floridacorn

That was a brutal outing, but 1 play in particular would drive me nuts if I'm the coaching staff. I believe it was in the 3rd quarter, but the play was a shallow cross screen. Fidone blocks Lloyd's man off the LOS, Lloyd comes underneath Fidone and crosses down the LOS, and the receiver running a shallow cross from the opposite side also blocks coverage LB's. All legal because Lloyd is crossing at the LOS. HH dropped back in a clean pocket & just as Lloyd is about to break free & into a ton of open space, HH inexplicably climbs in the clean pocket and runs himself into a sack with eyes down field the entire time. Any pass that doesn't go to Lloyd turns all those blocks into penalties, because they were blatant blocks, not subtle picks. So what in the world was HH looking at, and why did he abandon a clean pocket while the screen was being set up? IMO, you can only assume he wasn't aware what they were running & that the receiver down field was just clearing out coverage. As frustrating as the endless array of the inaccurate passes were, they can be accounted for. That play isn't mechanics, it's between the ears.

On that very specific play, HH was already off his primary read, and was in the process of moving from his 2nd to his check down when he found out the defender initially covering his check down had come off him. On the broader topic of HH staring down his primary receivers, yes and no. He's often throwing a beat late, so he's on his reads longer, but I see his head moving from primary often in a lot of these clips. I'm always critical of execution and technique because it can always be better, but it's a lot for a player who is in a new system, didn't expect to play this season, and wasn't legitimately being coached a year ago to be dialed into the progression of every concept they run. He'll improve a lot "IF" they can fix or restore his mechanics imo.

I've always thought it was subpar, that's been the frustrating part of watching this teams ineptitude. Granted, the division is somehow always tougher than it appears to be at the beginning of the season.

I learned Ryan Walters isn't familiar with the recent history of NU self-destructing or he would have kicked off at the 6:24 mark and made life really interesting for NU. I learned Evan Cooper is a better talent evaluator than Frost's staff when Jalen Lloyd made a big play in a Div 1 college football game as a true freshman. And I continue to learn this defensive staff is light years better than the previous staff given the reality this is largely being done with their players.

It's interesting to see the evolution of the depth chart at the Jack position since the season started. If memory serves correct, Borders, Butler, Gbayor, & Sherman have each been listed as the starter at some point in the season, Butler & Borders are now DE's, & Umanmielen is the #2 Jack.

3. It is beginning to look a lot like Solich's version of the option. 5. There's no point in wildcat when you're QB's run the power read effectively. I'm with ndobney, the run & pass game need to be tied together better. It's looking a lot like Frost is calling the plays. I can't think of many things more useless & uninspiring than a drop back hitch on first down for a team that is being played to run the ball.

That first play NW is in cover 2 or at least cover 2 to that side of the field (cover 6) and NU runs a switch with the 2 TE's. Surely something they saw on film to run on first play expecting to get exactly what they got, which was the S running with the #2 receiver and the CB getting lost on the switch and putting the S in conflict. Although, soft play action likely would have opened this up further and the back still could have run to the flat. I'm not with Rhule on this one, generally, "if you're even, you're leaving", Boerkircher is open, but he isn't housing that with a perfect throw. The S only squats when he see's Haarberg turning the ball loose. If the throw is deep, he's behind and out of phase with Boerkircher, but it's not like he was flat footed until he reads the intermediate pass, turns to recover, and the pass behind Fidone is thrown directly to him. They expected to get Fidone free on this play, HH predetermined where he was going, and it was still open. In regards to the progression on pass plays being deep to shallow, somebody else pointed out the "touchdown checkdown" mantra. It's a good question, the answer is a QB has to be able to read the defense pre and post snap to identify the deep threat being open before it's actually open and then throw him open. That is why HH has been late on all the shot plays sans the Coleman TD. He's waiting to see them open. This play is perfect example. Beorkircher is open, he's not 5 yards behind the defense running free, but he's about to be behind the S if the ball leads him there.

What's interesting is that you can find early spring practice video of HH throwing in 2021 with Sean Callahan talking about how impressed the coaches were with his arm talent and he consistently has a higher/over the top release. Similarly, there is video of HH in the 2021 spring game. His release point was as it is now and he throws some passes in that game that look like they were thrown with his off hand. I don't know if he has a mental block like Charles Barkley's golf swing or Verduzco taught him to throw like Dan Quessenberry on purpose, but it's odd.

I find it hard to understand how this became what we've seen this season. If Verduzco is responsible for it, malpractice is the only accurate word.

Is it just me or does HH's throwing motion appear dramatically better in HS?

Apparently I'm the only one who thinks Marcus Washington's college career was cut short by a dirty play that not only wasn't called a penalty (grabbing a player on either side of the ball by the outside of their shoulder pads and slinging them to the ground like you're steer wrestling is holding), but unless I've missed it, nobody seems to have an issue with. For all the touch & borderline penalties in football today, players shouldn't get hurt off the ball & away from the play like this.

http://www.hudl.com/v/2JmuLD This kid? You are being relocated from scouting to admin...

The 2 things that stood out to me are he's a beat late on most passes & he rarely throws a wr friendly ball. Catching a wobbly ball is like hitting a curve

If anybody recalls that Taylor Martinez breakout game vs K-State, the coaches kept him out of passing situations, and ran option or QB draws on 3rd & long that produced explosive plays (as shown above). He started to unravel the more they asked him and he tried to be a drop back passer. Back to the topic of getting receivers down field. They did try to get Fidone down field on a corner or deep over that resulted in holding or a PI and they've tried to get Hill deep a few times (which is telling). Coleman must not be ready, but he does jump off the LOS, close cushion quickly, and certainly has the athletic profile of a deep threat. If they could get him involved, it might not lighten the tackle box, but it would create some space in the short to intermediate areas for Kemp to work underneath him. Regardless, this offense desperately needs to identify somebody who can loosen coverage on the back end.

Off the top of my head, NU ran the ball 3 or 4 times yesterday on 3rd & 3. I think that's who this team is with HH or Sims at QB. Need to get Fidone down field a few times per game, need to find a receiver they can get down field a few times per game, & they have to be cleaner to avoid getting behind the sticks. It's going to be ugly, but not as ugly as asking these guys to do things they can't do consistently well.

I know NU ran tracks a lot under Austin, which basically eliminates all doubles at the point of attack.

I was looking for a clip to show NU's inside zone blocking and I think you see a lot in this. First, Scott & Nouili are off the ball much faster than Piper, Corcoran, & Benhardt (I could state this another way). Second, Piper & Nouili are progressing through the double team too quickly imo. The entire point of utilizing this call/technique in the zone scheme vs straight solo reach blocks or running tracks is to get the D-lineman under control/change the LOS. By progressing to the 2nd level prematurely, they are still allowing NIU to shift the tackle box dramatically to the play side as you would expect with solo reach blocks, and neither Scott or Benhardt have play side leverage on their men. That's a sin when you utilize this call. Third, the advantage of zone blocking is even when you are beat, you can win. If the defender has his head by you, you use his leverage against him and push him through and if a back see's a defender flashing across his face he cuts it back. Piper & Nouili are off the block too soon, Scott & Benhardt are fighting a losing battle from the second they make contact, and Irvin picks a closing lane after pressing the hole. You could stay on these double teams, ignore the LB's, and get 3-4 yards. It's a progression, and they aren't securing the LOS before climbing to the second level.

Rough. I think Rhule may have just given us insight on scholarship numbers going into next season however when he referred to Ramir as a Sr. I noticed in a video during camp he labeled the "covid" Jr's as Sr's as well. If that's the case however, it would seem another back through recruiting or portal seem vital for next year.

NU's running the QB 20x a game. Both are going to be needed.

Arrested in Ga possibly means this was a moot point regarding NU football already. On a side note, I know this staff was desperate for receiving talent, and the program has been desperate for talent, but 5 star talent that can't contribute at Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State, ect is fools gold.

The defensive staff is legit. They are rotating a fair amount of players through without notice and elevating guys who play well week to week. Hutmacher has become a force. Maybe I missed it, but Buschini could not have been 100% in the CU game. He was better kicking into the wind today than kicking in altitude. Harberg threw the ball with confidence and made a handful of legit throws.

Great points: Heavy sets can definitely be counter intuitive if you can't put multiple defenders in conflict. Perhaps I'm misremembering, but I thought Rhule teams were known for RPO's, and I can't recall many plays that would fall in that category.

Fair enough. I was trying to reference the pistol, inverted veer, and heavy sets in a relatable manner.

Starting Point: I need to see the QB's throwing the ball like they aren't scared to throw it. Velocity, tight spirals, follow through. You are playing big time CF, you have to be past the point of aiming and short arming passes on intermediate routes. If nothing else, this makes the coaches look incompetent. Second: I don't care what else they can do or how raw they are, I need to find out which of these freshman have the speed to at least threaten an opponent deep. Third: I'm looking at Greg Roman's offense, identifying where there is overlap, building off that, and trying to mimic it to the extent possible for the remainder of the season. Lastly: I'm probably putting up some hard guard rails on how many pass plays Sat can call per game and which down and distances I'm willing to let him call a drop back pass. Like 3rd & 4+

I didn't see this mentioned and I'd ranted enough, but the timeout with 44 seconds in the 2nd quarter was very costly. Poor 2 minute management. NU just picked up a 1st down, let 34 seconds run, and then used their 2nd TO. The time or the TO, you can't give up both. The new rule not having the clock stop on a first down cost NU big time there twice and for some reason I thought they were going to revert back to having the clock stop on first downs inside 2 minutes, so I learned that. I was pleasantly surprised how many players NU rolled through on defense without a drop off. Wallin looked like he got steamrolled when he got in, but beyond that it was virtually undetectable.