I meant to blog this last week, but since it's been so busy around here I thought it'd go up now. So last Saturday I attended the BC Spring Football game, and like a lot of spring scrimmages I thought there was some good things and some bad things:
Quarterbacks: C+. It's pretty clear that Chase Rettig is the GUY in this offense and all the other QB's have given way. Chase looked solid in the new west coast offense (20-29 182 yards) completing a lot of quick passes for pretty solid numbers, however he still struggled at times with pocket presence and wasn't great under pressure. It was also frustrating to watch him, many times, have tunnel vision throwing short when he had some combo routes wide open down field. I'd say behind Rettig the best QB was Josh Bordner (Rs. Frosh). Bordner looked solid with the offense and showed some poise in the pocket. Dave Shinskie looked solid at times as well, but once again made really poor decisions throwing under pressure, and actually completed a pass to himself. The disappointment of the day was Mike Marscovetra, who simply struggled all day throwing 2 ints and showing a real lack of comfort with the new system. Everything the qb's do is too slow at this point, and hopefully will speed up with time, but they need to be quicker with their reads and have the leadership to finish off drives.
Running Backs: B+. I was pleasantly surprised with red shirt freshmen Taij Kimble, who looked explosive and elusive, and could challenge the two injured incumbents Montel Harris and Andre Williams. Kimble looked faster than those two, and seemed to be impossible to tackle one on one. Montel carried the ball one time, but came up limping and sat the rest of day as a precautionary measure. Scout team member Mike Jivorski also looked pretty solid. The 5'7'' junior was elusive and was a great pass catcher, almost looking like Danny Woodhead out there.
Wide Receivers: B+ Injuries to Colin Larmond and Alex Amidon sidelined two guys who figure to be in the mix for the starting spots come August, but the other guys seemed to pick up the slack. Clyde Lee and Ifeanyi Momah looked rock solid starting and both had good hands and ran clean routes. With the 3 and 4 WR sets the offense also featured Bobby Swigert and Jonathan Coleman. Swigert looked pretty solid, but was lost at times and actually forced time outs twice by not knowing the calls. Coleman looked explosive, and he and other sophmore Shakim Phillips were getting open downfield quite a bit, but could not seem to get the attention of the QBs to the throw them the ball. All in all this is a deep bunch WRs that looks really improved and comfortable with the west-coast offense; but it's all for not if there's no one to throw them the ball. As for the tight ends, Lars Anderson shined and looked really athletic.
O-line: B-. The starters on the o-line looked good, and were opening up holes early for the running backs. However, they struggled a little bit with multiple blitzes and stunts on the pass rush, and did come susceptible to some serious pressure. I'm sure with more time to work together as a unit this group will gell, and with guys like Emmet Cleary and Nate Richman still leading the line they will become a polished unit. Other than the starters though, the backups and second team seemed to struggle immensely, so we best hop none of the first teamers go down this season.
Secondary: A-. This was the best group of the day. The starters of Donnie Fletcher, Jim Noel, Dominic Legrande, and Okoroa Okapara were athletic and moved well together. Not to mention all these guys help out in the run game and play downhill. I have heard some people say our secondary is a question mark, but these guys looked real good and smooth, working together. The second teamers looked solid too, and incoming freshmen recruit Albert Louis-Jean looked like a budding star, knocking running backs out, and shutting down guys from both the Corner, and Safety, positions.
Linebackers B. Eh. What was suppose to be our best group on defense looked a little slow at times. Luke Kuechly for the most part looked just OK, showing a couple flashes of why he's one of the best defensive guys in the country. Kevin Pierre Louis looked better on the day, and showed some great stuff, especially against the run. Guys like Nick Clancy, and Steele Devitto, who look to take over for Herzlich obviously have some shoes to fill but they will be up to speed come August. I'm not too worried about this group.
D-Line. B-. This group looked best from the outside in. The ends seemed to apply a lot of rush and pressure, but up the middle guys like Dillion Quinn and Conor O'neal looked like they were getting pushed around. Although, the line was missing one of their better interior guys in Kaleb Ramsey, they are going to need to make strides in order that teams don't pound the rock all over us. Guys who looked great out on the ends were incoming freshmen Medhi Ablesmad, and Kasim Edeballi.
Special Teams B. Only saw Nate Freese kick twice, nailed one, and hit the upright on the other. Not too bad should be solid again, and Saturday was a real windy crazy weather day so I'm sure he should be OK once the season is here. Ryan Quigly punted two solid 40-50 yard punts.
Posted by Mucc.
