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Spring PractiSe 7- Tuesday March 25

Coach Macho said:
Lots of high-end competition today. Great back- and-forth battles. Offense kinda had it's way with the defense for the first portion of practice. Killed the defense in the redzone period. Defense won the 2-minute drill to finish. I thought defense looked good in 7-on-7 as well.

I don't expect one side of the ball to win the entire practice. If they did, I'd be worried.

*Brantley is a tiny guy, but very sticky and tenacious. Smacked a RB on an outside run in team period.

*Moore had a quiet day. O'Connor was at his neck all practice, and I wonder if he got in his head.

*O'Connor is a certified a-hole on the field, trash talk before and after every play. Well, that was until Dylan Upshaw took the ball off the top of his head in the endzone. Mossed him nasty. The freshman WR's are smooth.

*LB room might be serviceable, but it's lacking length. The guys with length are young, minus Marcellin, he's tiny. I'd be surprised if Hetherman doesn't try to completely flip that room within the next year. Pruitt is my favorite guy.

*DB room has some good talent and depth. I thought the passing defense looked relatively good today. There wasn't a lot of guys running wide open, that's for sure.

*Hayden Lowe is a freak and will play early. Blount is a freak, and he lined up at DE and DT. He won all his reps in pass pro. Lightfoot and Rudolph are very thin, but Rudolph looked extremely athletic in one-on-ones. I doubt they'll contribute much this season.

*Could be wrong but it looked to me like Chase Smith is the first team LB on our Dime unit. He might be the most athletic of the bunch.

*Ewald getting a ton of work at Nickel and excelling there.

*I know our OL is good but I didn't notice of a ton of pressure being generated by our front-4. I even heard a coach yell something along those lines as well. Whole DL had to stay after practice and do extra work.

*Our OL gets a lot of push in the run game at times. The 2-headed monster at RB + the short passing game to Lofton = 👍🏻
A lot of YAC opportunities for Lofton today.

*Jojo is a dude. That is all.

*I said it last year and I'll say it again...
There's still no "tone setters" on this defense. Brantley had the most inspiring hit at practice today. 🙄 The rest of these MF'ers wouldn't bust a grape in a fruit fight. There is NO violence on this defense.

I'll be there again tomorrow for this.
Looking forward to picking Hetherman's brain.
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Awesome post
 

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grover said:
My guess it's more due to frustration at not getting a pass rush from the interior than wanting to move him inside. We need more legit DTs.
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It was just more of a joke but he looks like the type of kid that could do both but be a DE primarily and inside on pass rush situations

Like Bain in a way
 
Memnon said:
- Elija Lofton is the best player on the team; He's like a mixture of Adrian Peterson & Travis Kelce

- The WR's played really;
JoJo Trader is the 2nd coming of Reggie Wayne
Malachi Toney is Santana Moss 2.0
Joshua Moore is Andre Johnson 3.0
They each caught multiple TD's during 11v11 period.

- The CB's locked everything down, they turned GreenTree into Alcatraz.
None of them gave up a single catch or a TD during 11v11 period.

- Dennis Smith was spotted on Biscayne Blvd with a "Please help need LB's sign"
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I was accidentally added to a Signal chat with the offensive coaches. They said that Emory and Judd are giving Beck a run for his money and he might start out 3rd string when he gets back.
 
D_G87 said:
I’m kinda surprised this hasn’t been mentioned, but do we need to get a 2nd QB in the Portal? I’m not saying an elite starting level QB, but if Beck isn’t ready or goes down there is no way you trout out Emory in Year 4 of this thing. Mario can’t afford a 7-5 season. I think we need someone who has had some experience/success just in case.
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It has been mentioned and I agree. Mario definitely needs to go 10-2 at least to keep the money coming in.

The problem is I don’t see it. Still too many question marks and relying on “hope” with a lot of young potential to pay off.
 
Coach Macho said:
The position itself (LB) has gotten a lot softer over the last couple decades. Kids in general don't like to hit like we did growing up.

And unfortunately highly rated doesn't = violent. The rankings are done at camps and they're based off physical traits (height, weight, speed). Kinda hard to rate a kid's willingness to put his face in a buzz saw or sacrifice his body.

They're being coached by the right guy. Hetherman is intense and has strong psycho vibes.

Maybe I'm overreacting but I said the same thing after watching practice last spring. 🤷🏻‍♂️ It's just overall too quiet for my liking.
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listening nod GIF by HUANG'S WORLD
 
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Memnon said:
- Elija Lofton is the best player on the team; He's like a mixture of Adrian Peterson & Travis Kelce

- The WR's played really;
JoJo Trader is the 2nd coming of Reggie Wayne
Malachi Toney is Santana Moss 2.0
Joshua Moore is Andre Johnson 3.0
They each caught multiple TD's during 11v11 period.

- The CB's locked everything down, they turned GreenTree into Alcatraz.
None of them gave up a single catch or a TD during 11v11 period.

- Dennis Smith was spotted on Biscayne Blvd with a "Please help need LB's sign"
Click to expand...
Jim Carrey Lol GIF by O&O, Inc
 
Coach Macho said:
Lots of high-end competition today. Great back- and-forth battles. Offense kinda had it's way with the defense for the first portion of practice. Killed the defense in the redzone period. Defense won the 2-minute drill to finish. I thought defense looked good in 7-on-7 as well.

I don't expect one side of the ball to win the entire practice. If they did, I'd be worried.

*Brantley is a tiny guy, but very sticky and tenacious. Smacked a RB on an outside run in team period.

*Moore had a quiet day. O'Connor was at his neck all practice, and I wonder if he got in his head.

*O'Connor is a certified a-hole on the field, trash talk before and after every play. Well, that was until Dylan Upshaw took the ball off the top of his head in the endzone. Mossed him nasty. The freshman WR's are smooth.

*LB room might be serviceable, but it's lacking length. The guys with length are young, minus Marcellin, he's tiny. I'd be surprised if Hetherman doesn't try to completely flip that room within the next year. Pruitt is my favorite guy.

*DB room has some good talent and depth. I thought the passing defense looked relatively good today. There wasn't a lot of guys running wide open, that's for sure.

*Hayden Lowe is a freak and will play early. Blount is a freak, and he lined up at DE and DT. He won all his reps in pass pro. Lightfoot and Rudolph are very thin, but Rudolph looked extremely athletic in one-on-ones. I doubt they'll contribute much this season.

*Could be wrong but it looked to me like Chase Smith is the first team LB on our Dime unit. He might be the most athletic of the bunch.

*Ewald getting a ton of work at Nickel and excelling there.

*I know our OL is good but I didn't notice of a ton of pressure being generated by our front-4. I even heard a coach yell something along those lines as well. Whole DL had to stay after practice and do extra work.

*Our OL gets a lot of push in the run game at times. The 2-headed monster at RB + the short passing game to Lofton = 👍🏻
A lot of YAC opportunities for Lofton today.

*Jojo is a dude. That is all.

*I said it last year and I'll say it again...
There's still no "tone setters" on this defense. Brantley had the most inspiring hit at practice today. 🙄 The rest of these MF'ers wouldn't bust a grape in a fruit fight. There is NO violence on this defense.

I'll be there again tomorrow for this.
Looking forward to picking Hetherman's brain.
View attachment 321848
Click to expand...

This is what a pay $75 a month for
 
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D_G87 said:
I’m kinda surprised this hasn’t been mentioned, but do we need to get a 2nd QB in the Portal? I’m not saying an elite starting level QB, but if Beck isn’t ready or goes down there is no way you trout out Emory in Year 4 of this thing. Mario can’t afford a 7-5 season. I think we need someone who has had some experience/success just in case.
Click to expand...
1,000 yes.

Should've taken one from the FCS in the Winter Portal.
 
JamesQuall said:
It has been mentioned and I agree. Mario definitely needs to go 10-2 at least to keep the money coming in.

The problem is I don’t see it. Still too many question marks and relying on “hope” with a lot of young potential to pay off.
Click to expand...
Everyone says we can’t rely on “young players’ but has college football changed that much? Maybe it has.
I used to love watching the 4th quarter of Canes games in the 80’s because I wanted to see the freshman or sophomore who was going to take over the position. Remember seeing Ray Lewis, Michael Irvin, Lamar Thomas, Stephen McGuire, Warren Sapp and others play as freshmen and sophomores and sometimes push the veteran starter to the bench?

Now we are all so scared that a sophomore WR may not be able to handle being the #1 option. Michael Irvin would have walked on hot coals to be the #1 option as a sophomore, as would Santana Moss, Reggie Wayne and Andre Johnson. Indeed, all 4 of them were complete studs as sophomores.

So maybe I am just spoiled to think that sophomores should be able to be really good, or maybe I am overrating our current players? But how come our current players as a class are ranked as high or higher than those classes in the 80’s and 90’s? Or maybe the game has changed like college basketball and the proliferation of older players means that its harder than ever for “young players” to have the impact they did 30, 20 and even 5 years ago. Either way, I would like to see our high school recruits develop and reach their potential because that is still the surest long term path to success in college football.
 
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Not all of this, but a lot sounds similar to Sat. Agree with the D. The OL was dominant the 1st half of Sat. I don't like that. We need a tone setting MLB in my opinion. Chase has been with the ones. Their moving them around. I have been told the DB's look much better, but All American talk is way to early. You can probably guess that about others, also. This talent needs to develop this year. Not sure it's ready for ND. We will see. I believe they are evaluating for the portal this week. I will guess LB, WR, DT, S and OL. OL for depth.
 
AtlAtty said:
Everyone says we can’t rely on “young players’ but has college football changed that much? Maybe it has.
I used to love watching the 4th quarter of Canes games in the 80’s because I wanted to see the freshman or sophomore who was going to take over the position. Remember seeing Ray Lewis, Michael Irvin, Lamar Thomas, Stephen McGuire, Warren Sapp and others play as freshmen and sophomores and sometimes push the veteran starter to the bench?

Now we are all so scared that a sophomore WR may not be able to handle being the #1 option. Michael Irvin would have walked on hot coals to be the #1 option as a sophomore, as would Santana Moss, Reggie Wayne and Andre Johnson. Indeed, all 4 of them were complete studs as sophomores.

So maybe I am just spoiled to think that sophomores should be able to be really good, or maybe I am overrating our current players? But how come our current players as a class are ranked as high or higher than those classes in the 80’s and 90’s? Or maybe the game has changed like college basketball and the proliferation of older players means that its harder than ever for “young players” to have the impact they did 30, 20 and even 5 years ago. Either way, I would like to see our high school recruits develop and reach their potential because that is still the surest long term path to success in college football.
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Scared? What? This is an absolutely ludicrous post that I’m not sure if you’re trolling me.

Do you seriously think we have a single player that is going to be at least on par with the HOFers you mentioned?
 
Coach Macho said:
Lots of high-end competition today. Great back- and-forth battles. Offense kinda had it's way with the defense for the first portion of practice. Killed the defense in the redzone period. Defense won the 2-minute drill to finish. I thought defense looked good in 7-on-7 as well.

I don't expect one side of the ball to win the entire practice. If they did, I'd be worried.

*Brantley is a tiny guy, but very sticky and tenacious. Smacked a RB on an outside run in team period.

*Moore had a quiet day. O'Connor was at his neck all practice, and I wonder if he got in his head.

*O'Connor is a certified a-hole on the field, trash talk before and after every play. Well, that was until Dylan Upshaw took the ball off the top of his head in the endzone. Mossed him nasty. The freshman WR's are smooth.

*LB room might be serviceable, but it's lacking length. The guys with length are young, minus Marcellin, he's tiny. I'd be surprised if Hetherman doesn't try to completely flip that room within the next year. Pruitt is my favorite guy.

*DB room has some good talent and depth. I thought the passing defense looked relatively good today. There wasn't a lot of guys running wide open, that's for sure.

*Hayden Lowe is a freak and will play early. Blount is a freak, and he lined up at DE and DT. He won all his reps in pass pro. Lightfoot and Rudolph are very thin, but Rudolph looked extremely athletic in one-on-ones. I doubt they'll contribute much this season.

*Could be wrong but it looked to me like Chase Smith is the first team LB on our Dime unit. He might be the most athletic of the bunch.

*Ewald getting a ton of work at Nickel and excelling there.

*I know our OL is good but I didn't notice of a ton of pressure being generated by our front-4. I even heard a coach yell something along those lines as well. Whole DL had to stay after practice and do extra work.

*Our OL gets a lot of push in the run game at times. The 2-headed monster at RB + the short passing game to Lofton = 👍🏻
A lot of YAC opportunities for Lofton today.

*Jojo is a dude. That is all.

*I said it last year and I'll say it again...
There's still no "tone setters" on this defense. Brantley had the most inspiring hit at practice today. 🙄 The rest of these MF'ers wouldn't bust a grape in a fruit fight. There is NO violence on this defense.

I'll be there again tomorrow for this.
Looking forward to picking Hetherman's brain.
View attachment 321848
Click to expand...
Ask Hetherman if he sees any tone setters on the defense, curious to hear his response
 
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D_G87 said:
I’m kinda surprised this hasn’t been mentioned, but do we need to get a 2nd QB in the Portal? I’m not saying an elite starting level QB, but if Beck isn’t ready or goes down there is no way you trout out Emory in Year 4 of this thing. Mario can’t afford a 7-5 season. I think we need someone who has had some experience/success just in case.
Click to expand...
I'm all in for a return of Reese Poffenbarger from the North Texas Mean Green.
 
Re: linebacker play style. The game has changed and what linebackers are asked to do is a lot different. In the 90’s your first priority as an ILB was to collide with the lead blocker as hard as possible to try to force the ball carrier sideways or better, backwards. Nobody runs iso anymore. There isn’t a fullback to stack and shed. The “plugger” type of linebacker gets exposed in the open field too often. I’m not excusing our guys because linebacker play has been subpar for a while now but the position has transitioned more into a safety/coverage skillset rather than the old downhill/collision guys. Look how many teams exposed Mauigoa last year. In the box, going downhill, he was a beast. On the perimeter or in coverage, he was a huge liability. We need guys who can do both.
 
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