Practice notes:
- The team worked on their up-tempo, two minute offense sets throughout the practices. They did a game type simulation today with crowd noise mixed in, and rotating quarterbacks.
- It looked as though the offense struggled a lot more than it did the last two practices. There were dropped passes, a couple of interceptions, and most of the early drives resulted in three and outs. A lot of this was likely a result of a stronger secondary which made some fantastic plays on defense.
- Freshman kicker Ryan Santoso came in to try a 54 yard field goal, and absolutely crushed it. The kick likely would have been good from 60 yards.
- Berkley Edwards is being used in a variety of sets and it is apparent that they are going to be creative in getting the ball in his hands.
A compilation of quotes from players to the media after practice:
David Cobb quotes
(On up tempo offense, more efficient practice)
Practice is definitely different (then it was two years ago) Coach calls it, we didn’t have to walk through three or four times. We speed up practice a lot more and it’s a lot smoother, and Mitch as a leader, he knows what he’s doing and he knows his read, I think everyone as a position grew.
(Coming in trimmer)
Yeah the offseason is definitely where you want to put your work in, get better conditioning in, get stronger, work as a team, work as an offense.
(Individual goals for the season)
12 wins. If we can get 12 wins I’m happy.
(On receivers chemistry with Mitch)
Receivers look good. We got young receivers, Drew, Donovahn, incoming freshmen, Isaac Fruechte, tight ends. With 7 on 7 they’re running good routes, the timing is better so I think the passing game will definitely be better with a more established quarterback and a little more chemistry.
(Running back depth)
Every guys capable. In that room everybody feels like they have a chip on their shoulder, everybody feel like they should be the starter so each guy after each rep, if he sees another guy break he wants to break to so it builds all of us and puts a lot of motivation into every player.
(Confidence in Mitch being a better quarterback)
All the faith in the world. Mitch put in a lot of time and he’ll be fine. He’s learning, he’s growing, he has experience like everybody else so he’s put a lot of work in the offseason, so you can expect good things from him.
(Berkley)
Berk, he’s an explosive player, he’s explosive. So the biggest thing for him is gaining confidence, learning the offense, and getting better in the pass game so we can use him in different formations. So once he gets better at that, he’ll be all over the field.
Drew Wolitarsky quotes
(Bowl being a learning experience)
That’s the first game I really felt comfortable out there with the speed and everything, and also, just finishing the game out. I didn’t focus the whole time, and you get tired at the end with that two-minute, but that’s why we’re doing it now after every practice, two-minute offense. So you can keep your head, keep your composure, to make that last play.
(On getting separation)
Definitely footwork. Speed’s not going to do it anymore. These DBs get out of their break super fast.
Matt Limegrover quotes
(On Mitch being able to come in and command the huddle)
He’s gonna have his ups and downs. Things aren’t going to go right, and he’s going to learn from it. You know, the crazy thing is you hear so much about Mitch you figure he’s a fifth year senior, but he’s just a redshirt sophomore. But he’s still learning, and these guys are really taking to him, and because of that, I think it’s helped his ascension that much more. Those guys look to him, he’s going to be our leader on offense and everybody knows it.
(On David Cobb’s development)
David did a great job with running the football, still has work to do on catching the ball and being the guy that can help us there, and also just blocking and doing the little things in the ballgame, and I think he’s really taken to that. The thing I like about him is he really knows these things, and also last year because he didn’t know where he fit, he kind of got in there and he kind of started to develop a report with the O-line, but he’s around those guys all the time now, he knows they’re his bread and butter. You can just see the whole group coming together and David’s a good example of that.
(advantage of passing game going against team’s secondary.)
We’re not going to look good sometimes. There’s times where we just kind of look at each other on offense and go what are you gonna do? That’s the throw he needs to make but the kid made a great play on it…. With what we’re trying to accomplish there’s some good things in there against a pretty darn good defense.
(On Drew Wolitarsky)
The great thing about Drew is he came in as a very accomplished wide receiver. He’s probably the most polished guy we have at wide receiver as far as running routes, catching the football, doing the little things mechanically the way you want them done. There were plays that he could have made last fall, that as a freshman he just wasn’t strong enough to make….
The thing about it is, he gets it as far as wide receiver, he knows how important the routes are. He knows he’s the kind of kid that’s got great physical tools that he can’t just rely on. He’s got to get every advantage he can out of it and that’s what doing it in the weight room in the offseason. He’s a little leaned out but he’s stronger than he was at any point last year…. I think he gets it, and I think he likes the fact that all those skilled guys, they all want the ball.