a low tackle and he was still able to keep his balance before running out of real estate and being shoved out of abounds. His forte this season will be doing exactly this, especially when small DBs try to hit him low.
-Here’s what the OL units looked like, by the way:
Daniel Brunskill Antonio Rosales, Arthur Flores, Nico Siragusa and Kwayde Miller
Derrick Achayo, Daishawn Dixon, Ryan Krum, Jordan Becar/Keith Ismael and Tyler Roemer.
-I asked Rocky who would be the extra o-lineman when SDSU used a 6 OL formation and he said Achayo.
-I don’t think Becar is playing at a second-team level at this point, but Ismael was limited a bit today due to a bum shoulder so he shared reps with Becar because of it.
The snapping hasn’t been much of an issue during the last few practices once Achayo was moved out. I think Krum will be the backup this year and as things look now Gerhard will be the third string, and the center of the future.
There was one bad snap that was bobbled/fumbled by Jimmy Walker but it wasn’t by Flores.
-Sergio Phillips won’t be moving back to the OL. Rocky thinks he’s better on defense regardless of depth.
-Rocky said for the first time today that Ryan Pope was anticipated to be the starter this season over Salcedo. If Brunskill ends up doing well at RT, there’s a possibilty Pope could come back to play guard depending on if that’s a question mark. It sounds look the earliers Pope will be back is during the fourth game at this point.
-Rocky actually confirmed that Phillips and Hall arre the top two nose tackles at this point.
-There was a lot of flipping again with the usual first and second team position battles (LB, NT, CB, FB, RG) but one of the new depth chart moves was seeing Fred Melifonwu getting a lot of reps with the second team alongside Noble Hall and Julian Rochelin. We'll keep track of this to see if he's consistently working with the 2s.
-The tight ends had a really good day, especially the freshmen and Warring. That didn’t drop anything and even turned upfield for solid gains. They were all used a lot in the slot today as well.
-Truxton and Judge were with the twos while Favreau and Holder were with the starting unit.
-Cumberlander was in full pads for the first time today and you could tell he was chomping at the bit right away. He’s much fresher than his teammates and he really wanted to hit people. While some of the shots were dirty, he really got after it in the run game, especially on crack back blocks.
-Cumberlander actually nearly scored a long TD on a sideline streak but Montgomery was able to break up the pass.
-Holder scored the only long TD of the day.
-In the secondary, Rocky basically said he considers Babiash/Vaughn and Lomax/Kelly as starters, meaning the secondary has seven starters instead of five.
-DB injury updates: Jeff Clay sprained his ankle prior to the scrimmage during a special teams rep. Vaughn was also limited due to a “bad leg.”
-The walkon freshman kicker needed the lucky bounce off the low post to make a field goal from the 20-yard line. Baron will be the guy.
-SDSU’s next scrimmage will be around Wednesday and will showcase a lot of the younger potential guys that can become contributors this season. They’ll have another one next Saturday, but primarily for the walkons and freshmen who likely won’t play this year. It will probably be their last chance to prove themselves before scout team work starts up.
- I should note now that my cell phone’s screen randomly went black today, and I won’t be able to get a new one until Tuesday. I have some interviews saved on that phone so those will have to hold off for a bit.
