Going to make this short and sweet in terms of the notes from today's few minutes opened to the media at the end of practice. Video and comments from head coach James Franklin coming shortly afterward.
1) Call it a teachable moment, but one couldn't help but feel bad for running back Mark Allen as the team practiced goal line situations at the tail end of practice Saturday afternoon.
On a designed draw right, right on the door step of the end zone, Allen took the handoff, stopped, and cut the entire way back to the left pylon in the end zone and scored. Except, well, he didn't actually. As the rest of the team celebrated and started taking off for kickoff practice outside Holuba Hall, Franklin bellowed out a question to find out who was going to "take" Allen for the next few minutes.
Subjected to 50 up-downs, Allen apparently dropped the ball before actually crossing the goal line and was made to pay for the mistake. He looked pretty gassed by the end of it all, so the lesson seems like it'll probably learned from what was otherwise a pretty impressive play for the young kid.
2) Some offensive line notes for you guys, from the action that we were able to see. Not sure what's up, but did not see Dowrey today. First and second teams that I saw:
RT - Andrew Nelson, Brendan Brosnan
RG - Brian Gaia, Chasz Wright
C - Angelo Mangiro, Wendy Laurent
LG - Brendan Mahon, Albert Hall
LT - Paris Palmer, Chance Sorrell
According to Franklin's post-practice comments, they're really throwing Palmer and Sorrell into it at LT. They want to get this thing pretty much settled this spring if they can on the offensive line ("Obviously, we'd like to get it resolved now. We're kind of force feeding Paris and Chance Sorrell right now on the position. Albert is still doing some nice things, but we still feel like we need to force feed those two guys and get them as many reps as possible. The other positions I think for the most part guys are taking control of some spots. But yeah, the quicker we can identify that the better. Today we voted on our leadership council. By the end we'll vote on captains like we did last year to be able to go into the summer with some leadership. But I think the O-line is a great example of that as well. We'd like as many positions solidified ahead of time as we can.") so they're keeping the defensive looks fairly simple so that the offense can understand what they're looking at and actually make some improvements instead of being confused all the time.
"With the offense, instead of them getting a lot of blitz and crazy looks early on in spring, we're going back to more part, part, whole, and building," Franklin said. "It's hard because our defense likes to do a lot of that, so I'm asking them to limit and let it progress and let it grow, and I think that's going to be helpful. We'll use the same model during camp.
"I thought last year our defense built up a lot of confidence and our offense, with a young offense, was seeing too many looks early on. In the long run, it's going to be better for everybody. So I've been pleased with that. Plus it gives you a better opportunity to evaluate the guys and how they're playing. Rather than seeing 55 different looks on day one."
3) This isn't so much a note from today's practice as much as it is from the past week, but Jordan Lucas is killing it, I'm told. He had multiple interceptions at safety throughout the week, and from what Franklin said afterward, it's a move that speaks highly of Lucas' ability and enthusiasm to make the change as well as their confidence in the young corners.
As for corner in his place, Franklin said that Campbell, Haley and Williams, plus Worley, have all shown some good things this spring.
"Having a Christian Campbell, having a Grant, Trevor is playing a really high level, Daquan Worley is showing some really nice things. We need that fourth guy to step up for us right now, and then the move makes really good sense because now you've got 2 1/2 deep at safety and hopefully 2 1/2 deep at corner."
4) The wideout competition seems to be heating up. In the portion of practice we saw, Geno Lewis and Saeed Blacknall were the second teamers at wideout, leaving Chris Godwin and DaeSean Hamilton as your primary receivers through a week of spring practice.
I wrote a story about it this week, but consistency is a huge emphasis among that group this spring. Hackenberg didn't know which guy was showing up which day last season - and to be totally clear and fair, from a young group that is to be expected - but it impacted what they were able to do as a group even beyond the OL struggles.
Pretty telling though that Godwin and Hamilton are asserting themselves there, and that some of the issues that have existed in terms of Geno's consistency even last year continue into this spring.
5) Second team defense included Torrence Brown, Curtis Cothran, Antoine White, Parker Cothren, Von Walker, Ben Kline, Matt Baney, Daquan Worley, Malik Golen, and DaQuan Davis, and Grant Haley in when they called for the star package.
Starters in the goal line package were Evan Schwan, Austin Johnson, Tarow Barney, Parker Cothren, Carl Nassib, Jason Cabinda, Jordan Lucas, Marcus Allen and Brandon Bell. I didn't catch everyone in that set, though. It looked like maybe Nyeem Wartman might have been dinged up and was absent from the portion of practice we saw. Koa Farmer also appears to be a little nicked.
As far as bumps and bruises, Franklin said they were going to be a little more aggressive in their approach, so they're probably to be expected a little more this spring than maybe last year when the numbers were so much worse: "I think there will be more contact this spring. There will be more contact in camp. But we'll still be a little bit limited. We'll hold back a little bit limited because we're still not going to be at the 85. I want to be more aggressive during spring, because if we have some issues, you still have some time. During camp, we gotta be really smart because we're still limited. Right now, we want to get the mental and physical toughness from morning workouts as well as from spring ball, and if you get a bump or a bruise or a scratch now, we got time. We got time to solve that problem before the start of camp."
In that goal line package, Hackenberg hit Gesicki on a naked bootleg right and both were totally unimpeded. Seemed like everyone was pretty jazzed about making good on that goal line opportunity.
On the second team goal line set with McSorley running the show, Noah Beh, Sorrell, Evan Galimberti, Brosnan, Hall and Wright all saw action in the jumbo package, and Kyle Carter got some run at H-back but didn't get a carry.
6) Like I mentioned off the Allen run, the tailbacks looked pretty good today. Didn't see Thomas get any carries in live action, but Scott, Allen and Lynch all had productive carries and some positive remarks from Franklin afterward.
"I think Nick Scott is really showing some flashes. I think Akeel is really showing some flashes. I think all those guys. I think even Mark Allen has done some nice things. What I like is, we're being a lot more definitive. There's less hesitation, we're getting down hill, we're keeping our shoulders square and we're just so much stronger and more explosive than we were last year. So I've been pleased with that group. We've still got a long ways to go, but Akeel is looking like the work horse that we think he can be and some of the young guys that we were excited about are showing some pretty good signs."
7) One more thing I should have noted (though I'm sure you'll see a million stories about it later today) is that Franklin is putting the team both offense and defense in specific situations, be it their own that didn't work out last season (like today's duplication of the Illinois end of game situation) or the Super Bowl or AFC Championship game, etc.
He said the offense was able to eat clock and finish the game on its own terms in both tries this afternoon.
"If you look at it, our defense needs work on two minute. Our offense needs work on four minute. But really, we want to work on all of those situations. We map out our entire spring practice. Are we getting enough four-minute situations? Are we getting enough two minute situations? Are we getting enough goal line? You gotta just make sure that the things that you're doing in practice make sense for the game. So we want to make sure we get all the situations covered and we want to make sure we're spending the right amount of time on it as well based on how many times are you really going to run those things during the game, and not just based on this year, based on the last five years studying the game."
8) Quick update on Ben Kline and Adam Breneman, both of whom are coming off season-long injuries last year. Pretty much as expected here:
"Kline has been out for a long time. Breneman has been out for a long time. So to think they're going to come in from the first day of spring ball and be full go and see no residual effects from it, that's not going to happen."
This post was edited on 3/28 2:59 PM by Nate Bauer/BWI Staff
Video link
1) Call it a teachable moment, but one couldn't help but feel bad for running back Mark Allen as the team practiced goal line situations at the tail end of practice Saturday afternoon.
On a designed draw right, right on the door step of the end zone, Allen took the handoff, stopped, and cut the entire way back to the left pylon in the end zone and scored. Except, well, he didn't actually. As the rest of the team celebrated and started taking off for kickoff practice outside Holuba Hall, Franklin bellowed out a question to find out who was going to "take" Allen for the next few minutes.
Subjected to 50 up-downs, Allen apparently dropped the ball before actually crossing the goal line and was made to pay for the mistake. He looked pretty gassed by the end of it all, so the lesson seems like it'll probably learned from what was otherwise a pretty impressive play for the young kid.
2) Some offensive line notes for you guys, from the action that we were able to see. Not sure what's up, but did not see Dowrey today. First and second teams that I saw:
RT - Andrew Nelson, Brendan Brosnan
RG - Brian Gaia, Chasz Wright
C - Angelo Mangiro, Wendy Laurent
LG - Brendan Mahon, Albert Hall
LT - Paris Palmer, Chance Sorrell
According to Franklin's post-practice comments, they're really throwing Palmer and Sorrell into it at LT. They want to get this thing pretty much settled this spring if they can on the offensive line ("Obviously, we'd like to get it resolved now. We're kind of force feeding Paris and Chance Sorrell right now on the position. Albert is still doing some nice things, but we still feel like we need to force feed those two guys and get them as many reps as possible. The other positions I think for the most part guys are taking control of some spots. But yeah, the quicker we can identify that the better. Today we voted on our leadership council. By the end we'll vote on captains like we did last year to be able to go into the summer with some leadership. But I think the O-line is a great example of that as well. We'd like as many positions solidified ahead of time as we can.") so they're keeping the defensive looks fairly simple so that the offense can understand what they're looking at and actually make some improvements instead of being confused all the time.
"With the offense, instead of them getting a lot of blitz and crazy looks early on in spring, we're going back to more part, part, whole, and building," Franklin said. "It's hard because our defense likes to do a lot of that, so I'm asking them to limit and let it progress and let it grow, and I think that's going to be helpful. We'll use the same model during camp.
"I thought last year our defense built up a lot of confidence and our offense, with a young offense, was seeing too many looks early on. In the long run, it's going to be better for everybody. So I've been pleased with that. Plus it gives you a better opportunity to evaluate the guys and how they're playing. Rather than seeing 55 different looks on day one."
3) This isn't so much a note from today's practice as much as it is from the past week, but Jordan Lucas is killing it, I'm told. He had multiple interceptions at safety throughout the week, and from what Franklin said afterward, it's a move that speaks highly of Lucas' ability and enthusiasm to make the change as well as their confidence in the young corners.
As for corner in his place, Franklin said that Campbell, Haley and Williams, plus Worley, have all shown some good things this spring.
"Having a Christian Campbell, having a Grant, Trevor is playing a really high level, Daquan Worley is showing some really nice things. We need that fourth guy to step up for us right now, and then the move makes really good sense because now you've got 2 1/2 deep at safety and hopefully 2 1/2 deep at corner."
4) The wideout competition seems to be heating up. In the portion of practice we saw, Geno Lewis and Saeed Blacknall were the second teamers at wideout, leaving Chris Godwin and DaeSean Hamilton as your primary receivers through a week of spring practice.
I wrote a story about it this week, but consistency is a huge emphasis among that group this spring. Hackenberg didn't know which guy was showing up which day last season - and to be totally clear and fair, from a young group that is to be expected - but it impacted what they were able to do as a group even beyond the OL struggles.
Pretty telling though that Godwin and Hamilton are asserting themselves there, and that some of the issues that have existed in terms of Geno's consistency even last year continue into this spring.
5) Second team defense included Torrence Brown, Curtis Cothran, Antoine White, Parker Cothren, Von Walker, Ben Kline, Matt Baney, Daquan Worley, Malik Golen, and DaQuan Davis, and Grant Haley in when they called for the star package.
Starters in the goal line package were Evan Schwan, Austin Johnson, Tarow Barney, Parker Cothren, Carl Nassib, Jason Cabinda, Jordan Lucas, Marcus Allen and Brandon Bell. I didn't catch everyone in that set, though. It looked like maybe Nyeem Wartman might have been dinged up and was absent from the portion of practice we saw. Koa Farmer also appears to be a little nicked.
As far as bumps and bruises, Franklin said they were going to be a little more aggressive in their approach, so they're probably to be expected a little more this spring than maybe last year when the numbers were so much worse: "I think there will be more contact this spring. There will be more contact in camp. But we'll still be a little bit limited. We'll hold back a little bit limited because we're still not going to be at the 85. I want to be more aggressive during spring, because if we have some issues, you still have some time. During camp, we gotta be really smart because we're still limited. Right now, we want to get the mental and physical toughness from morning workouts as well as from spring ball, and if you get a bump or a bruise or a scratch now, we got time. We got time to solve that problem before the start of camp."
In that goal line package, Hackenberg hit Gesicki on a naked bootleg right and both were totally unimpeded. Seemed like everyone was pretty jazzed about making good on that goal line opportunity.
On the second team goal line set with McSorley running the show, Noah Beh, Sorrell, Evan Galimberti, Brosnan, Hall and Wright all saw action in the jumbo package, and Kyle Carter got some run at H-back but didn't get a carry.
6) Like I mentioned off the Allen run, the tailbacks looked pretty good today. Didn't see Thomas get any carries in live action, but Scott, Allen and Lynch all had productive carries and some positive remarks from Franklin afterward.
"I think Nick Scott is really showing some flashes. I think Akeel is really showing some flashes. I think all those guys. I think even Mark Allen has done some nice things. What I like is, we're being a lot more definitive. There's less hesitation, we're getting down hill, we're keeping our shoulders square and we're just so much stronger and more explosive than we were last year. So I've been pleased with that group. We've still got a long ways to go, but Akeel is looking like the work horse that we think he can be and some of the young guys that we were excited about are showing some pretty good signs."
7) One more thing I should have noted (though I'm sure you'll see a million stories about it later today) is that Franklin is putting the team both offense and defense in specific situations, be it their own that didn't work out last season (like today's duplication of the Illinois end of game situation) or the Super Bowl or AFC Championship game, etc.
He said the offense was able to eat clock and finish the game on its own terms in both tries this afternoon.
"If you look at it, our defense needs work on two minute. Our offense needs work on four minute. But really, we want to work on all of those situations. We map out our entire spring practice. Are we getting enough four-minute situations? Are we getting enough two minute situations? Are we getting enough goal line? You gotta just make sure that the things that you're doing in practice make sense for the game. So we want to make sure we get all the situations covered and we want to make sure we're spending the right amount of time on it as well based on how many times are you really going to run those things during the game, and not just based on this year, based on the last five years studying the game."
8) Quick update on Ben Kline and Adam Breneman, both of whom are coming off season-long injuries last year. Pretty much as expected here:
"Kline has been out for a long time. Breneman has been out for a long time. So to think they're going to come in from the first day of spring ball and be full go and see no residual effects from it, that's not going to happen."
This post was edited on 3/28 2:59 PM by Nate Bauer/BWI Staff
Video link
