2016 Blue-Gold Spring Game

BobbyMac

Staff & Stuff
Staff member
Messages
33,950
Reaction score
9,294
Speak to me in August about the QB battle. Coming off injury it seems crazy to expect him to be as sharp as Kizer.

Absolutely.

It's just Round 1 of a championship fight. Plenty of time left. Malik played better than Golson 2 years ago and all it got him was a clipboard.
 

IrishFaninTX

New member
Messages
1,038
Reaction score
46
Absolutely.

It's just Round 1 of a championship fight. Plenty of time left. Malik played better than Golson 2 years ago and all it got him was a clipboard.

The difference there is Golson was the one with the experience. Kelly tends to award experience over skill. In this case, Kizer has both the skill and experience. I think we will see a lot of both QBs next season, though.
 

NDPhilly

Philly Torqued
Messages
16,441
Reaction score
16,721
Only thing I was actually surprised at when watching the game was Stepherson's ability to get deep and get separation. I thought he would be basically a reserve player his first 2 years. Can't question Kelly on WR recruiting. Crazy good scout there.
 

ulukinatme

Carr for QB 2025!
Messages
31,518
Reaction score
17,389
I hope Zaire is the one to win the battle. I think we need that kind of vocal leader that brings up the rest of the team, especially given all the new starters on both sides of the ball this year. If Kizer wins the battle I certainly wouldn't be worried, we've got a pretty good problem on our hands if we have to choose between either guy I think. Kizer did produce a little more, but I feel like Zaire was getting pressured more, especially in the 1st half. Neither QB showed enough that they're the clear cut winner yet, so it makes sense that the battle will go into the Fall.
 

GreyWorm

Unsullied
Messages
179
Reaction score
21
Dead serious. I found him very bla. Also thought he made a lot of mistakes regarding the team and players on the team. One that sticks out is that he stated they moved Trumbetti to the rush end position. Which obviously is the position he always played.

But Trumbetti did move to rush end. He was forced into playing big end last year with depth.
 

Irish Insanity

Well-known member
Messages
9,885
Reaction score
584
This was our first BG game. We took the 5 year old. We only caught the 2nd and 4th. He loved the overall experience on campus. On our walk around after he got pics with Max, Tillery, Morgan, Yoon, Schmidt, and his favorite Jon Bon Jovi. Wasn't really happy with our bookstore experience as they said they hadn't received much of their gear yet.
 

Sherm Sticky

The Prophet
Messages
19,321
Reaction score
1,638
2016 Blue-Gold Spring Game

This was our first BG game. We took the 5 year old. We only caught the 2nd and 4th. He loved the overall experience on campus. On our walk around after he got pics with Max, Tillery, Morgan, Yoon, Schmidt, and his favorite Jon Bon Jovi. Wasn't really happy with our bookstore experience as they said they hadn't received much of their gear yet.



What happened to the 3rd quarter?

Also Jon Bon Jovi would be my favorite also.
 
Last edited:
K

koonja

Guest
So let's look too far ahead.

What was your W/L record before the BG game?

Has it changed?
 

mtnd15

Member
Messages
104
Reaction score
3
Kizer looked to be in total command of the game. A complete 180 from a year ago. I'll buy that Malik was showing some rust from the injury, but I still think he has a hill to climb because Kizer is so cerebral and runs the offense so well. You know Kelly loves the qb's who get the offense in that way (ahem, Reesus).

Also, I understand that lots of receivers were out i.e Sanders and Corey, and that Kizer gave him some strikes, but Stepherson was shockingly good for a freshman to me. I'm also usually pretty skeptical of walk-ons, but Finke has game. I mean if Robby Toma could be a useful piece in the offense - albeit that was a different time - Finke, especially when he gets older could make some plays.
 

Irish Insanity

Well-known member
Messages
9,885
Reaction score
584
What happened to the 3rd quarter?

Also Jon Bon Jovi would be my favorite also.
We went to the concessions at half. It took until the 4th started to find one that had something besides soda and get thru the line. We were right at the gate and I saw him inside. He walked out and not a single person seemed to notice. I had the little one walk up and ask for a pic. He knelt right down and took one. Then walked thru the crowd on his way. Nobody seemed to care.
 
K

koonja

Guest
My quick player thoughts (haven't re watched):

- Kizer - Real good.
- Malik - good enough to not lose the job, but not good enough to gain ground.
- Folston - Didn't impress, but hard to tell w/ green jerseys.
- Dexter W - Good. Real good.
- Adams - good.
- ESB - about what I expected. Good not great.
- Corey Holmes - didn't see anything. Thought he had a lethargic body language which I didn't care for (probably looking too far into it).
- Alize Jones - Didn't see much. About what I expected. I don't think the QBs looked for him enough and were maybe to focused on the big play.
OL - no comment. Seemed good?
KJ Stepherson - looked real good for a true freshman.
- Justin Brent is just a football player. That catch he made is a great catch for a RB. We need him on the field. He should be playing FS right now with Redfield at strong, SMH.

Defense:
Jay Hayes - active, quicker than expected, strong.
Tillery - didn't notice. So not good.
Jarron Jones - didn't notice.
Cage - really only noticed him on the screen where he lit up ESB, but not saying he didn't play well, I just don't know.
Trumbetti - Appeared solid.
Rochelle - didn't notice.

Bilal - looks bigger than expected and thought he covered well.
Morgan - didn't really notice to be honest, but he wasn't laying on his back 12 yards down the field, so it's an improvement at the position.
Onuwala - He'll graduate and have started for 3 years and I'll never have noticed him play good/bad.

Coleman - Looks good for a green jersey.
Cole Luke - I thought he played well and hard, which doesn't always happen when you're so established.
Drue Tranquill - honestly impressed me, injury aside.
Redfield - I don't care he missed one tackle, he played hard and didn't give up any deep balls that I saw?
Studstill - couldn't really tell. One great tackle on Malik?

Not saying the guys who I didn't notice played bad, just that they didn't pop out to me. They very well could have been holding their own.
 

TheOneWhoKnocks

New member
Messages
691
Reaction score
46
Solid stuff koonja lol. Max goes and makes his best tackle ever, next play takes bad angle and bounces off guy dohhhh
 

BeatSC

Well-known member
Messages
4,443
Reaction score
1,375
My quick player thoughts (haven't re watched):

- Kizer - Real good.
- Malik - good enough to not lose the job, but not good enough to gain ground.
- Folston - Didn't impress, but hard to tell w/ green jerseys.
- Dexter W - Good. Real good.
- Adams - good.
- ESB - about what I expected. Good not great.
- Corey Holmes - didn't see anything. Thought he had a lethargic body language which I didn't care for (probably looking too far into it).
- Alize Jones - Didn't see much. About what I expected. I don't think the QBs looked for him enough and were maybe to focused on the big play.
OL - no comment. Seemed good?
KJ Stepherson - looked real good for a true freshman.
- Justin Brent is just a football player. That catch he made is a great catch for a RB. We need him on the field. He should be playing FS right now with Redfield at strong, SMH.

Defense:
Jay Hayes - active, quicker than expected, strong.
Tillery - didn't notice. So not good.
Jarron Jones - didn't notice.
Cage - really only noticed him on the screen where he lit up ESB, but not saying he didn't play well, I just don't know.
Trumbetti - Appeared solid.
Rochelle - didn't notice.

Bilal - looks bigger than expected and thought he covered well.
Morgan - didn't really notice to be honest, but he wasn't laying on his back 12 yards down the field, so it's an improvement at the position.
Onuwala - He'll graduate and have started for 3 years and I'll never have noticed him play good/bad.

Coleman - Looks good for a green jersey.
Cole Luke - I thought he played well and hard, which doesn't always happen when you're so established.
Drue Tranquill - honestly impressed me, injury aside.
Redfield - I don't care he missed one tackle, he played hard and didn't give up any deep balls that I saw?
Studstill - couldn't really tell. One great tackle on Malik?

Not saying the guys who I didn't notice played bad, just that they didn't pop out to me. They very well could have been holding their own.

Perfectly said although I would add that Monty Van Gorder played well enough to give Rees a run for the starting QB job. Comment re poor Joe was all too true.
 

twig21

Member
Messages
864
Reaction score
20
Spot on analysis Koon. Does Dexter look much bigger this year or is it that we just didn't see him very much last year? He looks really well put together.
 
K

koonja

Guest
Spot on analysis Koon. Does Dexter look much bigger this year or is it that we just didn't see him very much last year? He looks really well put together.

I don't remember seeing much of him last year, but his high school film made me think he was slimmer and fast. He looked very thick yesterday, I agree with you. I noticed he stays low too. Not Folston low, but pretty low, which is good for getting those ~4 yard gains when there's not much room.
 
Last edited:

ulukinatme

Carr for QB 2025!
Messages
31,518
Reaction score
17,389
We went to the concessions at half. It took until the 4th started to find one that had something besides soda and get thru the line. We were right at the gate and I saw him inside. He walked out and not a single person seemed to notice. I had the little one walk up and ask for a pic. He knelt right down and took one. Then walked thru the crowd on his way. Nobody seemed to care.

Ha, I would advice anyone not to hit concessions in the 2nd half, you're better off grabbing something after the game at that point. You can sneeze and miss the 2nd half of a Spring Game. I remember going to the freezing cold 2013 Spring Game, my younger brother left at halftime cause he's a pussy, and me thinking he was going to miss half the game. I completely forgot about the running clock though, he didn't miss much other than a late TD (And the only one) /w Zaire to CJ, and Big Lou's subsequent 2 point conversion.

OL - no comment. Seemed good?

Studstill - couldn't really tell. One great tackle on Malik?

I cut out the rest to avoid scrolling, but there were a lot of decent points in your analysis. As far as the OL, I think they played very well overall. I think they struggled in pass protection at first, especially when Malik was in there first half (Which probably contributed to his slow start). They looked pretty good at times opening holes though. They showed a lot of replays with McGlinchey and Bars collapsing down on tackles to help open holes, then moving on to the next level. We probably could have run the ball more, but my guess is the coaches wanted to test the QBs more than our backs.

As far as Studstill, I'm surprised you couldn't tell on his performance...maybe trying to avoid him for Redfield's sake? :laugh: I thought Studstill looked very good, great instincts and definitely not a liability. Extremely athletic, he was all over the field at times it seemed, often in good positions to make plays. I now wonder how much they've been playing him in Spring...maybe he really is that good and they plan to start him ahead of Max, or maybe they really are just getting him some much needed experience in case he's needed.
 
B

Bogtrotter07

Guest
I keep feeling like Zaire should be the starter come Fall, but it's tough to argue Zaire>Kizer based on production and today didn't really help either.

I'm the biggest Malik fan here but he's a solid second after today. His one drive though? That was Heisman worthy. Just have to have 4 of those a game.

He's gonna have to push it on the field, go for broke... and stay on top of his locker room lead to win. I'll never count him out but like I said above, he's going to be the back up tonight.

Speak to me in August about the QB battle. Coming off injury it seems crazy to expect him to be as sharp as Kizer.

I found two remarkable (IMO) things in Kelly's post Blue & Gold game presser :

It seemed as if Kelly was offering an Armchair Quarterback and Coaches Football 101. I was boggled at the amount of information that he presented.

Kelly stated that this was the second time he had two really great quarterbacks on a team. At U of C he had Tony Pike and Zach Collaros; which he termed as completely different types of quarterbacks, requiring two different sequence of offensive plays.

But he made it clear that he thought Kizer and Zaire were the same type of quarterbacks. That really blew my mind. After further contemplation and admitting I don't know shit, I kind of see it for what he was saying. From a functional standpoint they can do the same things, (but there execution is kind of different.)

Still was Kelly setting up a smoke screen disguising what he plans on doing this fall? Or is he setting up the argument for a two quarterback system?

Because although Kizer and Zaire do the same things, minimizing the adjustment for our teams, they come off looking very different for opponents. Which may be used to disguise our tendencies.

I also was fascinated with Kelly's insistence that it was his responsibility that Brandon didn't get more reps.
 

dad4aa

Well-known member
Messages
3,754
Reaction score
741
My quick player thoughts (haven't re watched):

- Kizer - Real good.
- Malik - good enough to not lose the job, but not good enough to gain ground.
- Folston - Didn't impress, but hard to tell w/ green jerseys.
- Dexter W - Good. Real good.
- Adams - good.
- ESB - about what I expected. Good not great.
- Corey Holmes - didn't see anything. Thought he had a lethargic body language which I didn't care for (probably looking too far into it).
- Alize Jones - Didn't see much. About what I expected. I don't think the QBs looked for him enough and were maybe to focused on the big play.
OL - no comment. Seemed good?
KJ Stepherson - looked real good for a true freshman.
- Justin Brent is just a football player. That catch he made is a great catch for a RB. We need him on the field. He should be playing FS right now with Redfield at strong, SMH.

Defense:
Jay Hayes - active, quicker than expected, strong.
Tillery - didn't notice. So not good.
Jarron Jones - didn't notice.
Cage - really only noticed him on the screen where he lit up ESB, but not saying he didn't play well, I just don't know.
Trumbetti - Appeared solid.
Rochelle - didn't notice.

Bilal - looks bigger than expected and thought he covered well.
Morgan - didn't really notice to be honest, but he wasn't laying on his back 12 yards down the field, so it's an improvement at the position.
Onuwala - He'll graduate and have started for 3 years and I'll never have noticed him play good/bad.

Coleman - Looks good for a green jersey.
Cole Luke - I thought he played well and hard, which doesn't always happen when you're so established.
Drue Tranquill - honestly impressed me, injury aside.
Redfield - I don't care he missed one tackle, he played hard and didn't give up any deep balls that I saw?
Studstill - couldn't really tell. One great tackle on Malik?

Not saying the guys who I didn't notice played bad, just that they didn't pop out to me. They very well could have been holding their own.

You're confusing Crawford in green with Coleman who was 24 on Blue.
 
B

Bogtrotter07

Guest
Do you know where one might watch this presser? Couldn't find it on WatchND and the google failed me.

Sorry I didn't check back right away. If you don't see it on UND.com, WatchND, it is usually on youtoobe, too!

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MlXnYqCezeU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 

GBdomer

People's Champion
Messages
6,845
Reaction score
555
Koon good breakdown of the practice. There is literally nothing you can gain from this game. It was so vanilla and boring, QBs played how I expected. Kizer makes some throws that first round QBs do and then he does some things that make you realize he's only played in twelve games. Best thing from yesterday is no one is injured.
 

Nothingman

The man who sold the world.
Messages
263
Reaction score
70
Do you know where one might watch this presser? Couldn't find it on WatchND and the google failed me.

<iframe width="854" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MlXnYqCezeU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 

woolybug25

#1 Vineyard Vines Fan
Messages
17,677
Reaction score
3,018
my single biggest takeaway is that Stepherson could be special

I think the thing we have to consider with him is that he's looked like this all spring. This wasn't a "Junior Jabbie" moment where he just happened to have a nice spring game. We were all expecting him to shine and he went out and did just that. I have high hopes for him.
 

Graybeard52

New member
Messages
185
Reaction score
14
We went to the concessions at half. It took until the 4th started to find one that had something besides soda and get thru the line. We were right at the gate and I saw him inside. He walked out and not a single person seemed to notice. I had the little one walk up and ask for a pic. He knelt right down and took one. Then walked thru the crowd on his way. Nobody seemed to care.

Heh. I went to concessions as soon as halftime started just to get a drink. Stood in line and moved about two feet when I saw the second half was supposed to start. I thought "Screw it. I came here to watch football not stand in line for a Coke". I waited until the game was over which I knew would only be around a half hour later then hit a friend's tailgate for a beer.
 
Top