armchaircoach
Active member
Watched practice today (my second of the spring) in the indoor facility. The following is my 9 cents worth. Remember this is only my humble, from the arm chair, opinion.
Quarterback—1. Adam Barry 2. Karsten Sween 3. Dax Crum ---- Barry throws the ball with much more velocity than either Sween or Crum although Sween did throw some nice touch passes. Crum still has that funny hitch that causes the nose of the ball to go down anytime he tries to throw hard. Barry is the only one that can throw the fifteen yard IN that is always a big part of the five receiver spread. Barry and Sween appear to be picking up the D-End read needed in the spread option. Barry’s listed?? at 6’1, doesn’t look that tall but he does a nice job of staying tall in the pocket and may just remind Coach C. of Chase Daniels as a Frosh. I think Barry may still be in the mix this fall. It is Benjamin’s job to lose this fall.
Running Back—1. Darius Terry 2. James Davis 3. James Caraway It’s pretty obvious that Terry is going to be the man this year and he looked good today. Had some trouble catching the little circle flare out of the backfield but handled other passes pretty well. Good acceleration and plants hard and makes great wrinkle cuts and gets up field. Davis looked much better than he did last fall, when I thought he looked lost and didn’t work very hard, but now that he knows he will play he seems to be stepping up. He had the best run of the day down the right sidelines and looked like he really had a burst. Still looks a little undersized but he will get some PT. Caraway is interesting, I thought he was a DB last year but I might be wrong on that, good speed but struggled catching the ball today. He’s young and looks fiery might be OK in another year.
Receiver-Tight Ends—Saw lots of double-doubles today and lots of 5 receiver sets. Brandon Stewart, Greg Bolling and Leonard all caught the ball well. In this offense pattern running may be more important than getting a true vertical stretch, that will help us, as other than Stewart we still don’t look like we have a deep threat. The tight ends looked good Orlando Arnold (we’ve all been waiting for him) made the top catch and run that I saw from the tight ends today. He may be ready to go now; he looks more comfortable off the line in the spread. Salyards is the starter and caught the ball well; it also looks like Joe Evers (Sheridan) may get some time. Not sure about Genho who played fullback last year, looks like he could get some time as a blocker when we are in the pistol set.
Kicker—I read somewhere that several of the walk-on kickers and punters either left the team or were not invited back. Doesn’t look like they will be needed, Nick Landess from Natrona (Casper) was far and away the best kicker today. Jake Scott will stay as the back up. Landess is big and strong and showed it, kicking forty yarders, semi live, and hitting the net near the center some twenty five or thirty feet above the goal post. I love that high roof in the IPF. Landess will be the one and I think he will be very good.
Defensive Backs—We have three good ones—I never understood some of the criticism of the Gibson brothers last year, they are good ones. No mater how good the coach is, no one can teach quick hips and these brothers have them. They are by far the best corners and some of our younger guys are getting better. Chris Prosinski looked very good in drills. Had the best thud of the day nearly knocking a receiver into the wall. We still need to find another safety and at least one capable back-up corner. We will be young and will make some mistakes, we may see another, or even 2, true freshman or a red shirt freshman getting a lot of PT in the secondary this fall.
D-Line—Givens banged up a shoulder so I didn’t see much of him, but we know he can play. I really liked Marcus Felker last year and he looked good this morning. Great push, low center and pretty good feet for a big guy, his motor keeps running I think he will be at the least our pass rush nose, I still like Freddie against the run. Felker still needs to peel some pounds, he’s listed as 328 but I have heard this is down from around three and a half. If he could drop another twenty he could be special.
D-End—Fletcher looks bigger than last year, a good year and he will go to the league.
Line Backers—Looked odd with Marty English not running all the backers through the drills. But they still look English like—this will once again be the strength of the team.
Marty’s D looked good today—looks like a top twenty bunch from my place on the sideline
O-Line—Big and competing hard, it will be interesting to see these guys working out of two point stances. I did not see a hand on the ground today. Two-foot, three and even wider splits, they are working a lot on first step. (Some Texas Tech looking splits) Hard to tell much yet but the one’s, two’s, and three’s are already working in groups. Kirven looks good, I also liked our other returnees they were going hard and encouraging each other, pretty high energy bunch. The board war toward the end of practice was really spirited, O line vs. D line.
Final thoughts—these coaches are young and coach loud and aggressively. They practice fast; I assume getting ready to play fast. Coaches are more in the face this year and some strong language at times. I am sure this will draw some complaints but for me and the people around this morning it was mostly smiles and chuckles.
Good crowd watching this morning, maybe thirty or forty.
Go Cowboys
Quarterback—1. Adam Barry 2. Karsten Sween 3. Dax Crum ---- Barry throws the ball with much more velocity than either Sween or Crum although Sween did throw some nice touch passes. Crum still has that funny hitch that causes the nose of the ball to go down anytime he tries to throw hard. Barry is the only one that can throw the fifteen yard IN that is always a big part of the five receiver spread. Barry and Sween appear to be picking up the D-End read needed in the spread option. Barry’s listed?? at 6’1, doesn’t look that tall but he does a nice job of staying tall in the pocket and may just remind Coach C. of Chase Daniels as a Frosh. I think Barry may still be in the mix this fall. It is Benjamin’s job to lose this fall.
Running Back—1. Darius Terry 2. James Davis 3. James Caraway It’s pretty obvious that Terry is going to be the man this year and he looked good today. Had some trouble catching the little circle flare out of the backfield but handled other passes pretty well. Good acceleration and plants hard and makes great wrinkle cuts and gets up field. Davis looked much better than he did last fall, when I thought he looked lost and didn’t work very hard, but now that he knows he will play he seems to be stepping up. He had the best run of the day down the right sidelines and looked like he really had a burst. Still looks a little undersized but he will get some PT. Caraway is interesting, I thought he was a DB last year but I might be wrong on that, good speed but struggled catching the ball today. He’s young and looks fiery might be OK in another year.
Receiver-Tight Ends—Saw lots of double-doubles today and lots of 5 receiver sets. Brandon Stewart, Greg Bolling and Leonard all caught the ball well. In this offense pattern running may be more important than getting a true vertical stretch, that will help us, as other than Stewart we still don’t look like we have a deep threat. The tight ends looked good Orlando Arnold (we’ve all been waiting for him) made the top catch and run that I saw from the tight ends today. He may be ready to go now; he looks more comfortable off the line in the spread. Salyards is the starter and caught the ball well; it also looks like Joe Evers (Sheridan) may get some time. Not sure about Genho who played fullback last year, looks like he could get some time as a blocker when we are in the pistol set.
Kicker—I read somewhere that several of the walk-on kickers and punters either left the team or were not invited back. Doesn’t look like they will be needed, Nick Landess from Natrona (Casper) was far and away the best kicker today. Jake Scott will stay as the back up. Landess is big and strong and showed it, kicking forty yarders, semi live, and hitting the net near the center some twenty five or thirty feet above the goal post. I love that high roof in the IPF. Landess will be the one and I think he will be very good.
Defensive Backs—We have three good ones—I never understood some of the criticism of the Gibson brothers last year, they are good ones. No mater how good the coach is, no one can teach quick hips and these brothers have them. They are by far the best corners and some of our younger guys are getting better. Chris Prosinski looked very good in drills. Had the best thud of the day nearly knocking a receiver into the wall. We still need to find another safety and at least one capable back-up corner. We will be young and will make some mistakes, we may see another, or even 2, true freshman or a red shirt freshman getting a lot of PT in the secondary this fall.
D-Line—Givens banged up a shoulder so I didn’t see much of him, but we know he can play. I really liked Marcus Felker last year and he looked good this morning. Great push, low center and pretty good feet for a big guy, his motor keeps running I think he will be at the least our pass rush nose, I still like Freddie against the run. Felker still needs to peel some pounds, he’s listed as 328 but I have heard this is down from around three and a half. If he could drop another twenty he could be special.
D-End—Fletcher looks bigger than last year, a good year and he will go to the league.
Line Backers—Looked odd with Marty English not running all the backers through the drills. But they still look English like—this will once again be the strength of the team.
Marty’s D looked good today—looks like a top twenty bunch from my place on the sideline
O-Line—Big and competing hard, it will be interesting to see these guys working out of two point stances. I did not see a hand on the ground today. Two-foot, three and even wider splits, they are working a lot on first step. (Some Texas Tech looking splits) Hard to tell much yet but the one’s, two’s, and three’s are already working in groups. Kirven looks good, I also liked our other returnees they were going hard and encouraging each other, pretty high energy bunch. The board war toward the end of practice was really spirited, O line vs. D line.
Final thoughts—these coaches are young and coach loud and aggressively. They practice fast; I assume getting ready to play fast. Coaches are more in the face this year and some strong language at times. I am sure this will draw some complaints but for me and the people around this morning it was mostly smiles and chuckles.
Good crowd watching this morning, maybe thirty or forty.
Go Cowboys
