After talking with a series of people about yesterday's scrimmage, here are a few more notes to chew on.
1. From an offensive perspective, I was told that the main focus was on the pace of the offense and working on the running game. Unlike in the last few seasons when improved pace has been a focus, I'm told that the speed in which the offense moves to the line of scrimmage and gets the play off is at a totally different level than in previous years and it was on display in yesterday's scrimmage.
2. The loss of Zach Shackelford to an ankle injury probably impacted the quality of play by the offensive line more than anyone would have hoped because I was told by three different people that the defensive line got the better of the two groups throughout the day.
3. D'Andre Christmas is a name that was called out by multiple sources. Two of the three felt like was clearly the lead dog among the freshmen defensive tackles. Expect him to play in the opener and potentially have a large role.
4. The running back position is definitely the strongest area of the team and yesterday's standout player was Kyle Porter. The true freshman ran hard between the tackles, finished his runs strongly and was able to pop off a few big runs by getting to the second level. One person told me that his ability to finish each run with a forward lead that enabled him to always pick up and extra yard or two at the end of every play really stood out yesterday.
5. All three sources kind of downplayed what happened at the quarterback position. Two of the three felt like Buechele had a slightly better day, but those two also admitted that a little bit of confirmation bias might have been in play in their retelling of the details from the scrimmage. Bottom line - no one truly had separation on a day when the play wasn't set up to truly let that occur. One source told me that neither player really got into a rhythm.
6. The worst news of the day might have been related to the injury status of Shackelford. While Charlie Strong seemed to indicate that it wasn't serious in his press briefing yesterday, I was told there might have been a little sandbagging in his statements because there is some concern that this will be a problem that potentially impacts his readiness for the opener against Notre Dame. One source told me that the injury was more than just a minor ankle sprain and that putting weight on the ankle was still an issue. Obviously, this is a situation we will monitor closely.
1. From an offensive perspective, I was told that the main focus was on the pace of the offense and working on the running game. Unlike in the last few seasons when improved pace has been a focus, I'm told that the speed in which the offense moves to the line of scrimmage and gets the play off is at a totally different level than in previous years and it was on display in yesterday's scrimmage.
2. The loss of Zach Shackelford to an ankle injury probably impacted the quality of play by the offensive line more than anyone would have hoped because I was told by three different people that the defensive line got the better of the two groups throughout the day.
3. D'Andre Christmas is a name that was called out by multiple sources. Two of the three felt like was clearly the lead dog among the freshmen defensive tackles. Expect him to play in the opener and potentially have a large role.
4. The running back position is definitely the strongest area of the team and yesterday's standout player was Kyle Porter. The true freshman ran hard between the tackles, finished his runs strongly and was able to pop off a few big runs by getting to the second level. One person told me that his ability to finish each run with a forward lead that enabled him to always pick up and extra yard or two at the end of every play really stood out yesterday.
5. All three sources kind of downplayed what happened at the quarterback position. Two of the three felt like Buechele had a slightly better day, but those two also admitted that a little bit of confirmation bias might have been in play in their retelling of the details from the scrimmage. Bottom line - no one truly had separation on a day when the play wasn't set up to truly let that occur. One source told me that neither player really got into a rhythm.
6. The worst news of the day might have been related to the injury status of Shackelford. While Charlie Strong seemed to indicate that it wasn't serious in his press briefing yesterday, I was told there might have been a little sandbagging in his statements because there is some concern that this will be a problem that potentially impacts his readiness for the opener against Notre Dame. One source told me that the injury was more than just a minor ankle sprain and that putting weight on the ankle was still an issue. Obviously, this is a situation we will monitor closely.
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