Game 1 Thoughts

Troy Taylor – great start for him…imaginative offense with a ridiculous amount of variation, formations and scheme.  Good luck preparing for this…it’s all about alignment…you go here – we’ll go there.  He walked into the offensive meeting yesterday and reiterated “it doesn’t matter what they do, how they line up, where they bring pressure from because what we do takes advantage of where they are not.”  The more experience they get reading defenses together the more dangerous they’ll become!

Granted we only have 1 game film but you tell me the last time you had no idea what was coming on 3rd and short.  Screens, QB reads, power, Tight end release, back out, you name it – we did it and we haven’t seen anything yet.  This guy is real…FINALLY!!

Tyler Huntley – I was as surprised as anyone with the decision and leaned toward Williams even after I watched the scrimmage a few weeks back but this kid is a gamer.  He was a hell of a lot more accurate than I thought he would be, a very good runner and will be difficult to handle as an RPO quarterback.  His upside, as he gains experience, is off the charts and if he can stay healthy we’ll win the league in 2018 or 2019 with the young talent we have.  Still want to see if he can throw the deep ball, take fewer direct hits and look off Carrington a bit more (can’t blame him though because Damn!!) but I’m excited about the future.  

Carrington – I said this a few weeks ago but I remain positive that he’ll approach the best that we’ve ever had here.  He’s like the USC wideouts we’ve always dreamed about.  He truly is a special talent and will win a game by himself somewhere down the line by making a huge play in a big spot.  They’ll have to give Saftey help over top which will open it up for the other guys and we finally have some “other guys” so we REALLY do have a passing game now. 

Cant remember a recent game where we didn’t have drops…Don’t recall one last night except the pass that may have gone through Simpkins hands in the endzone.  He’s a short guy so not sure if it was on him or a little too high.  Very talented young guys waiting in the wings…4 star guys that will be awesome the next few years and more to come.  WR will be a strength for at least the next 3-4 years.  Can’t believe I just said that!!

Wishnowski…my hell he’s going to kick one into the stands this year.  Saw him do it at the scrimmage and with a little wind behind him somebody in the NEZ is gonna have to catch the damn thing.  On top of that he’s STILL THE BEST punter in the country!

Guy – He’s a Senior and won the job last night.  Still would like to see him under pressure but nice to see.  Johnston will be damn good eventually but now gets a year to develop/mature and then become a dude for 3 years.  Maybe put on some weight!???!  Did anyone see them at halftime banging 60 yarders through with 5-8 yards to spare?  Loved Andy but his range was about 52 tops.  

Moss, McCormick and eventually Shyne – Very happy with the runners…Moss can get down hill with good vision (Cal game notwithstanding) and I loved the way they used McCormick last night.  You have power, speed and quickness if you include Huntley…pick your poison.  

Chase, Ballard, Blair – all very physical and interchangeable which allows us to move Chase down more.  We all know what we have with Chase…All conference kid that plays on Sunday’s but nice to see the talent we have on the back end. 

D-Line…no we didn’t get much pressure but I PROMISE you we didn’t have our pressure package in last night, we only blitzed a handful of times and are saving a big part of our Blitz package for the slow, immobile Tanner Mangum next week!!!  They will get home!!  Completely stuffed the run game as we expected.  

Linebackers – Pretty good over all, some nice depth which took a hit with Kavika going down but still 3 guys left that are very capable…and Chase if need be with Blair playing so well.  Most teams we play except for Stanford will require the nickel so we’ll only need two on the field with Boobie or Burgess out there.  Hoping Kavika makes it back soon.  

Hoping Harding gets the O-line and TE/RB protection squared away because if they clean that up look out. 

Overall, I’m pretty optimistic…a lot of work to do but I think we have the makings of a quality squad this year…8-9 wins with that schedule.