Final thoughts on A-Day

The secondary absolutely locked shite down today. AJ only had maybe two good looks down field all game. A lot of dump offs were forced. Yeldon brought his lunch pail. Drake was solid. I like this Trey Roberts kid at RB. Cody Mandell was booming punts like it was his job. The only real glaring weakness was the backup QB play. Blake Sims just doesn't seem to be getting better at all.

I think this will be a another 12 or 13 win team. But I'm absolutely worried about QB in 2014. If Bateman isn't getting more snaps than McLeod or Del Rio and Morris isn't pushing Sims, we're screwed. I hope we land David Cornwell and he's as good as advertised.

quote:

---

- NHRA is gay

---

What's this?

quote:

---

But I'm still accepting Dreamland BBQ from all of the Belue doubters/haters, you guys know who you are.

---

I think we're going to be very pleased with Belue this fall. He's Saban's next great CB.

quote:

---

All the Belue doubters/haters need to buy me some Dreamland next time I'm in T-Town damnit

---

I will around the same time you buy me some Archibald's for "Devall will not be a starter", among other things

I maintain the Kareem Jackson comparison on Belue, does more good than bad, but the bad will be focused on more because it's easier to spot. Most of the complaints were of the '12 season, not his progression going forward. I will say though a small thing you exclude while trying to rub it in people's faces about him being the "best 1st year CB starter", he had the best supporting DBs this far into the Saban era.


Anyway, only thing that really bothered me is depth and experienced depth. The former will be improved with the incoming class, and the latter will regain a bit with returning injured players like DePriest and Fulton. Maybe backup Center, because of some of the exchanges.

I like Ryan Anderson in the Hightower role they used him at, stopped Drake on an early down carry inside, then pressured Sims from the DE spot into his throwaway turned INT.

Pagan has been the guy that's been hyped up since last year, especially the people that saw him WalterFootball-spawned mock drafts, but Stinson is the player on the line. He's not gonna have a Square senior year, but more like a Dareus type.

I didn't see anything that would change the back 4, though I could see Fulton usurping Jones in nickel if "simple errors" continue. I think Sunseri looked more than good, he was at the ball every time and had some great reads. That Pick6 off the tip drill was icing.

ETA: Hit enter too early, still adding stuff...

Agree with all you said.

Cornwell may have been the second best QB at the game.

McLeod doesn't suck as much as I think we all thought he did (that's not saying a ton though).

Didn't see enough of Bateman to crush my hope in him yet.

quote:

---

I didn't see anything that would change the back 4, though I could see Fulton usurping Jones in nickel if "simple errors" continue. I think Sunseri looked more than good, he was at the ball every time and had some great reads. That Pick6 off the tip drill was icing.

---

I think Fulton/Belue/Geno will be the top three CBs when Fulton gets healthy. Cyrus looked alright out there, but the defense is too complicated to have him play over a talented Senior, in my opinion.

quote:

---

Also, RYAN KELLY named top lineman.

---

I remember when Ohio State fans said he would be processed and back home in Ohio playing for a MAC school.

HaHa and LC combo is well worth fapping about. They are playing like the 5* ranking they had coming out of HS.

Belue also played excellent today. He pretty much locked Coop down for the most part and also had a few PBUs.

The depth and talent in the secondary is a definite strong point on the defense this year.

It was a strange A-Day, mostly because we really didn't see anybody we haven't seen before. We're going to be very experienced this year.

Out of the Quarterbacks, Morris looked the best. I only took note of Bateman on one play: that INT. While he made a terrible read, he definitely has a great arm. I think he'll be very good in the future.

It's hard to judge the linebackers and Dlinemen because they weren't going as physical as they would in a real game, but I was very impressed with the secondary.

Griffith looked pretty good kicking. He didn't have a very difficult kick, but he hit everything right on the money- something Corey Smith couldn't say