Reports from USA AA Bowl Practice

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I got a bunch of reports and Q&A from the USA AA Bowl Site at Scout.com. I've edited out most of the non-ND related guys. Go to the site if you want more details on others or to see the reports/posts in context. Comments were by Chris Pool, Bob Lichtenfels, Miller Safrit, and Scott Kennedy.

Overview

Impressing
Gallup!!! - "knows how to stop and go in a heartbeat ... a great waterbug ... more impressive each day. As a returner ... broke two that would have been touchdowns". "I am a Gallup fan now, kid is tough as nails and he can scoot ... he has won me over .... he will be moving up in the rankings"


McNeil - "Chris Pool's player of the day, had blanket coverage of Vidal Hazelton throughout the day "... "looked fantastic" ..." Probably the most improved player on the East" ...

Frazer - "Frazer looks more like the real deal" ... QBs (Tebow and Frazer) are both very stocky guys, and Frazer throws a better ball right now

Carufel - playing guard

Wenger - "stood out from the pack in drills and the most improved through the day" ...

Aldridge - "He's (Chris Wells) working hard to keep Aldridge off the starting role"

Lewis - Talk is of Butch to ND, but we'll have to see on Saturday !!!!

Young - "quickly moving up the charts and could be a top-5 national guy when all is said and done"

McCoy - "ate up the middle"

Mustain - "looking very impressive"... (Snead's) drop is not as smooth as Mustain who is really snaking a few balls into close coverage. Big #16, who is still wearing a "Play Like A Champion Today" towel, certainly wins the accuracy award.

Austin - is the best route-runner for the West and he can fly


Needs Work
Stewart - "He did not come in the shape we would liked to have seen, and he is the most inconsistent of the linemen. ... when he gets his head across guys, it is game over. ... came from a system that did not give them an advanced knowledge of the game.

Webb - "Eddie Jones is slinging Bartley Webb ... out of the way every time


Not Mentioned??
Demetrious Jones
Reuland

 

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Pool's Perspective - Tuesday (1/3/06 2:37:09 pm)

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Rasheon McNeil looked fantastic today. Probably the most improved player on the East.
…
Both quarterbacks are getting their rythym. Tebow and Frazer both threw some good balls today.

The East defense looked great in scrimmage but struggled on the goal line where the offense pounded the ball between the tackles for touchdowns with Wells, Spiller and Aldridge.

Chris Pool Big Ten & Big XII North Recruiting Analyst Scout.com

 

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Tuesday afternoon notes -- Live Updates


Strongest arm award for the West: hands down Jevan Snead.

Miami now has two coaches at the West practice including offensive line coach Mario Christobal.

Dan Wenger twisted his ankle while scrimmaging and trainers are now working on him on the sidelines.

In one-on-one competition with the linemen, the defense took the title winning 18 to 15 including Eddie Jones winning four out of six times and Gerald McCoy with 3 wins. Ian Symonnette and Matt Carufel had four wins apiece followed by Steve Schilling had three wins.

The East is now a little healthier with Steve Brown and Dan Wenger both back on the field


Jevan Snead and Mitch Mustain are again on fire this afternoon. Both finished perfect on the afternoon in seven-on-seven drills. The backs were heavily used as receivers, especially DeMarco Murray. The most surprising number -- zero completions and zero times thrown to for David Ausberry.

Micah Johnson conintues to impress at linebacker,showing agression and lateral movemant as he took James Aldridge into the bench. He met C.J. Spiller in the hole up the middle later in the same series. The linebackers will be the strength of the East defense.

Barry Gallup is getting more impressive each day. As a returner on special teams he broke two that would have been touchdowns.

The East offense looked very crisp this afternoon. Practice ended with goaline drills which the players took a huge liking to and were fired up. A huge improvement over the stumbles of Monday.

Chris Pool's player of the day was Raeshon McNeil, who had blanket coverage of Vidal Hazelton throughout the day.

Justin Boren and Dan Wenger were the two that stood out from the pack in drills and the most improved through the day.

Tuesday practice is now over. We will continue to have updates as the day progresses and a chat at 5pm CST.

Miller Safrit Moderator The Scout.com National Recruiting Forum Edited by: MillerSafrit at: 1/3/06 1:27:56 pm

 

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Tuesday Practice Notes
The West practice is late in getting started today, but it is getting to be pretty obvious that the new balls (the arena league footballs) are tough for some to get used to at this point.

The ball is not only a slick one, but also much lighter than those normally used in high schools across the nation. Quarterbacks and wide receivers are also having trouble with the new ball. Kudos to the Army Bowl guys this year, however, as the players last year used a Wilson ball in practice through the week and the players had to get accustomed to the new ball only during the game. Hopefully the players will get it down before Saturday's game.

Speaking of moving around, big Carl Johnson, who played at tackle yesterday, is seeing a good amount of early practice time as a center. With Dan Wenger hobbling around yesterday, the East needs to find a suitable player to take over shotgun snaps if necessary.


Defensive line coach Taihi Jones, in the first drill (a free for all drill), would throw the ball, and have linemen go after it, and would have them fight for it. After that, 30 seconds per player of an iso drill with the linemen to see how many times they could get to the dummy Eddie Jones beat Gerald Mccoy 5 times in the allotted time (30 seconds) and Mccoy returned the favor four times against jones. Eddie Jones, the vocal leader of the defense, said to the offensive linemen "you better get your work in."

The West quarterbacks have Jevan Snead and Mitch Mustain looking very impressive. Snead, certainly the bigger of the two, has a huge arm and can make all the throws beyond 20 yards. He thew a five yard out through the hands of a wide receiver and the ball flew into the stands. However, his drop is not as smooth as Mustain who is really snaking a few balls into close coverage. Big #16, who is still wearing a "Play Like A Champion Today" towel, certainly wins the accuracy award.

OL/DL one on ones were much more equal today than yesterday, when it was all defense, including Schilling and Jamarcus Webb who really locked down today. Roark looked great today in his first one-on-one action as a center. Schilling appears to be ready to move in as a left guard and a right guard whereas Matt Carufel is just on the left and Chris Stewart is on the right side.

Eddie Jones is slinging Bartley Webb and Jake Bscherer out of the way every time and looks to be ready to make some major noise in the game on Saturday. Al Woods and Gerald McCoy ate up the middle, but today they only were able to get a few licks in. The interior of the line looks to be ready to holds some ground.

Josh Freeman is looking much better day today with his mechanics, though his accuracy is still best inside of 15 yards. He does hit the catchable ball window, but when compared to between the numbers throws of Mitch Mustain, Freeman still has some work to do.

David Ausberry is hands-down the best wide receiver for the West right now. Terrence Austin, however, is the best route-runner for the West and he can fly.

West quarterbacks are currently in the middle of a passing accuracy contest. Mustain is 8-of-10, Snead is 6-of-11, Freeman is 5-of-12 and very high on his deep throws.

College Coaches spotted: Randy Shannon from Miami at the East practice.
Miller Safrit The Scout.com National Recruiting Forum
Edited by: MillerSafrit at: 1/3/06 12:19:10 pm

 

[Óglaigh_na_hÉireann]

Cool, thanks for the updates.

 

[BGIF]

There are two QBs for the East - Tebow and Frazer. Frazer looks more like the real deal but you can see a lot of promise in Tebow who is playing much better today than yesterday when it looked like he was aiming at kneecaps. Miller Safrit

 

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One thing is for sure, Gallup knows how to stop and go in a heartbeat. He is a great waterbug, and really impressing a lot of people. Miller Safrit

Re: Barry Gallup...
this is scott kennedy... Gallup doesn't look out of place here at all... he has more than held his own, and I wouldn't put it past him to have a good game. (1/3/06 2:25:29 pm)

Re: Barry Gallup...

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I am a Gallup fan now, kid is tough as nails and he can scoot. I was a little leery about competition and all but he has won me over this week. he will be moving up in the rankings
BobLichtenfels (1/3/06 2:31:16 pm)

 

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Chris Stewart
How is he doing? Does he have the goods and did he past the eyeball test?

Re: Chris Stewart
He did not come in the shape we would liked to have seen, and he is the most inconsistent of the linemen. That said, when he gets his head across guys, it is game over. Simply, he and Schilling are guys that came from a system that did not give them an advanced knowledge of the game. Miller Safrit Moderator (1/3/06 10:58:04 am)

 

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East Morning Practice
The East squad looks to be better overall than last year's team. The QBs (Tebow and Frazer) are both very stocky guys, and Frazer throws a better ball right now.

 

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East morning practice is over and we will have a more thorough update on the front page in a little bit.

more injuries to note:. Dan Wenger came up hobbling and a little sick, but he gritted it out. Also, after looking great in practice, James Aldridge came up hobbling in wind sprints at the end. Edited by: MillerSafrit at: 1/2/06 9:48:46 am

 

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Re: East Morning Practice

Q. How have the RB's looked?... in particular Aldridge? Thanks.
A. Wells looks great out there. He's working hard to keep Aldridge off the starting role, but he's affirming his place as the nation's top prospect. Miller Safrit (1/2/06 10:52:44 am)

 

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Last year it was a great OL for the East because individually they were very good. This year, every one of the positions are fantastic and they have finally a true center in Dan Wenger. Sam Young is quickly moving up the charts and could be a top-5 national guy when all is said and done. When Carl Johnson is a backup on your team, you have a pretty solid OL. Miller Safrit (1/2/06 11:05:59 am)

 

[Óglaigh_na_hÉireann]

Was it a guy working for Scout or Rivals that said Gallup would move up in the rankings?

 

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Q. Thoughts on ND's players at the game and any feeling on where Butch Lewis ends up any talk down there?

A. Talk is of Butch to ND, but we'll have to see on Saturday. There are several guys that are really impressing and a few that haven't lived up to the hype, but there is a lot of time left to impress. MillerSafrit Moderator (1/2/06 7:44:29 pm)
The Scout.com National Recruiting Forum

 

[jiggafini19]

Jones and Walls will attend but not play.

Butch Lewis to ND along with Carufel will take some sting out of the Fiesta Bowl loss.

McNeil shutting down Hazelton, who just verballed to USC, made me smile.

 

[irishnd31]

Great read BGIF. Thank you.

I aint worried about Stewart, once he gets to ND he will get into shape. I don't think he has a choice.

 

[jiggafini19]

USC will be playing for their third straight national title on Wednesday night and according to five star Trojan commit Taylor Mays, they'll also make a strong run at the nation's top signing class.

Mays has been one of SC's top recruiters in San Antonio and he wouldn't drop very many hints, but he did say the Trojans will have a big day on Saturday.

"I'm not going to say anything," Mays said smiling. "But we are going to make a late run in this recruiting battle."

Mays has also been actively talking to the USC coaching staff this week and he said several of the Trojan coaches will be in San Antonio on Friday to watch practice.

"I'm talking to them and they are telling me what's going on down in Pasadena," Mays said. "They've been in my ear and telling me that I have to help recruit, so I'm working on that.

"I'm recruiting hard. Some guys are kind of giving me silent nods that they are coming, but there some other guys I'm still working on. I'm trying to get in Gerald McCoy's ear, but he's so big, I can't get close to his ear."

Nausiating read.

 

[irishnd31]

Oh, I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.

 

[jiggafini19]

David Ausberry will go Trojan.

What Lewis does will be interesting. I'm sticking with my instincts and think he's Trojan as well. If Lewis goes ND, that would come out of left field. He's really been off the radar as of late.

 

[bigdon]

Thanks loads BGIF for these posts. They sure take my mind off the Fiesta game.

As usual I am worried about the USC 11th hour recruiting. They are notorious for that. Let's hope Aldridge is doing a little recruiting for us.

 

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Chris Stewart

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Q. This kid is way to big. As a ND fan I don't like it at all. I hope he can get his weight under control. He is listed at 360 im sure its more like 400. Do the players at the AA weigh in?

A. I believe the roster we have is pretty accurate from when the players were weighed once they arrived, and Stewart is listed at 350. He is by far the widest body here. MillerSafrit Moderator (1/4/06 10:36:06 am)
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BGIF note:
Stewart brings back comments about DL Cedric Hilliard, a USA Today 1st Team DL. Bobby Burton, Texas recruiting guru, noted that Hilliard was soft and lacked technique. He was a typical big high school kid that threw his weight around and simply outweighed opponents. Big Ced arrived at ND camp overweight and out of shape. He has a miserable camp, Mattison was openly displeased and hilliard was relegated to the weight room. To his credit he worked himself into shape, learned proper technique As a freshman he didn't play, as a soph only a couple of plays in 3 games and was a valuable starter as an upperclassman.

Stewart is a smart hard working kid. He's truly a wide body not just a chubby football player. I suspect that after Signing Day, Latina and Mendoza are going to have him on a weight program and a diet. With his work ethic (he's already taken several college courses at a community college while in high school) he's going to arrive ready to play. He'll never be svelte but he'll be in shape and there will be less of him come August.

 

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Gerald McCoy and Butch Lewis

Q. Any whispers as to the college leanings? Anyone eliminated?

A. The general consensus on McCoy is Oklahoma the longer it draws out, but SC could very easily sneak into this thing. Lewis is expected to pick Notre Dame from what we hear. Miller Safrit Moderator (1/4/06 10:09:15 am)


BTW, this question was asked by Irish4life

 

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McNeil

Q. Do you think that McNeil can come into ND and contribute right away? I am hoping that McNeil and Walls can form a pretty good corner tandum.

A.You can never say never. Knowing Charlie Weiss, if McNeil is the best corner on the team, he'll play. Raeshon has looked very good the past two days and he'll have his hands full on Saturday, so we'll see how he does on national tv. Chris Pool


This question was asked by Champion10

 

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Aldridge

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Q. What are your thoughts on Aldridge? Where does he rate with the other backs? He had a great Jr. year and an adverage Sr. year. I guess my question is does he look fully recoverd from his knee injury? Does he have the speed and power that he displayed his jr. year?

A. I know in my eyes and the opinion of others, Aldridge's stock has gone up. Miller Safrit Moderator (1/4/06 8:33:02 am)

 

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Aldridge

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Q. Thanks that is great to hear. With Aldridge coming to ND this spring will he push walker for some carries next fall?

A. It is tough for any freshman to get a large number of carries, but he could see the field a good amount of time. Miller Safrit Moderator (1/4/06 10:14:06 am)

 

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Frazer

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Q. After having a very down year, I wasn't quite sure if Frazer was as good as everyone once thought and now I have been hearing he is playing very well during the practices. How is he looking?

A. He's looking good. He and Tebow seemed to struggle on Day 1 but I think it was due to throwing a much lighter football. Frazer, to my surprise, is a lot faster that you think he would be. Chris Pool 1/4/06 4:14:59 am)

 

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Terrence Austin

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Q. Who is Terrence Austin going to commit to on Saturday?

A. UCLA
Miller Safrit Moderator(1/4/06 10:54:59 am)

 

[jiggafini19]

If ND gets Lewis and McCoy goes to OU, I'd take that in a heartbeat.

I don't want either one at USC. Ultimately, that's what it comes down to for me.

 

[scooper]

This is good stuff, thanks.

 

[scooper]

If ND gets Lewis and McCoy goes to OU, I'd take that in a heartbeat.
I don't want either one at USC. Ultimately, that's what it comes down to for me.

I agree. A couple months back, when I thought we couldn't get McCoy, Lewis became my #1 guy, then the Lewis to UGA talk started and McCoy came back into the equation. I'd still be thrilled to get Lewis. And if we're going to lose McCoy, I'm glad it's not to our immediate enemies.