I think out of necessity Yurich will have to work the TEs in again until the WRs improve with their ability to get open.
Football LIVE / GAME THREAD -- 2023 Blue-White Spring Game!
- Thread starter GregInPitt
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Stev Jones & Jack Ham seemed happy with the way McCain played today. I had to laugh @ KLS's post game comments about PSU having one of the best receiver rooms in the country and him being something like "all-world". Show it, then talk. Lots of bluster with little to show for it. If they don't answer the call, the offense will struggle.
I wouldn't put it that way. But I didn't see Ivey before the 4th quarter. He had a couple catches. Ivey looks physically a lot more ready than Johnson. But the fact that it looks like the (6) I mentioned seemed to be pretty firmly in front of him leads me to believe that unless there are injuries or transfers from those that seem to be ahead of him, Ivey likely won't make an impact before 2024. JMO
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If I was picking a WR or 2 from the 6 I believe are the top 6 to make some downfield 50-50 catches I'd go with McClain, and then maybe Harrison due to his athleticism and jumping ability. The rest of them seem like they are more suited to get separation from either their speed or their quickness in tight spaces.
But I wouldn't write off the down field ability of the WR's based on today's game as the QB's didn't have time to get the ball down field due to the consistent pressure from the DE's and LB's (including a nice debut from Rojas). OL will have to keep the pocket clean for a couple more seconds than they did today for the WR's to get deep and the QB to get it to them.
No one mentioned Meiga, but he had a nice short catch over the middle and he sure looks the part.
Not sure who was covering Evans on his catches but he did get separation, although on one of the big catches early he was Allar's 3rd option and the DB covering Evans fell down. Duck was on the white and he looked good so if Evans beat him he was beating a DB of the talent that he'll line up against in the B10.
Edit: Also, Duck had great coverage in the end zone, maybe a little handsy, and he was called for PI. But it's probably not called PI unless PSU is playing UM, oh-high-ya, or at Iowa......
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That's very true. But the great thing about following college football is that freshmen become sophomores, and sophs become Juniors.
An old ball coach dear to most of us used to say just that.
Yes he did. and they were contested. McClain ran some deep routes as well but as he was on the White the Blue pass rush prevented the White QB's from having the time to look down field.
Looks like Tank Smith lost weight and looks fairly quick.
Just not sold on Drew yet I know it’s a scrimmage but maybe when the season starts things will be better
That secondary had a lot to do with how the receivers faired. We are stacked two deep in the secondary.
What did you expect? 28/30, 4 TDs?
The staff put him under pressure vs easy pitch and catch. Man coverage, blitzing, and DDS.
Did you notice Amiel Davis, #30? He looked legit to me to compete with Potts for the 3rd spot.
In my experience, in scrimmages the defense is often limited to "base." It appeared that the defenses gave a number of looks and that is extremely challenging to the offense after 14 practices.
In general, the offense takes longer to mesh and early on defenses have an advantage. Add to this the fact that everyone knew that Allen and Singleton were not going to pound the rock.... the defense put their ears back. It's not like PSU doesn't have a few people on the defensive side of the ball that can harass any QB.
I think PSU was better than OSU last year except for Marvin Harrison. When a kid like that gets extra attention the whole field open up for other players.
We don't have anybody like Harrison but I'm looking for one WR to be somewhere close to Engram, Dotson, Robinson, Godwin, or Hamler. Also a big strong pass catcher like Jureviscius or Gesicki.
I think we have some good talented complementary WRs but I'm not seeing the go to guy that can either outrun or outfight defenders. I hope I'm wrong and one of these guys emerge.
We don't have anybody like Harrison but I'm looking for one WR to be somewhere close to Engram, Dotson, Robinson, Godwin, or Hamler. Also a big strong pass catcher like Jureviscius or Gesicki.
I think we have some good talented complementary WRs but I'm not seeing the go to guy that can either outrun or outfight defenders. I hope I'm wrong and one of these guys emerge.
I think Cephus is going to end up as our #1 wr. Just my gut feeling. I dont think KLS or Harrison are that guy.
Hamler was fast so opposing DBs would play back to avoid getting beat deep. I don't know the 40 times of our WRs but I don't see that from current players. IIRC D. Butler impressed as a freshman but players like Godwin & Robinson took a year or two to emerge. Maybe Evans is that guy.
I wonder about Saunders. He supposedly has the speed and he just missed being a 5* recruit. I guess something isn't clicking yet because he didn't get much PT last year in spite of PSU WRs having difficulty getting deep.
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This is especially true when the defense knows the formation and every play run off of it. Familiarity is going to heavily favor the defense in this type of spring scrimmage.
At one point, he and Birchmeier were the OTs if I heard the radio broadcast right.
Fairly early, they mentioned Chop introducing J'Ven to college football.
There were plenty of things to be positive about, but plenty of things to worry about as well from a player stand point. The biggest take aways for me are...
1. The offense is not where I thought it would be and I wasn't expecting that much. We are barely half way through the rebuilding process up front. To recap, mostly man blocking in 2019 to pure west coast zone in 2020 (during the pandemic so the line had a wasted year) to spread gap in 2021 and 2022. We are entering year three which is essentially the first year players recruited for the system start hitting the field but we still have a majority of the two deep recruited for JoeMo's mostly man MAP hybrid. We have a rookie starter at QB, a backup that may not be suited to run the offense at a high level and receiving corps with lots of issues and no true #1 target.
2. We have super fast, athletic defense that uses a system with a pretty massive weakness that can't be corrected, a weakness a couple of teams on the schedule are well suited to exploit. Bottom line, the current D is built to play against Ohio State, Maryland, Minnesota, Indiana etc. or with a lead and has significant disadvantages against teams like Michigan, Illinois and Michigan State when they are good.
Now, the big picture. This is a transition year on offense. We have a rookie QB and right now, based on what we know, limited ability to challenge the deep third of the field and a defense built to play with a lead. Forget all the bluster about the defense pressuring QBs all day long or the running backs. How quickly the offense comes together will be key. We play at Illinois in September followed by Iowa a week later. We have inherent disadvantages against Illinois. If were to win, we need a lead early. Can Allar delivery? The following week Allar will play his first snaps against a real defense. Can we get a lead against a D that will force mistakes? If we can't get an early lead, we can lose both games and there goes the season before playing Michigan.
1. The offense is not where I thought it would be and I wasn't expecting that much. We are barely half way through the rebuilding process up front. To recap, mostly man blocking in 2019 to pure west coast zone in 2020 (during the pandemic so the line had a wasted year) to spread gap in 2021 and 2022. We are entering year three which is essentially the first year players recruited for the system start hitting the field but we still have a majority of the two deep recruited for JoeMo's mostly man MAP hybrid. We have a rookie starter at QB, a backup that may not be suited to run the offense at a high level and receiving corps with lots of issues and no true #1 target.
2. We have super fast, athletic defense that uses a system with a pretty massive weakness that can't be corrected, a weakness a couple of teams on the schedule are well suited to exploit. Bottom line, the current D is built to play against Ohio State, Maryland, Minnesota, Indiana etc. or with a lead and has significant disadvantages against teams like Michigan, Illinois and Michigan State when they are good.
Now, the big picture. This is a transition year on offense. We have a rookie QB and right now, based on what we know, limited ability to challenge the deep third of the field and a defense built to play with a lead. Forget all the bluster about the defense pressuring QBs all day long or the running backs. How quickly the offense comes together will be key. We play at Illinois in September followed by Iowa a week later. We have inherent disadvantages against Illinois. If were to win, we need a lead early. Can Allar delivery? The following week Allar will play his first snaps against a real defense. Can we get a lead against a D that will force mistakes? If we can't get an early lead, we can lose both games and there goes the season before playing Michigan.
I love how strong Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, and Sparty are today yet when we beat them they suck. This schedule is tougher today, but by November we'll be hearing about how weak it is.
The trolls are out in force. Last time we played Illinois and Iowa we lost. Michigan State fell apart last year due to suspension and injury. They were missing the majority of their 2 deep on defense for many games to include the entire 2-deep in the secondary. And and they gave us a game into the fourth quarter. The clown comments are always funny.
Then you have trolls that claim they predicted, and expected, "us" to go 11-2 last year when they're documented calling the team a "7-5" team in the game-thread for the first game. Most forget that PSU started last season unranked and was projected to lose 4 - 5 games including MSU who was ranked 15th in the Preseason.
Actually, my track record says I am better informed than any poster on this site. You just don't want to hear what I have to say when you probably should listen a little closer.
It is always comical when people willfully misrepresent what I say or said to attack me rather than debate.
Below is your track record. Was from the thread predicting last year's record during the preseason. I bolded your prediction in the quote below.
And we actually achieved 11 wins, a NY6 Bowl and a consensus Final Season Ranking of #7.... - yea, he was prescient as ever LMFAO.
Like I said, my track record is quite good. Better than yours. We beat a realistic best case scenario due to the schedule being much easier than anyone expected. It happens. My general thesis is still correct. You just don't want to admit it.
State your claim now flip flopper Peggy. We know your tune changes the moment it benefits you. Your track record is immaculate...LY BAD! LOL
But let's sing the praises of 5/7s of the Big 10 East...until we beat them.
Really, I am about as thick skinned as it gets. You want thin skinned, look at AWS, Marshall, Lazydave and the other Franklin Groupies that respond quit quickly whenever anyone says something they don't agree with.
I severely worry about you. On one hand, you talk semi smart about certain aspects of the game. The problem is, you have this Franklin derangement syndrome like he bopped your mom and drank your juice box.
You are always of the utmost negative about Penn State. Crusher is pretty negative, but at least he sticks to a sentence or 2 and is out.
Additionally, some of the things you say are so off the wall ("Geno Lewis was the best deep threat in cfb in '13) that either you are just a well informed troll or you just have amongst the crappiest football opinions I've ever come across.
And to top it all off, you constantly pat yourself on the back. "I'm the best, most informed poster here. My track record is great." Your track record sucks. You are on an island with your opinions. I pray that it's really a schtik and you enjoy trolling us. Because if you are 100% what you represent, you live in a land of delusion and I stand by by Peggy Pigeon commentary forever baby!
Signed yours truly,
The lazy one (that name riles people up for some reason)
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