Just got back to the homestead to start organizing our media day coverage, but thought I'd pass along a few of my personal impressions from some of the guys I saw and talked to during the open interview session of media day this afternoon.
I'll make it short and sweet so I can get to the real work:
1) This is going to sound like a strange one, and I could be completely full of it, but I just think this team has so much more of a personality than it did a year ago. And it makes complete sense, that getting older and maturity and adjusting to yet another new staff, etc. etc., would all make this group be a little more spunky and comfortable. But really, there's a personality to the team itself, and I think that's largely because it's made up of some real personalities. From Lynch to Gesicki to Lucas to Mangiro and Zettel and Austin Johnson and Carl Nassib, even a kid like Kevin Reihner, who is a piece of work himself... it's just a totally different vibe. And this is more of me just waxing poetic, but there have been a lot of times the past few years in which the sheer weight of it all was just a lot to deal with. So many serious things, and tales of underdogs and so on and so forth. I'm not saying all of that is gone - it's not, and is still very much a story at work. But today just felt lighter and more certain in a lot of ways.
2) I'm not going to go through each kid, but there were a lot of unprompted conversations about just how much progress had been made in the weight room this offseason. OK, I lied, I'll talk about one kid. Troy Apke was a 180 pound skinny kid with really no idea who got thrown into a must-play situation. He's 200 pounds now and is still feeling things out, for sure, but the physical transformation alone has been something that he thinks will make a big difference, and is something that he has spent the entire offseason getting used to. Gesicki was a lot of the same deal. Carl Nassib. Parker Cothren. You name it, it's a common thread throughout a lot of the team.
3) Competition is going to be one of the big talking points this preseason in a lot of different areas. And though I think in a lot of ways there are obvious starters all over the field, there is also a sense that maybe more than at any time we've seen in the past couple of years, the wrangling among the second and third teamers - and for the coaches, making decisions on how things actually shake out - is going to be pretty constant. It's one of those things where if you're looking at the situation from six inches in front of your face, you might not see it, but from a birds eye view you see the impact it could have on the starters, and on the future of the program as it keeps trying to return to some semblance of normalcy.
4) For whatever it's worth, I was really impressed with Akeel Lynch.
He just has a completely different feel this time around. More mature, more focused, but still maintaining his personality. The coaching staff - Franklin, Donovan, Huff - all talked about him being better and being excited about seeing him play this season, and I just felt like every answer he had to my questions were reasoned and confident and positive. I won't give away the punch line, but I asked him about his blocking and he had a great response. If the offensive line can give him some lanes, I'm buying Akeel Lynch stock.
I'll make it short and sweet so I can get to the real work:
1) This is going to sound like a strange one, and I could be completely full of it, but I just think this team has so much more of a personality than it did a year ago. And it makes complete sense, that getting older and maturity and adjusting to yet another new staff, etc. etc., would all make this group be a little more spunky and comfortable. But really, there's a personality to the team itself, and I think that's largely because it's made up of some real personalities. From Lynch to Gesicki to Lucas to Mangiro and Zettel and Austin Johnson and Carl Nassib, even a kid like Kevin Reihner, who is a piece of work himself... it's just a totally different vibe. And this is more of me just waxing poetic, but there have been a lot of times the past few years in which the sheer weight of it all was just a lot to deal with. So many serious things, and tales of underdogs and so on and so forth. I'm not saying all of that is gone - it's not, and is still very much a story at work. But today just felt lighter and more certain in a lot of ways.
2) I'm not going to go through each kid, but there were a lot of unprompted conversations about just how much progress had been made in the weight room this offseason. OK, I lied, I'll talk about one kid. Troy Apke was a 180 pound skinny kid with really no idea who got thrown into a must-play situation. He's 200 pounds now and is still feeling things out, for sure, but the physical transformation alone has been something that he thinks will make a big difference, and is something that he has spent the entire offseason getting used to. Gesicki was a lot of the same deal. Carl Nassib. Parker Cothren. You name it, it's a common thread throughout a lot of the team.
3) Competition is going to be one of the big talking points this preseason in a lot of different areas. And though I think in a lot of ways there are obvious starters all over the field, there is also a sense that maybe more than at any time we've seen in the past couple of years, the wrangling among the second and third teamers - and for the coaches, making decisions on how things actually shake out - is going to be pretty constant. It's one of those things where if you're looking at the situation from six inches in front of your face, you might not see it, but from a birds eye view you see the impact it could have on the starters, and on the future of the program as it keeps trying to return to some semblance of normalcy.
4) For whatever it's worth, I was really impressed with Akeel Lynch.
He just has a completely different feel this time around. More mature, more focused, but still maintaining his personality. The coaching staff - Franklin, Donovan, Huff - all talked about him being better and being excited about seeing him play this season, and I just felt like every answer he had to my questions were reasoned and confident and positive. I won't give away the punch line, but I asked him about his blocking and he had a great response. If the offensive line can give him some lanes, I'm buying Akeel Lynch stock.
