Reasons for Optimism in Fall 2021?

[FUBeAR]

FUBeAR is optimistic that this is an aberrant anomaly and that it will be the only Covid-cancelled Football game, at any level, this Fall.

[Furmanoid]

We had a jamboree in Camden cancelled yesterday. The one coming up on Friday is on for the moment. In SC I expect more problems than last year because the Delta is way more contagious (so there will almost certainly be more cases), and I don’t think the rules have loosened up to reflect reality. They weren’t risk based before and I don’t think they are now.

[apaladin]

What time is the morning practice? TIA

[AstroDin]

What time is the morning practice? TIA

no practice on Wednesday.

[bj93]

I went to practice again this am...Continue to be impressed by the WRs...I know it's early, but I feel the ability is there to at least stretch opposing defenses...I never felt like that in the spring.

That's good to hear. Equally important will the WR's have time to get down field before DL's are in the backfield and can QB get it to the WR's?

[FUBeAR]

I went to practice again this am...Continue to be impressed by the WRs...I know it's early, but I feel the ability is there to at least stretch opposing defenses...I never felt like that in the spring.

That's good to hear. Equally important will the WR's have time to get down field before DL's are in the backfield and can QB get it to the WR's?

If they send 5 or fewer, FUBeAR thinks the answer will be, “Yes.”

If they send 6 & we only have 5 blocking, then the answer is “No.”…unless the QB ‘blocks’ the 6th rusher with being a threat to run/elusiveness and/or making a quick decision and/or executing a rapid release and/or keeping his feet set, getting the ball off & absorbing the contact.

If they send 7 or more & we only have 5 blocking, then the answer is “No”…unless the QB executes all of the above and/or reads the D pre-snap & checks out of a slower developing routes concept to a run or some “Hot”/Sight reads by the Retrievers & then finds/delivers the ball to them quickly & accurately.

As Coach Hendrix recently said, ‘they always seem to want to use 11 on Defense and we’ve never lined up with more than 5 OLmen.’

PassPro involves a lot more than just yelling, “C’mon O-Line! Block somebody!!”

[Furmanoid]

It seems like we shouldn’t be worrying too much about stretching the field vertically until we figure ways to punish teams for rushing too many guys. Seems like most teams do that by getting the ball out real quick, but for some reason we don’t. Either we don’t want to for some reason or we can’t.

Once the D is conditioned to give us a little time, we have to be able to chunk it real far or it doesn’t matter how fast the WR’s are. I’m not sure we can do that either. Curious to hear what the practice watchers are seeing. I saw a post about impressive 40 yd throws but that’s an average HS throw. Can they throw it 50-60 without a bunch of hops?

[AstroDin]

Furmanoid — you have to take into account - I'm watching on the hill on the practice field. Based on markings the longer throws I witnessed were 40 yards at a minimum and might have been closer to 50. I saw Sisson, Wilson, Minson, G Johnson, and I believe Wainwright all make nice spirals to receivers in stride. Someone else posted about Sission working on his throwing motion. I thought Hamp's passing looked improved.

To the point of getting the ball out faster — that's pretty obvious watching practice, drills, etc. I'll admit I didn't pay as much attention to Sisson as I did Jace (#16) and Colt (#5). Jace and Colt have very quick releases and fire the ball.

The other point is who's going to catch the ball related to getting the ball out quicker. I have a few uneducated thoughts. Furman is blessed with some diverse options at receiving. We have some big receiver bodies and some guys that are quick and get yards after the catch. Furman is blessed with depth and talent at running back, I really like what I saw. I'll go out on a limb and predict TE will be very productive this season. Ryan Miller is an all-American TE - tell me why he's not all -SoCon? Anyways — Miller, we know what we have there. I really like what I saw from Jack Healy. Healy is listed at 6-2 but he looks bigger or plays bigger. He seems to naturally make himself a target, he caught a lot of short stuff and mid-level passes.

[Furmanoid]

Keep up the good work!

[The Jackal]

It seems like we shouldn’t be worrying too much about stretching the field vertically until we figure ways to punish teams for rushing too many guys. Seems like most teams do that by getting the ball out real quick, but for some reason we don’t. Either we don’t want to for some reason or we can’t.

Once the D is conditioned to give us a little time, we have to be able to chunk it real far or it doesn’t matter how fast the WR’s are. I’m not sure we can do that either. Curious to hear what the practice watchers are seeing. I saw a post about impressive 40 yd throws but that’s an average HS throw. Can they throw it 50-60 without a bunch of hops?

I had a conversation this morning with a high school referee who made note to say that, except in a few circumstances, it is rare to see a high school QB that consistently throws it well at 30 yards. Maybe that's not your experience, but he's been doing this a long time.

Having a QB that can throw it 60 yards would be nice, but the odds of completing those passes are statistically quite low. I'd be happy with getting a three step slant route on time and on target.

[Furmanoid]

Sure 40 yds is way farther than I can throw. It is 3 ft over the Punt Pass and Kick record. For 13 yr old girls.

I don’t consider our HS program to be much better than average. We win a crappy region every year and then lose early in the playoffs. My son could throw 60 with a bad leg, was as fast as the starter and way smarter. Couldn’t make the QB depth chart. The starter (used to throw lots of long passes to Bell) ended up 4th string at Edwin Waters which is one of the worst college programs in the country. So if he was above average for HS, it wasn’t by much. That’s the data my opinion is based upon, but it is somewhat anecdotal.

And I didn’t take into consideration the overall deterioration of HS football quality (in our region at least) over the past few years.

[AstroDin]

Sure 40 yds is way farther than I can throw. It is 3 ft over the Punt Pass and Kick record. For 13 yr old girls.

I don’t consider our HS program to be much better than average. We win a crappy region every year and then lose early in the playoffs. My son could throw 60 with a bad leg, was as fast as the starter and way smarter. Couldn’t make the QB depth chart. The starter (used to throw lots of long passes to Bell) ended up 4th string at Edwin Waters which is one of the worst college programs in the country. So if he was above average for HS, it wasn’t by much. That’s the data my opinion is based upon, but it is somewhat anecdotal.

And I didn’t take into consideration the overall deterioration of HS football quality (in our region at least) over the past few years.

here is an example of Jace Wilson's arm… 40 yard pass under pressure.

[AstroDin]

The highlights of Colt Minson — take into account he was a Sophomore. Colt graduated after his junior year forgoing his senior season to sign on with Charlotte. I found some recruiting scouting reports on Colt — they rave about his arm strength and his compact throwing motion. You need to take into account too - Samford offered Colt.

[Furmanoid]

I will revise my speculation about our record if one of those two is named starter. From what you’ve seen, who would you give the edge?

[The Jackal]

I will revise my speculation about our record if one of those two is named starter. From what you’ve seen, who would you give the edge?

I'll let the two veteran offensive coaches make that call.

If I were a betting man, I would guess they probably go with the guy who has been in the program three years over two rookies.

As I noted elsewhere, I struggled to find really successfully offensive seasons when the team was forced to start first/second year players. Furman, like many college programs, just has not had a great track record with young QBs learning on the fly.

Watching the offense last year, it's hard to eliminate any one position group as primary offender for poor play. I think QB play certainly could have been better, but so could the OL, WRs, backs, and coaches.