A few early spring practice vibes are shaking free here and there; as that is what happens before you put the pads on and get down with the get down of some real live-fire contact drills or even better … outright scrumming.
So this one may (sorta) read like a P.A.T.T.y cake P.A.T.T.y cake bakers man festival to some of you; or refreshing to others. As most early news is enthusiastic in nature; most years; most of the time; right up until such news tempered by the wrought iron steel of hitting itself. And the grain gets separated from the chaff.
Though even I, TSL’s resident R.A.T.T. am quietly curious, if not encouraged, especially regarding a certain Qb …read on to find out more…
Really like what I’m hearing re: Andrew Ford early on……dude has pure textbook passing mechanics.
Just like the epic fundamentals of New Zealand golfer and fellow lefty Bob Charles, this kid is a joy to visually watch. #17 Ford sure throws a darty good ball; that has that almost impossible deceleration at the last split sec’ to make it eminently more catchable than your average play-station hyper velocity over-thrower of today’s game. Joe Montana had this down to a science; and Ford is actually rather scientific himself. Someone up in my home state, the Keystone state of Pennsylvania must have taught him and taught him well. And Ford just has this rarer and rarer natural intrinsic leader vibe to his game. It’s not cockiness, it is however the highest and most credible version of confidence, what I like to call self-trust. This kid is a pure leader and his fundamentals follow no man. Is this kid and his slender body B.C.S. D-1 play-right-away ready? On that I’m less that sure; maybe even a little gun-shy; though it is gonna take a lot to keep this Ford kid parked over on the bench idling in back-up neutral for the next four to five years.
Had been wondering -almost questioning- out-loud on the pay-side message board if Marshawn Williams had gone out and found 10-15 lbs. or right mass; or not. Not. Just look at the beer-gut on this kid on the right and tell me if you think that is right-mass –and then I will tell you that you are basically just a fool. This is what you call not reporting to spring camp in-shape folks and that’s too bad; as this kid has every opportunity to jet up the O&M depth chart with so very much Tb attrition in front of him and precious little nutrition behind. Or maybe just jet to the nearest McDonald’s; take thy pick.
Here is a kid however who gets it. Phone-booth or not, this Clark Kent has superman sized guns and very broad shoulders on top of all of that. As Seth Dooley has gone out and war-hammered his body into that of a suddenly very intriguing De prospect. Some kids come correct in the off-season; some kids not so much. We see cases of each, each and every spring practice and August camp. Here is one of the more handsome cases, and I for one will finally be giving an looksee at 43. And notice that he has an extra lengthy wingspan or arm length and that is exactly you want that in any De every bit as much as you likewise want that in any given opposing Ot as well. Great reach means you get you hands on the other guy first; the anti-David Wang effect if you will. As I’ll freely own and therefore confess, I may have underestimated this one, a bit… (BIG pic link)
Ken Ekanem I’ve already written about in my spring practice primer. However, he is worth mentioning again; if only to point out that he is an almost thin looking 6’3” and 245 lbs. –well, if there is such a thing. As Ken has only added 5 lbs. to his frame since he arrived on the 24060 campus in 2012. Maybe some of that is in regard or response to such a ugly looking knee-injury in high school? As one could understand not wanting to carry too much weight here. Though he’s also got a bit of the LT3 genome of a guy who is naturally thin, naturally taunt with leaner more explosive fast-twitch muscle fiber. Sleep on this kid’s sinew if you dare sports fans; and this kid will accidentally set the alarm-clock and hour too early; as some Ot is gonna be in for a rude awakening here.
***
Nigel Williams is wearing about 18-20 lbs. more than before; and it’s not all great weight. Little gutty right now; though he will actually need some of that if he wants to start at Ng/Dt. And this much of a northward movement up the Toledo scales is actually not such a bad thing when going from a part-time back-up role to a full-time starting job. Where he will need some extra mass just to survive a 40+ snap count tour of duty on a per game basis. As any repetition of 271 lbs. from last year would have had me betting the under on his durability as a starting Dt for this year. So here is a kid with less that perfect additional mass that is actually beginning to perfect his starting 29o lb. role. (NOTE: as we really do not need 255 lb. C.Marshall starting at Dt, with 215 lb. Chase behind him, and than two other starting Linebackers both checking in at south of that; that’s J.m.u. size men)
Wyatt Teller has …. what?
- a) prehistoric arms
- b) Jurassic arms
- c) cro-magnom arms
- d) …all of the above
Yah; I mean it’s pretty much d), all of the above, as this kid is reminding me more and more of 1980’s Bill Fralic of Atlanta Falcon fame. As if/when Bill got his hands on you, you were over, done, through. Ditto Wyatt, with enough experience and or reps.
It’s pretty easy to see why potential starting ‘backer Dahman McKinnon is so dang fast! As there is just not a lotta meat on his bones for him to have to move around (pic: below). Right now he is basically Safety or Rover sized; this after gaining 16 oz. (not lbs.) in the off-season. As this is one of those bean-pole kids who can prolly crush an entire cow at dinnertime and weigh the same the next day. A second best 4.4o in the forty team wide is pretty damn enticing however. Though I’d almost wanna see that velocity employed at a different position. ‘backer could prove to be too industrial for a 2o8 lb. starter for 13-14 games. As we are set to potentially deploy our 2 smallest starting Twins or ILb’s since the days of the Dooley era ended.
Deon Clark is the one I’m hoping actually beats Dahman out; for the sake of our first ever “defensive-leverage” catch-phrase post-game this season. And yet Deon is another kid who looks like he could easily hang 5 more lbs. -possibly more like ten- no problem. Deon also has a little flash to his game, a little swag’ to his persona that is simply fun to watch.
Though I am hearing that Tech feels much more entrenched with Williams giving Chase at Mike Lb right now. If there is such a thing as a Linebacking position that is closer to being settled, Mike Lb (or MLb) is surely the one. As the gap between Chase and Andrew Motuapuaka is the largest second-layer depth chart gap of them all. I’ll leave it to you to make up your own mind which depth chart Mike Lb that says more (or less); about.
Loading ...(READER’s caveat: all of ^that^ is subject to revision or outright change; once the pads go on, and we get some real live bang for our buck……..stay tuned!)
uppers=8, downers=1
“LETS GO!”
“Hokies!”
bourbonstreet**
B-st, I am actually glad to see that MW could stand to lose a few pounds… Shed ten pounds of fat, replace with 5 or so of muscle and I think he is at his optimal playing weight. Puts him at a leaner 220 which is a mean weight for sub 6 foot RB.
Dennis:
Well, I am curious to see if he can do work like that?
It would be the exception, though what if he IS a nasty pile-mover at 224 or so lbs.?
Not many; though a few Tb’s can play a bit big.
And there is just something about him that has me wondering if he is one of those select few???
b.street
M. Williams is a tree trunk of a person. He carries most of his weight between his elbows and knees, which to me makes for a perfectly balanced rb.
Interesting way to put it.
I’ll be borrowing that.
Thx!
b.street
Seth Dooley does NOT have the smallest triceps I have ever seen… dang. He has been doing some work.
Dude looks like he has large mouth bass stapled to the back of his arms!
Remarkable physical turnaround from him.
Though he must be serious about playing.
b.street
Please learn to write normally. I appreciate your insight but your style of writing is painful to read. If you want to have a blog, be better than that…