Here are some things that stood out to me, hopefully others can supplement this list.
Special teams play was very poor. 75% of field goal attempts were missed. 1 kick-off by Corey Edwards went out of bounds at about the 20 yard line, another kick off attempt where they weren't trying to pin in the corner landed at about the 10 yard line. Punting was adequate but not great. Multiple kick catches were dropped. I am worried our special teams will cost us a few games this season.
Receivers and tight ends looked slightly better than I expected, a few dropped balls on catches that should have been made and a few tough catches were made. No one looked perfect, but no one looked wholly bad either. Bushman for the TEs had several good catches and runs after catch, but I also saw him drop a pass that should have been an easy catch. Of the receivers I thought Neil Pau'u and Akile Davis looked good. Beau Tanner had a couple good receptions too.
Matt Hadley was practicing with the LBs and he looked really fast if a bit undersized in that group. I think he could be a great addition there, as long as he isn't needed to stop a big RB.
Speaking of the defense, the defense spent some time practicing pick-6s, as they usually do. But they added an element here where they were practicing celebrations after scoring the pick-6. It added a little enjoyment and the fans seemed to enjoy it.
Mo Langi is a really big kid. He wasn't involved much in today's practice except in position drills. I watched him a few times get out of the block and engage. He's very big, but he's very slow and unless a RB is running directly at him I don't think an offense would really have anything to fear from having him on the field. But with his size, he can eliminate an A gap run in limited situations. It sounded like in another popup drill Mo did get his mits on an interception, but I wasn't watching that particular drill at the time and am speculating based on what I heard yelling from the staff on the field.
For running backs it seemed like Squally did most of the running that stood out today. He felt a little faster than I remembered from last year, he also would run the ball down to the endzone every time he carried the ball, regardless of when he was whistled down. I like that gumption. Riley Burt had a couple of nice looking runs in scrimmage type situations going against 2nd and 3rd team defenses, as did KJ Hall, but that guy looks ridiculously small out there. Dye didn't do much that stood out to me but drop a few open passes.
DBs played fairly well, in my opinion. Troy Warner had a couple of breakups and hits right as receivers caught the ball. Hannemann had a really nice play on the first play of the practice. Michael Shelton stood out to me for being the smallest guy on the field.
I don't have a lot to add to the OL, but Koroma is huge, his arms alone are the size of mountains. I felt like the OL had a pretty good surge on rushing plays and held the pocket fairly well on passing downs. There were very few sacks.
In OLine v DLine 1 on 1 drills Sione Takitaki looked like an absolute beast and had no quit to his motor. Handsome Tanielu also stood out to me for his motor and drive in the 1-on-1 drills. I saw Corbin Kaufusi several times on the sidelines, he's very tall and hard to miss, but it didn't feel like he participated much in any of drills or situations.
QB, Tanner Mangum looked much better than in the Spring so that was a relief. He had a nice, 40 yard long throw down the sideline that was caught right at the endzone for a TD and generally threw the ball quite well. He had one INT in 1-on-1 drills that was a poorly thrown ball, but overall had a good day. He also ran for a TD from the 3 yard line when all the receivers were covered.
Beau Hoge and Koy Detmer both looked about what you would expect from them. They throw the ball well and looked good in the pocket for the most part. I will say I was pretty impressed with Kody Wilstead. He looked the part of a star QB, standing tall in the pocket and throwing with some real zip and velocity. Critchlow also had some nice throws. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with the QB play.
That's what jumps out to me right now. Let me know if you have any questions or observations of your own you'd like to add.
Statistics: Posted by hawkwing — Thu Aug 17, 2017 3:51 pm
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