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The stream of consciousness is great in the Spring Practice thread... but I want to read all of your collective gushing over Hartman, musings over Buchner, and thoughts/concerns in one place.
My own observations, from an admittedly distracted viewing of the game:
1. Holy shit guys. Hartman is going to be good. Having a guy that knows how/when to hit the deep shot, and when to take the 5-yard layup and let his guys do the work that they've been recruited to do, is going to be so much fun. Maybe it was just because the teams were spread thin, and maybe the defense he was throwing against was not the best collection of DB's (coverage) or DL (pressure), but I got off the couch absolutely GIDDY that Hartman decided on ND for a season. Dude is going to make ALL of the pass-catchers look good. He made Davis Sherwood look like the next in line at TE on a couple of plays! And he only had 1/5th of the most dangerous parts of the pass-catching group at his disposal!
2. Lorenzo Styles: crazy how fast the outlook at a position can change. Had he left this time last year, we might have had to ban 5+ regular members of IE for how bad the discourse would have gotten. Fast-forward a year: Styles has below-average hands and a confidence problem, is more stiff as an athlete than he looked as a freshman, and the WR group has seen the emergence of several weapons that can line up and attack the seam the same way Styles projected, but probably to an even more effective degree. Between JT moving around, Tyree being a legit weapon as a motion/slot tweener, this historical use of 12/22 personnel that takes a 3rd WR off the field, and the emergence of Greathouse as a space-eating zone-destroyer... WR might be okay. Even if it's not, the loss of Styles has zero impact on the ceiling of the position, regardless, because several members of the group can do the same things that he was supposed to bring to the table.
3. Payne looks like a Logan Diggs clone, who is a unique version of Kyren Williams. Not mad about it.
4. Staes is going to be a monster. If Raridon can get healthy, and/or if Evans can build into more than a blocking/gadget guy, the TE position will be fine. It won't be as every-down reliable as it was with Mayer, obviously, but any two guys emerging as a sure 1/2 combo will make the offense a pick-your-poison thing with Hartman at the helm, especially with Sherwood as a willing and capable lead blocker that can obviously ALSO catch the ball in traffic and against tight coverage. When your 3rd TE/H-back is a threat to catch a throwback on play-action and beat your worst LB in coverage, you're gonna be okay.
5. I honestly am not familiar enough with the younger DL to have made individual assessments, but Onye flashed a couple of times (even if against backup/walk-on OL), Ford made his presence felt, and there didn't appear to be any glaring weaknesses overall. Very curious to see if Burnham or Junior can become a 3rd/4th viable edge rusher on obvious third-down situations to join and/or spell Botehlo and JJB. Will be looking much closer at the DL during games 3 and 4, and the judgement will truly begin with game 5.
6. Safety concerns me, if only because they will be tasked with simply "don't fuck it up" based on the CB group in front of them. Their responsibilities should be relatively clear and simple as long as Hart and BenMo stay healthy, Mickey continues to develop, and Lewis doesn't totally fall off a cliff when called upon. That means opposing offenses are going to load up to test the deep thirds. Watts/Brown/Henderson/Harper/Minich better be ready to read the ball in the air and make quick decisions every week at key times, even on non-standard passing downs.
7. No idea what to think at LB until we hear more about how the position is being rotated in summer/fall camp. But it IS good that the young guys all had their moments. The question is if Golden and Freeman will allow them to push the established trio, or if they will be relegated to spot duty. I think automatically granting the veterans their spots would be a mistake... but I also am not as down on the group as a whole (even Marist!) as a lot of the board is, so it will be interesting to track moving forward.
8. Bummed out that the Blue squad wasn't capable of operating a standard passing offense for the most part... some due to Buchner, but a lot more due to protection issues. Was really looking forward to seeing Tobias/Tyree/Flores/James each get some high-percentage receptions to work after the catch, and maybe to see one of two of them try to turn on the burners getting deep. Very excited to see Hartman with the ENTIRE group at his disposal in Ireland.
9. BK is gone, and Gino had zero overlap with his time at UC... but the way Angeli moves in the pocket, finds creases to step up into, and the way he chews up ground with big strides with rolling out, kind of reminds me of Tony Pike at UC back in 2008/2009. Not saying Angeli will be any where close to that good a QB, but physically they look the same with the way they move around in the backfield. Angeli DID make a few good throws on the move, though.
My own observations, from an admittedly distracted viewing of the game:
1. Holy shit guys. Hartman is going to be good. Having a guy that knows how/when to hit the deep shot, and when to take the 5-yard layup and let his guys do the work that they've been recruited to do, is going to be so much fun. Maybe it was just because the teams were spread thin, and maybe the defense he was throwing against was not the best collection of DB's (coverage) or DL (pressure), but I got off the couch absolutely GIDDY that Hartman decided on ND for a season. Dude is going to make ALL of the pass-catchers look good. He made Davis Sherwood look like the next in line at TE on a couple of plays! And he only had 1/5th of the most dangerous parts of the pass-catching group at his disposal!
2. Lorenzo Styles: crazy how fast the outlook at a position can change. Had he left this time last year, we might have had to ban 5+ regular members of IE for how bad the discourse would have gotten. Fast-forward a year: Styles has below-average hands and a confidence problem, is more stiff as an athlete than he looked as a freshman, and the WR group has seen the emergence of several weapons that can line up and attack the seam the same way Styles projected, but probably to an even more effective degree. Between JT moving around, Tyree being a legit weapon as a motion/slot tweener, this historical use of 12/22 personnel that takes a 3rd WR off the field, and the emergence of Greathouse as a space-eating zone-destroyer... WR might be okay. Even if it's not, the loss of Styles has zero impact on the ceiling of the position, regardless, because several members of the group can do the same things that he was supposed to bring to the table.
3. Payne looks like a Logan Diggs clone, who is a unique version of Kyren Williams. Not mad about it.
4. Staes is going to be a monster. If Raridon can get healthy, and/or if Evans can build into more than a blocking/gadget guy, the TE position will be fine. It won't be as every-down reliable as it was with Mayer, obviously, but any two guys emerging as a sure 1/2 combo will make the offense a pick-your-poison thing with Hartman at the helm, especially with Sherwood as a willing and capable lead blocker that can obviously ALSO catch the ball in traffic and against tight coverage. When your 3rd TE/H-back is a threat to catch a throwback on play-action and beat your worst LB in coverage, you're gonna be okay.
5. I honestly am not familiar enough with the younger DL to have made individual assessments, but Onye flashed a couple of times (even if against backup/walk-on OL), Ford made his presence felt, and there didn't appear to be any glaring weaknesses overall. Very curious to see if Burnham or Junior can become a 3rd/4th viable edge rusher on obvious third-down situations to join and/or spell Botehlo and JJB. Will be looking much closer at the DL during games 3 and 4, and the judgement will truly begin with game 5.
6. Safety concerns me, if only because they will be tasked with simply "don't fuck it up" based on the CB group in front of them. Their responsibilities should be relatively clear and simple as long as Hart and BenMo stay healthy, Mickey continues to develop, and Lewis doesn't totally fall off a cliff when called upon. That means opposing offenses are going to load up to test the deep thirds. Watts/Brown/Henderson/Harper/Minich better be ready to read the ball in the air and make quick decisions every week at key times, even on non-standard passing downs.
7. No idea what to think at LB until we hear more about how the position is being rotated in summer/fall camp. But it IS good that the young guys all had their moments. The question is if Golden and Freeman will allow them to push the established trio, or if they will be relegated to spot duty. I think automatically granting the veterans their spots would be a mistake... but I also am not as down on the group as a whole (even Marist!) as a lot of the board is, so it will be interesting to track moving forward.
8. Bummed out that the Blue squad wasn't capable of operating a standard passing offense for the most part... some due to Buchner, but a lot more due to protection issues. Was really looking forward to seeing Tobias/Tyree/Flores/James each get some high-percentage receptions to work after the catch, and maybe to see one of two of them try to turn on the burners getting deep. Very excited to see Hartman with the ENTIRE group at his disposal in Ireland.
9. BK is gone, and Gino had zero overlap with his time at UC... but the way Angeli moves in the pocket, finds creases to step up into, and the way he chews up ground with big strides with rolling out, kind of reminds me of Tony Pike at UC back in 2008/2009. Not saying Angeli will be any where close to that good a QB, but physically they look the same with the way they move around in the backfield. Angeli DID make a few good throws on the move, though.
