• Hi Guest,

    We've updated the site to combine all the forums that were part of the Big Sky Fans Network into one location. This will make it easier to navigate and participate in all the discussions for each school without having to have multiple accounts, etc. We are still working out some tweaks but please let us know if you notice anything.

    With the migration, in some circumstances, your username could have been merged with one of your other usernames from the other forums. If this is the case, you can request to change your username in your account details page of your profile.
  • Hi Guest, want to participate in the discussions, keep track of read/unread posts and more? Create your free account and increase the benefits of your eGriz.com experience today!
  • Guest, do want an ad free experience on BigSkyFans.com among other benefits? Upgrade your account today!

    Simply click your profile name > account upgrades > BigSky Club > choose between the year long subscription (two free months) or month to month

    Thanks for the continued support. Cheers!

Spring Football

budbear

budbear

Active member
Does anyone know or care what is going on with the Spring football practice? No mention on the UNC web site and only one or two mentions from the Tribune. I am hoping for a good season, but it doesn't look like anyone from the school is excited or even cares about football at UNC. Loosing seems to dampen enthusiasm when it comes to sports. I myself am hoping for a great season and want to see us back in the winning column again. This is the time of year that all teams and their fans should believe that they will be undefeated and get excited about the season.
 
To be fair, if nobody cared about our basketball teams having really good regular seasons, not sure how anyone could care about our football team preparing for another 1 to 3 win Big Sky effort.
 
My kids went to a practice 3 weeks ago, my son and I on Tuesday, and my son went to the scrimmage Saturday. So here's what we're seeing.

QBs
Knipp looks good. Goes through his progressions well and is on the page as the receivers. Has a nice touch on the ball.
The #2 dude has a great arm. He's not quite as smooth as Knipp, but a solid back.
The early enrollee kid from Fruita has really made some strides. I think this offense is closely related to what he ran in high school.
I think we look pretty good at that position.

RBs
They are small. Quick, but small. The O line is definitely gonna have to give them holes to run through. We don't has that big bruising back that can get you those violent 2-3 yards when you need them.
Having said that, I think they will be serviceable. One dude (Sorry, I don't know everyone's names and didn't keep track of numbers) looks really good. He's fast and shifty. If he can get an opening he makes things happen.
The other guys should be able to rotate in and out and give some production.


O Line
I wish they were bigger. I'm not sure what kind of depth we have here and it'd be nice if they had a bit more mass to hold up through the season.
They absolutely looked better than the D Line. The D Line looked bad though so I'm not sure how to read this one. Are they that good, or is the D Line that bad.
I'm more worried about the DL than OL though.

Receivers
They looked pretty good. I saw decent routes being run, guys consistently getting open and very few dropped passes.
I think we're in good shape here.

D Line
They didn't look awesome. Or big. The O Line consistently whooped their asses. I don't feel good about this position.
They do have what appears to be a badass DT coming this fall and he may help to solidify things there.

Linebackers
Bright spot. This was the best looking unit on defense. Dudes were plugging gaps and playing well.

Buck
The dude starting here is kinda big for the position. He can set an edge but I'm not sure he has that burst needed to get pressure on the QB. Seems more suited to Mike.
There's a freshman coming in this fall that led Colorado in sacks last year playing that position so help is on the way.

CB
Not gonna lie, we do not look good here right now. I will say that there has been improvement though. There needs to be more.

Overall I like what I'm seeing. The guys are picking up the new offense and defense. They're still not where they need to be but I think by the end of fall camp we'll see massive improvements.

This is not a big, physical team, and honestly the offense and defense doesn't need to be as much with the new schemes.
They do need to be a bit bigger though. That's one of the reasons I think we'll see significant playing time from several true freshman. They're already bigger and faster than what's on campus now at several positions.

All of the players I talked to are stoked about this year. They are excited about the new offense, defense, and maybe more importantly the departure of several players.

I think we'll see a more competitive team this year that is on track to get the program back to where it should be.
 
BrownBear said:
My kids went to a practice 3 weeks ago, my son and I on Tuesday, and my son went to the scrimmage Saturday. So here's what we're seeing.

QBs
Knipp looks good. Goes through his progressions well and is on the page as the receivers. Has a nice touch on the ball.
The #2 dude has a great arm. He's not quite as smooth as Knipp, but a solid back.
The early enrollee kid from Fruita has really made some strides. I think this offense is closely related to what he ran in high school.
I think we look pretty good at that position.

RBs
They are small. Quick, but small. The O line is definitely gonna have to give them holes to run through. We don't has that big bruising back that can get you those violent 2-3 yards when you need them.
Having said that, I think they will be serviceable. One dude (Sorry, I don't know everyone's names and didn't keep track of numbers) looks really good. He's fast and shifty. If he can get an opening he makes things happen.
The other guys should be able to rotate in and out and give some production.


O Line
I wish they were bigger. I'm not sure what kind of depth we have here and it'd be nice if they had a bit more mass to hold up through the season.
They absolutely looked better than the D Line. The D Line looked bad though so I'm not sure how to read this one. Are they that good, or is the D Line that bad.
I'm more worried about the DL than OL though.

Receivers
They looked pretty good. I saw decent routes being run, guys consistently getting open and very few dropped passes.
I think we're in good shape here.

D Line
They didn't look awesome. Or big. The O Line consistently whooped their asses. I don't feel good about this position.
They do have what appears to be a badass DT coming this fall and he may help to solidify things there.

Linebackers
Bright spot. This was the best looking unit on defense. Dudes were plugging gaps and playing well.

Buck
The dude starting here is kinda big for the position. He can set an edge but I'm not sure he has that burst needed to get pressure on the QB. Seems more suited to Mike.
There's a freshman coming in this fall that led Colorado in sacks last year playing that position so help is on the way.

CB
Not gonna lie, we do not look good here right now. I will say that there has been improvement though. There needs to be more.

Overall I like what I'm seeing. The guys are picking up the new offense and defense. They're still not where they need to be but I think by the end of fall camp we'll see massive improvements.

This is not a big, physical team, and honestly the offense and defense doesn't need to be as much with the new schemes.
They do need to be a bit bigger though. That's one of the reasons I think we'll see significant playing time from several true freshman. They're already bigger and faster than what's on campus now at several positions.

All of the players I talked to are stoked about this year. They are excited about the new offense, defense, and maybe more importantly the departure of several players.

I think we'll see a more competitive team this year that is on track to get the program back to where it should be.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the update. A few questions about your report though.

- Who is running the second string QB?
- I noticed Marshaun Cameron is not on the Spring roster. Is this because of grades or his injury? He is such a good player. Him not being on the field really hurts.
- Is this DT coming in a transfer or freshman?
- What do you mean by they are excited about the departure of several players?
 
Hey Beardown.
I wish I could have given a better, more detailed report, but I'm not a football guru. I can usually spot what's painfully obvious though.

I'm new to fandom of UNC so I'm not very familiar with the full roster yet, so I don't know who that player is that you asked about or why he isn't showing up on the spring roster.
I'll see what I can find our though.

The incoming DT is a freshman, not a transfer. He's got good size for a freshman. Listed at 6'3" 280#.
His name is Isaiah Iton.

I'm not sure which QB is the #2. One is named Conner, the other Conor. And by now I can't remember if it was 5 or 8.

The guys didn't go into detail about what was going on with some of the guys that left. Just that there were some guys that had a bad Me mentality. They're saying that everyone is on the same page and working together now.

My son is going to the spring game Saturday and I'll try squeezing him for more info, but sometimes it's easier getting blood from a turnip.

Also I want to mention that they are bringing in a bunch of dudes for the secondary in this class, so they're aware of where they need help and are working to address
 
Let me guess they are looking a lot stronger and faster this spring... repeated quote from every team since forever...
 
It's so hard for me to support this program right now. I usually show up for the Spring game, but didn't even think about going this year. I'll keep any eye on how things are, and I'll watch the games on tv when Fall comes, but until we start winning again I won't pay a dime. I hope I eat crow and they turn things around this upcoming season but nothing gives me too much hope. Also, if you have not yet read today's article on president Feinsteins remarks about UNC's athletics, you should do so. I will post a link below. It's kind of what we all know: we've got to pay our coaches better and fundraise for better facilities. However, the tone is a bit different because it's not really a ringing endorsement of Collins and crew. Anyways, it's worth a read..https://www.greeleytribune.com/news/university-of-northern-colorado-president-andy-feinstein-closely-monitoring-football-teams-progress/
 
I don't know if they're bigger, faster, stronger. But I don't think that's a very high bar from last year.

My son wound up with an opportunity to work and make some cash today so he ended up not going to the game. So no crummy amateur report today.

I mentioned in another thread that I'm a lifelong Razorback fan. I sat in the stadium act's watched CSU embarrass them. Believe me, I understand y'alls frustration. It's hard to be excited about a team that won 2 games the year before.
But I'm still convinced that this year's team will be improved and hopefully will at least give everyone something to be excited about.
 
Don’t know a lot about the past teams but I liked what I saw today. The up tempo offense can create some offense even though we may not be the most talented team and some young guys made some plays on both sides of the ball today. Also watched Coach Fulton roll up some yards in the RMAC at Mines when my kid played at Fort Lewis he is a solid offensive mind.
 
Thanks for posting that link Beardown.
Everything he said was true, and not much of it sounded good.
The weight room is bad. The one at my kid's high school is better. And it's not like her goes to Cherry Creek. And the recruits definitely look hard at weight rooms.
My understanding is that they have money set aside for a new one but they're waiting on permits or something.

“I’m keeping a close eye on the (UNC) football team, and coach Collins knows that,” Feinstein said.
That sounds like hot seat to me.
But I think the coaching staff has identified problems, created a plan to rectify them, and are taking actions to support the plan.
We'll see.
What I think would help most is a billionaire alumni writing big checks to them.
 
Welcome to the forum Beanhead!
I'm new here myself, but I'm pretty excited about the team.
Thanks for giving us a heads up on what you saw. I think these kids are much better suited to an up tempo, RPO type offense than a pro style. I think they'll get yards and score points, but I'm more concerned with the defense.
How were they looking?
 
Holy cow, there is life in these here message boards! Thanks for the updates on how the Spring is going. Sad to hear about the weight room, I thought that was one of the things that were upgraded a few years ago.

I tried to look for pics of the weight room but could not find any. I did come across this though:
:shock:
https://gazette.com/news/homeless-man-in-rafters-forces-closure-of-arena-on-northern/article_532b71ae-14f3-11e9-b9bf-bf6d1ed31b37.html
 
Defensively the positives were the 5 sacks and 2 picks, what I really liked was the attitude and aggressiveness of the defense plus a lot of young guys were making plays. The positive I really liked on both sides of the ball was the body language of the players, positive on both sides of the ball and I think the offensive players like the new style. I agree with Coach Collins one of the biggest concerns was long snapping definitely need to find some consistency there.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top