I've been doing some recon tonight and here is what I found out about the scrimmage today from valued sources.
This echoes a lot of what Coach Key said after the scrimmage but offers a little more detail.
The offensive dominated the first half of the scrimmage and a lot of that was how sound the operation was from the play call to getting lined up and that was the case with each of the QBs and offensive units and not just the ones. The twos were just as dominant. Haynes King and Zach Pyron both looked really good especially early on. King has complete control of the offense and was in sync from the jump and the OL was blocking well despite having some new pieces in without Keylan Rutledge (RG) or Corey Robinson (LT). Pyron out of out the pocket on the well-covered plays and extended things and made some nice plays stepping up in the pocket and running as well. Aaron Philo connected on a long TD pass as well.
The QBs were doing a much better job of progressing through their reads and getting to the third option at times and not locking in early (King's biggest issue last year).
After the offense got rolling, Key took a break and huddled the defense up for an extended period of time and then the D came out with their hair on fire for the second half of the scrimmage and it became more of an even match.
Zeek Biggers was a big part of that, he was very dominant up front. Key also shouted out Horace Lockett in his thing along with Zeek. Both have really benefitted from Jess Simpson as Key mentioned.
Tyler Santucci's main linebackers were Kyle Efford and Tren Tatum with the first group and Efford is rock solid. Tatum started out slow and then turned it on after Key's speech to the defense and was all over the field.
Clayton Powell-Lee and Rodney Shelley both made plays in the secondary.
On the ground, Evan Dickens had a pair of long touchdowns and was very impressive as was Anthony Carrie as Key mentioned.
Leo Blackburn just plays without fear and looks like he was never injured. He had two very nice catches and the on the second one he tried to lower the boom on a defender and truck that player. He was pulled out after that, no need for Leo to get hurt in the first scrimmage, but it goes to show he isn't holding back at all and is back.
Eric Singleton just gets open, he is really good when he is in single coverage and not bracketed.
Avery Boyd also had a big day and the staff are hoping to find a bigger role for him as they evolve some of the offense and get playmakers in space. He is a guy that Key also shouted out.
There were no lost fumbles and no interceptions. The only fumbles came late in the day on some meshes and just two fumbles which is pretty good for a first scrimmage. The OL had a lot of young guys getting major reps for the first time like Jameson Riggs at LT and Tana at center and there were no false starts or holds, just one penalty on the third team O upfront.
Key really pushed them today ahead of the day off on Sunday. It sounds like the team responded well to that test. Our media session was 1:45 later than it was originally scheduled for and they did move back the scrimmage start time, but they also went at it for a long time for 155 plays or whatever Key said up from a normal 100ish plays.
This echoes a lot of what Coach Key said after the scrimmage but offers a little more detail.
The offensive dominated the first half of the scrimmage and a lot of that was how sound the operation was from the play call to getting lined up and that was the case with each of the QBs and offensive units and not just the ones. The twos were just as dominant. Haynes King and Zach Pyron both looked really good especially early on. King has complete control of the offense and was in sync from the jump and the OL was blocking well despite having some new pieces in without Keylan Rutledge (RG) or Corey Robinson (LT). Pyron out of out the pocket on the well-covered plays and extended things and made some nice plays stepping up in the pocket and running as well. Aaron Philo connected on a long TD pass as well.
The QBs were doing a much better job of progressing through their reads and getting to the third option at times and not locking in early (King's biggest issue last year).
After the offense got rolling, Key took a break and huddled the defense up for an extended period of time and then the D came out with their hair on fire for the second half of the scrimmage and it became more of an even match.
Zeek Biggers was a big part of that, he was very dominant up front. Key also shouted out Horace Lockett in his thing along with Zeek. Both have really benefitted from Jess Simpson as Key mentioned.
Tyler Santucci's main linebackers were Kyle Efford and Tren Tatum with the first group and Efford is rock solid. Tatum started out slow and then turned it on after Key's speech to the defense and was all over the field.
Clayton Powell-Lee and Rodney Shelley both made plays in the secondary.
On the ground, Evan Dickens had a pair of long touchdowns and was very impressive as was Anthony Carrie as Key mentioned.
Leo Blackburn just plays without fear and looks like he was never injured. He had two very nice catches and the on the second one he tried to lower the boom on a defender and truck that player. He was pulled out after that, no need for Leo to get hurt in the first scrimmage, but it goes to show he isn't holding back at all and is back.
Eric Singleton just gets open, he is really good when he is in single coverage and not bracketed.
Avery Boyd also had a big day and the staff are hoping to find a bigger role for him as they evolve some of the offense and get playmakers in space. He is a guy that Key also shouted out.
There were no lost fumbles and no interceptions. The only fumbles came late in the day on some meshes and just two fumbles which is pretty good for a first scrimmage. The OL had a lot of young guys getting major reps for the first time like Jameson Riggs at LT and Tana at center and there were no false starts or holds, just one penalty on the third team O upfront.
Key really pushed them today ahead of the day off on Sunday. It sounds like the team responded well to that test. Our media session was 1:45 later than it was originally scheduled for and they did move back the scrimmage start time, but they also went at it for a long time for 155 plays or whatever Key said up from a normal 100ish plays.
