I’m posting this for umbig11, who is on the move and couldn’t post from mobile. – Thunder
Hit the jump for several nuggets, mostly on the defense.
Probably the biggest nugget of the week is that Jordan Glasgow has taken over the back up Viper spot. He has passed Furbush and Uche. He is so much faster and covers better than the other two. Gets to the ball quicker and he is a hitter. What is it with these Glasgow walk-ons?
Black continues to impress, but Gentry just keeps catching the damn ball when it is thrown his way. He is clearly ahead of Eubanks.
Carl Myers is on the two deep.
Walker has really picked it up! I still think it looks like this: Evans, Walker, Isaac, Higdon (dinged up just a little). Isaac running well between the tackles and improved his pass blocking.
Kemp continues Beast mode! You cannot block Hurst and Gary in live action.
Big battle at LB between Bush and Wroblewski. That isn’t just coach speak anymore.
One additional note from Thunder: It sounds like Juwann Bushell-Beatty will sit out the spring game with a short-term injury.
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Not sure how to feel about so many walk-ons being in the mix for significant playing time. Does it mean that the coaches are dong a really good job coaching up the walk-ons, or are they recruiting too many guys who are mediocre athletes? And how well will we match up against teams that aren’t playing walk-ons?
Good to hear about Gentry and Walker. We need as much boost as we can get from the skill positions. But I never believe practice hype about player X being “unblockable”. That just means that OUR offensive line can’t block them. In real games against quality opponents, that’s never the case.
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Feel nothing. It simply means that we have taken 56 new scholarship guys in two years time and that over a third of them aren’t even on campus yet and as such are unavailable for practice.
Real young and not here is a perfect recipe for walk-on success.
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I’d add that one is a Glasgow, and the other a 5th year senior. One being a backup and the other pushing a second year guy isn’t the most surprising news, and shouldn’t indicate any negativity (at least​ IMO)
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Is 56 new scholarship guys in 2 years significantly more than average for top 25 programs?
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Yes.
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Yea I don’t believe the practice hype most of the time, but this is different. Hurst and Gary have shown to be unblockable at times last year. I’m more terrified of the depth behind them.
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The phrase “unblockable at times” is silly. It means, “unblockable, except when they’re blockable”.
Which was exactly my point.
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You should look at the walk-ons as an issue. This never happens at Alabama or Ohio State!
Gentry and Walker are probably going to be 3rd string at best this season. Great that they are making strides, but not going to change the season outcome.
Of course, the caveat to this all is: you never know!
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http://www.rollbamaroll.com/2015/8/27/9210163/alabama-crimson-tide-football-walk-on-2015-bama-players
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Do not forget, this staff has brought in a large number of walk-on football players as well. So if you are “not sure how to feel about this” you might want to get used to it. It is my guess, based purely on the laws of probability, that with Michigan regularly bringing in so many walk-on players that some of them will inevitably be diamonds in the rough and develop into contributors.
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Yes. Not only will some of them be diamonds in the rough, but if Michigan consistently shows that they’ll give walk-ons a chance, it will help them find more diamonds in the rough. Because instead of a kid taking a scholarship to some FCS school, he might choose to play at Michigan instead.
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Thanks UMBig11!!! I look forward to these updates all the time. Couple questions for you.
Where does Aubrey Solomon fit in if you had to guess? Will he get similar PT as Gary did as a freshman?
Haven’t heard much on Mone, is he healthy and making an impact?
I’m very afraid of the lack of depth at CB/S. Also, based on what you have seen, do you think we have a drop off at WR with the youth we have?
Thanks!
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Glasgow is faster than Uche? That’s surprising. Maybe plays faster?
Any walk-on on the 2-deep is probably an issue. So, LB, DT, Viper are depth concerns. Glasgow at least has proven himself on special teams.
Bummer about Beatty.
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Yes, it probably is an issue, though at least at LB, we have some very talented guys coming in the fall who may be able to fill the gaps we have there. I don’t think any of the walk-on guys we have in the mix right now is a disaster, but the fact remains that we are probably not going to stack up well against elite teams at those positions as far as speed and athleticism when those guys are on the field. It’s all very well to say about a guy like Jordan Kovacs “he’s not very big or fast or athletic, but he just makes plays”, but when the other team has a guy at the same position who IS fast and athletic and makes even more plays, you’re at a disadvantage. All the feel-goody stuff about a guy like Wrobelewski working his butt off as a walk-on for years and finally getting a chance to play a lot doesn’t make up for being a step slow on a big play in a big game.
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It is completely normal for teams to have walk-on’s in the two deep in spring practice. It is unrealistic to expect otherwise when you are rolling with 60 scholarship players this time of year. Especially after graduating a a big group of long term starters.
And with the effort UM is putting into recruiting walk-ons under Harbaugh, it is safe to assume that there will continue to be walk-ons making gameday contributions, even with the improved scholarship recruiting.
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Which doesn’t change the fact that if walk-ons are playing as well as scholarship recruits who are slotted to start, it’s a concern. If they’re just out there to be bodies, that’s another matter, but there is no indication that’s the case.
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Did it really look concerning to you today to see Glasgow playing well? Has no one here learned anything about considering a Glasgow to be a walk-on? This guy has two brothers who started as walk-ons and will play in the NFL, never doubt a Glasgow.
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If none of our highly rated recruits are playing significantly better, yes. How his family members did has nothing to do with how he will do. And I don’t know how many times it has to be repeated, but the important thing is not how he measures up against other players on this team, but how he compares to guys playing the same position on OTHER teams.
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If there is one thing we all know by now, it is that Glasgows don’t care about higher ranked competition. After watching Jordan Glasgow kick butt on special teams last year and play well today, I cannot imagine that his emerging as a 2nd string Viper in spring ball could be considered a legit “concern”.
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Other teams are playing walk-ons, too, because it’s the spring. A bunch of seniors graduated, a bunch of players transferred, and a bunch of freshmen aren’t on campus yet. So Glasgow’s performance can/should be compared to the walk-ons and backups who are playing the same position on other teams. You seem to be trying to compare Glasgow to Ohio State’s starting SS/OLB, but that’s not a one-for-one comparison.
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I think Bush put the Robo starting talk to rest today. One of the unsung players who I thought had a good game was Carlo Kemp.
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I think all the players listed here played very well! Bush pulled away a bit. Wroblewski is still a run stopper when needed. How about that Jordan Glasgow!
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Speight Chart
Screen behind LOS to Evans complete 1-1
Quick out to McKeon off his hands incomplete 1-2
Intentionally threw ball out of bounds 1-3
Under thrown to McKeon complete 2-4
Intentionally threw ball out of bounds 2-5
Threw behind McKeon on slant incomplete 2-6
Speight to Black complete 3-7
Speight sacked
Intentionally threw ball out of bounds 3-8
Speight sacked
Under thrown to black incomplete 3-9
Intentionally grounds ball under pressure 3-10
Speight to DPJ dropped 3-11
Complete to McKeon short gain 4-12
Complete to DPJ short gain 5-13
Complete to DPJ short gain 6-14
Incomplete knocked down 6-15
Free play over thrown
Over thrown to an open DPJ 6-16
Short pass to Black complete 7-17
Speight interception into coverage 7-18
Speight to Hill short pass 8-19
Almost picked into coverage DB Hudson should have caught it 8-20
Short Curl to 29 complete 9-21
Speight incomplete should have been sack in real game 9-22
Pass to Black over thrown in end zone 9-23
Speight sacked
Halftime
Speight over thrown screen to Higdon 9-24
Incomplete to McDoom over the middle off hands 9-25
Speight under thrown to DPJ, pass interference
Speight interception to Glasgow 103 yard TD return 9-26
9-26 2 Int 0 TD
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Yeah, I thought the under throws on pretty easy balls that we’ve seen him hit pretty much all year, last year was a big concern.
People talk about rhythm or the lack thereof and QBs incessantly. I thought Speight looked like your father trying to boogie at your sisters wedding yesterday.
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Thanks for posting this.
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Thanks UMBig11. Peters looked great. While I don’t expect a QB controversy after one practice, I can’t help but wonder: how far away is he???
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He certainly moved closer after that performance by Speight.
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Yeah, that was pretty ugly by Speight.
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McDoom in a boot for the ankle. Runyan sore, but okay per the players and not the coaches. Nothing serious.
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