I feel that overall there are a lot of good things that came from the game. The biggest is game experience and the coaches really seeing the deficiencies in game situation so they can scheme better for better opponents.
Defense:
DE - ott was very good. The other side is limited as hardy has limitations and Meier does too but together they will be ok as a rotation. Here is to Meier becoming more all around.
DT - all American and all big 10 are the 2 starters in my opinion. Davis dominated and ltp was his normal energizer bunny.
LB - weak to say the least. Spearman should only attack and never cover the pass. Probably a de next yr. Alston is solid run defender but everyone saw why he couldn't surpass Morris he is weak against the pass. Bower was all over and will be good. Hope Jewell can play and hope he is an upgrade against the pass.
CB - king is going to be the best cb of the ferments tenure (I said it) he is what I thought lowery would be. Mabin will be tested this yr but he looks like a more than adequate robin for king's batman.
Safety - weak. Solid against the run but lowdermilk looked more like his early 2013 self than his end of 2013 self. Lo max is still learning the position. I expect them to clean up their mistakes a lot be the next game.
Specials:
K - weak, weak, weak...kicking game must get better and I am not sure how much better they can get in a week or over the season.
P - not sure how this will be as Kidd did not look much better than kornbrath last year so I see kornbrath getting more looks to take the spot back.
Offense:
OL - scherff was solid as was Blythe. After that it was weak. Donnal looks more like a guard with how he was beat on the edge. Walsh and welsh struggled a lot. Hopefully they can clean this up. I don't see any reason they should pencil those other three in as automatics after that game.
TE - solid performance and I expect this to be one of the most prolific yrs for this position. They have speed and strength and each one will have big games.
WR - solid performance and showed good depth but I feel they will weed some out and get to a consistent 6 in the next few weeks.
RB - it was underwhelming but I actually put that on 2 things: 1) OL problems and 2) the rotation. I think they rotated a little too much as it looked like none of the rbs got any rhythm. Also the guards and Donnal were getting pushed back and that hurts. I would like to see Daniels and Canzeri more early with Weisman on short yardage and later to grind out time. Bullock proves more and more in my mind he is more wr than rb. I would rather he get shots as 3rd down only if not just as a wr.
QB - a lot has been made of check downs. And early they were not they were planned quick throws to get a rhythm. He was 75 percent and went through his progressions well in the second half. He looked like he had his legs back and felt comfortable in the pocket. Plus he felt comfortable enough to throw the ball to all those receivers when he could just rely on proven commodities. The offense will open up but many of those short throws were called and not progression drop offs. When he did those you could see him work through it and rudock does it well.
All in all at least the coaches have film to teach from as we are young and need a lot of coaching up. And if they can coach them up the talent is there.
Defense:
DE - ott was very good. The other side is limited as hardy has limitations and Meier does too but together they will be ok as a rotation. Here is to Meier becoming more all around.
DT - all American and all big 10 are the 2 starters in my opinion. Davis dominated and ltp was his normal energizer bunny.
LB - weak to say the least. Spearman should only attack and never cover the pass. Probably a de next yr. Alston is solid run defender but everyone saw why he couldn't surpass Morris he is weak against the pass. Bower was all over and will be good. Hope Jewell can play and hope he is an upgrade against the pass.
CB - king is going to be the best cb of the ferments tenure (I said it) he is what I thought lowery would be. Mabin will be tested this yr but he looks like a more than adequate robin for king's batman.
Safety - weak. Solid against the run but lowdermilk looked more like his early 2013 self than his end of 2013 self. Lo max is still learning the position. I expect them to clean up their mistakes a lot be the next game.
Specials:
K - weak, weak, weak...kicking game must get better and I am not sure how much better they can get in a week or over the season.
P - not sure how this will be as Kidd did not look much better than kornbrath last year so I see kornbrath getting more looks to take the spot back.
Offense:
OL - scherff was solid as was Blythe. After that it was weak. Donnal looks more like a guard with how he was beat on the edge. Walsh and welsh struggled a lot. Hopefully they can clean this up. I don't see any reason they should pencil those other three in as automatics after that game.
TE - solid performance and I expect this to be one of the most prolific yrs for this position. They have speed and strength and each one will have big games.
WR - solid performance and showed good depth but I feel they will weed some out and get to a consistent 6 in the next few weeks.
RB - it was underwhelming but I actually put that on 2 things: 1) OL problems and 2) the rotation. I think they rotated a little too much as it looked like none of the rbs got any rhythm. Also the guards and Donnal were getting pushed back and that hurts. I would like to see Daniels and Canzeri more early with Weisman on short yardage and later to grind out time. Bullock proves more and more in my mind he is more wr than rb. I would rather he get shots as 3rd down only if not just as a wr.
QB - a lot has been made of check downs. And early they were not they were planned quick throws to get a rhythm. He was 75 percent and went through his progressions well in the second half. He looked like he had his legs back and felt comfortable in the pocket. Plus he felt comfortable enough to throw the ball to all those receivers when he could just rely on proven commodities. The offense will open up but many of those short throws were called and not progression drop offs. When he did those you could see him work through it and rudock does it well.
All in all at least the coaches have film to teach from as we are young and need a lot of coaching up. And if they can coach them up the talent is there.
