quozzel

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Spring Game Thoughts (LOOOOOONG!)

Apr 11, 2015, 10:34 PM

Just got back in...interesting Spring Game. Also interesting how the pub we've been hearing was largely spot-on. In the past we've heard a bunch of invective that ended up being coachspeak, and then you show up for the Spring Game and wonder what team exactly which team the coaches had been watching all Spring. (Actually, in the Tommy Bowden years, you often felt like that in mid-November, but nevermind.) But it's obvious the coaches pretty much have been dishing the straight skinny, which is not only a refreshing change, but it's also indicative they're not...wishfully hoping for success, but actually really, truly know what they're doing and have the personnel to do it.

OFFENSE
Units that have seen a drop-off in coaching tend to start showing signs when you put newbs in. They don't execute as crisply, there's a certain telltale lack of precision and tempo, chaos and uncertainty and a lot of raised voices on the sideline. I didn't see any signs of that...at all. Truthfully this might have been the best-executed Spring Game in recent memory and the consistency in offensive execution was pretty universal across every unit...and it was very, very good. Tony Elliott is for durn sure a Very Smart Guy - and maybe more importantly, also appears to be a Very Smart Guy At Very Much the Right Place and Time - and stands to watch his coaching stock shoot up like Intel at 6 if this unit continues to click like they did today, whatever.

QB
Schuessler is our latest Spring Game Hero. How that translates into reality when the purple jersey comes off and people start actually hitting him with sinister intent is an open question, but there's no doubt - at all - he's our #2 at the moment. He did everything pretty well, looked at least as good as Cole Stoudt did the same time last year, and he showed a live arm, fairly decent mobility, and a definite command of the offense. Can we win with him? No idea. (Sure, he looks great in APRIL...but cue a snarky grim Jon Snow "Winter is Coming" meme here.) Tucker Israel is by a bunch the more polished of the two freshman QB's and has the same calm, almost casual demeanor in the pocket you see out of Deshaun Watson, and when it's time to spin the ball he pulls the trigger instantly and puts it on target. He'd be pure murder in a high-school All-Star game. The problem is his arm strength - it wasn't impressive today, and several of his longer throws hung, giving DB's a chance to break on them - and his size. He's small. No getting around that, he's a little guy by FCS QB standards. Israel also is not as mobile even as Schuessler. Kelly Bryant is WAAAY behind Israel as a passer, but wow, those who claimed he's a carbon-copy clone of Cam Newton - in Cam Newton's true freshman season at Florida - were not joking. He's still very much got that deer-in-the-headlights look in the pocket and especially in comparison to Israel he's painfully slow and hesitant on the trigger, but when he takes off and runs I would not want to be the DB trying to tackle him. I am sure the coaches would very much like to redshirt both guys and let them ripen on the vine a bit, and then let them do a deathmatch in a couple years...and from the looks of things, it'll be an interesting fight indeed. Schuessler may - may! - have now made that possible.

RB
Wayne Gallman is our clear #1. Period. And he's putting everybody else in his rear-view. He's a whole lot bigger, he's more confident, he reads his holes and the blocking scheme better, and he's still got that rocket-launched burst through the hole and that almost zealotrous dislike of being tackled. Actually I don't know if he was tackled today. The Gallman - guys with attitudes like this are always addressed as "The" whatever, like movie villains - does not approve of people trying to tackle him, and punishes them accordingly. Some guys arrive with bells, fanfare, and much recruiting fanfare and hooplah. Other guys just sorta...grow, like Grady Jarrett, leave you checking your game program and wondering WHO this no-name yahoo is who's pulling a Godzilla-in-Tokyo routine on the field, and The Gallman definitely looks like one of those. It gets murkier after that...mostly because to judge from today CJ Davidson was clearly our #2, and maybe even our #1A. I thought the same last year as well...and Davidson's obviously been right there with The Gallman in the weightroom, because he's notably bigger and stronger than he was last year as well. He's not quite "The Davidson" yet - I'd like to see CJD hang onto the ball for awhile first - but he also clearly did not droop when things did not go his way last season. Last year CJ Davidson showed clear NFL physical tools (keep in mind he was running it down FSU's throat before he put the ball on the ground as the Tigers were about to ice the game)...and really poor ball security. Today he again showed clear NFL physical tools and seemed a lot less sketchy with the ball. If that trend continues, he will be The Gallman's sidekick. I also very much liked CJ Fuller - again, the fanboy buzz about Fuller appears absolutely legit as well, and very much reminds me strongly of Reggie Merriweather. And here's where there was an obvious drop-off, and where the bad news starts. Tyshon Dye is...all right. The problem is, he's starting to strongly remind me of Yusef Kelly - a powerful, muscle-bound back who very much looks the part getting off the bus...but show us something. He is not a bad back...but he was the fourth-best RB on the field today and really was not that close to the top three. And Zach Brooks probably needs to transfer...or find a new position. Or figure out what The Gallman puts in his Wheaties. Brooks catches the ball well...but still has zero pop through the hole and just...sorta...sticks.

WR
People really do not appreciate just how good Artavis Scott is...which is, right up there with DeAndre Hopkins and Sammy Watkins. He's an elite, top-drawer, All-American-level wideout, period, no ambiguity. He's not tall but he can elevate like a receiver six inches taller, make the circus grab, the routine grab, the low grab...balls stick to him like flypaper, whereupon he then morphs into a running back and starts juking and trucking people. He's the next first-rounder out of Wide Receiver U...and if he didn't grab the starting punt-returner gig today it's only because Ray Ray McCloud isn't in town yet. Mike Williams is close to that level and is just...crazy smooth, with the wingspan of a 747. He made a one-handed grab today on the far sideline that was so ridiculous you'd swear they were using a Nerf football, or at least a Tom Brady Patriot Special. (Well, it was a Spring Game, who knows, maybe they were.) Charone Peake is a bit of an enigma...he's got good hands, incredible blazing speed, and the best size of the bunch but he doesn't attract the ball like the other two do...not quite sure why, though when he does get it, stuff tends to happen. When you watch Peake run and catch you are reminded why he was rated ahead of both Sammy Watkins and Martavis Bryant by most recruiting services coming out of high school. G-Hop has continued to progress and is a legit #4, though he continues to make the occasional...head-scratching tactical decision. He had some good catches and decent returns. He also had one fumble today - where he ran right into the QB after taking a weird angle on a reverse - and nearly caused another disaster on a kickoff return when he stole the ball from his partner and sorta stumbled around randomly until he got hacked down at the 15...it could have been much, much worse. Trevion Thompson might as well be in Witness Protection for as much publicity as he gets but he was wearing jersey #1 today...and looked pretty much like you'd expect a young wideout at Wide Receiver U wearing jersey #1 to look - tall, fast, smooth, polished. He'd be starting already - as a redshirt frosh - at virtually any other school in the ACC. If he's not legit, he's doing an awfully good job of pretending. After those five, alas, I saw a bunch of nondescript smallish guys who run 4.8-type 40's in competition to be the next Adam Humphries or Daniel Rodriguez. Adding a pair of 5-stars this fall in Deon Cain and Ray Ray McCloud will make this ridiculously talented group just...I dunno, what's the next level up after "stupidly ridiculously talented"? But we're going to find out. Alfred E. Newman would look good throwing passes to this bunch (which again, makes me distinctly leery of our latest Spring Game Hero, Nick Schuessler)...though I do find it safe to say that Deshaun Watson, at the least, is distinctly...not...Alfred E. Newman.

TE
Momma said, if you can't say anything nice, don't say it. So I won't. Much. Easily the weakest position group on the offense, and hey, did I mention Clemson's got a bunch of really great wide receivers? So...expect 3-and-4-wide sets pretty much all year. Cannon Smith does block well, which is one thing, I suppose. Jordan Leggett did contribute, albeit for the Orange team, when he got a 15-yard penalty for general knotheadery...not sure what that was about. JJ McCullough was in either a white or orange Clemson jersey, and he was on the field. I think. Moving on....

OL
And this was the biggest shock of the day, for me. I saw something I had never seen before at Clemson - two complete units, yes, both a first AND second team! - of offensive linemen who were athletic, technically sound in their foot and hand placement, knew and then successfully executed their blocking assignments...and then had enough Bad Dog in them to go forth and maul. The difference between last year is just shockingly night-and-day...which I guess happens when you redshirt at least two really good OL's, then add four really athletic, polished go-getters who should be gearing up for Senior Skip Day in high school but are instead attempting - with often shocking success - to put college juniors and seniors aspiring to the NFL on their butts. Mitch Hyatt is the real deal, folks - a long, tall, technically polished OL who can both kick out and punch. He's not overwhelming in-line yet - actually none of the newbs really are - but they keep their feet driving, they hustle whistle-to-whistle, and they really seem to LIKE PLAYING FOOTBALL, a quality many recent batches of Clemson offensive lines have not always demonstrated. Fruhmogen's a legit right tackle who would have been our primo left tackle on any other OL class that did not include Mitch Hyatt - which is, basically, all of them. They aren't going to just line up and blow people off the ball this year, but it's obvious we've gone from a C-minus-type O-line to a B-plus O-line virtually overnight, and the upside of this bunch is up there with your usual crew from Alabama, if Clemson gets their development right. Be a very different look this year with this bunch. Still saw too many shotgun snaps not arriving when and where they were supposed to, but at least it was freshmen doing that, and they did enough else right I'm not overly worried they'll get it corrected.

Phew. Lotta words. Sorry.

I'll share my thoughts on the D...later. (And those won't be so glowing.)

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Q...first things first, amazing job on the post! Pretty spot on as well, and your diction was quite tasteful. With that being said, I completely agree with the execution out there. It was clear this group on O is very, very well coached, and that is great to see, especially this early in spring. The freshmen QB's were just that...freshman. With 37K fans out there, that's the largest crowd they have ever played in front of, and it was clear that nerves were a factor. Both looked lost early on and did not play to their potential...that's to be expected. I didn't see that Isreal was a WAAAAY better passer than Bryant either. They both made great throws and questionable ones. The knocks on TI were accurate...short and slow. KB has much more upside and at this point, it's still unclear who RS's and who doesn't. Hopefully we don't have to use either this season and they both RS. Schuss confirmed my earlier opinions as being a very capable passer, and I knew he was much more mobile than Stoudt, but he showed some flash I didn't know he possessed out there. He's earned the backup job, and rightfully so. On the RB's...just based off game performance it'd be WG, CJD, TD/CJF, ZB. With that being said, please, please don't judge RB depth on the spring game. In TD and ZB's defense, it looked very, very tough running against the white team front of Ogundeko, Reader and Lawson. Also, Kendall Joseph, Mack Attack, Ryan Carter and Jayron Kearse were all over the place making plays in the run game. The white team OL looked to be much better suited in run blocking schemes as well. It's just very hard to judge when talent is so spread out. Let's first scrimmage the first team O vs, first team D to make a fair assumption on RB depth. Your WR observations were very fair, and it was very encouraging to see Peake out there running around making the plays we know he can. Of course our QB's look to AS and MW on first glance, but once DW4 gets back in the fold expect Peake to explode. IMO, since the UGA game and his first TD pass, Peake was DW4's go to guy and that will continue this year..."if they stay healthy." The TE group was very thin out there, and once everyone gets healthy it will be a great group, but I did see JJM and Cannon Smith make some great blocks, and Cannon made a nice catch on the sidelines that should have resulted in a TD, until he stepped out. Just gives us more reason to get 4 WR on the field...who can cover 4 of our WR's? We too deep! OL was exactly what you said...two COMPLETE units. There was drop off with the squads split up, but you can tell those guys will be very good come fall.

Again, very nice post Q, and very accurate. Thanks for taking time to share your thoughts, we appreciate it!!!

Spring Game Thoughts (LOOOOOONG!)

Couldn't have said it better myself..Great post!***

Re: Spring Game Thoughts (LOOOOOONG!)

Re: Spring Game Thoughts (LOOOOOONG!)

Re: Spring Game Thoughts (LOOOOOONG!)

Re: great post! , more like this1 , please*******

lol, what an idiot***

Ding, ding, ding. Frontrunner for "April Dumbest Post Award"***

Thanks q!***

Quozzel from TI?

Re: Spring Game Thoughts (LOOOOOONG!)

Re: Spring Game Thoughts - Thanks for your post

Thanks for the refreshing synopsis, Q.

Re: Thanks for the refreshing synopsis, Q.

Re: Thanks for the refreshing synopsis, Q.

very nice sir....

Re: Thanks for the refreshing synopsis, Q.

Re: Thanks for the refreshing synopsis, Q.

Re: Spring Game Thoughts (LOOOOOONG!)

Thanks for taking the time to write this up...good job***

Re: Thanks for taking the time to write this up...good job***

Posts like this one make contributions to the site worth

Re: Spring Game Thoughts (LOOOOOONG!)

Long, but easy to digest like a fine meal ...

Re: Spring Game Thoughts (LOOOOOONG!)

TE question; did Herschel's nephew play?

Re: TE question; did Herschel's nephew play?

Re: TE question; did Herschel's nephew play?

Re: TE question; did Herschel's nephew play?

Point - but I never expect "straight talk" from coaches AND

Re: Spring Game Thoughts (LOOOOOONG!)

Re: Spring Game Thoughts (LOOOOOONG!)

Nice job, thanks!***

Who TDed this post? dikhed

Re: Who TDed this post? dikhed

The Williams catch was rediculous.

Re: Tiny.

Please. Post. More.***

Thank You! Can't wait for the D report!***

DANG !

Re: I also saw CJ Fuller

Re: Spring Game Thoughts (LOOOOOONG!)

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