At spring practice on Wednesday
(Written by kencraw)
On Wednesday I was at Spring Practice and got to watch the 2008 Bears in action. I did my first podcast of the year on the way home and will post it tonight after editing it all together. (I would have done it last night but between Church responsibilities on Monday evening, a sailing club board meeting on Tuesday and practice Wednesday, my wife needed my support and help with stuff around the house and the 3 boys last night.) Also, I’ll be going to the open practice on Saturday and will do a podcast on the way home from that as well (although it probably won’t get posted until at least Sunday night if not Monday).
So look for those postings in the coming days.
Until then here are some notes I took:
- The number of injuries piling up is troublesome. Longshore wasn’t dressed. Both Vareen and Best were redshirted. Follett wasn’t even there. And those are just the high profile ones. Luckily it’s just Spring Practice, but if the injury front doesn’t improve in the fall, it could make for a long season.
- WR Boateng is looking to play a big role in the fall. He’s fast and big, two awesome qualities for a WR. A lot of throws in the scrimaging went his way as the #3 reciever.
- Both the players and the coaches on the defensive side practiced with a lot of enthusiasm.
- The receivers were dropping a lot of balls although both Ta’ufo’ou and Jeremy Ross (WR) made impressive one-handed grabs
- Mark Boskovich (Sophmore Left-Guard) was hitting really hard during individual drills. The kind of hard that makes your head snap up from writing notes to see who just got creamed. If he hits like that on run plays during the season, expect to see a lot of runs behind the left guard next season.
- Slocum looked REALLY fast. Like almost Best fast. He had great acceleration and was pretty darned nimble.
- For all the talk of 3-4, I saw a lot of 4-3… or at least I think I did. There was a lot of linebackers cheating up in a number of plays and the practice jerseys are harder to pick out the numbers to determine who’s a lineman and who’s a linebacker.
- The defense was the better of the performing units between the two.
- Worrell Williams had two “free” interceptions that he dropped. He was kicking himself particularly after the 2nd one.
- Brian Anger has a BOOMing leg. He’ll likely be a great replacement for Larson and may also have kickoff duties again.
That’s it for now.
April 11th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
“Slocum looked REALLY fast. Like almost Best fast.”
– are you kidding me?… how is that even possible… pls explain.
April 14th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
OK Danzig… you caught me exagerating a bit. He wasn’t as fast as Best is, at least not in open sprinting ability. However, there is more to speed than one’s 100 meter time. Acceleration is just as important when trying to get through the line. I guess all I was trying to say was that Slocum looked fast as a running back and was getting through the line quickly. It was unwise to say he looked as fast as Best though.
April 15th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
dude ken, i wasn’t try to call you out… just wanted more detail on how Tracy was running… i agree there’s track speed and then there’s speed in pads… and Javid really is one of the fastest guys in pads i’ve ever seen… currently there’s only a few players alive in the NCAA that comes close (by rank):
1) Trindon Holiday (LSU)
2) Javid Best (CAL)
3) Percy Harvin (FL)
4) Joe McKnight (USC)
5) Noel Divine (WV)
April 15th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
No worries danzig. It was true I was exagerating so it’s always good to be accurate/clarify. From my perspective, Slocum is running well and will likely be the #2 back behind Best, (assuming injuries clear up, etc.). Slocum seems to have a very good knack for knowing when to use his power and when to try and use speed. He also seems to be a very good “downhill runner” making sure to always get positive yards. You won’t see him going backwards like Marshawn who could do the unthinkable but every once in a while lost big yards in the process. I see him as a excellent 4th quarter back whereas Best is likely a much better 1st quarter back.