Saturday marked the first day this spring where the boys were
in pads and free to lay the wood out on the field. That was the
good news of the day for this third practice of 2004. Physical
play needs to dominate this spring session to help ready players
for the fall, and Saturday was an important step in that
direction. The biggest hit of the day came when David Marrero was
carrying the ball out of the backfield and met head-on with Nick Silvas. Marrero moved the cornerback straight backward, with a
chorus of "oohs" and "aahs" coming from
teammates on the sideline.
Calvin Armstrong delivered some measure of revenge for the
defense with a big blow he levied later in the practice, but the
more interesting note for the redshirt sophomore was his apparent
placement on the depth chart. Just a day ago he made the move
from cornerback to strong safety, which makes a lot of sense for
the hard-hitting DB. Secondary coach A.J. Christoff is wasting no
time seeing how Armstrong handles the new position, as evidenced
by the Georgian's heavy repetitions Saturday with the first
string defense. Armstrong played alongside Oshiomogho Atogwe
every time I took a look in the defensive backfield, while
freshman Brandon Harrison took a temporary step back down to the
second team. Both players are enjoying heavy snaps atop the
strong safety depth chart while 2003 starter Trevor Hooper is out
with a sore left hamstring. For the second straight practice,
Hooper was in the yellow jersey and camped out 15-20 yards behind
the secondary with Christoff.
The redshirt freshman safety, however, should not be out much
longer. The word Saturday was that Hooper could be back in action
as soon as Monday. A quick return would not only spark the
competition at that heated safety position, but it would also put
Hooper on the field for the first "big practice" of the
spring. While every practice is a critical one for this team, in
coach speak, I am told that Monday will be the first scrimmage of
the spring. That comes earlier than anything we have seen in a
Stanford spring in years, and this year it throws an uncertain
offense to the defensive wolves in just the second day of pads.
If Saturday was a predictor of Monday's events, then the
defense will have their way with the "O". Progress made
by the offense Friday was seldom seen Saturday, but there is a
reason for that. The coaching staff installed some new plays for
the offense Wednesday, in the spring's first day of practice, and
that led to plenty of predictable pratfalls. Friday reworked
those same plays without introducing anything substantially new,
and the players improved their execution. But when a slew of new
plays were installed Saturday, the quality of play took a step
back. The hesitation was clear for several players at several
times, as they wrestled with their first practice in pads in more
than four months as well as a playbook that probably tripled or
quadrupled in size relative to the first two days.
The apparent focus of the offense this day was the two-back
running offense. Single-back sets were a staple last year, as the
fullback position took something of a vacation from the Cardinal
offense, but there is a heavy emphasis on finding trustworthy
fullback play for 2004. Based on the repetitions and performances
through Saturday, I would project a starting backfield of Kenneth Tolon and J.R. Lemon if the season opener were tomorrow. The
veteran tailback tandem took the most snaps of any combination
Saturday, with a mixture of offset and "I" formations.
I was favorably impressed with the job Tolon did throughout the
practice, running hard and fast both inside and outside the
tackles. It's hard to believe that the New Mexico native is
heading into his fifth and final year on The Farm, but this is
his last shot to deliver in his Cardinal career.
The fullback position saw time for both Kris Bonifas and Emeka Nnoli, with Bonifas holding a slight edge in the repetitions by
my unofficial count. But another intriguing performer at the
position was tight end Matt Traverso. You may remember seeing
Brett Pierce morph from a TE to a FB at the tail end of the 2003
season, so there is some precedent in this offense for a tight
end to take snaps in the backfield. The graduation of Pierce has
opened the door for Traverso to take a bigger role on the team in
2004, and we are seeing an early glimpse at the redshirt
freshman's versatility.
"I have to improve a lot - everything really can get
better," Traverso answers to the question of his focus this
spring. "Though I really want to improve my route-running.
Blocking has been more my strength, but with Brett [Pierce] gone,
there is a void to be filled in the passing offense. [Tight ends]
Coach [George] McDonald has been a huge help already. He really
knows how to run routes, and he has showed us some things already
watching film of our practices."
Returning to the original topic of the installation of the
two-back running offense, it is interesting to see how the draw
play looks. After two years of watching the draw called out of
the shotgun, it now comes with the quarterback backpedaling. That
is a wholly different timing for the backs and particularly for
the offensive line. For that very reason, the O-line took a step
back in Day Three with their execution. On Monday they will have
to make a quick recovery for the scrimmage.
"They had a lot thrown at them today - enough to go out
and play a game almost," notes offensive line coach Steve
Morton. "They didn't look ready today, but that's alright.
We have guys at new positions, in pads for the first time this
spring, and we threw a whole bunch at them. Monday we're going to
throw them out there and just let them scrimmage. It's
aggressive, but I think it will help them to get out of the
teaching of a practice and let them just go play. Then we'll
break down the film Tuesday and get back to the drawing board
Wednesday."
This move by the coaching staff could conceivably backfire,
but I like it. While spring is a teaching time, the expectation
is not unreasonable that these players should be able to move
forward in game situations with their new learnings. I expect the
offense to get handled Monday in this scrimmage, but the
mistakes they make should match the education they would receive
from a pair of nominal practices.
The responses these players make in the scrimmage should also
give us some of our biggest shake-ups on the depth chart this
spring. With more than 70% of the spring still to come after this
Monday scrimmage, the staff should be able to make early
adjustments at positions and rotations after they cut up the
action from the game film.
One area I still expect to see a good deal of change is the
offensive line. Only one player today is starting today at the
same position as we saw at the conclusion of the 2003 season, and
a host of younger players have ascended the depth chart after
position shifts and senior graduations. One of the key questions
for Morton in evaluating Monday's scrimmage will be the play at
his two tackle positions. Currently Jeff Edwards is on the right
side and Jon Cochran is starting at left tackle. Cochran has
enough experience in his career playing both sides that he can be
considered ambidextrous for Morton. But Edwards has started this
spring on the right side because he is a right-handed guy, in OL
terms. Only one year in his high school and college career has
seen him play on the left side of the line, so the logic was to
make his move from right guard to right tackle to start this
spring rather than a more traumatic jump to left tackle. However,
Edwards has the mobility and agility to be a good pass-protecting
left tackle in the long run. A key question for Morton this
spring is where to best use the redshirt freshman from Atlanta
(GA). An ambidextrous Cochran gives the coach the flexibility to
switch this pair, and I think that is something on the table that
Morton will be considering Tuesday as he assesses Monday's
scrimmage film.
Another OL move to watch is freshman Mike Macellari, who now
has three practices at left tackle under his belt after a fall
full of defense. Macellari is highly improbable to move over to
the right side, but he has run third string thus far this spring
and could be poised to climb to the second team before long. His feet are simply fantastic at his size, and he shows flashes of tremendous promise. Monday will be a big test, but both the player and his coach are
excited for the challenge.
"Mike is going to be OK," says an understated Morton
with a big grin on his face.
"It feels a lot more natural to me," Macellari
offers on his early performances at offensive tackle, as compared
to the defensive tackle work he saw last fall. "On offense,
if I don't know what I'm doing, I can think about it and figure
it out. I just have a more intuitive feel than what I had on
defense. Now I need time to learn all the plays. Once I get them
all down, I'll be fine. I'm not worred about anything on the
physical side. I just need to learn the plays."
While most young college linemen first excel at drive blocking
and have greater struggles in the pass protection, Macellari
reports the opposite experience this week. "My pass blocking
is better right now," he offers. "My footwork is awful
and I have to get my hips turned the right way at the right
times, but Jonny [Cochran] is a huge help. He's been great
helping me with my feet and stance after almost every rep."
Other assorted notes from Saturday:
- Left guard Ismail Simpson sat out a few series late
Saturday while he had to get his eye stitched up, but
neither of the freshmen guards stepped in to fill that
hole. Morton instead put second string center Josiah Vinson in with the first team for those plays. Vinson had
a pretty heavy load in the second half of the practice,
playing first team at LG and second team at C, and it
understandably took its toll. The redshirt frosh Texan
was dragging after a long stretch of plays, but the
take-home lesson for fans was the tell that Vinson has
Morton's confidence at this time to backup possibly all
three spots on the OL interior. Vinson earned a good deal
of playing time last fall, and he started the last three
games of the season at right guard after Jeff Edwards
injured his left knee during the first quarter of the
Arizona State game.
- Michael Okwo saw some time with the first team defense on
Saturday, which is not so much a depth chart shift as it
is a sign of the tight competition he and Kevin Schimmelmann will have this spring. Like many positions,
this could be one that has some early answers after
Monday's scrimmage. Okwo still shows the speed and
playmaking ability that excited us this past fall, but
with more strength and size through the winter lifting
and conditioning workouts.
- As expected, Mike Silva has made the move inside and now
is playing at middle linebacker.
- Nick Frank gave a lot of Cardinalmaniacs™ a scare
when he was on the sideline on crutches for Day Three.
Wearing a yellow jersey, and with a heavy wrap of his
left knee, fans could only speculate about the extent and
nature of his debilitating knee injury. Freshman Chris Horn moved up to fill the void in the second team
defensive interior with Frank out, but that may not last
long. Frank told me after Saturday's practice that he
twisted his knee Friday in practice, but the team doctors
examined it and did not believe he tore anything. An MRI
was scheduled to confirm that diagnosis, but the New
Orleans native says he expects to be back on the field in
a matter of days.
- Tim Sims still has a lot to learn, but a couple plays he
made Saturday solidify my confidence that he made a good
move from wide receiver to cornerback last fall. That is
not to say that he could not have been a bigtime
playmaker on offense for this team, but he does have the
makings of a very promising cover corner. We knew Sims
was a good athlete, so it is no surprise that he makes a
good break on the ball and can close quickly on his mark.
But I am a little surprised at some of the plays he is
making on the ball already. The freshman from Belle
Glade, Florida is showing how smoothly he can rest one
hand on the receiver's outside hip and then reach around
to make the play at the last second in front of the
offensive player. Sims has made a noticeable jump in his
confidence and comprehension of the cornerback position
since last fall.
- I'm still seeing a solid demarcation in the cornerback
depth chart, with T.J. Rushing and Leigh Torrence taking
essentially all the repetitions with the first team,
while Stanley Wilson is runing second string with Sims.
Last year, though, there was more of a even distribution
between the three veteran corners for starts and playing
time at the two positions. Wilson started seven games;
Rushing started six; and Torrence started nine.
- Ryan Eklund is a valuable guy on this roster because of
the combination of his veteran experience and his
willingness to embrace a solidly reserve role on the
team. He is also very well-liked by teammates. His future this fall, barring disastrous injuries
to the quarterback position, will once again be a
practice role running the scout team and aiding in
running drills. But there was a thought this off-season
to put the 6'8" slinger on the field in some
specific receiving plays as a wideout. Saturday maked
Eklund's debut, and he caught the first pass thrown to
him. Cheers erupted from teammates on both offense and
defense, but the redshirt junior fumbled the ball just a
couple seconds later. The next ball thrown his way
bounced off his pads. While there is a heavy contingent
of players, coaches and fans rooting for him to have
success, "Ek" won't have many more of those
opportunities if he repeats those mistakes. Fellow
reserve QB David Lofton also saw some time split out at
receiver in select plays Saturday.
- Kudos to Greg Camarillo for a pair of acrobatic catches
early in practice that showed dexterity and
concentration. One of them was a ball tipped by a
defensive back away from Camarillo, but the veteran
receiver laid out to snare the ball before it reached the
ground.
- If you think the shotgun has been completely abolished
from the offense, then you might be disappointed when it
makes an appearance later this spring. While it will not
be the mainstay for the offense like it was in 2003, it
will not be completely absent.
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