Spring Game/Practice Quick Observations

SixAMtailgate

SixAMtailgate

Well-Known Member
Took my 19 month old to Kinnick for the first time on Saturday so part of my attention was diverted to making sure he wasn't kicking the people in front of us, but here are my quick observations in no particular order:

1. None of the QB's looked great, but Wienke looked better than Vandenberg IMO. Stanzi threw some really nice balls and some really ugly ones.

2. During 7 on 7 passing drills and during the scrimmage I was shocked about the number of drops the RBs had on screens/dump off passes. It got to the point where there was noticable grumbling from the crowd after about 4 drops.

3. Bernstine has a ways to go if he wants to knock Hyde out of the starting position at CB. I know he is still recovering from injury, but he was consistently 2 steps behind the WRs and seemed to loaf on coming up to help on running plays.

4. Jordan Cotton looked really quick and ran some nice crisp routes on the few times they looked downfield.

5. OL was getting pushed around and beaten regularly during the scrimmage. QBs had 2-3 seconds to get rid of the ball most times and ended up scrambling a lot, and most of the time this was against the 2nd and 3rd team DL.

6. I think it was talked about in other threads but Murray looked pretty bad, and Mossbrucker looked much improved (not that he was that bad previously).
 
One other thing I noticed about Derby. He clearly has a strong arm but there is something about his throwing motion that bothered me and he does not throw a nice spiral.
 
Damn after reading this you have me really depressed. All i've been hearing is good things... not anymore. Way to ruin my day :mad:
 
If it makes you feel better my 19 month old clapped and cheered after every play (except when he had his mouth full of popcorn) so he thought they looked good, but then again he also waved and said "bye-bye" every time a player ran off the field after the play was over and he was easily distracted every time Herky walked by.
 
SixAMtailgate said:
Took my 19 month old to Kinnick for the first time on Saturday so part of my attention was diverted to making sure he wasn't kicking the people in front of us, but here are my quick observations in no particular order:

1. None of the QB's looked great, but Wienke looked better than Vandenberg IMO. Stanzi threw some really nice balls and some really ugly ones.

2. During 7 on 7 passing drills and during the scrimmage I was shocked about the number of drops the RBs had on screens/dump off passes. It got to the point where there was noticable grumbling from the crowd after about 4 drops.

3. Bernstine has a ways to go if he wants to knock Hyde out of the starting position at CB. I know he is still recovering from injury, but he was consistently 2 steps behind the WRs and seemed to loaf on coming up to help on running plays.

4. Jordan Cotton looked really quick and ran some nice crisp routes on the few times they looked downfield.

5. OL was getting pushed around and beaten regularly during the scrimmage. QBs had 2-3 seconds to get rid of the ball most times and ended up scrambling a lot, and most of the time this was against the 2nd and 3rd team DL.

6. I think it was talked about in other threads but Murray looked pretty bad, and Mossbrucker looked much improved (not that he was that bad previously).
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Holy smokes!! Can you say Mr. Negative? For the most part, I have heard nothing but positive from the Spring Scrimmage and you mostly say negative things.

I have heard Stanzi looked great. Vandenburg is way better than Wienke and the O-line was way ahead of where most people thought they were going to be at this time.
 
HawkeyeBA said:
Damn after reading this you have me really depressed. All i've been hearing is good things... not anymore. Way to ruin my day :mad:
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While the o.p. had some valid observations, let me add a couple contextual corrections/observations that might ease the pain.

1. I disagree that Wienke looked better than JV. I'd almost say JV may have looked the sharpest of all. However, JV also had some Ricky-itis ala 2009 -- forcing the ball into tight spots.
Most notable QB play of all was Ricky tossing the ball well out of play on the 7 yard out pattern rather than lobbing a floater to try to make the play. If you remember last season, every one of his pick-6's were stare-down floaters into the right flat. Clearly indicative of his focus to improve decision making and reduce interceptions. The other part of this play, he had the time to make the decision -- that's the OL giving him the time.

2. Dropped passes were almost entirely on JD Griggs (at least 3) -- a r.s. frosh who is at best #4 TE -- and Brad Rogers, the #4 or #5 rb. The only rb of note who caught a pass in drills (let alone, dressed) was Jewel, who caught in stride and scooted 40+, untouched, to the end zone.

3. O-line did have it's break downs but i.m.E.o. looked better than any spring practice in recent years as far as overall continuity and cohesiveness. The rb's were getting decent yards. Not to mention, there was far more emphasis on blitz reads / pick-ups in this scrimmage than I remember in past years. This tells me that they are being challenged because they are farther along, as a unit than past springs.

Didn't watch the cb's much. It was obvious that JB is on 2nd team.

Place kickers -- no argument.
 
Not4cy said:
Holy smokes!! Can you say Mr. Negative? For the most part, I have heard nothing but positive from the Spring Scrimmage and you mostly say negative things.

I have heard Stanzi looked great. Vandenburg is way better than Wienke and the O-line was way ahead of where most people thought they were going to be at this time.
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I agree that overall Vandenberg IS better than Wienke, but on Saturday I thought Wienke looked better.

If you want all-positive observations, just read between the lines on the negative observations. For example....

Bernstine needs work = Hyde looked pretty good.
OL looked shaky = DL (even the 2nd and 3rd teamers) looked really good.
Murray didn't kick well = At least we have another kicker that did look good.

See I can be a glass half-full guy........
 
Good work Six- I applaud you for your opinions. As someone not living in Iowa anymore, it's great to hear all different opinions since I couldn't be there myself to watch.

I tend to look at this the OTHER way than most have mentioned, I'm sick of hearing about how "positive" things were- nothing wrong with being a little negative or critical. I like to know what the heck do we need to improve- tell me that! Tell me who sucked it up, the whole practice couldn't have been champion efforts. I'm just as excited about our upcoming season, but there's still a lot of convincing that this team will need to do- thank god it's only spring.
 
STILLBUSTER said:
Most notable QB play of all was Ricky tossing the ball well out of play on the 7 yard out pattern rather than lobbing a floater to try to make the play. If you remember last season, every one of his pick-6's were stare-down floaters into the right flat. Clearly indicative of his focus to improve decision making and reduce interceptions. The other part of this play, he had the time to make the decision -- that's the OL giving him the time.

The only rb of note who caught a pass in drills (let alone, dressed) was Jewel, who caught in stride and scooted 40+, untouched, to the end zone.
Click to expand...

Totally agree that it was nice to see Stanzi throw that ball away rather than trying to float one in down the field, but he was flushed quickly out of the pocket by the DL and was on the run.

Of course Jewell ran "untouched" because he had the red jersey on!!!! I am just giving you crap......haha
 
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