Worried about our OLIne after this morning's scrimmage ...

OL has been the worst position at USC since Spurrier got here. They are competing against the best DL we've had at USC during Spurriers tenure, so hopefully it just has more to do with that. Spurrier did point out today though that other OL's did a good job of blocking Clowney, however, our's isn't in practice.

The scrimmages are closed to the public..this one, our 2nd one, was opened to media (1st one wasn't), so we can only go by what they tweeted. They didn't give a whole lot of detail on how the plays worked out...

I'm not entirely too concerned about this, at this point: in past scrimmages, we always seem to have a good one for the offense - and it's typically the 1st scrimmage - where the defense "seems" to struggle, and then the next one the defense does much better, and the offense does poorer.

We're having to put newer players into situations offensively or defensively in order to get them acclimated and see how they respond, so sometimes we'll focus more on passing some scrimmages, sometimes more on running in others. I think some scrims we pull back a bit on the DL pressuring the QB so we can get some connections between them and the WRs if we feel they need it, then with other scrims we turn the DL loose to see how our OL pass block.

It's all situational at this stage, and therefore a lot of what we see or hear from the coaches afterwards should be taken with a grain or two of salt. It's how the entire fall camp, and all the scrimmages as a whole, look at the end that will tell us where the flaws lie.

Biggest thing is to try to get through it all as healthy as possible, and hope we can field most all we want to field in our first game of the season, and go forward from there...

I gotta say we need to get healthy above all things.

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The scrimmages are closed to the public..

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But scrooster was in there.... he is connected.

I want his observations.

This does not concern me too much, one reason being Clowney is going to be Clowny. Two our other D line players are also really good. Three it is just a scrimmage.

Yes, I was there. We were told not to give play by play by phone but every media member seemed to be doing it - I should have.

My observations were that we are going to have a strong running game. My favorite player at the scrimmage today was 93, English. He did well getting into backfields and stopping the run. Our online fires off the ball in run blocking but they show some weakness pass blocking - they may be too big honestly.

There were flashes of brilliance, at times. Cooper made ahelluva catch and so did Roland. I llike our fullback a lot, just can't remember his name but he is a beast.

Most of the starters went out right after Shaw dinged his thumb. I saw the whole thing coming and we all cringed when he did it. I know a lot of the media but can't stand most of them especially that prick Kevin McCrary who was talking shite about everything negative. Corey Miller on the other hand agreed with me about the online and said if they get that clicking then there is no limit to what this team can do ... I said it first. All the pieces are in place. Our WRs are going to be excellent if we can just give Shaw and Thompson time to get rid of the ball. And Shaw obviously has trouble seeing over our OLine at times BTW. Elliott was livid a couple of times and I could hear him yelling at Shell and Robertson to lower their hips and center of gravity immediately when they come out of their stances. I'm invited to Monday's scrimmage as well after our meeting. Not sure if I'll go or not because I need to spend some dinner time with the wife while we are in Columbia, but they are feeding us at the meeting so if she'll come eat there I might be able to pulling the scrimmage off afterwards.

We're a big, fast, SEC football team. Another guy and I counted maybe 25 future NFLers on the two deep today so we are loaded with talent. Our young LBs are going to be very very good and we seem to just keep reloading in the secondary. But the light has to come on for our two O-Tackles especially, otherwise the first team with some decent pass rushers is going to give us fits IMHO.

I'm not sure if the media is invited Monday or not. I hope not. The only ones I can stomach when they are out there are Pete Icobelli and Bob Spear. Christopher Thompson has the personality of a dog's arse and is proof that nerds and geeks find fame in sports through the radio. Scott Hood is the most grotesque human slob I have ever met. You smell him coming before you see him. Phil Kornblut is okay, I guess, when he is not trying to smooze with one of us acting like he doesn't like to be around the media guys either. Tony Morrell seems like a genuinely nice guy. The rest of us, what few invitees there were of us this morning, I was by far the oldest and have seen it all over the years. My observations are based upon knowledge of the game and having an eye for specific key indicators like athleticism, footwork, anticipating the play in advance, coach ability,concentration, not making the same mistake three times in a row, ability to avoid putting one's self in a weak position to defend, ability to bounce back from getting burned, ability to shrugg off an arse chewing, ability to ignore distractions, etc.

We're solid. Extraordinary even. But we have a lot of work to do between now and the opener.

We'll be, once again, one of the better defensive teams inthe country this year. We're hhonestly that good - the potential to be great. But our OLine was making rookie mistakes today - getting beat because of missed assignments and bad technique and that was not good. They have to improve their game if we really want to accomplish big things this year and next. Don't get me wrong, our OLine is better than 8 out of 10 in the country right now. But they are going to have to work on getting quicker off the snap, off the ends at tackle, if we are going to survive this season unscathed. And unscathed is the goal this season.

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Do ya'll scrimmage 1st string vs 1st string or 1st vs 2nd?

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I

We did this morning but they were practicing running defenders in and out as fast as possible in anticipation of UNC. So there were maybe a half dozen plays when it was just 1s vs 1s. The rest of the time they were mixing it up with 2nd team guys getting a lot of playing time along the DLine mixed in with 1st team guys. Our defense really is something to behold. We are truly loaded on D. I was so shocked watching our young LBs go at it that I had to pinch myself. We've got some serious young talent at LB. Great athletes.

I've noticed a majority of fall camps have two issues:

O-line play &

injuries.

I think it's just a thing.

Holy shite. I'd one day like to have the connections to get into a scrimmage that is closed to the public.

I dedicate my 1000th post to you scrooster. You are truly an asset.