Hockeybeard
03-01-2013, 11:00 AM
So welcome to the offseason, Friday edition of Hockeybeard's Thoughts, wherein we investigate all the things that Hockeybeard has been thinking about lately! Super happy fun times, come on!
So firstly, I just got done taking the Utah Bar, and yes, it was worse than the stank of an oft visited truckstop outhouse. And so now I get to wait 8-10 weeks to find out whether I passed or not. Yes; in this age of advanced technological development and blindingly fast communication, it takes 8-10 weeks to grade a couple hundred essays and scantron sheets.......*pause for effect*. However, because I am done now, the next milestone is obviously spring football (with the next mid-season premiere of Doctor Who not too long after that!). So we will move onto my thoughts of that.
Spring Football, wherein our heroes find that through adversity, they become bigger, faster, stronger, and better, and gooder, and have good skills, and stuff. The main quest lines through Spring Camp are going to be finding good, big, unusually smart man-mountains that can stop the other teams defenders from hitting our guys. Yes, the OLine. We already have a decent core of guys that have some experience, even starting experience, so the question will be who can fill in and complete the chemistry equation while still playing at a high level. Poutasi, Jones, and most likely Salt (who was the best OG last year prior to his foot injury) will make up the ones with the definite inside tracks to starting spots. Lutui, Bot, and Toefaeono all have a good chance at playing time, while Pouvave, Lozano, and Albers are the unproven talents that have high expectations heaped upon them. And I am not even mentioning Nielsen, Aiono, or the other young guys coming in. Dare I say that our cupboard dost overfloweth? I am excited to be able to see some of these hog-mollies really shine under Coach Finn's second year. I think the success of our offense is going to be highly dependent on our OLine this year, even more so than QB. With that said, lets look at the QB position - come fly with me, FLY!
Freshman sensation and All-World-Talent-To-Ute-Fans-Prior-To-Him-Actually-Playing-Because-He-Was-The-Backup-QB Travis Wilson will have the definite 'starter' tag going into Spring Camp. Others have mentioned that Brandon Cox, an under the radar recruit that may end up being the steal of the class, will push Wilson. I am doubtful of this for 1 big reason. The freshman wall. Wilson experienced it last year, and it was the main reason BJ went with John Hays in the USU and USC games instead of Wilson. Cox is going to have to deal with a lot of things on his plate, including adjusting to the speed of D1 football, absorbing a new playbook and learning ALL the assignments better than Wilson, and developing new habits that he may not have had in highschool, like film study. My money on the QB that will push Wilson is Adam Schulz. This kid has a gun, has had two years in the program, and will most likely be the true #2 QB that makes Wilson earn his spot. Under any scenario however, I know that any QB that emerges from Camp as the goto guy going into Fall is going to be lightyears ahead of our QB situation the last 3 years.
Generally, on Offense, we have a wealth of talent that is going to really show up this year. All the guys we recruited for last years class have had a year to adjust, get bigger, learn the playbook, and really have a true offseason to work hard at getting better. Competition is going to breed progress in the program, and we haven't had the level of competition like we do right now EVER.
Dennis "The Destructor" Erickson. No? How about "The Eradicator"? "The Woodchipper"? "The Enchanter"? Whatever you want to call him, this relatively luke-warm received coach is going to change the way Utah fans perceive their offense. You remember that feeling you got last year, whenever we were in 3rd down and more than 5 yards? Or if we ran the ball for no gain on 1st down and had an incomplete on 2nd down? And we all just collectively said: "Oh well, maybe they will muff the punt return when we kick to them."? The Enchanter is going to make us all forget those times, and make us think "I wonder if [insert WR name here] is going to go all the way to the house this time." Listen, the fact of the matter is that Utah was not that far off of winning 7 games last year. Think back to two games in particular, the USU game and either UCLA or OSU (ok, really three games). Do you think The Enchanter would help us to gain a few more points/possessions/give our defense a little more rest in each of those games? I think so. The one-back spread system is going to utilize the entire width of the field to help minimize the leverage a defense has on the offense. Ok, I can feel everyone just rolling there eyes at that and say "boy that sounds like coach-speak" but for cereal guys, listen for a sec. Under the "Norm-Chow-Hybridized-Spread" system we were running, we made it so a defense could leverage 7-8 guys into the box without giving up anything. What I mean, is that because of the formations we were running, and the playsets that were called, we gave the Defense 1) too many keys to telegraph what we were trying to do, and 2) too many ways for certain defensive players to simply play the ball, not their man. In the new system, we are going to try and make ALL our plays, run out of ALL our sets and personnel groupings. No more switching out players to give keys to the defense, no more formations that tell a defense we are running 1 of 3 plays, and they will be able to tell within the first couple steps of the running back, and most importantly, no more getting the ball snapped with 0:01 on the play clock. Utah has a built in advantage with the altitude that running an up-tempo, no-huddle offense will play havoc with defensive scheming.
Ok, I've avoided enough work for a friday. Talk amongst yourselves.
So firstly, I just got done taking the Utah Bar, and yes, it was worse than the stank of an oft visited truckstop outhouse. And so now I get to wait 8-10 weeks to find out whether I passed or not. Yes; in this age of advanced technological development and blindingly fast communication, it takes 8-10 weeks to grade a couple hundred essays and scantron sheets.......*pause for effect*. However, because I am done now, the next milestone is obviously spring football (with the next mid-season premiere of Doctor Who not too long after that!). So we will move onto my thoughts of that.
Spring Football, wherein our heroes find that through adversity, they become bigger, faster, stronger, and better, and gooder, and have good skills, and stuff. The main quest lines through Spring Camp are going to be finding good, big, unusually smart man-mountains that can stop the other teams defenders from hitting our guys. Yes, the OLine. We already have a decent core of guys that have some experience, even starting experience, so the question will be who can fill in and complete the chemistry equation while still playing at a high level. Poutasi, Jones, and most likely Salt (who was the best OG last year prior to his foot injury) will make up the ones with the definite inside tracks to starting spots. Lutui, Bot, and Toefaeono all have a good chance at playing time, while Pouvave, Lozano, and Albers are the unproven talents that have high expectations heaped upon them. And I am not even mentioning Nielsen, Aiono, or the other young guys coming in. Dare I say that our cupboard dost overfloweth? I am excited to be able to see some of these hog-mollies really shine under Coach Finn's second year. I think the success of our offense is going to be highly dependent on our OLine this year, even more so than QB. With that said, lets look at the QB position - come fly with me, FLY!
Freshman sensation and All-World-Talent-To-Ute-Fans-Prior-To-Him-Actually-Playing-Because-He-Was-The-Backup-QB Travis Wilson will have the definite 'starter' tag going into Spring Camp. Others have mentioned that Brandon Cox, an under the radar recruit that may end up being the steal of the class, will push Wilson. I am doubtful of this for 1 big reason. The freshman wall. Wilson experienced it last year, and it was the main reason BJ went with John Hays in the USU and USC games instead of Wilson. Cox is going to have to deal with a lot of things on his plate, including adjusting to the speed of D1 football, absorbing a new playbook and learning ALL the assignments better than Wilson, and developing new habits that he may not have had in highschool, like film study. My money on the QB that will push Wilson is Adam Schulz. This kid has a gun, has had two years in the program, and will most likely be the true #2 QB that makes Wilson earn his spot. Under any scenario however, I know that any QB that emerges from Camp as the goto guy going into Fall is going to be lightyears ahead of our QB situation the last 3 years.
Generally, on Offense, we have a wealth of talent that is going to really show up this year. All the guys we recruited for last years class have had a year to adjust, get bigger, learn the playbook, and really have a true offseason to work hard at getting better. Competition is going to breed progress in the program, and we haven't had the level of competition like we do right now EVER.
Dennis "The Destructor" Erickson. No? How about "The Eradicator"? "The Woodchipper"? "The Enchanter"? Whatever you want to call him, this relatively luke-warm received coach is going to change the way Utah fans perceive their offense. You remember that feeling you got last year, whenever we were in 3rd down and more than 5 yards? Or if we ran the ball for no gain on 1st down and had an incomplete on 2nd down? And we all just collectively said: "Oh well, maybe they will muff the punt return when we kick to them."? The Enchanter is going to make us all forget those times, and make us think "I wonder if [insert WR name here] is going to go all the way to the house this time." Listen, the fact of the matter is that Utah was not that far off of winning 7 games last year. Think back to two games in particular, the USU game and either UCLA or OSU (ok, really three games). Do you think The Enchanter would help us to gain a few more points/possessions/give our defense a little more rest in each of those games? I think so. The one-back spread system is going to utilize the entire width of the field to help minimize the leverage a defense has on the offense. Ok, I can feel everyone just rolling there eyes at that and say "boy that sounds like coach-speak" but for cereal guys, listen for a sec. Under the "Norm-Chow-Hybridized-Spread" system we were running, we made it so a defense could leverage 7-8 guys into the box without giving up anything. What I mean, is that because of the formations we were running, and the playsets that were called, we gave the Defense 1) too many keys to telegraph what we were trying to do, and 2) too many ways for certain defensive players to simply play the ball, not their man. In the new system, we are going to try and make ALL our plays, run out of ALL our sets and personnel groupings. No more switching out players to give keys to the defense, no more formations that tell a defense we are running 1 of 3 plays, and they will be able to tell within the first couple steps of the running back, and most importantly, no more getting the ball snapped with 0:01 on the play clock. Utah has a built in advantage with the altitude that running an up-tempo, no-huddle offense will play havoc with defensive scheming.
Ok, I've avoided enough work for a friday. Talk amongst yourselves.