81 degrees and clear is much better than the downpour of hail last year.
Good crowd on hand today, I'm sure the weather helped, but I can't help thinking that Burton targeting local kids helped out on a bigger attendance than in years past.
Ok, I gotta get this off my chest. It's not the music selection, as I like anything except for country (and there was certainly no country music played today), but the volume must be turned down. I get it that the coaching staff wants to keep it loose, but when you blare music from the PA system to be heard at volume on the field, those sitting in the stands end up barely being able to talk to each other over the music. Either turn it down a bit, or get a separate PA system on the field for the music. End of rant.
Wholly defense. I root for the D every year, and let's just say I went home happy. A couple of guys went down (Moxley and Sulleyman), but they didn't look to be serious, as they walked off under their own power.
Let's start with the defense. Sisler and Sluss are going to be monsters this year, and it was good to see Shoemaker in the action. Bass also played well. The linebacker corp looked as promised and should shine this year. The pick six was great. The secondary looked pretty good, but there were some terribly thrown balls today, so I'm sure that helped. Of the few well thrown passes, they were a couple steps behind. Overall, I think they looked like they could be pretty good this season. Faddis had a really good play in the end zone on a well thrown ball, and Jones looked like he was able to lock down on his guy on the reps he had.
The offense. The first few offensive drives looked nothing short of the Thanksgiving Turkey Bowl games that I used to play in, and that's being nice. After a while, they were able to get it going. With the loss of CK, this is a different offense. There was a lot of empty backfield sets and this will most certainly be more of a passing offense, as we must have been over 40 pass attempts. I think overall the QBs struggled. Badly. Green and Ramirez had two great passes for TDs, but there was a bunch of poorly thrown balls today by all. Not sure who had more reps, but I'd be willing to bet that Carter did. He seems to not get rattled when flushed from the pocket, and I can see that being big in the eyes of the coaching staff. Milhollin threw a much, much better ball than the last spring game, and has a speed advantage over Ramirez and probably Green as well. Not sure on who the starter will be come fall.
I think that the receivers have the ability to be great this year. I did notice in pregame and during the game that there were a few instances where they are open, but the ball is either late or slow getting to them. They need to come back to the ball. The delay let the defense get to them to make a play. Cooper needs to get on them about this. I felt bad for Thompson that dropped that pass in I think the 4th quarter. An Oregon kid that looks promising and he had some room to run. I suspect that if he were to have that back, he'd make that catch and rumble on down the field. Taylor, Monahan, and Noa looked good.
Running back seems to be deep. Lilley banged out some tough yards, and I was really eager to see Adams. Adams appears to be a viable receiver, but I'd like to see him in a goal line situation where he can use that frame of his to power out some yards.
Special Teams:
Get Zach Brown's autograph now. He'll be playing on Sundays some day.
Long snapping and center snaps sucked. This needs to be addressed, as it has the ability to change games.
Go Viks!
Good crowd on hand today, I'm sure the weather helped, but I can't help thinking that Burton targeting local kids helped out on a bigger attendance than in years past.
Ok, I gotta get this off my chest. It's not the music selection, as I like anything except for country (and there was certainly no country music played today), but the volume must be turned down. I get it that the coaching staff wants to keep it loose, but when you blare music from the PA system to be heard at volume on the field, those sitting in the stands end up barely being able to talk to each other over the music. Either turn it down a bit, or get a separate PA system on the field for the music. End of rant.
Wholly defense. I root for the D every year, and let's just say I went home happy. A couple of guys went down (Moxley and Sulleyman), but they didn't look to be serious, as they walked off under their own power.
Let's start with the defense. Sisler and Sluss are going to be monsters this year, and it was good to see Shoemaker in the action. Bass also played well. The linebacker corp looked as promised and should shine this year. The pick six was great. The secondary looked pretty good, but there were some terribly thrown balls today, so I'm sure that helped. Of the few well thrown passes, they were a couple steps behind. Overall, I think they looked like they could be pretty good this season. Faddis had a really good play in the end zone on a well thrown ball, and Jones looked like he was able to lock down on his guy on the reps he had.
The offense. The first few offensive drives looked nothing short of the Thanksgiving Turkey Bowl games that I used to play in, and that's being nice. After a while, they were able to get it going. With the loss of CK, this is a different offense. There was a lot of empty backfield sets and this will most certainly be more of a passing offense, as we must have been over 40 pass attempts. I think overall the QBs struggled. Badly. Green and Ramirez had two great passes for TDs, but there was a bunch of poorly thrown balls today by all. Not sure who had more reps, but I'd be willing to bet that Carter did. He seems to not get rattled when flushed from the pocket, and I can see that being big in the eyes of the coaching staff. Milhollin threw a much, much better ball than the last spring game, and has a speed advantage over Ramirez and probably Green as well. Not sure on who the starter will be come fall.
I think that the receivers have the ability to be great this year. I did notice in pregame and during the game that there were a few instances where they are open, but the ball is either late or slow getting to them. They need to come back to the ball. The delay let the defense get to them to make a play. Cooper needs to get on them about this. I felt bad for Thompson that dropped that pass in I think the 4th quarter. An Oregon kid that looks promising and he had some room to run. I suspect that if he were to have that back, he'd make that catch and rumble on down the field. Taylor, Monahan, and Noa looked good.
Running back seems to be deep. Lilley banged out some tough yards, and I was really eager to see Adams. Adams appears to be a viable receiver, but I'd like to see him in a goal line situation where he can use that frame of his to power out some yards.
Special Teams:
Get Zach Brown's autograph now. He'll be playing on Sundays some day.
Long snapping and center snaps sucked. This needs to be addressed, as it has the ability to change games.
Go Viks!
