Overview
Sometimes fans start to delve into the details of the team and individual players a little bit too quickly. On Monday, I just took some time to really soak in my initial impressions and get an overview of the basics of the team. First impressions are often the best impressions, despite the simplicity.
Believe it or not, to my eyes the pace of the practices has picked up to an even higher level than I’ve seen in the past. Despite new players, fall camp really gets flying because the coaches have so much time in meetings with the players. That allows them to go over what drills and stations are going to take place during practice. There is no reason to be on the field learning a drill when you could be using the allotted NCAA practice time to get the important things done. However, this year I see even less transition time, which could indicate more preparation on the players’ part or better leadership by the coaches and veterans. Whatever the reason, increased pace is a positive – more intense practices, and better use of time on the learning that matters.
The very first thing that stood out to me at Monday’s practice was the amount and quality of athletes on this team. In years past it was easy to quickly identify the team’s superior athletes by size and speed. This year, though, there is a large quantity of guys who can really run and players who have tremendous size coupled with the ability to carry that weight. You can never have too many athletes, that much is sure.
If you take a second to think about what the true freshmen are going through in these camps, it really is amazing. Not only are they being introduced to players who are bigger and faster than they’ve ever played against, they are also encountering a brand new offensive or defensive system that they must learn while trying to survive. You have to have tremendous respect for any true freshmen who can deal with these factors and earn playing time.
There seems to be a good amount of enthusiasm on the field. Anytime there are scuffles, trash-talking or big hits in practice, that is a good thing. This team needs more intensity and if you have it against your teammates, it’s a nice sign for what we’ll see during the season against the opposition.
Positives
Now to get into more specifics about what I saw at the practices. There are quite a few positives to build on.
As mentioned above, this team has more athletes than in the past. The linemen are huge, the skill position players are fast and have good size for the most part, and there is a plethora of ‘tweener athletes who possess the versatility to be molded into whatever the team needs or their development dictates. The raw material is there, which is a result of recruiting, at this point most of the success (or lack thereof) will be decided by coaching and attrition.
The lack of ball disruption last year has been well-documented. But the way I’m seeing that weakness addressed is encouraging. Al Golden is an intense and demanding coach. Moving him to coach the secondary is just what the doctor ordered. He is all over the defensive backs about wreaking havoc on the ball carrier or receiver. The DBs are being coached to turn and locate the ball on every throw. This has been a point of frustration for many fans for a long time, but hopefully not any longer. Every running play is ending with a hard strip of the football, which is an emphasis of every drill. Disruption has always been stressed in camp, but there is most definitely a heightened sense of it this fall.
On offense, I saw a lot of vertical passing and spreading the ball around to the receivers. One valuable thing about pounding the physical running game last year is that with all the experience and skill returning on the line and in the backfield, it really doesn’t have to consume so much practice time to learn and/or maintain. This allows for the needed emphasis on the passing game. The addition of Kevin Ogletree , Maurice Covington , Brandon Woods and Ottowa Anderson offers more downfield options. I’m not nearly as worried about our play-calling after seeing things more spread out during the last two practices.
I believe the defensive line will be a strength for the team this year. The linemen are getting good penetration. There is also more size and depth on the line than I’ve seen in years past. Ron Darden, Kwakou Robinson and Keenan Carter are absolutely enormous and will anchor the inside. Brennan Schmidt and Chris Long have gotten even bigger and will be strong on the end. The depth provided by Chris Johnson, Vince Redd and Allen Billyk will be huge as the season goes on. An injury to a starter this year may not be as devastating as Chris Canty’s loss was last year.
The special teams units have looked tremendous, in my opinion. There are a lot of players to choose from when it comes to returning kicks and punts, and all are game-breakers. Michael Johnson, Mike Brown, Kevin Ogletree , Tony Franklin and Emmanuel Byers would be my leading candidates, based on what I have seen. Don’t count out Cedric Peerman , either, as Groh doesn’t hesitate to use more powerful return men. The kickoffs of Kurt Smith and the field goals of Connor Hughes probably haven’t been a source of much worry for Cav fans, and they shouldn’t be. Chris Gould has also been punting the ball very well. During Tuesday’s practice he kicked about 8-10 booming spirals in a row. I wouldn’t worry too much about the punting game anymore, which is nice considering it was such a cause for concern last year.
Negatives
Despite all the positives, there are definitely some issues that need to be addressed by the start of the season.
The lack of depth at DB after the loss of Philip Brown is evident. At cornerback, the starting duo of Tony Franklin and Marcus Hamilton improved as the season went on and should be solid this year. For our corners, tackling is very important, and it’s an added bonus that Franklin is as sure a tackler as there is on the team. Hamilton has come a long way in that regard as well. After those two, there is a significant dropoff, not in talent but in experience. Mike Brown has slid into the second team unit along with Chris Gorham . Both possess a lot of physical attributes but, as with any CBs, it takes time on the field (often while getting burned) to really learn the position well. The CB position is so fragile right now that it can’t afford any injuries. The confidence I have in this group would have been nearly doubled had Philip Brown been able to play this year, just due to his on-the-job experience last season.
At safety, things are just as tenuous. Nate Lyles is a gifted athlete and will be a star at UVa. However, he tends to get a little out of position and loses concentration, which the secondary can not afford. As we saw at times last year, safeties out of position resulted in touchdowns. By the start of the season, the team needs Lyles to be as much of a rock with his pass coverage as he is with his strong run-stopping abilities. The other safety spot worries me a bit. Lance Evans and Jamaal Jackson are battling it out for the starting nod. I consider Jackson the better athlete, but Evans has greater experience. No matter who starts, after the top three a lot of pressure falls on freshman Chris Cook and former walk-on Marshall Tucker. Even without an injury, one of the two is likely to see the field this year in the base defense, and an injury to one of the top three could be devastating. The defensive backfield is at the mercy of the injury gods and that’s not where you want to be heading into the season. If everything holds together, it could be a good group. If it doesn’t, it could be paralyzing for the defense.
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