Spring Practice!!!

[StLRedbird]

This is spot on especially #5 my concern at nose, that what hurt last year. Dont want that to happen again. Something to keep in mind with the o-line is Lt Jj Guedet, Lg Zambrano and Rg Ryan Guaditis didn't play.

Zambrano was interviewed during the game - funny guy. Spack talked about greater depth "up front". The PBP guys talked about best depth since '20 - and recounted that sad story. I was expecting to see guys playing out of position and blown assignments, but saw very little of that.

Spack also talked about the upcoming season, too. Paraphrasing, he mentioned NDSU and SDSU, and "probably" us, you know the "blue bloods" in the league. And then backpedaled a bit, saying "well, we consider ourselves blue bloods". Everyone they interviewed sounded confident and there was lots of talk of championships.

BTW, it looks to me like no one joined the portal from the 'birds yesterday.

 

[StLRedbird]

#4 - A lot was made of the O-linemen missing but the D-line was missing two potential starters in Jake Anderson and Nick Kessler. Anderson, in particular is poised to have a great season. He's bulked up and he could play NT. If so, Galloway could move to T or even E. Galloway has a squatty build that has him typecast as a NT, but he moves better than you would expect so he can play anywhere on the D-line.

The offense was also helped by the vanilla defense. Basic coverages without blitzing. Niekamp did shoot gap for 1 sack but not much other than that. That's all the more reason to carry the QB competition into the early season games. We have to see how the QBs respond to live fire.

I didn't like the DBs letting receivers get behind them. It's not like our WR's have top tier speed. It was more biting on fakes and breaking coverage. The defense is solid. It if doesn't give up big plays it won't give up a lot of points because long drives will be hard to sustain. The D gave up too many big plays.

My memory could be faulty, but didn't Spack switch between a three and four man front in the early years based on the personnel he had? I think he likes the three man front but acknowledged you had to have the right guys to do it. Wondering if we're trying to sledge a square peg into a round hole here?

Birdwin mentioned the special teams - and Spack did too. He mentioned the fumbled punt returns and said it's been that way all spring - miscues from the special teams only. And he said Donovan was the second or third string return man. It seems really odd for a coach that plays the game so conservatively to have such casual attitude toward special teams mistakes. Always been a head-scratcher to me.

 

[fourthandshort]

Agree with a lot of the comments. I will add - Yes, Josh Robinson has a couple of nice runs and scored from short yardage, but after several attempts. I hate to bring this up - special teams - UGH. We missed the first extra point, fumbled a punt, and several of the long snaps were not very good - low on extra points and high on punts.

With the two kickers - the new guy would be for extra points and short FGs, - use Wagner for kick-offs and longer attempts. Seems to me, Wagner has a good, strong leg - accuracy is clearly an issue. I wonder if we have anyone - who can coach kickers?

Not encouraging on the special teams front ... but it's April.

 

[StLRedbird]

Not encouraging on the special teams front ... but it's April.

I thought you'd be all over this one. Spack brought this up when he was interviewed in the 4th quarter. Noted that the "second or third" string kick returner dropped a couple. Didn't mention the bad snaps.

 

[Birdswin]

I have a novel idea - Hire a Special Teams Coach that knows what Special Teams mean. Just do not hire whoever and deem them Special Teams - not the answer. Every high school in B-N has better special teams. This should not be the thorn it is.

 

[fourthandshort]

I thought you'd be all over this one. Spack brought this up when he was interviewed in the 4th quarter. Noted that the "second or third" string kick returner dropped a couple. Didn't mention the bad snaps.

 

[MadBird]

Interesting poop from today's Pantagraph,, regarding player awards for the spring practice session.

Fullback/tight end Scotty Presson Jr. was named ISU’s most improved offensive player. A good sign for getting him the ball on offense. Secret weapon?

Lineman Nick Kessler was named most improved defensive player. He played in 10 games last year, 13 tackles including 2 sacks. Also a good sign for the DLine.

Offensive top newcomer award went to wide receiver Xavier Loyd, the transfer from Kansas State. Another very good sign, help for the WR corps.

Defensive lineman Garret Steffen, transfer from WIU, gets defensive top newcomer award. 6'4 270 lbs. Welcome to the already dependable D.

Pitbull Awards for effort, tenaciousness and toughness went to guard Ron Carr on offense and safety Dillon Gearhart on defense.

Safety Keondre Jackson received the Hammer Award for hardest hitter.

No mention of the most improved special teams players . . . .

Is it too early to get worked up about this team?

 

[fourthandshort]

Interesting poop from today's Pantagraph,, regarding player awards for the spring practice session.

Fullback/tight end Scotty Presson Jr. was named ISU’s most improved offensive player. A good sign for getting him the ball on offense. Secret weapon?

Lineman Nick Kessler was named most improved defensive player. He played in 10 games last year, 13 tackles including 2 sacks. Also a good sign for the DLine.

Offensive top newcomer award went to wide receiver Xavier Loyd, the transfer from Kansas State. Another very good sign, help for the WR corps.

Defensive lineman Garret Steffen, transfer from WIU, gets defensive top newcomer award. 6'4 270 lbs. Welcome to the already dependable D.

Pitbull Awards for effort, tenaciousness and toughness went to guard Ron Carr on offense and safety Dillon Gearhart on defense.

Safety Keondre Jackson received the Hammer Award for hardest hitter.

No mention of the most improved special teams players . . . .

Is it too early to get worked up about this team?

good stuff, Mad

Love the idea of having a FB/TE Presson moving all over the field given our new passing capabilities. Hope we have a more traditional pass-catching/blocking TE to pair with him.

Great to hear DL awards for DL .. Kessler and transfer Stephen. I want to see Kesslers weight updated .. still at 265 from a year ago. He came here at 240.

Feeling good about our secondary.

And love that we add a strong WR to the mix .. depth needed some help. And it will take some pressure off of Kasper who is/was our #2 with no much behind him. Now we go at least 3 deep with quality, which will free things up for Kasper .. his YAC wasn't great.

Special Teams .... uh, its April .. sorry, that's all we got going for us at this point. Agree with Birdswin ... at some point, this must show some improvement. Cant really blame players .. they come and go. It's the people in charge .. and it needs more attention, and maybe schollie $$.

 

[TIMMY]

My memory could be faulty, but didn't Spack switch between a three and four man front in the early years based on the personnel he had? I think he likes the three man front but acknowledged you had to have the right guys to do it. Wondering if we're trying to sledge a square peg into a round hole here?

Birdwin mentioned the special teams - and Spack did too. He mentioned the fumbled punt returns and said it's been that way all spring - miscues from the special teams only. And he said Donovan was the second or third string return man. It seems really odd for a coach that plays the game so conservatively to have such casual attitude toward special teams mistakes. Always been a head-scratcher to me.

What I like about Coach Niekamp is he changes the look depending on what the offense throws at him without running in and out a lot of personnel. 3 front, 4 front, TITE. He's really good and we're lucky to have him. That said give me a 2 gap nose any day and I'll find a way to use him!