Buffaloes Thursday (3/18) Scrimmage Report

Bumped from the Fan Posts. Great scrimmage report, thanks for the write up! - JW

Firstly, Scotty McKnight went down with an apparent lower leg injury. I don't know the extent of it, so we'll see if it gets announced at some point. And now that the bad news is out of the way...

OK, onto the things people requested I watch:

Yes, some of the QBs have mustaches. Coach Hawk, Hansen and Hirchman, however, do not. Probably a good thing too...

Next, Tight Ends: Blocking-wise, Deehan and Walters seemed a bit stronger and stouter at the POA. Catching passes, Thornton and Evans looked superb. If those two guys can get a little bigger and stronger, they will both be impact players there. They were only asked to block a little, and neither one was awful, but they've both got some technique stuff to clean up. Running routes, however, they both looked pretty smooth and natural at catching the ball.

Orms in the secondary: He's the real deal. He was everywhere, and I only saw one pass completed on him. It looks like he's basically replaced C. Brown as the nickel corner. He filled in nicely against the run, and made it to the QB on a couple of blitzes. He's definitely not a huge guy, but he is a football player. He looks like he'll be hard to keep off the field.

Hildreth and the other backs: This was tough. The D was playing well, and there wasn't much running room. Hildreth, Nabors and Lockridge all looked okay, but they didn't run that much. Lockridge had one really impressive, explosive run, while Nabors and Hildreth were solid and made a couple of catches out of the backfield. Hildreth actually had a TD catch out of the slot. I'm looking forward to adding the new recruits to the mix this summer.

Punting (and kicking, while we're at it): Grossnickle is still struggling a bit with consistency, but he was mostly good. His first one was a bit weak, but the rest of them were either solid, or really impressive. He had one that just didn't seem to come down. More than half of the coverage team were at or past the returner by the time he fair-caught the ball, and it was of solid length, too. He's got a big leg, and I think he'll definitely be an improvement in the punting game. He also (I believe) went 4-4 in FGs and looked better there than Goodman and Kirkwood.

And now, on to the other stuff:

I love watching the battles in the trenches. It was interesting watching our lines battle it out. The defense was pretty regularly beating the offense, but I don't think that's necessarily a negative statement about our Offensive line. The defensive line looked really, really good. All of the guys down there were quick, active and using their hands well. In the run game, guys like Kasa and Pericak were standing up the guys that were blocking them. And the LBs were quite active. It looks like Sipili, Major, Ahles, Beatty, Rippy and Mahnke are the guys that are ahead right now. They all blitzed at various times, and all looked good in coverage (Major and an Int and Sipili had at least one big deflection). Webb is definitely a thumper who loves contact, and they brought him and Ahles in at Fullback a few times on offense. 

And outside, we have a bunch of stuff to be excited about. Obviously our two starting corners are both as solid as they come. And the receivers that were running with the first team are fun to watch. Of course, this depends on Scotty's injury (they had him in the slot, where he's most effective) and whether Simas gets to see the field after his recent incident. Clemons should help us all sleep a little better at night. Will Jefferson also seems to make big plays whenever he's on the field. He's another guy that they'll have a hard time keeping on the sidelines. And speaking of receivers, Coach Prince definitely brings an energy to the sidelines that wasn't there before. He's got all the coaches yelling with him, too. Players seemed more excited and energetic at the scrimmage than any of the practices I attended last summer. And for down the road, Darden is a huge target. He made a couple of plays where he completely walled off defenders with his body to make a tough catch. 

Behind J. Brown and Smith, are a bunch of athletic, pretty good looking guys. I know it's not a huge concern for this season, but I think we shouldn't worry about replacing them too much when it gets to be that time. Guys like Olatoye, Vigo, J. Hawkins and Moten all looked pretty good most of the time. They all got beat from time to time, but they all hit hard and made plays. I think they've all got bright futures. And at safety, the top two were Polk and Perkins. Both have good range, and only seem to be getting better.

And if you want to know anything else. Just ask. I'll probably start to forget it all in a couple of days, though, so ask quickly!

-David