Overall Irish fans have to be at least satisfied with what
happened on Saturday. Some solid
performances, no injuries and a sunny day are about the best you can ask
for. I do wish that QB's and special
teams were live because I think there was a false sense of security and
success. There was several passes that
got off that in a real game situation that would have been a sack.
I liked the balance between successful offensive and
defensive plays.
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| Kicker Sam Kohler |
The offensive line at time looked very good. Most impressive the lack of false starts.
The running backs looked good., some good open field move
and speed along with dose of inside
power running.
With Yoon taking the spring off to rest his leg I feel we
have a servable back up in Sam Kohler.
Brandon Wimbush's interception by Jalen Elloiot was more on
Alize Jones (Mack) than Wimbush with credit to Nick Coleman.
Grades
Running Backs
Statically Dexter Williams had the best game with 96 yards
(long of 41) and an average of 10.7 per carry.
Jones with 45 years (5.6 avg.) and Adams with 39 years (4.9 avg.) both
had solid performances. Even Deon
Mcintosh built some confidence with a rushing touchdown.
 |
| Deaon McIntosh |
Quarterbacks
Because they were not live targets some of their
performances may be blurred a bit. Book
was 18 for 28 and had 271 yards BUT was -38 yards rushing being sacked 4
times. Wimbush as 22 for 32 for 303
yards BUT was intercepted twice, didn't throw any touchdowns and rushed for -30
yards being sacked 7 times.
Receivers
Miles Boykin had a little bit of a coming out party on
Saturday with 5 reception for 102 yards.
The ball was pretty well distributed with 14 players catching passes (11
of them having multiple catches). One
concern (not a major concern) there was
only one touchdown pass thrown all game (Sanders).
Offensive Line
The eye test gives them positive marks here. Even thought there were 11 sacks recorded
there may have been a low sense of urgency by the quarterbacks because they
were not live. The lack of penalties
called against the offensive line was refreshing.
Special Teams
Not much to grade here because punts no and kicks were not
live. However from what we were able to
see everything looked acceptable. Snaps,
holds and kicks looked good. With no
Yoon this spring we will have to wait till August to see where he is.
Defensive Line
 |
| Daelin Hayes |
Not bad, not great even with 11 sacks registered at time
they look pretty well handled by the offensive line at times. Daelin Hayes looked promising coming off the
edge and could be difficult to defend.
Again with the quarterbacks not being live they may have had to hold
back a bit as they were closing in.
Linebackers
Good coverage overall, not great and does need to get
better. Not too many missed tackles
which may be the most important thing to see.
Defensive Backs.
The coverage seemed better than the tackling, there were too
many yards after the catch in my opinion.
The rover position and Drue Tranquill proved to be a success. A couple of interceptions probably bolstered
the confidence of the defensive secondary .
