First off - The four drive from jax, fl was definitely worth it. Great venue, great weather and love seeing the new staff, players and other fans getting into fired up about hurricane football. Gary, when is canesport going to invest on a drone like Miami has, so we can get better scrimmage coverage
The Good -
1. Brad Kayaa- looks very accurate, a little better arm strength and little better footwork with total command of offense. Kayaa is still slow so do not expect him to run for more than 1 or 2 frist downs. None of the other QB's stood out to me or separated themelves to me. I trust rosier the most even though not consistently accurate (not a good trait for QB, but he has won game before.)
2. The tempo and scheme of the defense and offense was awesome to see. On defense, everybody was attacking and there was no reacting or 2 gap or any of the bs we saw before. On offense, I liked the two back set with Herndon in the backfield ( since we do not have a reliable true FB right now) it give us more options in the red zone and I like brad under center (he is a little more nimble now) using the TE's more in the middle of field. The flow of the scrimmage was fast and you could see the players responding to the coaching for the most part. Ritch looked in control and the operation as a whole looks professionally run (great to see).
3. Linebacker unit looks faster, deeper and more athletic than last year. Great to see Darrion Ownes suited up - he did not play but he looks about 90 percent ready. Also, he looks huge in good way about 6'3 250 pounds. Shaq looks like a natural middle lb, I expect him to start. Mccloud (53) looks fast. Pickney looks solid for a freshman. I was impressed with the backups, mike smith and cj perry. Gordenier (52) made plays but I think he will have more of a backup role in case of injuries and special teams. To me grace is the most important member of the back 7 since his speed covers up a lot missed tackles. Also, you can tell coach Kool is already making his mark, because the DL is staying low using leverage and using deifferent techniques ( something I did not see too much before).
4. Love coach banda, when Knowles scored a TD he ran a full sprint and jumped on him and hugged him like he won the national championship. The crowd was talking about Banda, he is really passionate ( what a difference from our last DB coach). Rumph is more of laid back teacher type but he is very focused and detailed also during the scrimmage
5. Like gary said, Coley and Njoku stood out as elite on offense, the running backs (Walton, Edwards, gray and yearby) looked solid but not great. Not much separation to me in terms of running the ball. However, in terms of receiving, blocking and overall productivity I believe Walton will get the most touches since he appears to be good at everything and has a little more burst this year. With homer coming (saw hime he looks very athletic) the good is the depth.
The Bad:
1. OL - I know there missing Sonny and Linder, but to me I did not see much improvement in the physicality department expecially on short yardage plays. On the bright side the appeared in a lot better shape (less sloppy) and better discipline (fewer penalties and more cohesiveness as a unit). I know they will improve because of experience and probably better coaching, but the tackles in particular are getting beat off the edge too much right now against good pash rushers (not good).
2. The defensive backs -Especially corner - We will sorely miss Burns speed and athleticism. Elder is solid but he is not a shut down corner and the other corners are serviceable but they lack play-making ability. The bright spot is I believe will be bettter against the run, since elder, redwine and the other corners will come up and tackle unlike some of the previous corners. I just hope the fans do no get down on banda and rumph because corner need an infusion of talent. Hopefully young speed (freshman will help at nickel if he is ready to play.) The safety play is decent and good depth there but I do not see a game changer there.
WE DESPERATELY NEED A GRADUATE TRANSFER OR LATE JUCO THAT CAN PLAY CORNERBACK.
3. Our DT look solid, I think Norton and Willis will see the most action, but not a big dropoff with Jenkins and moten. Mcintosh looks small for DT, but he plays bigger than he is. The bad is we do not have a dominant DT that all very good defenses need. Norton might become that, but this is what we need the most on defense to free up Thomas and aqm.
4. While we stuffed a lot of inisde running plays yesterday, the DE's have to do a better job of setting edge. To any big runs on the outside. AQM is pretty good at setting edge, but harris, Thomas and the rest need get stronger or get better leverage come the fall. Cannot rely grace or the other corners to make too may game saving tackles.
on a side note: saw mullins and Richards at scrimmage and both look athletic as hell and ready to play now. I also saw a recruit there for 2017, not sure who it was but looked big and nasty, hope we get him
The Good -
1. Brad Kayaa- looks very accurate, a little better arm strength and little better footwork with total command of offense. Kayaa is still slow so do not expect him to run for more than 1 or 2 frist downs. None of the other QB's stood out to me or separated themelves to me. I trust rosier the most even though not consistently accurate (not a good trait for QB, but he has won game before.)
2. The tempo and scheme of the defense and offense was awesome to see. On defense, everybody was attacking and there was no reacting or 2 gap or any of the bs we saw before. On offense, I liked the two back set with Herndon in the backfield ( since we do not have a reliable true FB right now) it give us more options in the red zone and I like brad under center (he is a little more nimble now) using the TE's more in the middle of field. The flow of the scrimmage was fast and you could see the players responding to the coaching for the most part. Ritch looked in control and the operation as a whole looks professionally run (great to see).
3. Linebacker unit looks faster, deeper and more athletic than last year. Great to see Darrion Ownes suited up - he did not play but he looks about 90 percent ready. Also, he looks huge in good way about 6'3 250 pounds. Shaq looks like a natural middle lb, I expect him to start. Mccloud (53) looks fast. Pickney looks solid for a freshman. I was impressed with the backups, mike smith and cj perry. Gordenier (52) made plays but I think he will have more of a backup role in case of injuries and special teams. To me grace is the most important member of the back 7 since his speed covers up a lot missed tackles. Also, you can tell coach Kool is already making his mark, because the DL is staying low using leverage and using deifferent techniques ( something I did not see too much before).
4. Love coach banda, when Knowles scored a TD he ran a full sprint and jumped on him and hugged him like he won the national championship. The crowd was talking about Banda, he is really passionate ( what a difference from our last DB coach). Rumph is more of laid back teacher type but he is very focused and detailed also during the scrimmage
5. Like gary said, Coley and Njoku stood out as elite on offense, the running backs (Walton, Edwards, gray and yearby) looked solid but not great. Not much separation to me in terms of running the ball. However, in terms of receiving, blocking and overall productivity I believe Walton will get the most touches since he appears to be good at everything and has a little more burst this year. With homer coming (saw hime he looks very athletic) the good is the depth.
The Bad:
1. OL - I know there missing Sonny and Linder, but to me I did not see much improvement in the physicality department expecially on short yardage plays. On the bright side the appeared in a lot better shape (less sloppy) and better discipline (fewer penalties and more cohesiveness as a unit). I know they will improve because of experience and probably better coaching, but the tackles in particular are getting beat off the edge too much right now against good pash rushers (not good).
2. The defensive backs -Especially corner - We will sorely miss Burns speed and athleticism. Elder is solid but he is not a shut down corner and the other corners are serviceable but they lack play-making ability. The bright spot is I believe will be bettter against the run, since elder, redwine and the other corners will come up and tackle unlike some of the previous corners. I just hope the fans do no get down on banda and rumph because corner need an infusion of talent. Hopefully young speed (freshman will help at nickel if he is ready to play.) The safety play is decent and good depth there but I do not see a game changer there.
WE DESPERATELY NEED A GRADUATE TRANSFER OR LATE JUCO THAT CAN PLAY CORNERBACK.
3. Our DT look solid, I think Norton and Willis will see the most action, but not a big dropoff with Jenkins and moten. Mcintosh looks small for DT, but he plays bigger than he is. The bad is we do not have a dominant DT that all very good defenses need. Norton might become that, but this is what we need the most on defense to free up Thomas and aqm.
4. While we stuffed a lot of inisde running plays yesterday, the DE's have to do a better job of setting edge. To any big runs on the outside. AQM is pretty good at setting edge, but harris, Thomas and the rest need get stronger or get better leverage come the fall. Cannot rely grace or the other corners to make too may game saving tackles.
on a side note: saw mullins and Richards at scrimmage and both look athletic as hell and ready to play now. I also saw a recruit there for 2017, not sure who it was but looked big and nasty, hope we get him
Last edited:
