It wouldn't be a Utah Spring Football without a 30 degree drop in temperature and some snow flurries mixed with sun shine. That's what we got up on the hill today in the Utes final non padded, no tackle practice of spring. Things were a lot more even matched today and good was seen on both sides of the ball.
1) PICK 6- Coach Pease told me that when the defense has to go with no pads it changes what they look for in a practice. They focus more on footwork and hand control, assignments, and most importantly if the players put themselves in positions to make plays. He was grinning ear to ear about the two pick six's that his defense got today. Both interceptions came off of Brandon Cox throws, something which is becoming a pattern with the young QB.
The first interception came from Marcus Williams. The ball was simultaneously caught by Williams and the receiver but Williams was able to strip it away and take it to the house.
The next came by Brian Allen who had perfect coverage on the sideline and jumped up on the ball, first deflecting it and then controlling the ball into his body and running the sideline for the score.
2) Locally there has been some rumbling about Tevin Carter and his lingering injury. It was reported, not on this site that he was limping around and went through multiple re-tapes of his foot on Tuesday. I only saw one re-tape and he immediately went back to play and I didn't notice any limping, but maybe I missed it. Today I paid more attention to him and I saw no noticeable ailment. He was covering ground fine and was moving around without a hiccup. He made aggressive plays at the ball which included bursts of speed, leaps, and hard landings and I never saw a problem. Hopefully there won't be another set back.
3) Hunter Dimick lived in the backfield today. His goal for this season is to increase his speed and his focus is paying off so far. He got paired up against Andrew Albers a lot today and he was dominating him. He has really quick hands and sheds the blocks well. Again there were no pads so that takes away a lot of the physicality, but he did have a few huge bull rushes that disrupted the offense.
4) Brian Allen had a really nice day today. However with every great play he made, he made an equally awful play. His length, speed, and physicality are a perfect combo for the Utah corner position. Once it fully clicks he will be scary good. To go along with his pick six he had another highlight defended ball in the corner of the endzone where he went up and knocked the ball at the apex of his jump prohibiting the TD. But moments later he blew coverage and gave up to TD's in the goal line defense drills. It is a matter of mastering the position, but his future is bright.
5) a) Last year the D put a lot of focus on interceptions and it paid dividends. This year there seems to be more emphasis on stripping the ball and recovering it quickly before the other team can jump on it. Many balls fell to the turf last fall with Utah unable to control them. With the extra 5-10 minutes of drills each practice, the thought is that Utah won't be caught off guard when a ball is loose, but rather instincts will get them on the ball first.
b) hnguyen953422 asked me about Sunia Tauteoli. He was not in the pit today and actually got multiple reps with the 2's and 3's at linebacker. He was moving around well today. From what I was able to observe he got a sack on Brandon Cox with a big burst past the right tackle, he had one pass break up and a couple of tackles. He usually is back there with Christian Drews.
1) PICK 6- Coach Pease told me that when the defense has to go with no pads it changes what they look for in a practice. They focus more on footwork and hand control, assignments, and most importantly if the players put themselves in positions to make plays. He was grinning ear to ear about the two pick six's that his defense got today. Both interceptions came off of Brandon Cox throws, something which is becoming a pattern with the young QB.
The first interception came from Marcus Williams. The ball was simultaneously caught by Williams and the receiver but Williams was able to strip it away and take it to the house.
The next came by Brian Allen who had perfect coverage on the sideline and jumped up on the ball, first deflecting it and then controlling the ball into his body and running the sideline for the score.
2) Locally there has been some rumbling about Tevin Carter and his lingering injury. It was reported, not on this site that he was limping around and went through multiple re-tapes of his foot on Tuesday. I only saw one re-tape and he immediately went back to play and I didn't notice any limping, but maybe I missed it. Today I paid more attention to him and I saw no noticeable ailment. He was covering ground fine and was moving around without a hiccup. He made aggressive plays at the ball which included bursts of speed, leaps, and hard landings and I never saw a problem. Hopefully there won't be another set back.
3) Hunter Dimick lived in the backfield today. His goal for this season is to increase his speed and his focus is paying off so far. He got paired up against Andrew Albers a lot today and he was dominating him. He has really quick hands and sheds the blocks well. Again there were no pads so that takes away a lot of the physicality, but he did have a few huge bull rushes that disrupted the offense.
4) Brian Allen had a really nice day today. However with every great play he made, he made an equally awful play. His length, speed, and physicality are a perfect combo for the Utah corner position. Once it fully clicks he will be scary good. To go along with his pick six he had another highlight defended ball in the corner of the endzone where he went up and knocked the ball at the apex of his jump prohibiting the TD. But moments later he blew coverage and gave up to TD's in the goal line defense drills. It is a matter of mastering the position, but his future is bright.
5) a) Last year the D put a lot of focus on interceptions and it paid dividends. This year there seems to be more emphasis on stripping the ball and recovering it quickly before the other team can jump on it. Many balls fell to the turf last fall with Utah unable to control them. With the extra 5-10 minutes of drills each practice, the thought is that Utah won't be caught off guard when a ball is loose, but rather instincts will get them on the ball first.
b) hnguyen953422 asked me about Sunia Tauteoli. He was not in the pit today and actually got multiple reps with the 2's and 3's at linebacker. He was moving around well today. From what I was able to observe he got a sack on Brandon Cox with a big burst past the right tackle, he had one pass break up and a couple of tackles. He usually is back there with Christian Drews.
