My Notes from Thursday.
-I can’t help but look ahead to the fall when it comes to the dynamics at quarterback. It may be as simple as Christian Chapman keeping his job over Chris Laviano because he’s very accurate and completes passes and has experience.
I’m assuming that Laviano will come in a bit bigger and have a stronger arm, but other than that, how he performs in this specific offense is still an unknown. It’s easy to assume that one of the main determining factors for his success will be if he’s really able to stretch the field from within the pocket, but that’s not how SDSU’s current offensive scheme looks (unlike the Lindley-era).
The only times Jeff Horton has his QB actually settle down in the pocket and make reads are on passing downs (third and five or more yards). The offense today calls for a lot of play-action and bootleg throws, meaning Laviano will have to throw on the run a lot too. Can he do that and limit mistakes when he shows up this summer?
If he can’t, I don’t see him even stepping in front of Ryan Agnew. I’ve never been all that high on Agnew as a drop back quarterback but he’s a completely different thrower when he’s on the run. He’s confident in his speed so he’s able to worry less about the defense chasing him down from behind, allowing him to keep his eyes steady down field and deliver a nice ball. He’s also got a better feel for ball placement when he’s throwing on the run. His accuracy issues are also less of a concern because play-action passes often free up the receivers with a little more separation for Agnew to hit on short to medium throws.
He is improving as a drop back guy too. At least, as much as you’d expect after two seasons in college practices and a LOT of reps in 7on7 drills. We’ll see how much consistency he shows by the end of camp.
Neil Bodreau is quickly getting into the swing of things and looks a bit more confident out there. His potential is definitely higher than the walk-ons (even the junior college transfers) that were on the roster recently because of how quickly he is picking everything up. Balls are still hitting the ground (the big issue with the reserves last year) but I’d say that’s more of an issue with the younger receivers dropping catches.
-The running game is usually the slowest aspect of the offense to get going because the basic blocking schemes were just installed on day 1 and day 2. Rashaad Penny didn’t get too many reps but you can tell he’s in good shape which is all you can ask for. As for Juwan Washington, I really like how he’s becoming more of a downhill runner. He’s at his best on outside stretched-out plays but he’s not dancing too much in the backfield which is a nice improvement.
-Chase Jasmin is still a work in progress as a tailback. I don’t often see him breaking long gains or powering through the hole but he’s elusive and a pretty solid pass catcher. He’ll need to keep getting stronger and not get stopped so easily when a defender does get a hand on him. Washington and Penny are complete opposites when it comes to that area.
-I’ve always liked walk on DE Damon Moore and mentioned him a lot last fall camp but he’s turned it up another level this spring. I can see him cracking the rotation at one of the backup end spots at some point if he can keep it up when SDSU goes into full pads tomorrow (he’s still one of the smaller lineman on the team).
-DT Sergio Phillips had another good practice. He’s pretty relentless through his entire rep and not just a one trick pony anymore. He’ll use his hands very violently if he doesn’t get his way after the get off. Better motor than I remember him having.
-DT JonDarius Gardner has improved his body a little bit and Coach Lawson’s helped him with pass rushing moves but he’s still just a ‘plug the middle’ type bull rusher because of his limited athletic capabilities. It is always nice to have a big bodied lineman like that for goal line situations because SDSU severly lacks in that department but he doesn’t fit the mold of what the coaches need in there every down scheme. But like I said, he’s made some improvements.
-DL Connor Mitchell and Forrest Hanlon have been taking reps at nose tackle and I think that’s a great long term strategy for the position. They’re both explosive at the point of attack use their hands well and are very tough despite being on the leaner side. Hanlon has a better get off and is quicker though – think Dan Kottman from a few years back.
-I really like the elusiveness of midyear DE signee Anthony Luke so far. He’s going to be very solid executing SDSU’s stunts and twists on passing downs based off how he moves at this point).
-I can’t help but look ahead to the fall when it comes to the dynamics at quarterback. It may be as simple as Christian Chapman keeping his job over Chris Laviano because he’s very accurate and completes passes and has experience.
I’m assuming that Laviano will come in a bit bigger and have a stronger arm, but other than that, how he performs in this specific offense is still an unknown. It’s easy to assume that one of the main determining factors for his success will be if he’s really able to stretch the field from within the pocket, but that’s not how SDSU’s current offensive scheme looks (unlike the Lindley-era).
The only times Jeff Horton has his QB actually settle down in the pocket and make reads are on passing downs (third and five or more yards). The offense today calls for a lot of play-action and bootleg throws, meaning Laviano will have to throw on the run a lot too. Can he do that and limit mistakes when he shows up this summer?
If he can’t, I don’t see him even stepping in front of Ryan Agnew. I’ve never been all that high on Agnew as a drop back quarterback but he’s a completely different thrower when he’s on the run. He’s confident in his speed so he’s able to worry less about the defense chasing him down from behind, allowing him to keep his eyes steady down field and deliver a nice ball. He’s also got a better feel for ball placement when he’s throwing on the run. His accuracy issues are also less of a concern because play-action passes often free up the receivers with a little more separation for Agnew to hit on short to medium throws.
He is improving as a drop back guy too. At least, as much as you’d expect after two seasons in college practices and a LOT of reps in 7on7 drills. We’ll see how much consistency he shows by the end of camp.
Neil Bodreau is quickly getting into the swing of things and looks a bit more confident out there. His potential is definitely higher than the walk-ons (even the junior college transfers) that were on the roster recently because of how quickly he is picking everything up. Balls are still hitting the ground (the big issue with the reserves last year) but I’d say that’s more of an issue with the younger receivers dropping catches.
-The running game is usually the slowest aspect of the offense to get going because the basic blocking schemes were just installed on day 1 and day 2. Rashaad Penny didn’t get too many reps but you can tell he’s in good shape which is all you can ask for. As for Juwan Washington, I really like how he’s becoming more of a downhill runner. He’s at his best on outside stretched-out plays but he’s not dancing too much in the backfield which is a nice improvement.
-Chase Jasmin is still a work in progress as a tailback. I don’t often see him breaking long gains or powering through the hole but he’s elusive and a pretty solid pass catcher. He’ll need to keep getting stronger and not get stopped so easily when a defender does get a hand on him. Washington and Penny are complete opposites when it comes to that area.
-I’ve always liked walk on DE Damon Moore and mentioned him a lot last fall camp but he’s turned it up another level this spring. I can see him cracking the rotation at one of the backup end spots at some point if he can keep it up when SDSU goes into full pads tomorrow (he’s still one of the smaller lineman on the team).
-DT Sergio Phillips had another good practice. He’s pretty relentless through his entire rep and not just a one trick pony anymore. He’ll use his hands very violently if he doesn’t get his way after the get off. Better motor than I remember him having.
-DT JonDarius Gardner has improved his body a little bit and Coach Lawson’s helped him with pass rushing moves but he’s still just a ‘plug the middle’ type bull rusher because of his limited athletic capabilities. It is always nice to have a big bodied lineman like that for goal line situations because SDSU severly lacks in that department but he doesn’t fit the mold of what the coaches need in there every down scheme. But like I said, he’s made some improvements.
-DL Connor Mitchell and Forrest Hanlon have been taking reps at nose tackle and I think that’s a great long term strategy for the position. They’re both explosive at the point of attack use their hands well and are very tough despite being on the leaner side. Hanlon has a better get off and is quicker though – think Dan Kottman from a few years back.
-I really like the elusiveness of midyear DE signee Anthony Luke so far. He’s going to be very solid executing SDSU’s stunts and twists on passing downs based off how he moves at this point).
