Hello All!
It was a gorgeous April morning at Rice Eccles Stadium and the turnout was pretty good despite having to battle the Salt Lake Marathon to get there. Here is what stood out about today's scrimmage:
1) It was incredibly run heavy!!! This was especially so towards the beginning of practice where not too many passes were thrown by either Travis Wilson or Chase Hansen. Both quarterbacks ran a lot and of course the running backs saw a lot of work. Tani Leha'uli continued to show he can be a workhorse type back. He's maybe not as explosive as Booker but he's good for those tough 2, 3, and 4 yard runs. I also thought Monte Seabrook continued to show potential out there, but he also still needs some work. His future at running back looks pretty good.
2) Overall I thought the offensive line did a much better job today protecting the quarterbacks and opening up the run game. They still need some work on pass protection but I thought they looked better than they did the other day. With that said Utah's defensive line still looked really impressive. Filipo Mokofisi made some great plays today and was all over the place it seemed like. Lowell Lotulelei was getting some nice push off the line of scrimmage and wholly molly Stevie Tu'ikolovatu had at least two batted balls that I remember seeing. Continuing to watch Pita Taumoepenu that guy can squeeze into the tiniest spaces and make the quarterback's life a living hell in the pocket.
3) We can't talk about practice today without talking about Reggie Porter. This guy is still not 100% but he's not afraid to lay some vicious hits on the receivers. He's been doing a really nice job of staying in position and attacking. Justin Thomas aka "The Little Big Man" also had a really nice day making two huge stops on Leha'uli before he could even go anywhere.
4) With the very limited reps Conner Manning was given he sure made the most of them and probably looked the best of any of the quarterbacks, though it needs to be taken into consideration that he was going against the third string defense. Even so his passes are so precise and he truly is a very smart player. I think he's sometimes a little guilty of trying to overcompensate at times, but the last two scrimmages he's really buckled down and played HIS game. Chase Hansen and Travis Wilson also had their moments, the biggest difference between the two for me is the confidence thing. There were times during practice that Wilson didn't look sure of himself and even looked confused (other times he was brilliant) and that's just not what I expect from the starting quarterback. You have to figure Hansen was confused at times too but he never lets it show and gets the job done even if it's horribly wrong.
5) Kenneth Scott didn't see much action until the end of practice but he was another guy that took full advantage of what he was given. Talking with Aaron Roderick after practice Scott was his standout. He didn't even mention anyone else. I was told they went to Scott about 10 times and he came up with it 7 times, one for a huge third down and one for a huge fourth down. It's obvious this year means everything to Scott and he's setting himself up to do Ute Nation real proud not only on the field but off it too.
6) Welcome back Gionni Paul everyone. This is a guy who brings extreme energy to the field and everyone feeds off it. He was getting in peoples faces and making some plays. There was specifically one time he was up in Wilson's business and if you all remember from last spring he was the one guy who could absolutely push Wilson's buttons and get some kind of reaction out of him.
***Bonus***
My pops was at practice with my mom today and he put together a nice chart of the quarterback's performance for me that I'm going to share below for all of you to look at. As always feel free to comment and get a discussion going. What were you guys noticing today?
Quarterback Score Card:
Definitions:
Atts/ Cmplt L = Attempts/ Completed Left (Outside Tackle Box Left)
Atts/ Cmplt M = Attempts/ Completed Middle (Between Tackle Box)
Atts/ Cmplt R = Attempts/ Completed Right (Outside Tackle Box Right)
Recr Drps L = Receiver Drops Left (Catchable - In the hands of OR bounced off Or did not look for)
Recr Drps M = Receiver Drops Middle (Catchable - In the hands of OR bounced off Or did not look for)
Recr Drps R = Receiver Drops Right(Catchable - In the hands of OR bounced off Or did not look for)
Sacks = Are sacks
Runs = Started out as a pass play ended with QB running ball
Bat = Batted down
Atts/ Cmplt L Atts/ Cmplt M Atts/ Cmplt R Recr Drps L Recr Drps M Recr Drps R Sacks Runs Bat
All QB's 22/13 8/4 31/13 3 2 5 2 6 2
TW 13/9 2/2 10/2 1 0 1 1 3 1
CH 6/3 3/1 12/4 1 0 3 1 3 1
CM 3/1 1/1 4/3 1 0 1 0 0 0
DI 0/0 2/0 5/4 0 2 1 0 0 0
This post was edited on 4/18 2:53 PM by M Bodkin
It was a gorgeous April morning at Rice Eccles Stadium and the turnout was pretty good despite having to battle the Salt Lake Marathon to get there. Here is what stood out about today's scrimmage:
1) It was incredibly run heavy!!! This was especially so towards the beginning of practice where not too many passes were thrown by either Travis Wilson or Chase Hansen. Both quarterbacks ran a lot and of course the running backs saw a lot of work. Tani Leha'uli continued to show he can be a workhorse type back. He's maybe not as explosive as Booker but he's good for those tough 2, 3, and 4 yard runs. I also thought Monte Seabrook continued to show potential out there, but he also still needs some work. His future at running back looks pretty good.
2) Overall I thought the offensive line did a much better job today protecting the quarterbacks and opening up the run game. They still need some work on pass protection but I thought they looked better than they did the other day. With that said Utah's defensive line still looked really impressive. Filipo Mokofisi made some great plays today and was all over the place it seemed like. Lowell Lotulelei was getting some nice push off the line of scrimmage and wholly molly Stevie Tu'ikolovatu had at least two batted balls that I remember seeing. Continuing to watch Pita Taumoepenu that guy can squeeze into the tiniest spaces and make the quarterback's life a living hell in the pocket.
3) We can't talk about practice today without talking about Reggie Porter. This guy is still not 100% but he's not afraid to lay some vicious hits on the receivers. He's been doing a really nice job of staying in position and attacking. Justin Thomas aka "The Little Big Man" also had a really nice day making two huge stops on Leha'uli before he could even go anywhere.
4) With the very limited reps Conner Manning was given he sure made the most of them and probably looked the best of any of the quarterbacks, though it needs to be taken into consideration that he was going against the third string defense. Even so his passes are so precise and he truly is a very smart player. I think he's sometimes a little guilty of trying to overcompensate at times, but the last two scrimmages he's really buckled down and played HIS game. Chase Hansen and Travis Wilson also had their moments, the biggest difference between the two for me is the confidence thing. There were times during practice that Wilson didn't look sure of himself and even looked confused (other times he was brilliant) and that's just not what I expect from the starting quarterback. You have to figure Hansen was confused at times too but he never lets it show and gets the job done even if it's horribly wrong.
5) Kenneth Scott didn't see much action until the end of practice but he was another guy that took full advantage of what he was given. Talking with Aaron Roderick after practice Scott was his standout. He didn't even mention anyone else. I was told they went to Scott about 10 times and he came up with it 7 times, one for a huge third down and one for a huge fourth down. It's obvious this year means everything to Scott and he's setting himself up to do Ute Nation real proud not only on the field but off it too.
6) Welcome back Gionni Paul everyone. This is a guy who brings extreme energy to the field and everyone feeds off it. He was getting in peoples faces and making some plays. There was specifically one time he was up in Wilson's business and if you all remember from last spring he was the one guy who could absolutely push Wilson's buttons and get some kind of reaction out of him.
***Bonus***
My pops was at practice with my mom today and he put together a nice chart of the quarterback's performance for me that I'm going to share below for all of you to look at. As always feel free to comment and get a discussion going. What were you guys noticing today?
Quarterback Score Card:
Definitions:
Atts/ Cmplt L = Attempts/ Completed Left (Outside Tackle Box Left)
Atts/ Cmplt M = Attempts/ Completed Middle (Between Tackle Box)
Atts/ Cmplt R = Attempts/ Completed Right (Outside Tackle Box Right)
Recr Drps L = Receiver Drops Left (Catchable - In the hands of OR bounced off Or did not look for)
Recr Drps M = Receiver Drops Middle (Catchable - In the hands of OR bounced off Or did not look for)
Recr Drps R = Receiver Drops Right(Catchable - In the hands of OR bounced off Or did not look for)
Sacks = Are sacks
Runs = Started out as a pass play ended with QB running ball
Bat = Batted down
Atts/ Cmplt L Atts/ Cmplt M Atts/ Cmplt R Recr Drps L Recr Drps M Recr Drps R Sacks Runs Bat
All QB's 22/13 8/4 31/13 3 2 5 2 6 2
TW 13/9 2/2 10/2 1 0 1 1 3 1
CH 6/3 3/1 12/4 1 0 3 1 3 1
CM 3/1 1/1 4/3 1 0 1 0 0 0
DI 0/0 2/0 5/4 0 2 1 0 0 0
This post was edited on 4/18 2:53 PM by M Bodkin
