re: Spring Roster and Practices

Some thoughts on the spring game

Offense

- Darrel Walker looks good. He runs crisp routes and catches the ball. He isn't as explosive as some of the younger guys coming in but I bet he ends up 3rd in catches this year behind Evans and Kennedy. Might best be described as serviceable but we need that too

- overall I thought the first team OL was solid. It can be hard to tell when going against walk-ons and the like but they moved well together, read the defense, and had nice tempo. Early last year, they struggled adjusting to the new scheme but they look very solid now. I watched Mike Matthews a bit and he's got the tempo down. He's not yet the road grader that Pat was but I don't think it's going to be a massive drop off.

- Brandon Williams is just elite. The unsportsmanlike penalties are tough to swallow and I know some older ags aren't going to like it, but imo it was almost good to see. This team was playing with emotion even in a meaningless spring game. They are having fun. I don't expect the coaches are going to put up with that shite but they have to be happy with where this team's head is

- When Evans played the slot (which was most often), Ed Pope was in Evans traditional position as the play-side outside WR. Walker started at the back-side and Jaquay Williams was playing it with the 2nd team offense. The backside WR usually is more of a big play guy while the front-side is possession (it's the opposite in the slot). I think we'll see RSJ be back-side and Parker playside in the fall giving us 3-deep at both outside spots. Also found it interesting that JFF said he prefers Evans outside. Can understand you want the security blanket but for the most part, I thought he did a lot better job of finding various receivers. It was a real problem early last year.

- Trey Williams is getting it. He's blocking, not selling out when he isn't the target, fighting for yards, etc. And he's showing even better burst. The talent was always there but now he looks like he just wants it. One of my favorite plays of his was on a double screen that went to Tra, he sold his side and until Joeckel turned, he looked every bit the part of the primary receiver. That's the kind of little thing that makes a play work and makes a team win

- really like what Lakendrick Williams brings. He's tiny and he isn't going to ever be elite but man he's a little jitterbug that can cause problems. I think he can be a good fit to run those little drags and get him the ball in space. But when Devante Harris blows you up, you know you're probably too small. Think he's a lot like Quiv only hopefully Quiv can catch better

- watching Hurd have to cover Clear is just funny. Clear had a decent game but given all the hype, I expected more. I'm pretty sure we didn't show much of the package that will include him though. He does block well. He moves really well for his size. He needs to make catches though

Defense

- Donnie Baggs is just going to be a stud. I remember as a JR Johnathon Stewart seemed to come out of nowhere to be a star. Baggs looks to have made a huge leap and appears like an SEC quality Mike. Love it!

- totally non-plussed by Brandon Alexander. Cheek seemed to win that battle fairly easily more often than not. Would have thought he would given Cheek more trouble.

- The 2nd team started a CB, S, DT and DE that were walk-ons. Injuries obviously don't help but we're just really thin.

- AJ Hilliard started off at SAM for the 2nd team. It appeared we ran a run blitz on the first play and he jammed inside. Matthews took Hilliard and Harrison destroyed a walk-on playing DE and drove him into Wade. Wade should have outside contain there but got caught up in the wash after taking a bad step (inside reading the play rather than outside to his assignment). BWill bounced it outside for 30 easy yards. I like our scheme and our defense is impressive when you do that right (see Ol Miss 4th and 1) but when you see things like this you realize having freshman that get caught up in the wash so easily (bc of a poor path) can be huge trouble for our defense.

- Shawn Ward lined up at each of the different LB positions at various points with both the 1st and 2nd team. Still looks out of shape and slow to me

- Tommie Sanders is just cat quick. On that 4th down play he was in the backfield in a flash and hit Carson before he even took a step. Worried he seems to be banged up a lot but that was just impressive

- had someone tell me Sezer was bad. That's just false. He made some good plays and was hanging tight but the one long one he got beat on the safeties both got sucked into the line and he was left on an island with no help whatsoever. He was actually step for step with Walker but Manziel made a damn near perfect throw. But with no help he made a good tackle and even a perfect throw did not result in a TD. All this from a kid taking his first snaps at CB

- Johntel Franklin is a liability. I will say he looks good in run support and in short passing situations but he seems to be overaggressive about that and that leads to huge plays. I counted about 4-5 times he got sucked towards the line of scrimmage and left the defense open to a huge play. The Walker play above was one and busted coverage on the missed throw to Sabian Holmes is another. Those sort of things are unacceptable and you can see why he has never really played. That's mental and just shouldn't be happening to a SR.