Well, it's time for Spring football.......I think......hardly a word is being spoken. I've read all of Coach B's comments about practice so far and I think we are in trouble.....he said the same thing last year.....the offense looks good.....the defense looks good and you know what that got us!!! Then I remembered, that's what every coach says every year......it looks like an undefeated season for sure!!!! It does seem a little quieter this year than in recent years......maybe everyone is trying not to be to optimistic.......would hate to think we might actually win 4 games......no, I didn't say that, it might jinx the season. I was hoping Coach B would say the passing game is really looking good in our new spread offense......or we are spending more time on our passing game this year in Spring Practice than last year. About the only thing he has mentioned is Flanders looks pretty good at running back.......so I presume our QB's have learned how to hand the ball off to our backs pretty good. Evidently our Arkansas Freshman QB has looked OK but has a long ways to go.........and that is the report on the offense so far!!! Kind of quiet don't you think?????

I'm afraid the defense will have to carry us next year. Its pretty obvious our offensive staff is more concerned with not losing a game than winning it. We have a set of QBs that we do not know if they can win a game on their own wo a solid rungame. Ther were times when our defense showed a greater capability to score than the offense - and most of them have graduated or been lost to permanent injury. It doesn't look good and the decisions that BB made in the off season in hiring/firing are very questionable. If our kick game isn't better and our offense is worse, it won't matter what kind of defense we have IMO.

The spring game will be revealing because a lot of people are going to want to see an improvement in skill fundamentals and an offense that looks more polished. But what i want to see is a team that is in good physical condition - which we were not last year IMO. You have to run to play FB and if you can't run because you aren't in good condition, the result is usually a sloppy performance. I know when TG and GM were in charge their moto was "the best conditioned team in america". WE NEED THAT!

If we start a sophomore QB and RB or a freshman QB and RB, I think we are in deep trouble - offensively. But the way it looks now, that may be the case.

I went to the scrimmage on Saturday morning. It is was a great day for football (almost any day is) !

Defense dominated, offense was not as impressive.

Here are a few of the younger, newer guys that impressed our group that went to the scrimmage :

DE Frankie Davis ( RS-FR) He made some nice plays & looked aggressive

DE Cory Rahming (RS-SO) Made a couple good plays & you can tell he's an athlete. If he can stay healthy, I think he will be a good one.

OLB C.J. Gooden (RS-FR) He had an interception & made some good plays. He looks like he has good speed & instincts.

CB Kerwin Thomas (RS-FR) He had an int. & broke up & couple of passes. He has very good closing speed & he blocked a field goal attempt, too.

S Joe Bean (RS-FR) He was all over the field. He made tackles in the backfield & broke up passes downfield. He seemed to be in on almost every play. He busted coverage a couple times & dropped one int., but he has very good instincts, very good overall speed & closing speed. I think he will be a very good player for us.

It was fun to watch, the defense was animated & played great. The story I've heard is that the offense dominated during the week & the defense came back on Saturday.

I really think that we have so few WRs & RBs healthy right now, that this fall will be the real testing time of the offense. Right now, the defense is healthier & our defensive starters & many backups look much better.

BTW, our defensive backfield may be the most talented & athletic I've ever seen at TU. Here is a list of some of these guys :

Safety
DeMarco Nelson (SR.) We already know how good he is !
Michael Mudoh ( JR.) He hits hard ! He also flies around all over the field
Joe Bean (RS-FR) Read above comments...very good potential

Cornerbacks
Darnell Walker JR. (SO) playing even better this spring..very good
Will Barrow (SO) Starting safety last year. Had a great int. on Saturday
Dwight Dobbins ( SR) Very good player, sitting out spring w/ injury
Kerwin Thomas (RS-FR) Showed great promise on Saturday

Other players at both positions That can/have played include : Darrell Williams, Johnell Cellistan, Austin McDaniel, Jeremy Brady

I'm not sure whether a few of the offensive newcomers/redshirts/walkons doing well in the spring was a good thing or bad. And I'm not sure if the offensive spurt at the end of the scrimmage had more to do with the defense calling off the dogs and the coaches letting the scrubs play at the end.

I will say that from what I saw, the top QBs appear to be Burgess and Evans. Burgess looks more consistently good, but his youth possibly keeps him behind Evans in the coaches eye. Evans knows the receivers and their capabilities. I will say that I thought the QB's both looked better, fundamentally.

I'm also not convinced that Flanders is the answer and the spin this spring was how good R Simon (a walkon) looked at RB. I just don't see him as anything close to a difference maker or a smaller version of Alex.

I think our line has a chance to be better and the WRs will get a big injection with Garrett.

The offense really didn't look much different from an execution standpoint and the fact we ran a few more spread sets dosn't mean we have a completely new offense. My main concern is that we cannot replace Trey, Roberson and James.

Defensively, like Franz has said, looks very good and I think we'll be excellent. But they can't carry us if the offense turns over the ball or can't get first downs. The offense has got to improve.

On the spring game "program" I noticed that all the suites, club seats etc were sold out. This is a good sign since our most "giving" fans have stuck with us. It also reinforces my contention that we need to "someday" add more suites surrounding the stadium. That provides a great revenue stream for the program and with business booming here, that should expand the program in many ways. it also would ensure enough revenue to allow us to keep good teams coming and more tix sold.

I was disappointed after watching the spring game. It looked like more of the same crap from last year.

There were a few bright spots, but those were to be expected.

Burgess looked head and shoulders above the other qbs (Evans looked awful). Plus burgess was going against the 1st team d with his 2nd team o... Another good sign.

I hope bill can pull his head out and play the best qb not just the one who's been around the longest.

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God, I hope you are wrong about the offense........if that is the way it plays out in the first game, I hope we start looking for a good head coach then!!!

I just don't see us being very successful after watching the spring game. We looked slow and unsure. And besides the few bright spots I pointed out, it looked exactly like it did last year.

Very very very disappointing. Especially going into a new conference where we need to make an immediate impact to earn respect bc of all the national exposure we're getting... Unfortunately a lot of potential recruits will see us on espn platforms regularly crapping the bed.

I honestly think once bill loses his 6th or 7th game, Gragg will fire him.

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If there's one thing that I've learned in football, its that all offenses are designed to move the ball and all plays are designed to score, regardless of the set, called play or play caller. Success happens when the talent, the circumstances, immediate situation, execution and preparation are all combined.

The question to me is how effective can we be on offense when we do not have dominant talent - something our style of offense seems to require imo. And what happens when our preparation to run that offense is poor. And what happens when we aren't conditioned enough to run those plays for an entire game. And what happens when our best recruits/players leave or are eliminated in some way? Who's responsible for that and to what degree?

My fear is that we will fall on our collective rear ends in the new conference because we can't handle bigger, faster, stronger and smarter defenses. IMO we have to score the easy way against better conference talent. We can't afford to grind it out running the "power-isolation play and the seam route" when we have to throw it. What I'm seeing under BB is that we are teaching our QBs to execute a set/play and when the play won't break, we have nothing but the QB's ability to get us out of that difficult situation rather than having an offense so dynamic we are just unstoppable. We have to realize that in this new league, we won't have anything close to a talent edge over our opponents.

BB's history as a HFBC has been at schools like Union where he had a huge talent advantage and then under TG where he used talent he'd inherited to win the first two years. Now its obvious, we don't have that edge. But I am just not happy at who was hired and who was and wasn't fired. If we don't show immediate improvement this year, we need to hire a bright, new and young coach who isn't afraid to go the extra mile.

I haven't been this unexcited about a TU football season since 2002

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If you only saw the spring game & no other practices or scrimmages, I understand the pessimism. Here is a list of probable starters who didn't play :

Defense : LB Trent Martin & Mitchell Osborne CB Darnell Walker & Dwight Dobbins

Offense : WR Keyarris Garrett & Josh Atkinson. RB Dickerson TE Wilson. Also, several O linemen.

We are going to be much better on defense. We have many good young fast defenders on the 2 deep.

We will be better on offense, but how much better depends on players who didn't play in the spring. My son is friends with a player. He said we were basically down to 10 basic plays last season, in an attempt to make Cody Green successful. He said we have a much larger play book this season.

Will it improve our horrible offense of 2013...we'll see this fall. With an improved defense, I think improvement on offense is the deciding factor for 2014.

(05-01-2014 01:55 PM)Tulsafanzz Wrote:  If you only saw the spring game & no other practices or scrimmages, I understand the pessimism. Here is a list of probable starters who didn't play :

Defense : LB Trent Martin & Mitchell Osborne CB Darnell Walker & Dwight Dobbins

Offense : WR Keyarris Garrett & Josh Atkinson. RB Dickerson TE Wilson. Also, several O linemen.

We are going to be much better on defense. We have many good young fast defenders on the 2 deep.

We will be better on offense, but how much better depends on players who didn't play in the spring. My son is friends with a player. He said we were basically down to 10 basic plays last season, in an attempt to make Cody Green successful. He said we have a much larger play book this season.

Will it improve our horrible offense of 2013...we'll see this fall. With an improved defense, I think improvement on offense is the deciding factor for 2014.

I hope you're right!

What are your thoughts on Jabe over Dane?

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Hey fanzz since you've been around the kids during the spring more than most of us, what's the deal with D Walker? Is there a chance he'll be back? No need to go into the specifics of the disciplinary action. I assume it was either a major infraction or a more minor one. Personally I was shocked when I read that on rivals.

(05-01-2014 03:23 PM)rabidTU2 Wrote:  Hey fanzz since you've been around the kids during the spring more than most of us, what's the deal with D Walker? Is there a chance he'll be back? No need to go into the specifics of the disciplinary action. I assume it was either a major infraction or a more minor one. Personally I was shocked when I read that on rivals.

I've heard academics. My understanding is he can earn his way back, but that is 3rd hand information. With his dad as asst. coach, I bet he has had a fire lit under him!

(05-01-2014 02:28 PM)goldenhurricane2 Wrote:  

(05-01-2014 01:55 PM)Tulsafanzz Wrote:  If you only saw the spring game & no other practices or scrimmages, I understand the pessimism. Here is a list of probable starters who didn't play :

Defense : LB Trent Martin & Mitchell Osborne CB Darnell Walker & Dwight Dobbins

Offense : WR Keyarris Garrett & Josh Atkinson. RB Dickerson TE Wilson. Also, several O linemen.

We are going to be much better on defense. We have many good young fast defenders on the 2 deep.

We will be better on offense, but how much better depends on players who didn't play in the spring. My son is friends with a player. He said we were basically down to 10 basic plays last season, in an attempt to make Cody Green successful. He said we have a much larger play book this season.

Will it improve our horrible offense of 2013...we'll see this fall. With an improved defense, I think improvement on offense is the deciding factor for 2014.

I hope you're right!

What are your thoughts on Jabe over Dane?

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Dane looked better at earlier scrimmage, but Jabe definitely looked better at the spring game. Did Jabe just have a hot day, or is he one of those players who play their best "when the lights come on" ? I'm sure the coaches are stewing over that question.

I still think Dane starts against Tulane, but Jabe is ready if needed. Both QBs are a huge upgrade from Green, IMO.

Our defense maybe better but if they are on the field over 50% of the time because of a piss poor offense.......they maybe dead by the 4th quarter!!!!!!!

I really hope bill and the team proves me wrong by coming out and playing good football. I don't expect him to win 10 or 11 games but he needs to show marked improvement for the "fire bill" crowd to quiet down. I'm thinking for that to happen, he's going to have to get at least 7 wins.

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(05-01-2014 04:57 PM)Tulsafanzz Wrote:  

(05-01-2014 03:23 PM)rabidTU2 Wrote:  Hey fanzz since you've been around the kids during the spring more than most of us, what's the deal with D Walker? Is there a chance he'll be back? No need to go into the specifics of the disciplinary action. I assume it was either a major infraction or a more minor one. Personally I was shocked when I read that on rivals.

I've heard academics. My understanding is he can earn his way back, but that is 3rd hand information. With his dad as asst. coach, I bet he has had a fire lit under him!

Thanks for the feedback. I feel a little better now about him returning. I think he's one of the kids that can star in the new conference. Our defense could be excellent. Now if we can be a scoring threat!?