Spring Practice

[AstroDin]

Spoke with one of our long time assistants at the b-ball game Saturday. He said the staff is fired up about the new hires and there is an increased level of energy and excitement among the players. I could tell he was genuinely excited about the state of the program.
We undoubtedly brought more technical knowledge to the QB position, more experience to the OL, and Coach Spangler is an experienced and high energy coach with a very good record as defensive coach.

Sums up and confirms what I felt I saw Saturday. I'll be honest I can't remember enough details to compare Bobby Lamb's and Tim Sorrells coaching style with Justin Roper.

You have to like how Clay handles the loss of a coach and how he goes about filling a coaching vacancy.
I feel like Furman has the potential to have an explosive mixture, a large group of starters, and three key high-energy coaches (that know their stuff).

[The Jackal]

It's an interesting distinction.

Since Hendrix arrived, Furman's defensive staff has skewed younger with more high energy-type coaches.

Our offensive staff - and this has been the case for a while - has favored more "company men" and has tended to be older and a bit more, say, business-like in their approach.

Not that one style is preferred, but it is good to have an eclectic staff that complements one another.

[gofurman]

Thank you for an answer. I appreciate the effort.

There is always going to be install, though. 20% (or so) of the team isn't even on campus this spring (freshmen, etc.)

I don't know Coach Roper, but my guess is he's going to spend a lot of time figuring out who is personnel is and what they can do. Vince Lombardi famously started each season from the absolute basics ("Gentlemen, this is a a football")

I would say that is great.. but just below John Wooden.. first day was spent on "how to tie your shoes". So they wouldn't get blisters and miss games etc.

[gofurman]

Once again, does anyone know the mechanics of installing a new offense?? Is it done by playbook/video or is it walkthrough in person? I know all about the personnel, etc. I am looking for x and o stuff.

You can install an offense literally in the huddle with a chalkboard. Scout teams do it all the time.
Funny story. Back in the day the FU freshman team was running Davidson's offense as the scout team vs the FU varsity.
When the frosh team went to play their game against Davidson they ran their normal FU offense and were getting killed. At halftime the FU coach decided to change it up and run Davidson's offense, FU came back and won.

this is a great story. Really. However, you really don't have an offense of any measure at that point. Ask any QB and receiver how they get so much better after 100s to 1000s of reps. You can see Senior QBs and Senior WRs are so 'in sync' much more than they were as freshman.

I hope our new OC is the bomb ! Glad we got him... But this might be something we struggle with this year if we are running new routes etc. Maybe some false starts etc.

[The Jackal]

Once again, does anyone know the mechanics of installing a new offense?? Is it done by playbook/video or is it walkthrough in person? I know all about the personnel, etc. I am looking for x and o stuff.

You can install an offense literally in the huddle with a chalkboard. Scout teams do it all the time.
Funny story. Back in the day the FU freshman team was running Davidson's offense as the scout team vs the FU varsity.
When the frosh team went to play their game against Davidson they ran their normal FU offense and were getting killed. At halftime the FU coach decided to change it up and run Davidson's offense, FU came back and won.

this is a great story. Really. However, you really don't have an offense of any measure at that point. Ask any QB and receiver how they get so much better after 100s to 1000s of reps. You can see Senior QBs and Senior WRs are so 'in sync' much more than they were as freshman.

I hope our new OC is the bomb ! Glad we got him... But this might be something we struggle with this year if we are running new routes etc. Maybe some false starts etc.

I mean, offensive football isn't reinvention of the wheel. In my view, it's an effort to make something relatively straightforward look complex and difficult to predict.

[AstroDin]

Clay addresses some of the topics in this thread in today's Scott interview.
I'd recommend watching the interview…

[The Jackal]

Noah Henderson back to being listed as a TE.

[Jasper]

Dropped by practice for an hour today and watched a couple of scrimmages. I was very impressed with Jace Wilson. He looks like a different player this year. Very poised and confidant as well. The new offense appears to be very QB - centered- and he looked very much up to the task to me. Threw the ball exceptionally well and can really run it. Look for him to be one of the main ball carriers next season - both by design and scrambling. He is a very deceptive runner. Also, a couple of nice runs to the outside by Myron Hicks and freshman Reid. The O line looks to be pretty set in 4 spots with a battle for RT going on.
We are still running out of the shotgun with only one RB. Appears to be a lot more deception and misdirection in the running game. Lots of play action and quick short passes - downfield not lateral. Sets up the long pass very well and Jace threw a couple of nice bombs with accuracy and authority. The bad news is that right now there does not appear to anything behind him. Hopefully that will change in the summer.

[apaladin]

Dropped by practice for an hour today and watched a couple of scrimmages. I was very impressed with Jace Wilson. He looks like a different player this year. Very poised and confidant as well. The new offense appears to be very QB - centered- and he looked very much up to the task to me. Threw the ball exceptionally well and can really run it. Look for him to be one of the main ball carriers next season - both by design and scrambling. He is a very deceptive runner. Also, a couple of nice runs to the outside by Myron Hicks and freshman Reid. The O line looks to be pretty set in 4 spots with a battle for RT going on.
We are still running out of the shotgun with only one RB. Appears to be a lot more deception and misdirection in the running game. Lots of play action and quick short passes - downfield not lateral. Sets up the long pass very well and Jace threw a couple of nice bombs with accuracy and authority. The bad news is that right now there does not appear to anything behind him. Hopefully that will change in the summer.

So what you are trying to say is the defense is not very good.

[Jasper]

No. I just think it best to leave negativity to you since that seems to be your specialty.

[apaladin]

No. I just think it best to leave negativity to you since that seems to be your specialty.

[Jasper]

BTW - nice call on making Citadel the favorite in today's BB game. How DO you do it?

[Flagman]

BTW - nice call on making Citadel the favorite in today's BB game. How DO you do it?

Years of practice.

[apaladin]

No. I just think it best to leave negativity to you since that seems to be your specialty.

It was just a little ha-ha.

[The Jackal]

Dropped by practice for an hour today and watched a couple of scrimmages. I was very impressed with Jace Wilson. He looks like a different player this year. Very poised and confidant as well. The new offense appears to be very QB - centered- and he looked very much up to the task to me. Threw the ball exceptionally well and can really run it. Look for him to be one of the main ball carriers next season - both by design and scrambling. He is a very deceptive runner. Also, a couple of nice runs to the outside by Myron Hicks and freshman Reid. The O line looks to be pretty set in 4 spots with a battle for RT going on.
We are still running out of the shotgun with only one RB. Appears to be a lot more deception and misdirection in the running game. Lots of play action and quick short passes - downfield not lateral. Sets up the long pass very well and Jace threw a couple of nice bombs with accuracy and authority. The bad news is that right now there does not appear to anything behind him. Hopefully that will change in the summer.

From what I've seen of Roper's offense, the QB is heavily featured as a runner.

Furman has utilized these single-back formations for years. What we've rarely been willing to do is allow the QB to really serve as a run threat. We've had Furman QBs that CAN run, we just infrequently used them in that capacity as a key piece of the offense.

I think the meat and potatoes theory here is to have a QB that freeze backside defenders. Having a running back like Roberto doesn't hurt, because not only is he perfectly capable of slamming the ball up the middle but he'll serve as a lead blocker.