I was able to take in the scrimmage and coaches clinic in Lincoln the last two days in Lincoln. I don’t usually post much but thought I would share what I saw.
-Turner Corcoran was not in full pads, but he was out there doing everything.
-Gabe Ervin was dressed in half pads and doing limited work.
-At the beginning of practice Mark Whipple had complete control of the offense and everything they did. Frost was walking around and spent time with both the offense and defense. He looks more like a head coach today from what I saw vs. a head coach trying to also run the offense.
-Chubba Purdy did not practice and was not dressed. Haarberg also did not throw/scrimmage. I heard one of the coaches say he had a finger bothering him. It was a pleasant surprise to see Torres fully dressed out, but he didn’t do live work. I was impressed with his arm and the velocity he puts on the football. He had a big knee brace on.
-Kevin Williams look better than I was expecting. He moved really well. They said he’s lost 25 pounds since January. Jailen Waver also moved the pile well with the lower units.
-Travis Vokolek was in full pads and doing everything on air, but nothing live.
-This was how they had the OL groups in terms of ones and twos:
LT – Banks, Ezra Miller
LG – Nouri, K. Williams
C – Hixson, Piper
RG – Bando, Lutovsky
RT – Benhart, Hunter Anthony
-On the DL, Garrett Nelson was a DE and Ty Robinson lined up at nose. The other DE was Feist with the one group. Then Tannor was lined up at OLB with a nickel guy also in there (Gifford/Bullock). Feels like they want to get Tannnor and Nelson on the field together.
-The coaches gave Malachi Coleman a ton of attention. He spent a lot of time around Mickey Joseph during practice, and I saw him talking to Coach Frost.
-The first group at WR was Oliver Martin at X, Alante Brown at Z and Trey Palmer in the slot. Omar Manning worked with the two offense for the most part, but they move a lot of guys around. Isaiah Garcia was not practicing but catching balls from the QBs still.
-Before the scrimmage started Garrett Nelson addressed the team said, “be smart, but be aggressive.” My guess is this goes back to the first scrimmage where they had a big fight that stopped things. I didn’t notice any injuries today in the scrimmage.
-The scrimmage was somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 plays. Ball was spotted at the 25, 50 and then near the red zone on the opposite 30 yards line. It was live to the ground for the most part, other than the top QBs. Synek was live with the 3 offense at QB.
They broke it up into two parts. The first 40 or so plays, all the work was done from the 25. The one offense got two drives on that. On the opening drive Casey Thompson hit Trey Palmer on two passes that were nice simple throws that went for 15 to 20 yards each. After that they got a pre-snap penalty and sack that ended the drive out.
The second drive with the ones from the 25 arguably had one of the best plays of the scrimmage. Anthony Grant had a 40 yard run where he completely broke down Farmer in the open field. The play before that Thompson hit AJ Rollins on a third down pass. The offense got inside the 5-yard line, but unfortunately Yant fumbled near the goal line.
-The two offense was led by Smothers. Lots of runs. Stepp got the first three carries for about 20 yards on the first three plays. Jewitt took a few carries. Marquis Black forced a strip on third-and-long to end the drive. The twos went three-and-out the next drive.
-The three-offense stuck one in led by Synek (Hastings walk-on QB). Isiah Harris had a nice run and Synek had about a 15-yard score.
Then they went to special teams outside led by Bill Busch and took a break from the scrimmage.
-When they came back from specials, the top offense took the field at the 50. The first play Thompson missed Palmer deep, but then on the next play Rhamir Johnson had a 50 yard TD. This was the longest play of the scrimmage. He also broke down Farmer in the open field who was in position to make the tackle.
The next drive Thompson hit two passes to Boerkircher to get them inside the 10. Yant couldn’t stick it in on three straight runs and then they missed a throw on fourth down from the 1. I’m sure Frost was disappointed they couldn’t stick it in from basically the 5 yard line with four plays.
They came back with a nice drive though as Grant had a spectacular run of about 12 to 15 yards where he cut across field. Then he had a catch from Thompson on the next play. He also picked up a blitz right after that, but the throw was incomplete. He had a good scrimmage. Yant was able then to bounce back after his fumble and getting stuffed his other two series with a 19 yard TD run.
-On the day, I was doing my best to keep track of Thompson. I had him going 8-of-12 for around 100 yards. No bad/questionable throws. Grant had about 55-60 yards rushing on around 4-5 carries. Yant, Grant and Rahmir all took time at the one RB spot. Stepp only saw time with the twos, and probably had the most carries overall.
-Liewer also had a 45 yard TD from Smothers with the No. 2 offense. That was the best throw Smothers had.
-At tight end, Rollins surprised me. Looked the part and had a few catches with both the ones and twos. Beckton is a good coach. He really gets the most out of his guys.
-Gunnerson had a sack on Smothers. Simon Otte also had a nice scrimmage. He stuffed a run on the edge that the entire defense went crazy on. With the three offense, Isaiah Harris got a lot of carries at RB and scored a TD. He split the three RB carries with Aidan Young.
-I noticed Kpai on one play get some pressure on Smothers.
-Whipple was really funny. It was cool when he pulled out 2009 Tom Brady cut-ups to show us. I guess he got them from Bill O’Brien, who was once his GA.
-One interesting thing Mickey said is today right now Palmer is probably their top receiver.
Anyways, that’s all I have. Very good clinic. Loved hearing Whipple, Mickey and Raiola present. These were great hires by Frost. I know after Raiola talked Friday all of the HS coaches were impressed with him and his teaching style.
-Turner Corcoran was not in full pads, but he was out there doing everything.
-Gabe Ervin was dressed in half pads and doing limited work.
-At the beginning of practice Mark Whipple had complete control of the offense and everything they did. Frost was walking around and spent time with both the offense and defense. He looks more like a head coach today from what I saw vs. a head coach trying to also run the offense.
-Chubba Purdy did not practice and was not dressed. Haarberg also did not throw/scrimmage. I heard one of the coaches say he had a finger bothering him. It was a pleasant surprise to see Torres fully dressed out, but he didn’t do live work. I was impressed with his arm and the velocity he puts on the football. He had a big knee brace on.
-Kevin Williams look better than I was expecting. He moved really well. They said he’s lost 25 pounds since January. Jailen Waver also moved the pile well with the lower units.
-Travis Vokolek was in full pads and doing everything on air, but nothing live.
-This was how they had the OL groups in terms of ones and twos:
LT – Banks, Ezra Miller
LG – Nouri, K. Williams
C – Hixson, Piper
RG – Bando, Lutovsky
RT – Benhart, Hunter Anthony
-On the DL, Garrett Nelson was a DE and Ty Robinson lined up at nose. The other DE was Feist with the one group. Then Tannor was lined up at OLB with a nickel guy also in there (Gifford/Bullock). Feels like they want to get Tannnor and Nelson on the field together.
-The coaches gave Malachi Coleman a ton of attention. He spent a lot of time around Mickey Joseph during practice, and I saw him talking to Coach Frost.
-The first group at WR was Oliver Martin at X, Alante Brown at Z and Trey Palmer in the slot. Omar Manning worked with the two offense for the most part, but they move a lot of guys around. Isaiah Garcia was not practicing but catching balls from the QBs still.
-Before the scrimmage started Garrett Nelson addressed the team said, “be smart, but be aggressive.” My guess is this goes back to the first scrimmage where they had a big fight that stopped things. I didn’t notice any injuries today in the scrimmage.
-The scrimmage was somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 plays. Ball was spotted at the 25, 50 and then near the red zone on the opposite 30 yards line. It was live to the ground for the most part, other than the top QBs. Synek was live with the 3 offense at QB.
They broke it up into two parts. The first 40 or so plays, all the work was done from the 25. The one offense got two drives on that. On the opening drive Casey Thompson hit Trey Palmer on two passes that were nice simple throws that went for 15 to 20 yards each. After that they got a pre-snap penalty and sack that ended the drive out.
The second drive with the ones from the 25 arguably had one of the best plays of the scrimmage. Anthony Grant had a 40 yard run where he completely broke down Farmer in the open field. The play before that Thompson hit AJ Rollins on a third down pass. The offense got inside the 5-yard line, but unfortunately Yant fumbled near the goal line.
-The two offense was led by Smothers. Lots of runs. Stepp got the first three carries for about 20 yards on the first three plays. Jewitt took a few carries. Marquis Black forced a strip on third-and-long to end the drive. The twos went three-and-out the next drive.
-The three-offense stuck one in led by Synek (Hastings walk-on QB). Isiah Harris had a nice run and Synek had about a 15-yard score.
Then they went to special teams outside led by Bill Busch and took a break from the scrimmage.
-When they came back from specials, the top offense took the field at the 50. The first play Thompson missed Palmer deep, but then on the next play Rhamir Johnson had a 50 yard TD. This was the longest play of the scrimmage. He also broke down Farmer in the open field who was in position to make the tackle.
The next drive Thompson hit two passes to Boerkircher to get them inside the 10. Yant couldn’t stick it in on three straight runs and then they missed a throw on fourth down from the 1. I’m sure Frost was disappointed they couldn’t stick it in from basically the 5 yard line with four plays.
They came back with a nice drive though as Grant had a spectacular run of about 12 to 15 yards where he cut across field. Then he had a catch from Thompson on the next play. He also picked up a blitz right after that, but the throw was incomplete. He had a good scrimmage. Yant was able then to bounce back after his fumble and getting stuffed his other two series with a 19 yard TD run.
-On the day, I was doing my best to keep track of Thompson. I had him going 8-of-12 for around 100 yards. No bad/questionable throws. Grant had about 55-60 yards rushing on around 4-5 carries. Yant, Grant and Rahmir all took time at the one RB spot. Stepp only saw time with the twos, and probably had the most carries overall.
-Liewer also had a 45 yard TD from Smothers with the No. 2 offense. That was the best throw Smothers had.
-At tight end, Rollins surprised me. Looked the part and had a few catches with both the ones and twos. Beckton is a good coach. He really gets the most out of his guys.
-Gunnerson had a sack on Smothers. Simon Otte also had a nice scrimmage. He stuffed a run on the edge that the entire defense went crazy on. With the three offense, Isaiah Harris got a lot of carries at RB and scored a TD. He split the three RB carries with Aidan Young.
-I noticed Kpai on one play get some pressure on Smothers.
-Whipple was really funny. It was cool when he pulled out 2009 Tom Brady cut-ups to show us. I guess he got them from Bill O’Brien, who was once his GA.
-One interesting thing Mickey said is today right now Palmer is probably their top receiver.
Anyways, that’s all I have. Very good clinic. Loved hearing Whipple, Mickey and Raiola present. These were great hires by Frost. I know after Raiola talked Friday all of the HS coaches were impressed with him and his teaching style.
