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I didn't go, but am curious to hear from others who went and their thoughts on a few things...

Flacco? How'd he look compared to Stewart?

78-yard Ekwoge TD.

How'd our defense look?

Any new wrinkles in the offense?

If David Drew's two-deep depth chart is correct, I am excited about our OL of the future:
LT - Jordan
LG - Doyle
C - Keenoy
RG - Ifkovitz
RT - Okorafor

I actually thought Stewart looked pretty good. He hit a couple of deep balls himself. As well as a few rifle passes over the middle in small windows. Thomas isn't going to be in the mix by fall I don't think. Flacco does have a bit of excitement to his game, but his arm is weak. Needs to get stronger.

I thought Jordan got beat several times, and for us supposedly not having good DT's (I do believe this is an issue), I don't feel like the run game was all that impressive. Though it's difficult to tell without tackling.

I thought the defense overall was kind of weak, though they did have a few moments where they just shut things down for 3 or 4 series in a row. I didn't expect much, when you take away the tackling, the mentality isn't the same. Phillips looked solid in coverage. Zamort was a blanket. Some of the backup guys had a little trouble with Gouldbourne and Thompson's length. Our LB crew has nice depth.

Everything was very vanilla. Offense and defense.

I would rate the experience a C+

Oh, and I should say a couple more things. One, nobody is pushing Terrell. Right now, he is far and away the best QB on that team.

There were several recruits of ours there. Matt Little is a big dude. Has to be a legit 6'4" 230ish. Was standing next to Spencer Williams for a while, and he wasn't too far off size wise. That isn't to say he was fat, he wasn't at all. Just put together.

I'll type out some things as I remember them..

- 1st team O-line is very good. Best in the MAC, no doubt. 2nd team O-line has a lot of work to do, though. There's good size and young talent, but they were getting beat just about every play by the 2nd team defensive front 7. That might say more about our front 7 though, as we have a lot of depth and experience there.

- QB battle behind Terrell is a mess. Flacco is athletic and has a ton of potential. Stewart is much improved. Thomas I think is the most accurate passer right now, but overall it looks like he's being surpassed.

- Carrington Thompson looks good, but could afford to gain 20-30 pounds if it doesn't affect his speed. He's listed at 6-2, 162 lbs. Dude is skinny. Kadeem Goulbourne on the other hand has great size and will be an impact player in years to come.

- Leo Ekwoge had a great TD. Swung around the outside on the left and was found wide open for the pass. Then took it another 60+ yards for the TD. That's another position that will see competition. The spot behind Franklin. Bogan and Ekwoge both got lots of reps. Tucker might factor into the competition in the fall. Lots of depth there, for the first time in forever.

- Austin Guido looked great. If anyone had a breakout performance, I'd say it was him. Very much improved. He was fast, lowered his shoulder through the hits, caught a few swing passes. I liked what I saw out of him, and wouldn't be surprised to see him in there on short-yardage situations in the future.

- It was hard to judge the defense because there was no tackling going on, but I liked what I saw overall. Defensive front 7 is going to be solid, with plenty of depth. The only potential problem is at nose tackle. They were rotating Curle and Matich at NT, but neither of those guys quite have the size you want there. I hope we can get another 5th year transfer to fill that void. The DE positions are looking great though. Lots of athleticism and speed. I think our defense overall is going to be the best it's been in a long time.

- Kicking game looked great. Made all FGs and XPs. Every kickoff went out the back of the endzone.

- Corey Davis is still the king. Dude looks like a pro. Franklin also looked good, but hard to tell without the defense tackling.

- I liked that everyone got a chance to play some reps. The 3rd and 4th stringers. The walk-ons. I liked getting a glimpse at our depth.

- Overall, the spring game was pretty vanilla. Nothing crazy. That's what Fleck wanted though. Stay healthy, work on fundamentals. We're going to get beat up enough through the first four games in the fall.

OK here are some things I noticed from the spring game!

Yes it's wasn't that exciting with the fact there was no tackling it was kind of like a 7 on 7 but with all 11 on the field. Still a very soild turn out of people, and of course the weather helped. I hope we can get some good weather this year for home game instead of getting screwed last year by mother nature.

Corey Davis yep he is that guy, and thats all that needs to be said!

The 1st team OL are very good, large, and mean! I dont recall who exactly did it, but I think Chucks drove Braster 10 yards down the field and pancaked him and hurt his shoulder. Maybe I am a little to confident, but I think they should do just fine against MSU's tough front 7. The second team wasn't as good, but still have some good size to look forward to.

Carrington Thompson looked like the 2nd best WR on the field behind Corey. He was the lighting it up on the 2nd teamers. I think he should see the field quite a bit this year if he keeps it up.

Jarvion Franklin looks back to form before his ankle injury that slowed him down the last 4 games of the year. He didn't have to many long runs since it was pretty much tap football, but he will be great again this year no doubt.

The DL is going to be solid in MAC play no doubt. They had 2 deep that looked good. Braster and McKinney caused quite a bit of havoc even against the first teamers. The DT's will get exposed in out of league games with nobody over 300 pounds in the middle they will get pushed around by those meaty B1G OLine. I think in MAC play they will be just fine.

Linebacker are a group of 7 that could all be starters, but they just need to stay healthy.

I see no reason why we can't win the MAC with a very tough out of conference schedule.

(04-19-2015 02:12 PM)New School Bronco Wrote:  Chucks drove Braster 10 yards down the field and pancaked him and hurt his shoulder.

That's a bit concerning. Hope it's nothing serious.

Thought Kenny Finley was going to play NT.

Can't join the team until summer session. He had to sit out fall and winter sessions

(04-19-2015 05:11 PM)Hoekjeness Wrote:  Thought Kenny Finley was going to play NT.

He will probably be competing for that spot, but yeah...what EA3 said

I'd be a little surprised if he wasn't starting at the spot in the fall.

(04-19-2015 06:29 PM)Hoekjeness Wrote:  I'd be a little surprised if he wasn't starting at the spot in the fall.

If they get a 5th year, he won't be. It will be the transfer and Smith.

Guido was laying the lumber out there, finishing runs strong and getting his sideline fired up.

Terrel is easily the MAN right now. I look at my comments about him last year and feel shame. He has stepped up in every way as a leader and player.

Flacco is exciting, but doesn't have the zip on his ball. He seems to have made all the right reads.

Chance has a gun, stands tall in the pocket, and locks onto receivers. There is no 2nd option for him. Spoke to both him and Flacco afterwards and they had amazing attitudes. Just really nice guys - you want to root for both.

As good as the 1st team O-line looked, the 2nd team looked confused. D-line looked stronger than I expected - Cleveland Smith looks strong.

The only injury I noticed was Braster. Dislocated shoulder - not sure of the severity. He was in good spirits following the game.

BIG OLine. Tough to win big with 17,18 year old in Oline, as talented as they may be. That is asking and expecting a ton.