Scrimmage report (8/28)

MSU01 · Post by **MSU01** » Sat Aug 28, 2004 10:06 pm

Here's some things I saw at today's scrimmage... I wasn't able to stay for the whole thing but when I left I think the first & second teams were done and the third stringers & freshmen were getting most of the playing time.

QB: Lulay didn't look great today. Missed a couple open receivers on deep throws. Coppack had 4 or 5 really nice throws, but also 2 INT's on passes he probably shouldn't have thrown. He's got the arm strength and accuracy but seems to need improvement on decision-making. Considering that he's a freshman this isn't surprising. Who knows who, if any, the 3rd string QB is!?!?!?

RB: Domenick and Milton played with the 1st team offense. I thought Domenick was the better of the two today. He's bigger and more of a straight ahead runner. Gathing didn't play much as he injured his foot or ankle... he seemed to be fine later on though. Looks like Beal has been moved back to RB.

WR: Was really impressed by Guinn, as a group I think they're a definite improvement over last year. Gatewood looked awesome in Spring ball but didn't do much today.

OL: Decent... not great, but not terrible. Didn't watch them closely enough to single out any individual players.

DL & LB: As we all know, the strength of the team. Not much needed to be said here. Were great even without Lowe or Sebestyen playing.

DB's: Allowed receivers to get open deep 2 or 3 times, but made some nice plays too. The Fresno St. transfer Henderson had a nice INT, and Hunter looked good at times. Safeties Force and Goins look pretty strong. Waiting to see Eddie Smith, if he's anywhere near as good as Kramer makes him sound the secondary shouldn't be as much of a weakness as I feared they might be.

K: Doroski handled all the kickoffs and was getting the ball down to about the 5 yard-line or deeper. All 3 kickers attempted 2 FG's each, one from about 35 yards and one from about 48. All 3 missed the 48 yarder, Bolton and Cochrane made the 35 yarder, Cochrane's with a ton of distance to spare. I'd guess that Bolton will handle the PAT's and short FG's and Cochrane will take the long FG's. Cochrane still seems to have accuracy problems, although 3 kicks (he missed an extra point as well) aren't really enough to make a judgment on.

P: Lulay still punting, Bolton didn't look very good as the backup.

BelgradeBobcat · Post by **BelgradeBobcat** » Sat Aug 28, 2004 10:21 pm

D-line looked good-Cogley impressed me.

The No.1 offense didn't do much-Lulay didn't appear to have a lot of time-perhaps O-line needs some work. A few penalities as well.

A lot of silly errors-Gatewood tried to field a punt off his facemask, running back and quarterback collide, fumble on a punt return by Roosevelt.

Roosevelt looked really fast on his returns. There might be some potential there-I know he was a stud sprinter in high school.

The receivers are definitely more athletic than last year.

Kickers weren't even close on their long (48 yd) field goal attempt-ugh.

This scrimmage really impressed upon me the huge losses of personnel from last year. There's a lot of talent on this year's team, but they've got quite a ways to go. Fortunately they've only been at it a week and there's time to improve.

Helcat72 · Post by **Helcat72** » Sat Aug 28, 2004 10:55 pm

So are you two over critical...or is Lamberty and Kramer sugar coating things? Your report sounds like the opposite of the official report!

http://www.msubobcats.com/news.php?sid=h&nid=584

CatWoman · Post by **CatWoman** » Sun Aug 29, 2004 10:20 am

I'm sure that anyone watching the scrimmage yesterday would agree with MSU01 and BelgradeBobcat that the first-string offense was, for the most part, solid but not spectacular (yes, even Travis) and things appeared pretty "business-like" overall. There were no long pass plays or dazzling runs that I can remember, and only a couple of first downs in the three or four drives that they had.

The defense, on the other hand, looked like they turned up the intensity and execution a notch and the front seven were really flying to the ball. Except for a couple of times when the corners looked to be beaten on longer sideline routes, the DB's were shutting things down and there were one or two coverage sacks as a result.

The second-string offense kept the chains moving on most of their possessions, and Beal showed some great moves at the end of the touchdown drive, but there were some obvious mistakes in execution and way too many dropped passes. Coppack made some nice throws (especially on roll-outs) and looked like he would have had big yardage on a couple of scrambles if it weren't for the quick whistle, but his inexperience did show in the interceptions he threw.

MSU01, Cory Carpenter is the #3 QB but I am assuming that they are still keeping him out of contact drills because of his knee surgery.

The ground game looked good overall, but I think Coach Bailey wanted to see how the guys handled running up the middle because the majority of the plays called towards the end were right up the gut for little or no gain. Still, it is obvious that we have some exceptional athletes in the backfield and the on-going competition for the starting job is making everyone better.

In my opinion, things are right where they usually are for the first scrimmage of the fall (defense slightly ahead of the offense) and the scrimmage on Thursday should show that everything is headed in the right direction.

CelticCat · Post by **CelticCat** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 7:10 am

I attended the scrimmage, and was less than thrilled. Lulay missed two open receivers downfield, both would have been huge gains.

Domineck impressed me most at RB, he was fast to the hole and reminded me of Molock. The receivers as a whole also impressed me. Made several nice catches and got pretty good seperation from the defenders.

But the DBs also looked like they will be better than I feared they wouldn't be. They appear to have the atheleticism to handle the taller and faster receivers, and both pics made were very nice catches and plays.

The DL basically just overpowered the OL, but the OL held their own okay. I am slightly concerned there, but then I remember how good our DL is, and our OL should do okay versus most DL's we face this year. But Lulay always has the ability to get himself out of trouble, which he did a few times at scrimmage.

Overall, I see a lot of potential, but things were lackluster. No point sugar coating it, we looked subpar with a few bright spots here and there. Good thing we have a couple weeks to start playing as a team.

I loved the ol catch the punt with your face trick. Oldest play in the book.

HelenaCat95 · Post by **HelenaCat95** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 2:09 pm

I was at the scrimmage and have to throw in my two cents.

Overall, I was quite pleased for the first scrimmage of the fall. My assessment is that Milton is the better back right now. He looked quicker, and ran lower to the ground. Both Domineck and Milton finished forward, and did not fall back when hit - we're in good shape with either one.

O-line looked fine. We'll be ok provided no more injuries. Jensen needs some work, but you can tell that the the tools are there. Fig was good at RG, and Bolton was good at RT, but I'd still prefer Bolton back at guard.
On a positive note, I got there early enough to see warmups, and Hirst was not suited up, but was doing some light (and I emphasize light) contact pass protection drills. Keep it going Joe.

Defense looked good - including the secondary. Some good hits from the safeties, and good coverage from the CB's. I was impressed with Henderson, the Fresno State kid. If Smith makes it back (and he was jogging on the sidelines) we could be good - not as good as last year, but good nonetheless.

LB and D-Line are our strenghts, even with Lowe and Sebastayen out. Matakis looked good....and big. I thought the star of the scrimmage (on both sides of the ball) was Bobby Daly, walkon from Capital. At least one sack, several tackles behind the line, and some of this was when he was working with the first team. He'll probably never have the size, but he definitely has the heart. He could be the next Beau Clark.

Question Time.
Bozone Cat and I put on our "conspiracy of silence hats" and came up with the following questions. I printed out the roster from the internet on Sat morning. It was fairly up to date. However Corky Lindsay was still listed on the internet roster. There was a guy we didn't recognize on the sidelines, that could have been about the right height and weight as Lindsay. Those of you in the know - is he in school? Is there a chance he's be available? Was it even him, or do I need another beer?
Also, what happend to the Syracuse DB transfer?
Also, there used to be several listed on the roster, that are not on the current roster, and that I have heard nothing about - Alexander (RB from Superior), Terrance King (RB from ??). What happened to them?
Anyway, to those of you in the know, thanks in advance.

Overall, pretty pleased. I won't get to the scrimmage on Thursday, but I eagerly await reports.
GO CATS.

wbtfg · Post by **wbtfg** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 2:26 pm

Bozone Cat and I put on our "conspiracy of silence hats" and came up with the following questions. I printed out the roster from the internet on Sat morning. It was fairly up to date. However Corky Lindsay was still listed on the internet roster. There was a guy we didn't recognize on the sidelines, that could have been about the right height and weight as Lindsay. Those of you in the know - is he in school? Is there a chance he's be available? Was it even him, or do I need another beer?
Also, what happend to the Syracuse DB transfer?
Also, there used to be several listed on the roster, that are not on the current roster, and that I have heard nothing about - Alexander (RB from Superior), Terrance King (RB from ??). What happened to them?
Anyway, to those of you in the know, thanks in advance.

I've been to a couple to a couple of practices, and there have only been 4 RBs practicing (gathing, milton, dominick, and elliot), so I assume that they others are not on the team. I think that King may have had some grade issues, I know that Alaxander is enrolled in school here but I haven't seen him at practice. I know he was coming in as a walk-on so he may have decided not to walk-on or might be practicing at another position. As far as Lindsey goes, I don't think that he is attending school here this fall, he might transfer this spring. As for the Syracuse kid, I heard that he visited and probably won't be on the team. I got the vibe that the coaches weren't all that impressed with him, and he may be visiting Idaho State. ***(All of this is probably 2nd or 3rd hand information so please take it as such). ***

JahGriz · Post by **JahGriz** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 2:57 pm

I heard the Syracuse DB went to Idaho St.

BozoneCat · Post by **BozoneCat** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 10:34 am

My report from the scrimmage:

Overall, most of the things HC95 said were agreed upon by both of us. I prefer to look for positives from the first scrimmage, as opposed to negatives. It being early, there will be plenty of mistakes, so I look for the good things. I will worry about "bad" things more with the following scrims.

I can't rave enough how impressed I was with Bobby Daly. He is still very undersized, but I feel he will push for playing time this year. If not, he will be a great player the next four years. He is only 5'11", 225 right now - pretty small for a DE. However, he was ALL OVER the place! Put 20 pounds on him (not that much) and he will be great.

We are in great shape with our RBs. Milton looked very good again - he is super-quick at reading the defense and shifting to the outside. Dominick doesn't look quite as quick, but is probably slightly more powerful, and showed good hands and speed. Gathing tweaked an ankle and didn't play much (he is fine and ran sprints), but I liked when they lined him up at fullback in some sets. He made a couple good pickup blocks from that position. I still don't like Beal at RB, I highly doubt he will get many carries, but I think the coaches wanted to get him some reps since he just moved back.

I thought Guinn looked very good at WR. He caught a couple and was open a lot. Roosevelt looked much better than last year, I think his confidence has been restored and he will play much better. Wolf made a great catch first play of the scrimmage.

DBs looked good, I am more confident after watching them. Henderson made a great play on his interception and covered well most of the day. Our safeties looked good, I was impressed with a tackle Fuller made on Dominick, although he needs to put on some weight to be really effective.

One of the bright spots for me was our kicking game. Every single kickoff looked GREAT, we haven't seen anything like it in any recent memory. They were all high, soft kicks that landed inside the 5 yard line. I guarantee we will not be letting teams start every possession on the 40 this year. For a freshman, I was impressed with Bolton. He looked good on all his kicks except for the 48-yarder. When Kramer said he got the kicker he wanted, I think he may have been right - from what I have heard, Carpenter has been the sh*ts so far at UM. Cochran has a cannon, the 30/40 yard FGs he kicked would have been good from 55 easy, they landed on top of the locker room complex. However, he still showed a tendency to hook. I think this happens when he tries to kick too hard, even though he really doesn't need to. If we can get him to relax and trust his leg, he could be a solid long kicker for us this year.

I had to leave HC95 for a while to go chat with the cheerleaders, so I hope he didn't hold that against me! It was a fun scrimmage, though. There were a lot more people than I expected, probably at least 200. We'll see how this Thursday pans out...

Cat Pride · Post by **Cat Pride** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 11:04 am

If Daly weights in at 225, that is what Clive Lowe weighed last year, and is only 5 pounds lighter than Gluhm right now. Yes it would be nice to have all 3 of them put on weight - can you imagine Clive at 250 and still being able to maintain his speed....WOW!

HelenaCat95 · Post by **HelenaCat95** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 2:28 pm

BozoneCat,
Let's see....your choices were to hang out with a guy who ditched his wife and kids, so he could drive 100 miles just to see a scrimmage (me) vs. talking to cute co-ed cheerleaders....hmmmm

Frankly I'd be worried if you hadn't gone to talk to them.

lol