From an "insider" at practices

[BigRedBuster]

I think the biggest thing from the post (and the fall camp in general) is that people shouldn't take so much from what happens in individual practices. It reminds me of a friend who was a walk-on fullback in the mid 80s. He came home after practice absolutely totally beat up. He said the coaches made him run the same full back run up the middle constantly and the middle linebacker (Mike Knox) knew it was coming and just killed him over and over again.

This type of thing can affect how certain groups look in a certain practice and on lookers many times aren't going to know exactly what is going on and what the coaches are working on and looking for.

The scrimmages are more telling and it sounds like the team seemed more crisp in the scrimmage on Saturday than the reports that had come out of camp's individual practices.

 

[zoogs]

I'm not worried about Tommy at all. I expect him to shut some mouths this year. It's the offensive line I'm most concerned about.

From sounds of it we should probably be more worried about Tommy (and the rest of the QB room) than the OL. It seems we've inherited quality in numbers at OL and have great coaching there. It should be a strength of the team.

We don't know what the offense is going to look like and regardless of coaching, I don't think players tend to transform the type of player they are. So how much they can or do mold the offense around Tommy and how far he can come meet them halfway in this new passing game has to be the wildcard of the offseason right now.

 

[Omaha_Style]

I appreciate the post. I don't go over to Huskermax and I agree it is nice to read all position posts in one spot. Thank you!

 

[Redux]

We tried to mold a QB into something he wasn't for 4 years. Granted we have a better staff for developing the position now, but I would venture to say Tommy is what he is. Best to just aim at improving how he makes decisions and make his completions more consistent.

 

[True2tRA]

I'm not worried about Tommy at all. I expect him to shut some mouths this year. It's the offensive line I'm most concerned about.

From sounds of it we should probably be more worried about Tommy (and the rest of the QB room) than the OL. It seems we've inherited quality in numbers at OL and have great coaching there. It should be a strength of the team.We don't know what the offense is going to look like and regardless of coaching, I don't think players tend to transform the type of player they are. So how much they can or do mold the offense around Tommy and how far he can come meet them halfway in this new passing game has to be the wildcard of the offseason right now.

Really? What have you heard that makes you more worried about Tommy than the offensive line?

 

[TAKODA]

I enjoyed reading it all in one spot. I do not have as much time now days to read or post as I did in the past so it was a good read.

I don't give a nickle for those who want to criticize that it was old data or regurgitated data. For those who already have heard the information, they will just pass on reading it and should carry on without any worries.

Thanks for re-posting it teach!

 

[Minnesota_husker]

While some of it was already stuff that is being circulated, it was not from a reporters mouth but a fans mouth... Sharing what he saw and what he thought which I enjoyed because it offered an additional insight.

To go back to the OP. I think it has become very clear that the health issues of our WR's has caused a major trickle down effect. Remember this is a brand new offense yet Tommy has chemistry with a few guys, mainly JW. It is hard for any QB to learn a new offense but then to also have to throw to guys he is unfamiliar with.

I might be the minority, but I think that Armstrong is going to have a good year here. We have to show some patience, but i am excited to see what kind of plays they call in order to make him way more successful. Stop having him throw 30-40 yard passes every time.. Work on the short/quick throws and watch the confidence grow.

 

[Landlord]

I'm not worried about Tommy at all. I expect him to shut some mouths this year. It's the offensive line I'm most concerned about.

From sounds of it we should probably be more worried about Tommy (and the rest of the QB room) than the OL. It seems we've inherited quality in numbers at OL and have great coaching there. It should be a strength of the team.We don't know what the offense is going to look like and regardless of coaching, I don't think players tend to transform the type of player they are. So how much they can or do mold the offense around Tommy and how far he can come meet them halfway in this new passing game has to be the wildcard of the offseason right now.

Really? What have you heard that makes you more worried about Tommy than the offensive line?

In the season of the year where everything is usually sunshine and rainbows, there's been a lot out there about how Tommy has been struggling. There's been some about some really good practices as well, but if I remember correctly Tommy was getting better press preseason last year than this year, and he did not play as well as we had hoped he would last year.

This can be for a number of reasons all over, but he's definitely a question mark.

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

I'm guessing we see improvement during the next three weeks of practice.

Because that's what practice is all about.

 

[BIGREDIOWAN]

We can still have our opinions true, and it's true what he said. If we aren't complaining about one thing it's another. He said nothing wrong.....

You aren't telling me anything, I watch people try to find something to complain about everyday, here and elsewhere. I didn't say what he said wasn't true, I said it probably didnt need to be said and was really just provoking a negative response. My comment came off the same way, we had a chuckle about it and moved on. That's all I'm saying.
Him being a MOD, maybe he comes in the next morning and offers something constructive instead of starting the thread @ 8:57 in the morning with a troll comment.

Again, that's your opinion, but that wasn't a troll comment IMO, but I digress............

This is good information if you want to find it all in one thread IMO.

 

[True2tRA]

I'm not worried about Tommy at all. I expect him to shut some mouths this year. It's the offensive line I'm most concerned about.

From sounds of it we should probably be more worried about Tommy (and the rest of the QB room) than the OL. It seems we've inherited quality in numbers at OL and have great coaching there. It should be a strength of the team.We don't know what the offense is going to look like and regardless of coaching, I don't think players tend to transform the type of player they are. So how much they can or do mold the offense around Tommy and how far he can come meet them halfway in this new passing game has to be the wildcard of the offseason right now.

Really? What have you heard that makes you more worried about Tommy than the offensive line?

In the season of the year where everything is usually sunshine and rainbows, there's been a lot out there about how Tommy has been struggling. There's been some about some really good practices as well, but if I remember correctly Tommy was getting better press preseason last year than this year, and he did not play as well as we had hoped he would last year.

This can be for a number of reasons all over, but he's definitely a question mark.

Question mark sure, but bigger question mark than the offensive line? In my opinion, no way.
Heading into fall, I believe only one starting position on the offensive line was solodified,that was Alex Lewis. As far as I've heard, theres only one other individuial who's made a claim to a spot, that being Kondolo at RG.

We've heard plenty about some battles and maybe some guys with bright futures, but I'd say the fact that we don't have five guys who can make outright claims to a starting position on this offensive line, should be very troubling.

I've heard up and down things about Tommy this off season, some good some bad, but I've also heard he's been throwing to a lot of very inexperienced WR's this fall due to injuries.

In my opinion, we've seen what Tommy is capable of. He can do it all. He just has to do it more often.

I literally know nothing about the capabilities of those guys fighting for those starting positions on the offensive line. One of the guys we knew a little bit about transferred to DT.

Still really curious of Zoogs take on this?

 

[True2tRA]

We can still have our opinions true, and it's true what he said. If we aren't complaining about one thing it's another. He said nothing wrong.....

You aren't telling me anything, I watch people try to find something to complain about everyday, here and elsewhere. I didn't say what he said wasn't true, I said it probably didnt need to be said and was really just provoking a negative response. My comment came off the same way, we had a chuckle about it and moved on. That's all I'm saying.Him being a MOD, maybe he comes in the next morning and offers something constructive instead of starting the thread @ 8:57 in the morning with a troll comment.

Again, that's your opinion, but that wasn't a troll comment IMO, but I digress............
This is good information if you want to find it all in one thread IMO.

I've moved on twice now, this will be the last comment I have on that.

 

[BigRedBuster]

Question mark sure, but bigger question mark than the offensive line? In my opinion, no way.
Heading into fall, I believe only one starting position on the offensive line was solodified,that was Alex Lewis. As far as I've heard, theres only one other individuial who's made a claim to a spot, that being Kondolo at RG.

We've heard plenty about some battles and maybe some guys with bright futures, but I'd say the fact that we don't have five guys who can make outright claims to a starting position on this offensive line, should be very troubling.

I personally don't think that fact is very troubling. This is a new staff that really doesn't know the players very well yet. They are (and should) give as many guys a chance to prove themselves as possible. They could, in their mind, have pretty good idea who their top 5 are but they are going to play it as far into fall camp as possible to get players to compete for spots. That makes everyone better and it builds confidence in the back up players that they were that close to being the starter.

 

[zoogs]

Tommy was erratic last year. We've seen what he can do, and that includes (among the good) missing short passes to open backs by a mile. We have no idea what kind of offense they'll run and if it will fit Tommy or not. I don't think he's likely to suddenly become consistently accurate.

You know I'm the biggest fan of Tommy, but he'll need to transform himself this year and while that would be amazing, we'll see...

The OL, between this report and DiNardo, sound pretty capable to me and I'm confident in Cavanaugh. With them, it seems more a question of getting good talent to be more technique focused and they'll play. All due respect to our past OL coaches, there's a reason they are at UNLV now. Really, most non-QB positions where you have some raw talent, numbers, and good coaching, you expect some positive results. A QB with an erratic, mistake-prone track record of dubious fit in a new system is just a question mark. Which doesn't mean the question can't be answered positively.

Hope that makes sense!

 

[True2tRA]

Question mark sure, but bigger question mark than the offensive line? In my opinion, no way.

Heading into fall, I believe only one starting position on the offensive line was solodified,that was Alex Lewis. As far as I've heard, theres only one other individuial who's made a claim to a spot, that being Kondolo at RG.

We've heard plenty about some battles and maybe some guys with bright futures, but I'd say the fact that we don't have five guys who can make outright claims to a starting position on this offensive line, should be very troubling.

I personally don't think that fact is very troubling. This is a new staff that really doesn't know the players very well yet. They are (and should) give as many guys a chance to prove themselves as possible. They could, in their mind, have pretty good idea who their top 5 are but they are going to play it as far into fall camp as possible to get players to compete for spots. That makes everyone better and it builds confidence in the back up players that they were that close to being the starter.

Good point. That is very possible.
Doing my best to draw from what we know, but there is a lot we don't know.

I know TA completed 53% of his passes last year for 2700 yards, 22 TD's to 12 picks. I believe those numbers improve though I admit, thats purely speculation.

I can't say I know a whole lot about the guys battling for the offensive line spot. I expect them to get better with Cavanaugh, but that's mostly based on the fact that I thought they were not getting very good coaching in the past and I don't think their coaches philosophies matched the style of the offensive coordinator.

I don't think I've ever seen Nick Gates or Foster take a snap. I've seen very little of Farmer or Finnin I think? Reeves has been injured most of his career but did look good in the minimal time he saw. Utter had his hips and downs as did Thurston I believe?

See, problem is, I can't even swear by which of these guys I've seen much of out there. I'd feel a lot better about the group if I had more to go from. Which is why I still say this is easily my biggest concern.

A lot or pressure on Cavanaugh to get these guys ready, especially when you hear reports about the lack of technical work and lack of time dedicated purely to the position group in the past.