Practice Friday April 1st

[89ute]

I only have a few minutes to get something down so here it goes. Saw Wishnowski punt for the 1st time. No worries here. Looked just like Hacket, in fact, picture Kyle Fitts punting with Hacketts results. 45 yards, backspin, same old same old. All the punts were caught so I could not see if they hit and stick. Phillips punted too. Very impressive, I was surprised. High backspinning kick.

A fake punt was practiced. Wishnowski took the snap and ran off tackle. Damn, he is fast. This is a very serious play. It’s going to work, the guy can run. Picture a 6-2 Troy McCormick. It was an eye opener for sure. I would not be surprised if punt defenses keep more people in the box rather than having two returners which mitigates the misdirection type punts. Wishnowski is a serious weapon. Punts are going to be exciting.

Scrimmage started with red zone situations. Huntley shined by throwing two TD passes. One was a terrific, one handed catch by Fulks with Hobbs defending. Fade route to the corner of the endzone. Huntley dropped it right over Hobbs and Fulks pulled it in with one hand. It was a wow play for sure.

Damn … gotta go, will try to get the rest down later today.

Huntley’s 2nd TD was to someone wide open in the corner of the endzone. Both Huntley’s red zone TDs were from about the 15-20 yard line thrown.

Williams did poorly in the red zone drill. Wiffed on a short swing pass to either the slot or RB by overthrowing it, didn’t move the offense at all.

Cox threaded the needle accros the middle, I think to a TE. Very impressive play. Neither Williams or Cox could get the offense in the endzone, only Huntley, twice!

Pita Taumoepenu had a nice play on Manalo. Pita T. took him down one on one in deep in the backfield.

Pita T. is a monster. I read somewhere that he put on 17 pounds. He certainly did, but to my eye, I swear he’s put on 50. If he didn’t have his jersey on you would not recognise him. No way he’s just a speed rusher anymore, like last year. He’s still a speed rusher, but he can contain the edge. He is unbeleivable to watch. He is ALL OVER THE FEILD. I watched him take down the RB from behind with the play going toward the opposite side. Let me explain, Pita is playing end toward the east side of the field. RB takes the hand off and goes to the outside gap from the tackle, toward the west side. Pita shot into the backfied and chased him down from behind with the RB only gaining about a yard. It was pretty damned amazing. I also saw him bull rush Tevi and put him on his ass. His spin move is impressive too, I’m not kidding, lightening quick. He batted down a pass or two and altered the throws of some shorts rout that lead to imcompletions. As you can tell, I spent a lot of time watching him. The guy is a one man, offensive wrecking crew.

About a month ago I heard Trevor Reilly singing the praises of Pita T. The host said something like “who going to be the big difference maker” or something like that “on defense this year,” Trevor said without hesitation “Pita T.” I can now see why. Trevor went on to say he’s only played football for a couple of years and has a lot to learn and he needs to put on weight to hold the edge. My eye says he’s done both, in a big way.

Got off on a Pita T. tangent, so back to the red zone stuff. I guess the only thing I need to add is that the run game did nothing in the red zone.

After the red zone stuff they started the offence about 65-70 yards out. Over all, a lot of give and take. I don’t think one side dominated the other, but if I had to call it, I’d give a very slight edge to the defence.

There were a few dropped picks, one I remember in paticular was Cody Barton. He played it well by jumping into the passing lane and grabbing the ball but just didn’t reel it in. Brian Allen put a hard hit on Kenrick Young which caused him to cough up the ball on impact.

Huntley threw a swing pass to McCormick who all most took it in for a TD. It was an electrifying run. McCormick ran up the sideline then cut across the feild, shaking and baking, picking up blockers, jukeing and jagging but only made it to about the 5 yard line. It was about a 50-60 yard pay.

Another nice Huntley-McCormick play was and option that went for about 12 yards.

Jmaes Gray has fully recovered from his ripped up knee. He had a couple of nice long runs. He’s a ways down on the depth chart and probably not well known. McCormicks knee ripping last year definitley overshawdowed what happend to Gray. Gray’s happened in the spring as well.

Offensive “play of the day” was actually a two play series that resulted in a TD. Williams to Butler-Brid, about a 30 yard in the air pass that went for about 45 yards before BB was tackled. Next play, Joe Williams breaks through the line and scores from about 20 yard out. BAM, two plays, TD! That’s the offence we need.

Huntley had two turnovers, I think they were both misshandled snaps. Those may have been the only turnover/loose balls.

gotta go again, but this is pretty much all I have.

• This topic was modified 8 years, 9 months ago by 89ute.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the great report. Loved the coverage on Wishnowski. Can’t help but wonder when they’ll try to covert him to defense. 6’3″ and 225 lbs, runs a 4.55 for the 40. That’s NFL level for safety or linebacker. They’ll have 3 years with him to figure it out.

The Lightning scoring strikes on offense are good to hear. That was so lacking the first 5 years in the PAC. Couple that with a stout defense and the mind goes giddy.

[rbmw263]

Great read to end my Ute sabbatical. Love the wrinkle having an athlete at punter gives. I want to see a multiple fakes around midfield. Make the opposing team cover it. Free up some of our guys. So excited to hear about Pita. What a freak. NFL draft 1st round physical toolbox….and if he can round out the skill set…..sky is the limit for the kid.

[Author]

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