So, this fall, with AD posting his thoughts immediately after each game, I'm going to take some time to digest each contest, watch it again, and share my thoughts. So, after sitting down and letting everything from Saturday digest with a second watch, here are my thoughts.
-First, Coach Kingsbury was visibly irritated with the way his offense played, specifically with the sloppy "street ball" play by the first string -, particularly Mahomes - and overall bad play by the second string in the second half. I concur with his frustrations. While he did make some big highlight plays, Mahomes also missed on a number of easy plays because he reverted back to habits of old, going for the big play or failing to use good mechanics when throwing, resulting in some long chains on several third downs or missed opportunities on third down that led to punts. He and Kliff worked all offseason to make sure he did the routine things well more often, and at times in the first quarter and early second, he reverted back to old habits when he let his energy and emotions of the first game get in the way. That's what I mark his sloppy play at times up to.
-But, Mahomes also had several times where he stood tall and went through his reads that impressed me. Once he settled in midway through the 2nd quarter, I think he was much more sound. I expect him to be so much more regularly moving forward with the first game in the books.
-I thought the outside receivers played worlds different against SFA than they have in two years. They were physical with DBs when they needed to be, won a lot of one-on-ones in man coverage, and just seemed to be so much better technically. Credit that to both the age of the group and Emmett Jones, who is a stickler for details. Four of Tech's top 7 receivers in the game were outside guys, which is a definite, positive change.
-As for the first string O-line, I think it was a bit up and down, particularly for the redshirt freshmen tackles. When it was good, it often was really good. When it was bad, it was bad. But, I think there definitely were some first game jitters and kinks for both Steele and Akamnonu that they'll get over. What I will say, though, is I thought the group ran block really, really well for the most part despite how little Tech ran the ball. The inside zone is a key bread and butter play to help this offense link together first down after first down with regularity, and I liked what I saw from this OL on those plays. I'm encouraged, and this group just needs time to gel.
-For me, I'm going to give the RBs a grade of incomplete. They just didn't run enough in meaningful snaps for me to get a good feel for how they're going to perform in the ground game, though j did think they caught the ball well and were solid in pass pro as a group. I'm still not convinced that Justin Stockton is your every down runner, though.
-But, I've got a big sneaking suspicion that Kliff didn't call any runs hardly against SFA on purpose. It screams to me that he didn't want to give anything away to Arizona State this weekend, cause his OL blocked pretty well when they did call runs, and Tech was in a ton of two back sets for running as little as they did, and some of that was for more blockers on pass plays. Still, I think they're trying to set something up for the trip out to Tempe.
-The second string O-line was a disaster, so I'm not going to judge Nic Shimonek too much. I think he had some early jitters, too, and he didn't play up to his potential. If anything, it was great for him to get so many real snaps in the contest.
-Okay, on to defense: I'll admit that I was very impressed, particularly with the defensive line. Ondre Pipkens was the best nose tackle I've seen Tech trot out in half a decade, and he was incredibly disruptive. Kolin Hill made plays off the edge. Fehoko was Fehoko. Gary Moore, Kris Williams, Zach Barnes, and Broderick Washingon all did things I really liked. That group dictated the line of scrimmage all night, particularly in the first half when the defense was still mostly made up of first string players. They stopped the run, and they got a ton of pressure on Conque that forced SFA to go into a lot of quick hitting stuff so he wouldn't get sacked. That group has me very encouraged, I'll just say that. They'll have a great opportunity against a green, shaky ASU O-line this weekend too.
-At linebacker, the most encouraging thing I saw was guys around the ball all night and filling their gaps. SFA didn't have but one or two 8-10 yard runs when the first string defense was in. Jordyn Brooks, D'Vonta Hinton, and Malik Jenkins is a group of LBs that can be at least solid this fall. I like it.
-At DB, I thought the group got more flack than they deserved. They either picked off, batted down, or had good coverage on essentially every deep ball toss from Conque, as the only TD given up was a late throw away score on a true freshman in his first game with Doug Coleman. Sure, they gave up a lot of dink and dunk stuff underneath, but that has more to do with the vanilla zone schemes Tech was running. Overall, I thought the group played better coverage and was much more physical than ive seen them be.
-As for the true freshmen on defense, I've already mentioned Brooks, but Doug Coleman and Joe Wallace get big green checkmarks from me, too. Coleman is long, athletic, and has a good sense for corner, and IMO he'll be starting in the nickel or on the outside sooner than later. Wallace was a bulldog and got after SFA's line, and he's so incredibly quick off the snap. Color me impressed with both those guys.
-And finally, hallelujah. Tech finally has a punt return game again. Cam Batson has such great vision and the requisite fearlessness to excel in the return game. Add the new gear he found in the offseason, and I think Tech is cooking with gas on punt returns this fall.
-First, Coach Kingsbury was visibly irritated with the way his offense played, specifically with the sloppy "street ball" play by the first string -, particularly Mahomes - and overall bad play by the second string in the second half. I concur with his frustrations. While he did make some big highlight plays, Mahomes also missed on a number of easy plays because he reverted back to habits of old, going for the big play or failing to use good mechanics when throwing, resulting in some long chains on several third downs or missed opportunities on third down that led to punts. He and Kliff worked all offseason to make sure he did the routine things well more often, and at times in the first quarter and early second, he reverted back to old habits when he let his energy and emotions of the first game get in the way. That's what I mark his sloppy play at times up to.
-But, Mahomes also had several times where he stood tall and went through his reads that impressed me. Once he settled in midway through the 2nd quarter, I think he was much more sound. I expect him to be so much more regularly moving forward with the first game in the books.
-I thought the outside receivers played worlds different against SFA than they have in two years. They were physical with DBs when they needed to be, won a lot of one-on-ones in man coverage, and just seemed to be so much better technically. Credit that to both the age of the group and Emmett Jones, who is a stickler for details. Four of Tech's top 7 receivers in the game were outside guys, which is a definite, positive change.
-As for the first string O-line, I think it was a bit up and down, particularly for the redshirt freshmen tackles. When it was good, it often was really good. When it was bad, it was bad. But, I think there definitely were some first game jitters and kinks for both Steele and Akamnonu that they'll get over. What I will say, though, is I thought the group ran block really, really well for the most part despite how little Tech ran the ball. The inside zone is a key bread and butter play to help this offense link together first down after first down with regularity, and I liked what I saw from this OL on those plays. I'm encouraged, and this group just needs time to gel.
-For me, I'm going to give the RBs a grade of incomplete. They just didn't run enough in meaningful snaps for me to get a good feel for how they're going to perform in the ground game, though j did think they caught the ball well and were solid in pass pro as a group. I'm still not convinced that Justin Stockton is your every down runner, though.
-But, I've got a big sneaking suspicion that Kliff didn't call any runs hardly against SFA on purpose. It screams to me that he didn't want to give anything away to Arizona State this weekend, cause his OL blocked pretty well when they did call runs, and Tech was in a ton of two back sets for running as little as they did, and some of that was for more blockers on pass plays. Still, I think they're trying to set something up for the trip out to Tempe.
-The second string O-line was a disaster, so I'm not going to judge Nic Shimonek too much. I think he had some early jitters, too, and he didn't play up to his potential. If anything, it was great for him to get so many real snaps in the contest.
-Okay, on to defense: I'll admit that I was very impressed, particularly with the defensive line. Ondre Pipkens was the best nose tackle I've seen Tech trot out in half a decade, and he was incredibly disruptive. Kolin Hill made plays off the edge. Fehoko was Fehoko. Gary Moore, Kris Williams, Zach Barnes, and Broderick Washingon all did things I really liked. That group dictated the line of scrimmage all night, particularly in the first half when the defense was still mostly made up of first string players. They stopped the run, and they got a ton of pressure on Conque that forced SFA to go into a lot of quick hitting stuff so he wouldn't get sacked. That group has me very encouraged, I'll just say that. They'll have a great opportunity against a green, shaky ASU O-line this weekend too.
-At linebacker, the most encouraging thing I saw was guys around the ball all night and filling their gaps. SFA didn't have but one or two 8-10 yard runs when the first string defense was in. Jordyn Brooks, D'Vonta Hinton, and Malik Jenkins is a group of LBs that can be at least solid this fall. I like it.
-At DB, I thought the group got more flack than they deserved. They either picked off, batted down, or had good coverage on essentially every deep ball toss from Conque, as the only TD given up was a late throw away score on a true freshman in his first game with Doug Coleman. Sure, they gave up a lot of dink and dunk stuff underneath, but that has more to do with the vanilla zone schemes Tech was running. Overall, I thought the group played better coverage and was much more physical than ive seen them be.
-As for the true freshmen on defense, I've already mentioned Brooks, but Doug Coleman and Joe Wallace get big green checkmarks from me, too. Coleman is long, athletic, and has a good sense for corner, and IMO he'll be starting in the nickel or on the outside sooner than later. Wallace was a bulldog and got after SFA's line, and he's so incredibly quick off the snap. Color me impressed with both those guys.
-And finally, hallelujah. Tech finally has a punt return game again. Cam Batson has such great vision and the requisite fearlessness to excel in the return game. Add the new gear he found in the offseason, and I think Tech is cooking with gas on punt returns this fall.
