Spring camp is here (2016)

[WizardHawk]

The boys are back at it starting Monday. And of course the entire focus will be on the offense.

ICYMI, they are at least trying Lindquist at TE over the spring. Smith is at least saying this may not be a true position change, but more along the lines of trying other things to get him time on the field. Time will tell if this ends up being anything worth their invested time. Smith did say he's still going to have reps at QB, but not likely much in the spring. Whatever that means.

Ross is back with the team and is medically cleared to partake in full spring practices. First chance to see how much confidence he has in his cuts. By all accounts his speed is still there, but until he puts the pads on no one knows how close to his old form he will have this fall.

Gaskin will get his reps to be sure, but most of the focus will probably be on his backups. Now that Washington and Cooper are gone there will be more questions to answer from a depth perspective at tailback. Gaskin is already being talked about as an outside Heisman watch potential. How will that extra hype/pressure impact his game? That we won't find out about until Fall.

The biggest light will be on the receiving corp. That was a lackluster unit last year as it was and now most of the meat that was actually there is gone. That unit struggled so hard that they fired the WR coach. No more Mickens or Perkins and Marvin Hall is gone as well. They have guys that look like they have some potential, but can Smith and his new WR coach (Bush Hamdan) bring this batch up to speed and really let Jake open up this season? They have a LOT of work to do to get to that point.

Obviously the main names are Ross and Pettis. Both have questions, but you expect some leadership at that position out of them and some decent production. I'd love to see Lenius develop because at 6'5" and over 220 he's that possession type of receiver this team so badly needs on 3rd downs, if he can grow into being dependable at it. Renfro is another one that will see some quality reps.

And then there's the slot. McClatcher is a hell of a speedster and flashes last year. Kid has a lot of potential and if he and Browning can get on the same page watch for him to make some huge plays. Really know very little about the kids behind him.

They do have depth at the TE spot, which is what makes me really question the move of Lindquist to this unit. Daniels, Sample, and Ajamu all bring experience and talent that will be needed to help this offense improve over last year.

And then of course the line. They had injuries and lots of shifting last year as they tried to settle in on a group of 5 that could get the job done. They did find improvement as the season progressed. 4 of the 5 starters at the end of the season are returning and lots of the other guys around them got valuable reps last year. The position to watch is center. Coleman Shelton will be moving to center to replace Tufunga. 3 of the other 4 projected starters are sophomores showing that this is still a very young and developing unit. I don't think you can learn nearly as much as you'd like to about the line in spring ball. Just have to hope they stay relatively injury free and keep on growing as a unit.

Defense? Sure, there are questions, but the key to this upcoming year will be almost entirely on the growth (or lack there of) on the other side of the ball. That's where my focus is at least.

 

[RegentDenali]

Return a ton of starters and we have the luxury this year of redshirting more of our draft class than we did last year. Considering how well all those freshman and sophomores performed last year is a testament to how good the coach staff is. This is truely their team now.

Offense needs to improve for us to get it done in 2016. Great to have Ross back and how he can be worked into the playbook. Really hope he's truely back to 100% by the season start.

Interesting about the Lindquist at TE thing, but he's built like one so if he can be incorporated into the playbook like that, sure. Anything to stop putting him in less as QB on those 3rd and short plays where the D could easily read what was going down. I understand Petersen loves to throw exotic looks at Ds to keep them guessing while the play is actually designed to be a lot more vanilla, but still....I didn't work most of the time.

This season sets up with a ton of PAC North opportunity with Ducks and Stanford losing a lot of playmakers and will be starting new QBs. We get them both early this year. No excuse time. We got to win 1 or both.

D was such a great surprise last year. Really got to keep that going and maintain being in the top tier of the PAC.

I heard some rumors that Karta-Samuels could seek a transfer as spring is now in effect. Keep an ear out for if anything materializes with that. It's a possibility.

Very excited for spring ball. Go Dawgs!!!

 

[WizardHawk]

Smith was on Dave Mahler's show late last week and spoke about Lindquist. It's their assessment that his package in the offense was hampered by his injury early in the season. He stated they are not giving up on it. So it was a mixed message about him going to TE. He is not being removed from the QB charts. He said that he wouldn't be getting work at QB over the spring, but that's because they already know what he has in that position. We will have to see how he is used and how much time he spends where in fall camp to figure out what they are going to do with him during the season. The days of the Lindquist package at QB may not be over.

 

[RegentDenali]

 

[RegentDenali]

It's not that I'm against other QBs on the roster called in for some plays to mix things up. It was just that the Lindquist package was too easily telegraphing what was the plays intention and too many times it gone blown up instantly. A big problem with the offense last year was its inability to speed up when time management screamed for it and thus any attempts at trick plays failed to often as Ds had all to figure out what was going on.

If Lindquist can use his athleticism, size, and QB abilities to help move the rock, get him out there some times, but if their going to do it, make what's going to happen just less obvious to the Ds so the plays have a better shot at accomplishing.
How many times were you watching games last year and they would march out Lindquist, it took forever to get the play off, and your screaming at the tube because the D easily had it figured out over and over again.

 

[WizardHawk]

Oh you don't have to sell it to me man. I don't know anyone who was in favor of how they handled his plays. I really think they need to just stick with the guy that gives them the best chance every play to move the ball and that's clearly Browning.

It was Smith that left that door open and defended both Lindquist, and the packages they put in around him. They believe (or at least said) if he was more healthy they would have worked which I don't buy at all.

Now last year they pretty much only ran him on those plays. If you are going to use him this year for the love of football put a disguised bootleg deep throw package in for him or something. Make D's believe for sure he's going to keep it and run and put something in to exploit it, or better yet just stop using him.

You have your QB for the next couple of seasons at least. Give him every rep you can. Let him develop the ability to make adjustments and call out of plays at the line. Give him the full support of the team and stop this nonsense about rewarding 'good guys' with play time they haven't earned. He could be man of the fucking year, but I don't want him touching the ball unless he gives you the very best chance of moving the ball that play. Period.

 

[RegentDenali]

Nice to hear Budda Baker is really lighting it up this week and the pass D is picking up right where it left off last year.

Karta-Samuels is out there during 11v11 series and moving the ball. There was talk that he could seek a transfer this spring, but nothing yet on that front.

Gaskin hasn't been seen out there much, but they may be just being cautious. With Washington and Cooper gone, gonna be interesting to see the development of the RB corps behind Gaskin.

 

[mcnabb7542]

It's not that I'm against other QBs on the roster called in for some plays to mix things up. It was just that the Lindquist package was too easily telegraphing what was the plays intention and too many times it gone blown up instantly. A big problem with the offense last year was its inability to speed up when time management screamed for it and thus any attempts at trick plays failed to often as Ds had all to figure out what was going on.

If Lindquist can use his athleticism, size, and QB abilities to help move the rock, get him out there some times, but if their going to do it, make what's going to happen just less obvious to the Ds so the plays have a better shot at accomplishing.
How many times were you watching games last year and they would march out Lindquist, it took forever to get the play off, and your screaming at the tube because the D easily had it figured out over and over again.

I think it was the "timing" of the QB switch, I don't like seeing Browning shaking his head when he's pulled for this stuff, that plays in a young players head and they are streaky players, if Browning isn't throwing the ball well that only discourages him even more...

 

[TheDayMan]

Smith was on Dave Mahler's show late last week and spoke about Lindquist. It's their assessment that his package in the offense was hampered by his injury early in the season. He stated they are not giving up on it. So it was a mixed message about him going to TE. He is not being removed from the QB charts. He said that he wouldn't be getting work at QB over the spring, but that's because they already know what he has in that position. We will have to see how he is used and how much time he spends where in fall camp to figure out what they are going to do with him during the season. The days of the Lindquist package at QB may not be over.

God damn it...

 

[WizardHawk]

Najee Harris, nation's No. 1 running back recruit, reportedly visiting UW this weekend

They aren't going to turn this kid from a bama recruit to a UW commit, but I'd sure love to sit down with him and get his impressions after not only already committing to the tide, but also visiting UCLA and USC. His perspective on how each goes about the recruiting process would be quite interesting.

Just getting these national power players to visit is a nice start, but until they actually put some winning on the field and really get more national attention I don't see them really fighting strongly enough to turn any of these.

You have to be able to get the players you have access to to play over their heads and get attention to move a program forward enough to be a player in that market. Remains to be seen if Petersen has it in him to reach that level.

I will say if you are going to have a spring weekend event for all of the kids you are looking at the weather really helped us this time. Nothing like a clear and warm spring day in the NW to fool them, errr show them what we are about.

 

[WizardHawk]

It was good to see the offense turn and have a decent day of practice to round out the end of the week. Jake still needs to work on his deep balls (still overthrowing too many) and of course the timing with his new speedster (Ross) needs more work, but the O line is doing better and things are starting to come together.

Let's face it, if you had to run an offense against that D and beat them to avoid sprints after practice you'd probably be losing more than winning as well.

If they can just keep from having any catastrophic injuries this will be seen as a very good spring session.

Bring on fall already.

 

[RegentDenali]

Someone whose really making a name for himself in the spring camp is QB Tony Rodriguez. He was an offensive player of the year for California JUCO region, so he's established himself as someone who could take it beyond the H.S. level, but man is he making a statement out there in spring practices. I remember when it was announced he was going to join the team, but I think many didn't really think it was going to amount to more than a 3rd or 4th stringer.

Some are already calling that he's looking to leap Lindquist and Samuels and could end up the #2 going to the season opener. Still early, but reports of how confident and how accurate his passing is, is very encouraging.


I'm really getting jazzed for the season already. We return soo much talent, and look at all the potential contributors from the recent class we just signed. GO DAWGS!!!!

 

[WizardHawk]

Watched the spring preview and really all I can say is can't wait for fall. Not just because this team looks like it has put in the work and has the athletes, but because this format sucks and we really didn't get much actual football.

It was nice to see Ross making cuts and speeding past defenders again. If he can stay healthy that offense becomes much more deadly.

Defense looks like it has some depth. There was quality play from all of the defensive units.

Carta-Samuels looks like he's improving.

Jake throws some great balls, but he still takes too long making his decisions. He does look of the defense, but he has to commit and get rid of the ball faster.

Not sure I got much more out of that session than that.

 

[RegentDenali]