Scrimmage

[trueblue72]

Had to leave before scrimmage but saw a lot of postion work.

JLD #56 is a beast, gave Braden Hansen problems in one on one, could see some time at a rush end.

Craig Bills looked good, he's a big kid who can move.

OL looked ok to me in postion drills, Still big guys but the guts have gone down dramatically and appeared to have arms with muscle not flab.

Our linebackers appear to be as good as advertised, both inside and outside. I look for Spencer Hadley to have a good year at SAM, has a good rush off the edge.

QB's didn 't see anything great but it was just 7 on 7, someone fill me in on how the scrimmage went.

Alisa is our guy, but if I were a DB I would fear Lasike out of the backfield dude run's like a bull.

How'd the scrimmage go? Fill me in!

[Schmoe]

Riley looked pretty good (and threw pretty well, too), Lark looked better than last year, and I'm excited for the future after seeing Hill get some reps. Our receivers didn't get tons of looks, but Collie is the real deal, and we went to the TE quite a bit. Alisa ran hard, looks good, and Jamal Williams is the future at RB. Defense got some decent pressure, but we were missing some key pieces, so it should be better come season opener. O-line played ok, some decent blocking on run plays, decent blocking on pass plays. Everett seemed to get picked on in the secondary, but otherwise coverage was pretty good. Overall, a good (not great) showing from the team.

[SpiffCoug]

Per Wrubell's unofficial stats, Riley was 7/10 for 76 yds and a TD. That's a very good 166.84 PER.

I think the offense responded well from their off day yesterday.

[hawkwing]

If I were Quezada and I saw Jamaal Williams run, I'd transfer too. Hine looked decent too, but not as good as Foote.

It was pretty clear that Riley Nelson is head and shoulders and abdomen better than Lark, who is currently better than Hill, but you could see Hill has some special sauce in him. He was consistently making 3rd and long, drive saving passes on the run, in his last series in the scrimmage. Of course the bad news was that he was constantly putting his team in 3rd and long to begin with, but he did look smooth out there on several plays. Jason Munns has definitely earned his way out of the competition for next year's starter. The guy looks like a robot out there, with one of the worst throwing motions I've ever seen on a QB and no footwork to speak of.

The offensive line has trimmed up nicely, there were some definite issues on pass blocking where a line backer would come free sometimes, but they always pushed the line forward on running plays and opened some nice holes.

Defensively the linebackers looked really nice. They will be as good as advertised. I'm still concerned about the dline though, we need those boys to mature real quick.

[SpiffCoug]

If I were Quezada and I saw Jamaal Williams run, I'd transfer too. Hine looked decent too, but not as good as Foote.

It was pretty clear that Riley Nelson is head and shoulders and abdomen better than Lark,

This statement is not true. Riley was wearing a shirt underneath his uniform, so we can't comment on the status of his abs.

[YNot]

If I were Quezada and I saw Jamaal Williams run, I'd transfer too. Hine looked decent too, but not as good as Foote.

I sat through the drills and saw the first 7 series. Williams is legit, as is Hine. They both looked good in drills and 7-on-7. Williams was a difference maker in the scrimmage. He had a couple of excellent catches and some fantastic runs. Foote also ran well and should be a good producer for us this year. I think Quezada saw the writing on the wall. I don't think he would have seen much playing time this year or next with Foote, Williams and Hine all breathing down his neck. I just like the styles of Foote, Williams, and Hine better than Quezada's. More hard-nosed, up field aggressiveness without as much dancing around.

It was pretty clear that Riley Nelson is head and shoulders and abdomen better than Lark, who is currently better than Hill, but you could see Hill has some special sauce in him. He was consistently making 3rd and long, drive saving passes on the run, in his last series in the scrimmage. Of course the bad news was that he was constantly putting his team in 3rd and long to begin with, but he did look smooth out there on several plays. Jason Munns has definitely earned his way out of the competition for next year's starter. The guy looks like a robot out there, with one of the worst throwing motions I've ever seen on a QB and no footwork to speak of.

I actually thought Munns played decently on his first series. He led the team to a field goal and had a couple of decent passes. I didn't see his last series.

Lark looked good. I was pleased with his passing and decision making. Much better than expected.

Hill is going to be exciting, but I'm glad he is third string right now. I don't think he is quite ready to take over the reigns if Riley gets banged up. But he can and should contribute, but I would feel more comfortable with Lark as the first back-up for now. This may change by October, as I believe Hill will continue to improve. He definitely does have something extra in his game that you don't see in Lark.

I know Hoffman wasn't there, but Collie and Houk both looked really good. With Hoffman, Apo, Falslev and now Collie and Houk, we are pretty deep at receiver. Kuresa, Raymond, and Jordan Smith look good too. This is definitely a strength.

I didn't see Matthews on the field. Holt had some good grabs, but he also dropped a 3rd down conversion at the far boundary after a QB scramble. It would have been a great play, but instead, disappointing. But he also got open up the middle a couple of times. I definitely think Matthews is the better receiving TE option at this point.

The offensive line has trimmed up nicely, there were some definite issues on pass blocking where a line backer would come free sometimes, but they always pushed the line forward on running plays and opened some nice holes.

#77 Michael Yeck is a big guy! The line looked mostly average overall. I would give them a plus on the running game; they pushed the line forward on most run plays and really helped create opportunities for Foote and Williams.

As mentioned, there were a few plays where they did not pick up the outside blitz very well. Solid in the middle, but the outside edges were a problem. I think had Riley had the green light to run, he could have avoided a sack on all but one play where Kevan Bills was all over him, and probably would have run up the middle for 15-20 yards. But the line needs to pick up the outside blitzes better. (Note, video replay may show that this was not entirely their fault. I think a couple of blitzes created situations where, even though the Oline was blocking the man in front of them, their were unaccounted-for blitzers).

Defensively the linebackers looked really nice. They will be as good as advertised. I'm still concerned about the dline though, we need those boys to mature real quick.

I watched the linebackers in drills and it really got me excited. We all know KVN is special and Hadley, Kaveinga, and Ogletree are solid. But Stout looks good and Ansah is a BEAST! Are depth looks great, here, we should continue to see great play now and for upcoming seasons.

As mentioned, the Dline gave up too many rushing yards up the middle. Hard to tell whether it was solid rush blocking by the Oline and good running by the RB's, or poor Dline play. Hmmmmm?

[Lawboy]

I actually felt hte best about Lark I ever have after today. I thiought he looked pretty good. Moved well when required, threw it well on the run, and made some easy throws too. Not perfect, but solid. If RN goes down, I think he can get it done, and not sure I would have thought that previously.

Hill is going to be really good. Throws a nice ball, strong arm (not a rocket, but strong) and the kid can move. Looked way more comfortable than he did in the spring. Huge improvements since the spring game. Just huge.

I think RN looked good, not great, but RN never looks great. He is effective though and that is what matters. Lark looked solid, Hill looked good and Olson even looked pretty good. All made some quick throws, but also on the run.

The Oline looked so much better than they did in spring. MAssive difference. In spring, they got stuffed repreatedly. I know that the 1s actually got some reps today, and none if spring, and hte 1s looked solid, but the 2s and 3s were also miles better. They got push, created lanes. They wre far from dominant or perfect, but they were much better in spring, and they looked poor in spring. I can see that the conditioning progrma is working because those dudes practiced today for near 3 hours, with about 1:15 of it being the scrimmage, and it was HOT. Overall fitness is so much better. They looked better, moved better and played better. Just wish I could have seen them go against the starting front 7 to get a better read on it.

[TBurg Coug]

I was really impressed with Jamaal Williams especially today he was AWESOME!! He has great speed and can actually run over some people so that makes me really excited about our RB corps this year. The wide recievers looked great today as well i was impressed by Terenn Houk, Dylan Collie, and Jordan Smith. I wish we could have seen more of Ross and Cody but at the same time i was glad that they were held out. The tight ends looked pretty good today with a couple good catches by Austin Holt but Marcus Mathews is definately the best of the bunch. the o line looked solid today as well as with our d-line and linebacking corps. I was actually really impressed with our secondary and i thought that they performed very well over all. I was actually more impressed with Taysom Hill today than James Lark. I might be biased being an Idaho guy myself but i just thought that he did better than Lark over all. I was also really impressed with Ziggy Ansah today as well. He showed great speed and really got after the QB today and i was also impressed with JLD, Bronson Kaufusi and Theodore King today.

[cougfan84]

How many people actually showed up? Did it look like a few?

[SpiffCoug]

Maybe 2500 or so, would be my guess.

I was glad to see us able to run the ball. I thought the OL got a good push. I was encouraged by what I saw.