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Spring Game Updates!
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Spring Game Updates!
Anyone that was there want to give any updates on how the day was for those of us that were not able to make it?
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Re: Spring Game Updates!
I was there. Jordon Love, incredible. I was most impressed by our receivers. They were my biggest worry. I feel much more comfortable about that position group. Jordan with his accuracy, made them look good. Don't have time to write much, but that was surprising take away from the game.
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Re: Spring Game Updates!
Scarver and Nathan looking great
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Re: Spring Game Updates!
Good to hear. Would be interested in the full analysis when you get more time.IdaAg93 wrote: ↑April 13th, 2019, 5:58 pmI was there. Jordon Love, incredible. I was most impressed by our receivers. They were my biggest worry. I feel much more comfortable about that position group. Jordan with his accuracy, made them look good. Don't have time to write much, but that was surprising take away from the game.
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Re: Spring Game Updates!
Give J a minute, he’s getting used to his new spot
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- GeoAg
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Re: Spring Game Updates!
Sweet! I thought he looked pretty good already. I think Thompkins will be pretty good filling in in Jordan's old slot.
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Re: Spring Game Updates!
Taylor Compton is taking the #1 slot spot as far as I knowGeoAg wrote: ↑April 13th, 2019, 9:43 pmSweet! I thought he looked pretty good already. I think Thompkins will be pretty good filling in in Jordan's old slot.
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Re: Spring Game Updates!
Beggars can't be choosers and such, but I'd love a more detailed write-up on the scrimmage. Anyone care to oblige?
Re: Spring Game Updates!
The team looked great except the offensive line. They gave up 5 or 6 sacks and couldn't block for our running backs. Overall, Pocket protection was alright, but it is definitely our weak spot this year.
Scarver had an awesome catch fading in the end zone, jumped over a defender to make the catch and just barely got his foot down inbounds. The defense had three picks, all against our third-string Quarterback. The defensive line should be scary good, they were getting in the backfield almost every play.
The Receivers all caught the ball well. The tight ends had some bad dropped passes -- one on a third and long, Jordan Love threw a perfect pass that was dropped. The line backers were good, it will be interesting to see if Lavalle is moved back to LB in the fall. My roommate -- who is on the team -- says he is doing great on the D-line and said he will probably stay at that position.
The punters looked good, I think the backup #46 will start over the current starter. #46 kicked a 53 yard punt. Eberle barely missed a 56-yard field goal. It needed 3 more yards and it would have gone in.
I think we will use Riley Burt a lot at RB. I went to high school with him and he is a beast. He is going to be one of the fastest players on the field, which will help because I don't think we will be able to run down the middle as much because of our weaker Oline. At RB Bright had one good run and Nelson would have had one good run except he fumbled the ball at the end
Overall, I think we will be about as good as last year. I think our defense will be just as good as last year. If our offensive line can step up and protect our QB I think we have the receivers to have an offense almost as good as last year. We are going to miss Ficklin, Tarver, and Darwin Thompson.
Scarver had an awesome catch fading in the end zone, jumped over a defender to make the catch and just barely got his foot down inbounds. The defense had three picks, all against our third-string Quarterback. The defensive line should be scary good, they were getting in the backfield almost every play.
The Receivers all caught the ball well. The tight ends had some bad dropped passes -- one on a third and long, Jordan Love threw a perfect pass that was dropped. The line backers were good, it will be interesting to see if Lavalle is moved back to LB in the fall. My roommate -- who is on the team -- says he is doing great on the D-line and said he will probably stay at that position.
The punters looked good, I think the backup #46 will start over the current starter. #46 kicked a 53 yard punt. Eberle barely missed a 56-yard field goal. It needed 3 more yards and it would have gone in.
I think we will use Riley Burt a lot at RB. I went to high school with him and he is a beast. He is going to be one of the fastest players on the field, which will help because I don't think we will be able to run down the middle as much because of our weaker Oline. At RB Bright had one good run and Nelson would have had one good run except he fumbled the ball at the end
Overall, I think we will be about as good as last year. I think our defense will be just as good as last year. If our offensive line can step up and protect our QB I think we have the receivers to have an offense almost as good as last year. We are going to miss Ficklin, Tarver, and Darwin Thompson.
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Re: Spring Game Updates!
Thanks for the write-up. I think Love takes a big step forward this year and bounces for the draft at the end of the year.BeHURD wrote: ↑April 15th, 2019, 3:55 pmThe team looked great except the offensive line. They gave up 5 or 6 sacks and couldn't block for our running backs. Overall, Pocket protection was alright, but it is definitely our weak spot this year.
Scarver had an awesome catch fading in the end zone, jumped over a defender to make the catch and just barely got his foot down inbounds. The defense had three picks, all against our third-string Quarterback. The defensive line should be scary good, they were getting in the backfield almost every play.
The Receivers all caught the ball well. The tight ends had some bad dropped passes -- one on a third and long, Jordan Love threw a perfect pass that was dropped. The line backers were good, it will be interesting to see if Lavalle is moved back to LB in the fall. My roommate -- who is on the team -- says he is doing great on the D-line and said he will probably stay at that position.
The punters looked good, I think the backup #46 will start over the current starter. #46 kicked a 53 yard punt. Eberle barely missed a 56-yard field goal. It needed 3 more yards and it would have gone in.
I think we will use Riley Burt a lot at RB. I went to high school with him and he is a beast. He is going to be one of the fastest players on the field, which will help because I don't think we will be able to run down the middle as much because of our weaker Oline. At RB Bright had one good run and Nelson would have had one good run except he fumbled the ball at the end
Overall, I think we will be about as good as last year. I think our defense will be just as good as last year. If our offensive line can step up and protect our QB I think we have the receivers to have an offense almost as good as last year. We are going to miss Ficklin, Tarver, and Darwin Thompson.
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Re: Spring Game Updates!
Was Burt wearing # 27?BeHURD wrote: ↑April 15th, 2019, 3:55 pmThe team looked great except the offensive line. They gave up 5 or 6 sacks and couldn't block for our running backs. Overall, Pocket protection was alright, but it is definitely our weak spot this year.
Scarver had an awesome catch fading in the end zone, jumped over a defender to make the catch and just barely got his foot down inbounds. The defense had three picks, all against our third-string Quarterback. The defensive line should be scary good, they were getting in the backfield almost every play.
The Receivers all caught the ball well. The tight ends had some bad dropped passes -- one on a third and long, Jordan Love threw a perfect pass that was dropped. The line backers were good, it will be interesting to see if Lavalle is moved back to LB in the fall. My roommate -- who is on the team -- says he is doing great on the D-line and said he will probably stay at that position.
The punters looked good, I think the backup #46 will start over the current starter. #46 kicked a 53 yard punt. Eberle barely missed a 56-yard field goal. It needed 3 more yards and it would have gone in.
I think we will use Riley Burt a lot at RB. I went to high school with him and he is a beast. He is going to be one of the fastest players on the field, which will help because I don't think we will be able to run down the middle as much because of our weaker Oline. At RB Bright had one good run and Nelson would have had one good run except he fumbled the ball at the end
Overall, I think we will be about as good as last year. I think our defense will be just as good as last year. If our offensive line can step up and protect our QB I think we have the receivers to have an offense almost as good as last year. We are going to miss Ficklin, Tarver, and Darwin Thompson.
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
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Re: Spring Game Updates!
Is he on campus?
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
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Re: Spring Game Updates!
#27 is Enoch Nawahine, the freshman from Hawaii. He had one nice 35 or so yard run and also caught a nice long ball where he sprawled out in front of the CB to make the grab.
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Re: Spring Game Updates!
I thought the line was better than you think and maoved the ball decently in the run game with Nawahine and Bright in. In the passing game, I felt there was plenty of time to pass overall. I was pleasantly surprised with the receivers, particularly Scarver and Nathan. Riley Burt will have to work hard to get carries ahead of Bright and Warren IMO.BeHURD wrote: ↑April 15th, 2019, 3:55 pmThe team looked great except the offensive line. They gave up 5 or 6 sacks and couldn't block for our running backs. Overall, Pocket protection was alright, but it is definitely our weak spot this year.
Scarver had an awesome catch fading in the end zone, jumped over a defender to make the catch and just barely got his foot down inbounds. The defense had three picks, all against our third-string Quarterback. The defensive line should be scary good, they were getting in the backfield almost every play.
The Receivers all caught the ball well. The tight ends had some bad dropped passes -- one on a third and long, Jordan Love threw a perfect pass that was dropped. The line backers were good, it will be interesting to see if Lavalle is moved back to LB in the fall. My roommate -- who is on the team -- says he is doing great on the D-line and said he will probably stay at that position.
The punters looked good, I think the backup #46 will start over the current starter. #46 kicked a 53 yard punt. Eberle barely missed a 56-yard field goal. It needed 3 more yards and it would have gone in.
I think we will use Riley Burt a lot at RB. I went to high school with him and he is a beast. He is going to be one of the fastest players on the field, which will help because I don't think we will be able to run down the middle as much because of our weaker Oline. At RB Bright had one good run and Nelson would have had one good run except he fumbled the ball at the end
Overall, I think we will be about as good as last year. I think our defense will be just as good as last year. If our offensive line can step up and protect our QB I think we have the receivers to have an offense almost as good as last year. We are going to miss Ficklin, Tarver, and Darwin Thompson.
At punter, Saturday left me in no doubt that Dalton will be the punter again. He was far and away the best. He only punted once later in the scrimmage. I have no idea to #46 is. I agree that TE looked bad.
"You guys have sacrificed in ways you've never sacrificed before. You've given more. You expect more...Tonight is our opportunity to write the story of who this family, who this program, who this team will be" -Coach Blake Anderson
Re: Spring Game Updates!
Warren did good at Snow College. I am pretty good friends with Burt and lets just say that his performance on the field wasn't the reason he didn't start at BYU. I think he will split time pretty evenly with Bright.GeoAg wrote: ↑April 15th, 2019, 5:16 pmI thought the line was better than you think and maoved the ball decently in the run game with Nawahine and Bright in. In the passing game, I felt there was plenty of time to pass overall. I was pleasantly surprised with the receivers, particularly Scarver and Nathan. Riley Burt will have to work hard to get carries ahead of Bright and Warren IMO.BeHURD wrote: ↑April 15th, 2019, 3:55 pmThe team looked great except the offensive line. They gave up 5 or 6 sacks and couldn't block for our running backs. Overall, Pocket protection was alright, but it is definitely our weak spot this year.
Scarver had an awesome catch fading in the end zone, jumped over a defender to make the catch and just barely got his foot down inbounds. The defense had three picks, all against our third-string Quarterback. The defensive line should be scary good, they were getting in the backfield almost every play.
The Receivers all caught the ball well. The tight ends had some bad dropped passes -- one on a third and long, Jordan Love threw a perfect pass that was dropped. The line backers were good, it will be interesting to see if Lavalle is moved back to LB in the fall. My roommate -- who is on the team -- says he is doing great on the D-line and said he will probably stay at that position.
The punters looked good, I think the backup #46 will start over the current starter. #46 kicked a 53 yard punt. Eberle barely missed a 56-yard field goal. It needed 3 more yards and it would have gone in.
I think we will use Riley Burt a lot at RB. I went to high school with him and he is a beast. He is going to be one of the fastest players on the field, which will help because I don't think we will be able to run down the middle as much because of our weaker Oline. At RB Bright had one good run and Nelson would have had one good run except he fumbled the ball at the end
Overall, I think we will be about as good as last year. I think our defense will be just as good as last year. If our offensive line can step up and protect our QB I think we have the receivers to have an offense almost as good as last year. We are going to miss Ficklin, Tarver, and Darwin Thompson.
At punter, Saturday left me in no doubt that Dalton will be the punter again. He was far and away the best. He only punted once later in the scrimmage. I have no idea to #46 is. I agree that TE looked bad.
46 is Hansen, He is a newcomer from Ohio. He has a much better leg than Dalton. Dalton is better, however, at pinning opponents close to their end zones. I guess we will see.
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Re: Spring Game Updates!
Agreed on all counts. GA also commented post game how good he thought the OL looked and how competitive it was going to be for the 5 starting spots. As good as those two WR's may look right now, I have to think we will look a little different once Mariner, Carter, and Lampkin arrive and the staff figures out Thompkins is a weapon in the slot.GeoAg wrote: ↑April 15th, 2019, 5:16 pmI thought the line was better than you think and moved the ball decently in the run game with Nawahine and Bright in. In the passing game, I felt there was plenty of time to pass overall. I was pleasantly surprised with the receivers, particularly Scarver and Nathan. Riley Burt will have to work hard to get carries ahead of Bright and Warren IMO.BeHURD wrote: ↑April 15th, 2019, 3:55 pmThe team looked great except the offensive line. They gave up 5 or 6 sacks and couldn't block for our running backs. Overall, Pocket protection was alright, but it is definitely our weak spot this year.
Scarver had an awesome catch fading in the end zone, jumped over a defender to make the catch and just barely got his foot down inbounds. The defense had three picks, all against our third-string Quarterback. The defensive line should be scary good, they were getting in the backfield almost every play.
The Receivers all caught the ball well. The tight ends had some bad dropped passes -- one on a third and long, Jordan Love threw a perfect pass that was dropped. The line backers were good, it will be interesting to see if Lavalle is moved back to LB in the fall. My roommate -- who is on the team -- says he is doing great on the D-line and said he will probably stay at that position.
The punters looked good, I think the backup #46 will start over the current starter. #46 kicked a 53 yard punt. Eberle barely missed a 56-yard field goal. It needed 3 more yards and it would have gone in.
I think we will use Riley Burt a lot at RB. I went to high school with him and he is a beast. He is going to be one of the fastest players on the field, which will help because I don't think we will be able to run down the middle as much because of our weaker Oline. At RB Bright had one good run and Nelson would have had one good run except he fumbled the ball at the end
Overall, I think we will be about as good as last year. I think our defense will be just as good as last year. If our offensive line can step up and protect our QB I think we have the receivers to have an offense almost as good as last year. We are going to miss Ficklin, Tarver, and Darwin Thompson.
At punter, Saturday left me in no doubt that Dalton will be the punter again. He was far and away the best. He only punted once later in the scrimmage. I have no idea to #46 is. I agree that TE looked bad.
Also believe that Burt will add good depth to the RB spot and may prove to be a good ST player but I can't see him taking many carries from Bright and Warren. I could see Burt carving out a niche as a short yardage guy too.
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Re: Spring Game Updates!
Warren > Burt
with that being said, I think Warren should red shirt so that he can put on put on some muscle. Burt would be more than adequate to split carries with Bright next season.
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with that being said, I think Warren should red shirt so that he can put on put on some muscle. Burt would be more than adequate to split carries with Bright next season.
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Re: Spring Game Updates!
Warren is 5'8" 225#. I don't think he needs to get bigger.
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Re: Spring Game Updates!
This spring game was the most vanilla spring game I have ever watched. From a fan perspective, it wasn't very fun. I told NavyBlueAggie that spring games are for the players, not the fans. Its for the players evaluation and fun, not for us. As such, fans need to approach watching the game in a different way than to be entertained. You need to go to get questions answered. From a team perspective, they learned some things:
1. Can Savon Scarver run anything besides a fly route? He actually did, catching 4 passes for 61 yards, none of which was a fly or jet route. One was a throw to the end zone where he had to high point the ball over a defender. He caught a pass across the middle, and a couple of other "non standard" throws. Scarver playing more like a reciever and less like a "kick returner playing receiver" is very important this year. This is a big opportunity for him to prove he can do that. If he can't become a true receving threat for us, we're in trouble.
2. Who is going to be this years "Ron'Quavion Tarver" and catch all the shots to the endzone? Devin Heckstall is a big 6-5 receiver brought in last year who really didn't do a lot. Part of that was because Tarver was playing ahead of him, and they had an abundance of the skilled, veteran receivers.. But part also was that, like many juco transfers, he just wasn't ready. Saturday, he looked like he wants to play. He made a high-pointe catch for a TD, as well as a few other catches, so that was good to see. Jordan Love expressed confidence in him to pick up where Tarver left off. There's another outside receiver named Sam Lockett (6-0, 195), who was last years "scout team player of the year," i.e. redshirt playing on the scout team. He played well on Saturday and a lot of positive things were said about him.
Not playing was Siaosi Mariner, the 6-2 193 starting WR from Utah, who will come to USU as a grad transfer. He wants a fresh start after a key tipped pass in the PAC12 title game bounced off his leg and was intercepted by a Washington DB and returned for the winning TD. He is still in school at Utah, but will be here all summer working out with Jordan Love. Big things are expected.
3. How about our other receivers? What did we see? Jordan Nathan, Taylor Compton, and Devin Thompkins are all players who played last year and are returning with a lot expected of them. More of them are the typically smaller receivers who tend to play in up-tempo offenses, and are fast but there's not a lot of size. But they can all catch the ball, and that is the most important thing. I got a good look at Tim Patrick, the highly ballyhooed kid from the San Diego area, who was recruited by everybody as an "athlete." At 6-0 190, USU is trying to turn him into a receiver. He's pretty fast and athletic, and they have high hopes for him.
We have an abundance of talent at Tight End and they all played good on Saturday, particularly Carson Terrell, 6-3 260 JC transfer Mosese Manu, and 6-6 245 RS Freshman Bryce Mortensen of local HS Sky View. They all caught the ball and blocked well Saturday. Joining them this fall will be graduate transfer Caleb Repp, a 6-5 230 DE from Utah, who has followed Andersen to Logan and will be returned to the TE position at USU. He was first a tight end when he went to Utah, but was converted. Andersen's staff believes his real talent is receiving.
4. Who are the running backs? I have to say losing Darwin Thompson was big. He was primed to have a monsterous season this year. But he's gone, so we have Gerald Bright, and JC all-American Jaylen Warren, who was named the 2018 NJCAA National Offensive Player of the Year (Like Thompson the year before) at Snow. Warren hasn't showed up yet because he has to finish the year at Snow College. So all eyes were on his possible replacements. One who stepped up was Enoch Nawahine, a redshirt freshman from Kahuku High School via Boise State, where he walked on last year. He was going to go on a mission and then decided not to, but didn't see a future at BSU so he walked on here. Once he got back into shape (kind of quit working out with a mission coming, then didn't go), he was really good. Runs really hard and is very quick. If he'll stay and workout all summer and add 15-20 pounds, he can really help us. Between Bright, Warren and Nawahine, I think we're in pretty good shape. Logan HS product 5-10 200 Chase Nelson has been moved from defensive back to RB, and was running 2nd team through most of the spring. Has decent speed and is intelligent-- won't make stupid mistakes. But he fumbled the ball twice on big hits, so his stock may have tumbled.
On another note, 6-1 215 Morian Walker, Jr. started out spring camp fast, and I think we can sure use his size and speed. But I've heard that OC Sanford isn't big on big downhill backs-- they want guys who are multifaceted and can run AND catch the ball out of the backfield, more like Michael Smith and Kerwynn Williams of the past. Walker apparently was not proving to be adept in the latter role and there is some thinking that he'll transfer now. I hope not. We'll have a need for him at some point this year.
5. Who is our offensive line going to be? We lost 4 starters on the offensive line, but they were playing about 11 guys, so lots of people played a lot of minutes. Right now it looks like the two starting tackles are locked down with Alfred Edwards at LT, and RS Fr Jacob South (Anacortes, WA) winning the right tackle spot. South came in and won the job this year, kind of like Edwards did last year, but will have to play to keep his spot as RS JC Transfers Andy Koch and Kyler Hack are right on his tail and both want to play after sitting out last year. Hack could end up swinging inside to Guard as well. What do they say? Competition breeds performance?
Also back after playing a ton last year is Demytrick Ali'ifua at center, so we have good confidence in that spot, but I'm not sure who his back-up is at the moment. The guard positions are being manned by the Shaw's (unrelated-- RS Freshman Karter Shaw at left guard and Junior Tyler Shaw at right guard). Tyler has paid his dues and is ready to play. Karter is backed up by another redshirt, Wyatt Bowles of Syracuse HS, who was very highly talented and regarded coming out of HS, and former starter Mo Uasike, who is really pushing to get back into the lineup. Behind them all are veterans Chandler Dolphin, Henry Avendano, Siotame Uluave, and freshman Aric Davidson, who played well this spring and could help out at either tackle and guard. I think despite the graduations, we won't skip a beat this year.
6. What about the defense? The defensive line was really beat up and so it was hard to tell much from what they had out there playing, which was mostly people playing out of positions. Tipa Galeai has been out most of the spring, but he played Saturday-- mostly just going through the motions it seemed like to get some work in. Devin Anderson played, too. Fua Leilua has been out all spring, so he didn't play at all. Dalton Baker played a little DE. There were a whole bunch of back ups who played a ton on Saturday and looked decent, but its really difficult to know what we'll be like with so many guys out or nursing injuries. So look to the fall on for the defensive line, who if everybody is back and healthy should be solid.
Linebacker was another story. They came to play and looked great. Kevin Metzenheimer has stepped up at linebacker and appears to give us another really good player to go along with David Woodward. Plus incoming freshman Christian LaVelle, who changed from Arizona State to us, looks really good. RS Freshman Elijah Shelton was really good on Saturday, as well. Some thought he was the player of the scrimmage. Plus we have several others guys who have played in Maika Magalei, and Daniel Langi. So the linebackers appear to be a solid bunch.
The defensive backs also looked really good, intercepting several passes. Braxton Gunther returned one about 70 yards for a TD. Gunther is really fast. Plus, we return J'Marcus Ingram at one corner, Cameron Haney at the other, with JD Williams at the nickleback. Add in sophomores Zahodri Jackson, Andrei Grayson and Isiah Haywood, and our DB's look to be a very strong unit. I thought overall they played really great.
We never saw much from the special teams because there was no live action. But let me say we have Aaron Dalton back for his senior year to punt after being injured last year, and Dom Eberle is back to do the place kicking. With Scarver and Nathan to do the return work, we don't need anybody else.
Quarterback is Jordan Love, with Henry Colombi and Aaron Peasley. A bunch of freshman will come in this fall but we don't need to worry about them for now. We have our horse and we'll ride him!
I felt generally good about the spring game, mostly glad there were no major major injuries. Summer workouts will be the separator for many of these positional battles as the guys who get themselves ready will have the edge this fall. I'm excited. Can't wait for it to get here!
1. Can Savon Scarver run anything besides a fly route? He actually did, catching 4 passes for 61 yards, none of which was a fly or jet route. One was a throw to the end zone where he had to high point the ball over a defender. He caught a pass across the middle, and a couple of other "non standard" throws. Scarver playing more like a reciever and less like a "kick returner playing receiver" is very important this year. This is a big opportunity for him to prove he can do that. If he can't become a true receving threat for us, we're in trouble.
2. Who is going to be this years "Ron'Quavion Tarver" and catch all the shots to the endzone? Devin Heckstall is a big 6-5 receiver brought in last year who really didn't do a lot. Part of that was because Tarver was playing ahead of him, and they had an abundance of the skilled, veteran receivers.. But part also was that, like many juco transfers, he just wasn't ready. Saturday, he looked like he wants to play. He made a high-pointe catch for a TD, as well as a few other catches, so that was good to see. Jordan Love expressed confidence in him to pick up where Tarver left off. There's another outside receiver named Sam Lockett (6-0, 195), who was last years "scout team player of the year," i.e. redshirt playing on the scout team. He played well on Saturday and a lot of positive things were said about him.
Not playing was Siaosi Mariner, the 6-2 193 starting WR from Utah, who will come to USU as a grad transfer. He wants a fresh start after a key tipped pass in the PAC12 title game bounced off his leg and was intercepted by a Washington DB and returned for the winning TD. He is still in school at Utah, but will be here all summer working out with Jordan Love. Big things are expected.
3. How about our other receivers? What did we see? Jordan Nathan, Taylor Compton, and Devin Thompkins are all players who played last year and are returning with a lot expected of them. More of them are the typically smaller receivers who tend to play in up-tempo offenses, and are fast but there's not a lot of size. But they can all catch the ball, and that is the most important thing. I got a good look at Tim Patrick, the highly ballyhooed kid from the San Diego area, who was recruited by everybody as an "athlete." At 6-0 190, USU is trying to turn him into a receiver. He's pretty fast and athletic, and they have high hopes for him.
We have an abundance of talent at Tight End and they all played good on Saturday, particularly Carson Terrell, 6-3 260 JC transfer Mosese Manu, and 6-6 245 RS Freshman Bryce Mortensen of local HS Sky View. They all caught the ball and blocked well Saturday. Joining them this fall will be graduate transfer Caleb Repp, a 6-5 230 DE from Utah, who has followed Andersen to Logan and will be returned to the TE position at USU. He was first a tight end when he went to Utah, but was converted. Andersen's staff believes his real talent is receiving.
4. Who are the running backs? I have to say losing Darwin Thompson was big. He was primed to have a monsterous season this year. But he's gone, so we have Gerald Bright, and JC all-American Jaylen Warren, who was named the 2018 NJCAA National Offensive Player of the Year (Like Thompson the year before) at Snow. Warren hasn't showed up yet because he has to finish the year at Snow College. So all eyes were on his possible replacements. One who stepped up was Enoch Nawahine, a redshirt freshman from Kahuku High School via Boise State, where he walked on last year. He was going to go on a mission and then decided not to, but didn't see a future at BSU so he walked on here. Once he got back into shape (kind of quit working out with a mission coming, then didn't go), he was really good. Runs really hard and is very quick. If he'll stay and workout all summer and add 15-20 pounds, he can really help us. Between Bright, Warren and Nawahine, I think we're in pretty good shape. Logan HS product 5-10 200 Chase Nelson has been moved from defensive back to RB, and was running 2nd team through most of the spring. Has decent speed and is intelligent-- won't make stupid mistakes. But he fumbled the ball twice on big hits, so his stock may have tumbled.
On another note, 6-1 215 Morian Walker, Jr. started out spring camp fast, and I think we can sure use his size and speed. But I've heard that OC Sanford isn't big on big downhill backs-- they want guys who are multifaceted and can run AND catch the ball out of the backfield, more like Michael Smith and Kerwynn Williams of the past. Walker apparently was not proving to be adept in the latter role and there is some thinking that he'll transfer now. I hope not. We'll have a need for him at some point this year.
5. Who is our offensive line going to be? We lost 4 starters on the offensive line, but they were playing about 11 guys, so lots of people played a lot of minutes. Right now it looks like the two starting tackles are locked down with Alfred Edwards at LT, and RS Fr Jacob South (Anacortes, WA) winning the right tackle spot. South came in and won the job this year, kind of like Edwards did last year, but will have to play to keep his spot as RS JC Transfers Andy Koch and Kyler Hack are right on his tail and both want to play after sitting out last year. Hack could end up swinging inside to Guard as well. What do they say? Competition breeds performance?
Also back after playing a ton last year is Demytrick Ali'ifua at center, so we have good confidence in that spot, but I'm not sure who his back-up is at the moment. The guard positions are being manned by the Shaw's (unrelated-- RS Freshman Karter Shaw at left guard and Junior Tyler Shaw at right guard). Tyler has paid his dues and is ready to play. Karter is backed up by another redshirt, Wyatt Bowles of Syracuse HS, who was very highly talented and regarded coming out of HS, and former starter Mo Uasike, who is really pushing to get back into the lineup. Behind them all are veterans Chandler Dolphin, Henry Avendano, Siotame Uluave, and freshman Aric Davidson, who played well this spring and could help out at either tackle and guard. I think despite the graduations, we won't skip a beat this year.
6. What about the defense? The defensive line was really beat up and so it was hard to tell much from what they had out there playing, which was mostly people playing out of positions. Tipa Galeai has been out most of the spring, but he played Saturday-- mostly just going through the motions it seemed like to get some work in. Devin Anderson played, too. Fua Leilua has been out all spring, so he didn't play at all. Dalton Baker played a little DE. There were a whole bunch of back ups who played a ton on Saturday and looked decent, but its really difficult to know what we'll be like with so many guys out or nursing injuries. So look to the fall on for the defensive line, who if everybody is back and healthy should be solid.
Linebacker was another story. They came to play and looked great. Kevin Metzenheimer has stepped up at linebacker and appears to give us another really good player to go along with David Woodward. Plus incoming freshman Christian LaVelle, who changed from Arizona State to us, looks really good. RS Freshman Elijah Shelton was really good on Saturday, as well. Some thought he was the player of the scrimmage. Plus we have several others guys who have played in Maika Magalei, and Daniel Langi. So the linebackers appear to be a solid bunch.
The defensive backs also looked really good, intercepting several passes. Braxton Gunther returned one about 70 yards for a TD. Gunther is really fast. Plus, we return J'Marcus Ingram at one corner, Cameron Haney at the other, with JD Williams at the nickleback. Add in sophomores Zahodri Jackson, Andrei Grayson and Isiah Haywood, and our DB's look to be a very strong unit. I thought overall they played really great.
We never saw much from the special teams because there was no live action. But let me say we have Aaron Dalton back for his senior year to punt after being injured last year, and Dom Eberle is back to do the place kicking. With Scarver and Nathan to do the return work, we don't need anybody else.
Quarterback is Jordan Love, with Henry Colombi and Aaron Peasley. A bunch of freshman will come in this fall but we don't need to worry about them for now. We have our horse and we'll ride him!
I felt generally good about the spring game, mostly glad there were no major major injuries. Summer workouts will be the separator for many of these positional battles as the guys who get themselves ready will have the edge this fall. I'm excited. Can't wait for it to get here!
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Re: Spring Game Updates!
Awesome Report! ThanksAggiesForever wrote: ↑April 16th, 2019, 10:46 amThis spring game was the most vanilla spring game I have ever watched. From a fan perspective, it wasn't very fun. I told NavyBlueAggie that spring games are for the players, not the fans. Its for the players evaluation and fun, not for us. As such, fans need to approach watching the game in a different way than to be entertained. You need to go to get questions answered. From a team perspective, they learned some things:
1. Can Savon Scarver run anything besides a fly route? He actually did, catching 4 passes for 61 yards, none of which was a fly or jet route. One was a throw to the end zone where he had to high point the ball over a defender. He caught a pass across the middle, and a couple of other "non standard" throws. Scarver playing more like a reciever and less like a "kick returner playing receiver" is very important this year. This is a big opportunity for him to prove he can do that. If he can't become a true receving threat for us, we're in trouble.
2. Who is going to be this years "Ron'Quavion Tarver" and catch all the shots to the endzone? Devin Heckstall is a big 6-5 receiver brought in last year who really didn't do a lot. Part of that was because Tarver was playing ahead of him, and they had an abundance of the skilled, veteran receivers.. But part also was that, like many juco transfers, he just wasn't ready. Saturday, he looked like he wants to play. He made a high-pointe catch for a TD, as well as a few other catches, so that was good to see. Jordan Love expressed confidence in him to pick up where Tarver left off. There's another outside receiver named Sam Lockett (6-0, 195), who was last years "scout team player of the year," i.e. redshirt playing on the scout team. He played well on Saturday and a lot of positive things were said about him.
Not playing was Siaosi Mariner, the 6-2 193 starting WR from Utah, who will come to USU as a grad transfer. He wants a fresh start after a key tipped pass in the PAC12 title game bounced off his leg and was intercepted by a Washington DB and returned for the winning TD. He is still in school at Utah, but will be here all summer working out with Jordan Love. Big things are expected.
3. How about our other receivers? What did we see? Jordan Nathan, Taylor Compton, and Devin Thompkins are all players who played last year and are returning with a lot expected of them. More of them are the typically smaller receivers who tend to play in up-tempo offenses, and are fast but there's not a lot of size. But they can all catch the ball, and that is the most important thing. I got a good look at Tim Patrick, the highly ballyhooed kid from the San Diego area, who was recruited by everybody as an "athlete." At 6-0 190, USU is trying to turn him into a receiver. He's pretty fast and athletic, and they have high hopes for him.
We have an abundance of talent at Tight End and they all played good on Saturday, particularly Carson Terrell, 6-3 260 JC transfer Mosese Manu, and 6-6 245 RS Freshman Bryce Mortensen of local HS Sky View. They all caught the ball and blocked well Saturday. Joining them this fall will be graduate transfer Caleb Repp, a 6-5 230 DE from Utah, who has followed Andersen to Logan and will be returned to the TE position at USU. He was first a tight end when he went to Utah, but was converted. Andersen's staff believes his real talent is receiving.
4. Who are the running backs? I have to say losing Darwin Thompson was big. He was primed to have a monsterous season this year. But he's gone, so we have Gerald Bright, and JC all-American Jaylen Warren, who was named the 2018 NJCAA National Offensive Player of the Year (Like Thompson the year before) at Snow. Warren hasn't showed up yet because he has to finish the year at Snow College. So all eyes were on his possible replacements. One who stepped up was Enoch Nawahine, a redshirt freshman from Kahuku High School via Boise State, where he walked on last year. He was going to go on a mission and then decided not to, but didn't see a future at BSU so he walked on here. Once he got back into shape (kind of quit working out with a mission coming, then didn't go), he was really good. Runs really hard and is very quick. If he'll stay and workout all summer and add 15-20 pounds, he can really help us. Between Bright, Warren and Nawahine, I think we're in pretty good shape. Logan HS product 5-10 200 Chase Nelson has been moved from defensive back to RB, and was running 2nd team through most of the spring. Has decent speed and is intelligent-- won't make stupid mistakes. But he fumbled the ball twice on big hits, so his stock may have tumbled.
On another note, 6-1 215 Morian Walker, Jr. started out spring camp fast, and I think we can sure use his size and speed. But I've heard that OC Sanford isn't big on big downhill backs-- they want guys who are multifaceted and can run AND catch the ball out of the backfield, more like Michael Smith and Kerwynn Williams of the past. Walker apparently was not proving to be adept in the latter role and there is some thinking that he'll transfer now. I hope not. We'll have a need for him at some point this year.
5. Who is our offensive line going to be? We lost 4 starters on the offensive line, but they were playing about 11 guys, so lots of people played a lot of minutes. Right now it looks like the two starting tackles are locked down with Alfred Edwards at LT, and RS Fr Jacob South (Anacortes, WA) winning the right tackle spot. South came in and won the job this year, kind of like Edwards did last year, but will have to play to keep his spot as RS JC Transfers Andy Koch and Kyler Hack are right on his tail and both want to play after sitting out last year. Hack could end up swinging inside to Guard as well. What do they say? Competition breeds performance?
Also back after playing a ton last year is Demytrick Ali'ifua at center, so we have good confidence in that spot, but I'm not sure who his back-up is at the moment. The guard positions are being manned by the Shaw's (unrelated-- RS Freshman Karter Shaw at left guard and Junior Tyler Shaw at right guard). Tyler has paid his dues and is ready to play. Karter is backed up by another redshirt, Wyatt Bowles of Syracuse HS, who was very highly talented and regarded coming out of HS, and former starter Mo Uasike, who is really pushing to get back into the lineup. Behind them all are veterans Chandler Dolphin, Henry Avendano, Siotame Uluave, and freshman Aric Davidson, who played well this spring and could help out at either tackle and guard. I think despite the graduations, we won't skip a beat this year.
6. What about the defense? The defensive line was really beat up and so it was hard to tell much from what they had out there playing, which was mostly people playing out of positions. Tipa Galeai has been out most of the spring, but he played Saturday-- mostly just going through the motions it seemed like to get some work in. Devin Anderson played, too. Fua Leilua has been out all spring, so he didn't play at all. Dalton Baker played a little DE. There were a whole bunch of back ups who played a ton on Saturday and looked decent, but its really difficult to know what we'll be like with so many guys out or nursing injuries. So look to the fall on for the defensive line, who if everybody is back and healthy should be solid.
Linebacker was another story. They came to play and looked great. Kevin Metzenheimer has stepped up at linebacker and appears to give us another really good player to go along with David Woodward. Plus incoming freshman Christian LaVelle, who changed from Arizona State to us, looks really good. RS Freshman Elijah Shelton was really good on Saturday, as well. Some thought he was the player of the scrimmage. Plus we have several others guys who have played in Maika Magalei, and Daniel Langi. So the linebackers appear to be a solid bunch.
The defensive backs also looked really good, intercepting several passes. Braxton Gunther returned one about 70 yards for a TD. Gunther is really fast. Plus, we return J'Marcus Ingram at one corner, Cameron Haney at the other, with JD Williams at the nickleback. Add in sophomores Zahodri Jackson, Andrei Grayson and Isiah Haywood, and our DB's look to be a very strong unit. I thought overall they played really great.
We never saw much from the special teams because there was no live action. But let me say we have Aaron Dalton back for his senior year to punt after being injured last year, and Dom Eberle is back to do the place kicking. With Scarver and Nathan to do the return work, we don't need anybody else.
Quarterback is Jordan Love, with Henry Colombi and Aaron Peasley. A bunch of freshman will come in this fall but we don't need to worry about them for now. We have our horse and we'll ride him!
I felt generally good about the spring game, mostly glad there were no major major injuries. Summer workouts will be the separator for many of these positional battles as the guys who get themselves ready will have the edge this fall. I'm excited. Can't wait for it to get here!
Quick question for 22: Is there any chance that Preston Curtis gets moved to RB? Seeing that he was a really good running back in high school, and things haven't panned out for him at WR here, why not give him a shot at RB? He would fit the description of running backs Coach Sanford is looking for listed above.
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Re: Spring Game Updates!
Thank you so much for this detailed write-up. Surprised to hear that the TE group is that solid. I was thinking it could be a challenging position group. Ditto on thinking we will miss Darwin, he and Bright in the backfield together would've been magical. I'm heartened by what I'm hearing on the WR group, but I'm still skeptical. I hope Love has guys who can consistently open. He had a lot of them last year. I'm confident Nathan can, but I know so little about the newcomers. Maybe Scarver has improved enough to be consistent? I'm hopeful.AggiesForever wrote: ↑April 16th, 2019, 10:46 amThis spring game was the most vanilla spring game I have ever watched. From a fan perspective, it wasn't very fun. I told NavyBlueAggie that spring games are for the players, not the fans. Its for the players evaluation and fun, not for us. As such, fans need to approach watching the game in a different way than to be entertained. You need to go to get questions answered. From a team perspective, they learned some things:
1. Can Savon Scarver run anything besides a fly route? He actually did, catching 4 passes for 61 yards, none of which was a fly or jet route. One was a throw to the end zone where he had to high point the ball over a defender. He caught a pass across the middle, and a couple of other "non standard" throws. Scarver playing more like a reciever and less like a "kick returner playing receiver" is very important this year. This is a big opportunity for him to prove he can do that. If he can't become a true receving threat for us, we're in trouble.
2. Who is going to be this years "Ron'Quavion Tarver" and catch all the shots to the endzone? Devin Heckstall is a big 6-5 receiver brought in last year who really didn't do a lot. Part of that was because Tarver was playing ahead of him, and they had an abundance of the skilled, veteran receivers.. But part also was that, like many juco transfers, he just wasn't ready. Saturday, he looked like he wants to play. He made a high-pointe catch for a TD, as well as a few other catches, so that was good to see. Jordan Love expressed confidence in him to pick up where Tarver left off. There's another outside receiver named Sam Lockett (6-0, 195), who was last years "scout team player of the year," i.e. redshirt playing on the scout team. He played well on Saturday and a lot of positive things were said about him.
Not playing was Siaosi Mariner, the 6-2 193 starting WR from Utah, who will come to USU as a grad transfer. He wants a fresh start after a key tipped pass in the PAC12 title game bounced off his leg and was intercepted by a Washington DB and returned for the winning TD. He is still in school at Utah, but will be here all summer working out with Jordan Love. Big things are expected.
3. How about our other receivers? What did we see? Jordan Nathan, Taylor Compton, and Devin Thompkins are all players who played last year and are returning with a lot expected of them. More of them are the typically smaller receivers who tend to play in up-tempo offenses, and are fast but there's not a lot of size. But they can all catch the ball, and that is the most important thing. I got a good look at Tim Patrick, the highly ballyhooed kid from the San Diego area, who was recruited by everybody as an "athlete." At 6-0 190, USU is trying to turn him into a receiver. He's pretty fast and athletic, and they have high hopes for him.
We have an abundance of talent at Tight End and they all played good on Saturday, particularly Carson Terrell, 6-3 260 JC transfer Mosese Manu, and 6-6 245 RS Freshman Bryce Mortensen of local HS Sky View. They all caught the ball and blocked well Saturday. Joining them this fall will be graduate transfer Caleb Repp, a 6-5 230 DE from Utah, who has followed Andersen to Logan and will be returned to the TE position at USU. He was first a tight end when he went to Utah, but was converted. Andersen's staff believes his real talent is receiving.
4. Who are the running backs? I have to say losing Darwin Thompson was big. He was primed to have a monsterous season this year. But he's gone, so we have Gerald Bright, and JC all-American Jaylen Warren, who was named the 2018 NJCAA National Offensive Player of the Year (Like Thompson the year before) at Snow. Warren hasn't showed up yet because he has to finish the year at Snow College. So all eyes were on his possible replacements. One who stepped up was Enoch Nawahine, a redshirt freshman from Kahuku High School via Boise State, where he walked on last year. He was going to go on a mission and then decided not to, but didn't see a future at BSU so he walked on here. Once he got back into shape (kind of quit working out with a mission coming, then didn't go), he was really good. Runs really hard and is very quick. If he'll stay and workout all summer and add 15-20 pounds, he can really help us. Between Bright, Warren and Nawahine, I think we're in pretty good shape. Logan HS product 5-10 200 Chase Nelson has been moved from defensive back to RB, and was running 2nd team through most of the spring. Has decent speed and is intelligent-- won't make stupid mistakes. But he fumbled the ball twice on big hits, so his stock may have tumbled.
On another note, 6-1 215 Morian Walker, Jr. started out spring camp fast, and I think we can sure use his size and speed. But I've heard that OC Sanford isn't big on big downhill backs-- they want guys who are multifaceted and can run AND catch the ball out of the backfield, more like Michael Smith and Kerwynn Williams of the past. Walker apparently was not proving to be adept in the latter role and there is some thinking that he'll transfer now. I hope not. We'll have a need for him at some point this year.
5. Who is our offensive line going to be? We lost 4 starters on the offensive line, but they were playing about 11 guys, so lots of people played a lot of minutes. Right now it looks like the two starting tackles are locked down with Alfred Edwards at LT, and RS Fr Jacob South (Anacortes, WA) winning the right tackle spot. South came in and won the job this year, kind of like Edwards did last year, but will have to play to keep his spot as RS JC Transfers Andy Koch and Kyler Hack are right on his tail and both want to play after sitting out last year. Hack could end up swinging inside to Guard as well. What do they say? Competition breeds performance?
Also back after playing a ton last year is Demytrick Ali'ifua at center, so we have good confidence in that spot, but I'm not sure who his back-up is at the moment. The guard positions are being manned by the Shaw's (unrelated-- RS Freshman Karter Shaw at left guard and Junior Tyler Shaw at right guard). Tyler has paid his dues and is ready to play. Karter is backed up by another redshirt, Wyatt Bowles of Syracuse HS, who was very highly talented and regarded coming out of HS, and former starter Mo Uasike, who is really pushing to get back into the lineup. Behind them all are veterans Chandler Dolphin, Henry Avendano, Siotame Uluave, and freshman Aric Davidson, who played well this spring and could help out at either tackle and guard. I think despite the graduations, we won't skip a beat this year.
6. What about the defense? The defensive line was really beat up and so it was hard to tell much from what they had out there playing, which was mostly people playing out of positions. Tipa Galeai has been out most of the spring, but he played Saturday-- mostly just going through the motions it seemed like to get some work in. Devin Anderson played, too. Fua Leilua has been out all spring, so he didn't play at all. Dalton Baker played a little DE. There were a whole bunch of back ups who played a ton on Saturday and looked decent, but its really difficult to know what we'll be like with so many guys out or nursing injuries. So look to the fall on for the defensive line, who if everybody is back and healthy should be solid.
Linebacker was another story. They came to play and looked great. Kevin Metzenheimer has stepped up at linebacker and appears to give us another really good player to go along with David Woodward. Plus incoming freshman Christian LaVelle, who changed from Arizona State to us, looks really good. RS Freshman Elijah Shelton was really good on Saturday, as well. Some thought he was the player of the scrimmage. Plus we have several others guys who have played in Maika Magalei, and Daniel Langi. So the linebackers appear to be a solid bunch.
The defensive backs also looked really good, intercepting several passes. Braxton Gunther returned one about 70 yards for a TD. Gunther is really fast. Plus, we return J'Marcus Ingram at one corner, Cameron Haney at the other, with JD Williams at the nickleback. Add in sophomores Zahodri Jackson, Andrei Grayson and Isiah Haywood, and our DB's look to be a very strong unit. I thought overall they played really great.
We never saw much from the special teams because there was no live action. But let me say we have Aaron Dalton back for his senior year to punt after being injured last year, and Dom Eberle is back to do the place kicking. With Scarver and Nathan to do the return work, we don't need anybody else.
Quarterback is Jordan Love, with Henry Colombi and Aaron Peasley. A bunch of freshman will come in this fall but we don't need to worry about them for now. We have our horse and we'll ride him!
I felt generally good about the spring game, mostly glad there were no major major injuries. Summer workouts will be the separator for many of these positional battles as the guys who get themselves ready will have the edge this fall. I'm excited. Can't wait for it to get here!
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Re: Spring Game Updates!
All great questions AF!
- I am still baffled by Mo Uasike not being used on the DL - especially given the lack of healthy bodies during Spring. He was one of our highly touted recruits and a former starter on the DL so what is the issue? Does the staff feel like his best shot at a future in the pros is on the OL?
- was your comment "unrelated" in parenthesis regarding the Shaw's about their current class and position or about their relationship to one another? I only wondered because I read it to mean the latter and they are most certainly brothers.
- Glad to hear Scarver is being used in more routes. I thought the times he struggled last year with drops and such were when he was asked to act as a possession receiver and run possession type routes like short slants. Watching him in HS, he was used in all sorts of ways, including fly sweeps, reverses, and the occasional pitch so it's good to hear that he's running something other than a go route or post route.
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Re: Spring Game Updates!
At the moment I can't see Preston Curtis being moved to RB. We have 7 already. There just wouldn't be enough reps to go around to get him acclimated to the position. Typically a move like that happens in the spring where reps are more available.AggieUprising50 wrote: ↑April 16th, 2019, 1:20 pmAwesome Report! ThanksAggiesForever wrote: ↑April 16th, 2019, 10:46 amThis spring game was the most vanilla spring game I have ever watched. From a fan perspective, it wasn't very fun. I told NavyBlueAggie that spring games are for the players, not the fans. Its for the players evaluation and fun, not for us. As such, fans need to approach watching the game in a different way than to be entertained. You need to go to get questions answered. From a team perspective, they learned some things:
1. Can Savon Scarver run anything besides a fly route? He actually did, catching 4 passes for 61 yards, none of which was a fly or jet route. One was a throw to the end zone where he had to high point the ball over a defender. He caught a pass across the middle, and a couple of other "non standard" throws. Scarver playing more like a reciever and less like a "kick returner playing receiver" is very important this year. This is a big opportunity for him to prove he can do that. If he can't become a true receving threat for us, we're in trouble.
2. Who is going to be this years "Ron'Quavion Tarver" and catch all the shots to the endzone? Devin Heckstall is a big 6-5 receiver brought in last year who really didn't do a lot. Part of that was because Tarver was playing ahead of him, and they had an abundance of the skilled, veteran receivers.. But part also was that, like many juco transfers, he just wasn't ready. Saturday, he looked like he wants to play. He made a high-pointe catch for a TD, as well as a few other catches, so that was good to see. Jordan Love expressed confidence in him to pick up where Tarver left off. There's another outside receiver named Sam Lockett (6-0, 195), who was last years "scout team player of the year," i.e. redshirt playing on the scout team. He played well on Saturday and a lot of positive things were said about him.
Not playing was Siaosi Mariner, the 6-2 193 starting WR from Utah, who will come to USU as a grad transfer. He wants a fresh start after a key tipped pass in the PAC12 title game bounced off his leg and was intercepted by a Washington DB and returned for the winning TD. He is still in school at Utah, but will be here all summer working out with Jordan Love. Big things are expected.
3. How about our other receivers? What did we see? Jordan Nathan, Taylor Compton, and Devin Thompkins are all players who played last year and are returning with a lot expected of them. More of them are the typically smaller receivers who tend to play in up-tempo offenses, and are fast but there's not a lot of size. But they can all catch the ball, and that is the most important thing. I got a good look at Tim Patrick, the highly ballyhooed kid from the San Diego area, who was recruited by everybody as an "athlete." At 6-0 190, USU is trying to turn him into a receiver. He's pretty fast and athletic, and they have high hopes for him.
We have an abundance of talent at Tight End and they all played good on Saturday, particularly Carson Terrell, 6-3 260 JC transfer Mosese Manu, and 6-6 245 RS Freshman Bryce Mortensen of local HS Sky View. They all caught the ball and blocked well Saturday. Joining them this fall will be graduate transfer Caleb Repp, a 6-5 230 DE from Utah, who has followed Andersen to Logan and will be returned to the TE position at USU. He was first a tight end when he went to Utah, but was converted. Andersen's staff believes his real talent is receiving.
4. Who are the running backs? I have to say losing Darwin Thompson was big. He was primed to have a monsterous season this year. But he's gone, so we have Gerald Bright, and JC all-American Jaylen Warren, who was named the 2018 NJCAA National Offensive Player of the Year (Like Thompson the year before) at Snow. Warren hasn't showed up yet because he has to finish the year at Snow College. So all eyes were on his possible replacements. One who stepped up was Enoch Nawahine, a redshirt freshman from Kahuku High School via Boise State, where he walked on last year. He was going to go on a mission and then decided not to, but didn't see a future at BSU so he walked on here. Once he got back into shape (kind of quit working out with a mission coming, then didn't go), he was really good. Runs really hard and is very quick. If he'll stay and workout all summer and add 15-20 pounds, he can really help us. Between Bright, Warren and Nawahine, I think we're in pretty good shape. Logan HS product 5-10 200 Chase Nelson has been moved from defensive back to RB, and was running 2nd team through most of the spring. Has decent speed and is intelligent-- won't make stupid mistakes. But he fumbled the ball twice on big hits, so his stock may have tumbled.
On another note, 6-1 215 Morian Walker, Jr. started out spring camp fast, and I think we can sure use his size and speed. But I've heard that OC Sanford isn't big on big downhill backs-- they want guys who are multifaceted and can run AND catch the ball out of the backfield, more like Michael Smith and Kerwynn Williams of the past. Walker apparently was not proving to be adept in the latter role and there is some thinking that he'll transfer now. I hope not. We'll have a need for him at some point this year.
5. Who is our offensive line going to be? We lost 4 starters on the offensive line, but they were playing about 11 guys, so lots of people played a lot of minutes. Right now it looks like the two starting tackles are locked down with Alfred Edwards at LT, and RS Fr Jacob South (Anacortes, WA) winning the right tackle spot. South came in and won the job this year, kind of like Edwards did last year, but will have to play to keep his spot as RS JC Transfers Andy Koch and Kyler Hack are right on his tail and both want to play after sitting out last year. Hack could end up swinging inside to Guard as well. What do they say? Competition breeds performance?
Also back after playing a ton last year is Demytrick Ali'ifua at center, so we have good confidence in that spot, but I'm not sure who his back-up is at the moment. The guard positions are being manned by the Shaw's (unrelated-- RS Freshman Karter Shaw at left guard and Junior Tyler Shaw at right guard). Tyler has paid his dues and is ready to play. Karter is backed up by another redshirt, Wyatt Bowles of Syracuse HS, who was very highly talented and regarded coming out of HS, and former starter Mo Uasike, who is really pushing to get back into the lineup. Behind them all are veterans Chandler Dolphin, Henry Avendano, Siotame Uluave, and freshman Aric Davidson, who played well this spring and could help out at either tackle and guard. I think despite the graduations, we won't skip a beat this year.
6. What about the defense? The defensive line was really beat up and so it was hard to tell much from what they had out there playing, which was mostly people playing out of positions. Tipa Galeai has been out most of the spring, but he played Saturday-- mostly just going through the motions it seemed like to get some work in. Devin Anderson played, too. Fua Leilua has been out all spring, so he didn't play at all. Dalton Baker played a little DE. There were a whole bunch of back ups who played a ton on Saturday and looked decent, but its really difficult to know what we'll be like with so many guys out or nursing injuries. So look to the fall on for the defensive line, who if everybody is back and healthy should be solid.
Linebacker was another story. They came to play and looked great. Kevin Metzenheimer has stepped up at linebacker and appears to give us another really good player to go along with David Woodward. Plus incoming freshman Christian LaVelle, who changed from Arizona State to us, looks really good. RS Freshman Elijah Shelton was really good on Saturday, as well. Some thought he was the player of the scrimmage. Plus we have several others guys who have played in Maika Magalei, and Daniel Langi. So the linebackers appear to be a solid bunch.
The defensive backs also looked really good, intercepting several passes. Braxton Gunther returned one about 70 yards for a TD. Gunther is really fast. Plus, we return J'Marcus Ingram at one corner, Cameron Haney at the other, with JD Williams at the nickleback. Add in sophomores Zahodri Jackson, Andrei Grayson and Isiah Haywood, and our DB's look to be a very strong unit. I thought overall they played really great.
We never saw much from the special teams because there was no live action. But let me say we have Aaron Dalton back for his senior year to punt after being injured last year, and Dom Eberle is back to do the place kicking. With Scarver and Nathan to do the return work, we don't need anybody else.
Quarterback is Jordan Love, with Henry Colombi and Aaron Peasley. A bunch of freshman will come in this fall but we don't need to worry about them for now. We have our horse and we'll ride him!
I felt generally good about the spring game, mostly glad there were no major major injuries. Summer workouts will be the separator for many of these positional battles as the guys who get themselves ready will have the edge this fall. I'm excited. Can't wait for it to get here!
Quick question for 22: Is there any chance that Preston Curtis gets moved to RB? Seeing that he was a really good running back in high school, and things haven't panned out for him at WR here, why not give him a shot at RB? He would fit the description of running backs Coach Sanford is looking for listed above.
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Re: Spring Game Updates!
Question 1: They would like to use Mo on the offensive line next season and spring ball is the perfect time to see if he will fit there. While it's still serious football in the spring there is a lot of leeway given when players are learning new positions. Mo knows how to play nose guard, the coaching staff wanted him to learn offensive guard. The rash of injured defensive linemen should all be good to go by August.Aglicious wrote: ↑April 16th, 2019, 2:28 pmAll great questions AF!
- I am still baffled by Mo Uasike not being used on the DL - especially given the lack of healthy bodies during Spring. He was one of our highly touted recruits and a former starter on the DL so what is the issue? Does the staff feel like his best shot at a future in the pros is on the OL?
- was your comment "unrelated" in parenthesis regarding the Shaw's about their current class and position or about their relationship to one another? I only wondered because I read it to mean the later and they are most certainly brothers.
- Glad to hear Scarver is being used in more routes. I thought the times he struggled last year with drops and such were when he was asked to act as a possession receiver and running possession type routes like short slants. Watching him in HS, he was used in all sorts of ways, including fly sweeps, reverses, and the occasional pitch so it's good to hear that he's running something other than a go route or post route.
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Re: Spring Game Updates!
I have a solid post-spring offensive depth chart but with the unlucky amount of injuries to several defensive linemen getting a good bead on the defense was impossible. Several linebackers ended the spring filling in along the defensive line. Late June I will begin releasing my preseason previews and that will have all incoming players included in a "projected" pre-camp depth chart. If anyone would like to discuss my take on the current or future depth chart I'm game!
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Re: Spring Game Updates!
Solid write-up AF! It's like we sat next to each other or something? I do have a few things to add.AggiesForever wrote: ↑April 16th, 2019, 10:46 amThis spring game was the most vanilla spring game I have ever watched. From a fan perspective, it wasn't very fun. I told NavyBlueAggie that spring games are for the players, not the fans. Its for the players evaluation and fun, not for us. As such, fans need to approach watching the game in a different way than to be entertained. You need to go to get questions answered. From a team perspective, they learned some things:
1. Can Savon Scarver run anything besides a fly route? He actually did, catching 4 passes for 61 yards, none of which was a fly or jet route. One was a throw to the end zone where he had to high point the ball over a defender. He caught a pass across the middle, and a couple of other "non standard" throws. Scarver playing more like a reciever and less like a "kick returner playing receiver" is very important this year. This is a big opportunity for him to prove he can do that. If he can't become a true receving threat for us, we're in trouble.
2. Who is going to be this years "Ron'Quavion Tarver" and catch all the shots to the endzone? Devin Heckstall is a big 6-5 receiver brought in last year who really didn't do a lot. Part of that was because Tarver was playing ahead of him, and they had an abundance of the skilled, veteran receivers.. But part also was that, like many juco transfers, he just wasn't ready. Saturday, he looked like he wants to play. He made a high-pointe catch for a TD, as well as a few other catches, so that was good to see. Jordan Love expressed confidence in him to pick up where Tarver left off. There's another outside receiver named Sam Lockett (6-0, 195), who was last years "scout team player of the year," i.e. redshirt playing on the scout team. He played well on Saturday and a lot of positive things were said about him.
Not playing was Siaosi Mariner, the 6-2 193 starting WR from Utah, who will come to USU as a grad transfer. He wants a fresh start after a key tipped pass in the PAC12 title game bounced off his leg and was intercepted by a Washington DB and returned for the winning TD. He is still in school at Utah, but will be here all summer working out with Jordan Love. Big things are expected.
3. How about our other receivers? What did we see? Jordan Nathan, Taylor Compton, and Devin Thompkins are all players who played last year and are returning with a lot expected of them. More of them are the typically smaller receivers who tend to play in up-tempo offenses, and are fast but there's not a lot of size. But they can all catch the ball, and that is the most important thing. I got a good look at Tim Patrick, the highly ballyhooed kid from the San Diego area, who was recruited by everybody as an "athlete." At 6-0 190, USU is trying to turn him into a receiver. He's pretty fast and athletic, and they have high hopes for him.
We have an abundance of talent at Tight End and they all played good on Saturday, particularly Carson Terrell, 6-3 260 JC transfer Mosese Manu, and 6-6 245 RS Freshman Bryce Mortensen of local HS Sky View. They all caught the ball and blocked well Saturday. Joining them this fall will be graduate transfer Caleb Repp, a 6-5 230 DE from Utah, who has followed Andersen to Logan and will be returned to the TE position at USU. He was first a tight end when he went to Utah, but was converted. Andersen's staff believes his real talent is receiving.
4. Who are the running backs? I have to say losing Darwin Thompson was big. He was primed to have a monsterous season this year. But he's gone, so we have Gerald Bright, and JC all-American Jaylen Warren, who was named the 2018 NJCAA National Offensive Player of the Year (Like Thompson the year before) at Snow. Warren hasn't showed up yet because he has to finish the year at Snow College. So all eyes were on his possible replacements. One who stepped up was Enoch Nawahine, a redshirt freshman from Kahuku High School via Boise State, where he walked on last year. He was going to go on a mission and then decided not to, but didn't see a future at BSU so he walked on here. Once he got back into shape (kind of quit working out with a mission coming, then didn't go), he was really good. Runs really hard and is very quick. If he'll stay and workout all summer and add 15-20 pounds, he can really help us. Between Bright, Warren and Nawahine, I think we're in pretty good shape. Logan HS product 5-10 200 Chase Nelson has been moved from defensive back to RB, and was running 2nd team through most of the spring. Has decent speed and is intelligent-- won't make stupid mistakes. But he fumbled the ball twice on big hits, so his stock may have tumbled.
On another note, 6-1 215 Morian Walker, Jr. started out spring camp fast, and I think we can sure use his size and speed. But I've heard that OC Sanford isn't big on big downhill backs-- they want guys who are multifaceted and can run AND catch the ball out of the backfield, more like Michael Smith and Kerwynn Williams of the past. Walker apparently was not proving to be adept in the latter role and there is some thinking that he'll transfer now. I hope not. We'll have a need for him at some point this year.
5. Who is our offensive line going to be? We lost 4 starters on the offensive line, but they were playing about 11 guys, so lots of people played a lot of minutes. Right now it looks like the two starting tackles are locked down with Alfred Edwards at LT, and RS Fr Jacob South (Anacortes, WA) winning the right tackle spot. South came in and won the job this year, kind of like Edwards did last year, but will have to play to keep his spot as RS JC Transfers Andy Koch and Kyler Hack are right on his tail and both want to play after sitting out last year. Hack could end up swinging inside to Guard as well. What do they say? Competition breeds performance?
Also back after playing a ton last year is Demytrick Ali'ifua at center, so we have good confidence in that spot, but I'm not sure who his back-up is at the moment. The guard positions are being manned by the Shaw's (unrelated-- RS Freshman Karter Shaw at left guard and Junior Tyler Shaw at right guard). Tyler has paid his dues and is ready to play. Karter is backed up by another redshirt, Wyatt Bowles of Syracuse HS, who was very highly talented and regarded coming out of HS, and former starter Mo Uasike, who is really pushing to get back into the lineup. Behind them all are veterans Chandler Dolphin, Henry Avendano, Siotame Uluave, and freshman Aric Davidson, who played well this spring and could help out at either tackle and guard. I think despite the graduations, we won't skip a beat this year.
6. What about the defense? The defensive line was really beat up and so it was hard to tell much from what they had out there playing, which was mostly people playing out of positions. Tipa Galeai has been out most of the spring, but he played Saturday-- mostly just going through the motions it seemed like to get some work in. Devin Anderson played, too. Fua Leilua has been out all spring, so he didn't play at all. Dalton Baker played a little DE. There were a whole bunch of back ups who played a ton on Saturday and looked decent, but its really difficult to know what we'll be like with so many guys out or nursing injuries. So look to the fall on for the defensive line, who if everybody is back and healthy should be solid.
Linebacker was another story. They came to play and looked great. Kevin Metzenheimer has stepped up at linebacker and appears to give us another really good player to go along with David Woodward. Plus incoming freshman Christian LaVelle, who changed from Arizona State to us, looks really good. RS Freshman Elijah Shelton was really good on Saturday, as well. Some thought he was the player of the scrimmage. Plus we have several others guys who have played in Maika Magalei, and Daniel Langi. So the linebackers appear to be a solid bunch.
The defensive backs also looked really good, intercepting several passes. Braxton Gunther returned one about 70 yards for a TD. Gunther is really fast. Plus, we return J'Marcus Ingram at one corner, Cameron Haney at the other, with JD Williams at the nickleback. Add in sophomores Zahodri Jackson, Andrei Grayson and Isiah Haywood, and our DB's look to be a very strong unit. I thought overall they played really great.
We never saw much from the special teams because there was no live action. But let me say we have Aaron Dalton back for his senior year to punt after being injured last year, and Dom Eberle is back to do the place kicking. With Scarver and Nathan to do the return work, we don't need anybody else.
Quarterback is Jordan Love, with Henry Colombi and Aaron Peasley. A bunch of freshman will come in this fall but we don't need to worry about them for now. We have our horse and we'll ride him!
I felt generally good about the spring game, mostly glad there were no major major injuries. Summer workouts will be the separator for many of these positional battles as the guys who get themselves ready will have the edge this fall. I'm excited. Can't wait for it to get here!
Question 1: I agree, Savon Scarver needs to take a step forward in the receiving category.
Question 2: I'm not so sure we'll see a ton of Devin Heckstall in the fall. I am projecting Siaosi Mariner to be the starter at that spot and he's already third on my depth chart, so he's got some work ahead of him. Alex Wheat 2.0 comes to mind.
Question 3: The receivers as a unit have a ton to prove in August. The only proven commodity we have right now is Jordan Nathan and I expect him to return to his starting role at slot receiver in the fall.
There are a lot of questions at tight end behind Carson Terrell. Travis Bowman and Logan Lee are good players but they both have struggled to stay healthy in the past and both missed time during the spring. Bryce Mortenson is coming off an injury that cost him his 2018 season and Mosese Manu is trying to find his way after returning from a mission. I'm reserving judgment on Caleb Repp. If we had signed him out of high school we would all be pumped so we'll see where he fits in the grand scheme of things.
Question 4: Enoch Nawahine is on scholarship and I like what he can do but he could really use a redshirt year. With the new redshirt rule, he will play in 2019 but not beyond 4 games. I'm not sold on Riley Burt. Chase Nelson ended the spring second on the depth chart. Jaylen Warren needs to come in ready to run.
Question 5: Andy Koch is a redshirt freshman. Kyler Hack is a redshirt sophomore. Both kids turned down P5 offers last year to sign with USU. Ty and Karter Shaw are absolutely brothers. Aric Davison will play guard to start and possibly center down the road. He will never see time as a tackle. I addressed questions about Mo Uasike in a post above.
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Re: Spring Game Updates!
I "thought" I was told by `22 they are not related. That was the meaning of that "unrelated" reference to the Shaw's, Ty and Karter. Sorry if it was inaccurate.
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Re: Spring Game Updates!
Nah, no apologies needed. I just enjoy anything and everything football related and you provided some great questions and topics of discussion. Thank you!AggiesForever wrote: ↑April 17th, 2019, 9:58 amI "thought" I was told by `22 they are not related. That was the meaning of that "unrelated" reference to the Shaw's, Ty and Karter. Sorry if it was inaccurate.