WEDNESDAY, APR 2 SCRIMMAGE

[MICKEYS14]

I am one of those FIM has told to shut up; I just can't do it, FIM! Ralph Davis returned to action on Wednesday & had several thunderous runs, one in which he ran over the safety on the way to a TD. It is good to have the big fellow back & looks like he is missing nothing. Moats & Danny Wilson ran well also. It was obvious we were intent on practicing our screen passes to our backs as well as the swing passes to backs & receivers. Several nice gains resulted & I did not see a dropped ball. The defense had its moments as well, intercepting a quick swing for a TD & John Nash at MLB making some big hits. The best thing was that outside of Moats getting the breath knocked out of him, there were no major injuries. Moqut Ruffins made some plays on the pass rush from his DE spot and Zach Champion looked much more comfortable at QB, throwing some bullets DOWNFIELD & only 1 incompletion that I remember. Zach has yet to learn that we do NOT throw the ball down the field!! Overall, both offense & defense had a lot to be proud of and I could see the obvious improvement from the last couple of scrimmage sessions. Saturday morning will be another knock down-drag out scrimmage session.

[Cool Hand Clyde]

Thanks for the updates, Coach.

Keep'em coming.

[Choudawg86]

will the Sat scrimmage be at 9 like last Sat?

[MICKEYS14]

CHOU-warm up @ 9 am and the mayhem will begin at 9:30 am.

[TYLERTECHSAS]

Zach has yet to learn that we do NOT throw the ball down the field!!

Let's hope nobody tells him and that he won't listen if they do! A TECH TRADITION>>>THROW DA BOMB BABY!! Thanks for the updates coach. I love hearing your reports!

[Dwayne From Minden]

Mick -

By the tone of your posts, am I correct in assuming that the scrimmages have been "physical"...

And are we using the TE's any?

[MICKEYS14]

Big D-all of the scrimmages have been very physical--no. 1 offense vs. no. 1 defense--best we've got against the best. There has been encouraging signs from both sides although we've got a long way to go before we line up against the Canes; however, there are a lot of teams that have got a long way to go before lining up vs. the Canes. Are we throwing the ball to the TE? On rare occasions, primarily on the naked play action away from the flow and sending the TE out in the flat. We complete the pass, the TE is tackled, and it's 2nd & 8. Suffice it to say that the TE is not an integral part of our passing game.

[Dwayne From Minden]

I'm glad to hear that it has been physical - maybe we can avoid some of those 2nd half meltdowns this year if we are more physically and thereby more mentally tough...

I sure do miss the days when we used to drag our slow, big tightends across the middle on 8 to 10 yd routes -

It just seems to open up so many more options with our offense...

[MICKEYS14]

Big D-I still have dreams of Tim to big Josh Bradley with Josh rumbling in for the TD! Capps is a clone of Bradley & Speigner & Steve Brown are two big TE's that can run & catch. With so many of our opponents using the cover 2 zone ( 5 shorts & two deep halves) against us, it does seem like we would try to exploit the weakness of that particular cover-stretching the seams & down the middle with the TE from play action. The deep crosses from play action also puts a great deal of stress on cover 2 particularly if you use motion & position adjustment prior to the snap to force one defender one foot out of position. It's all very interesting. Anthony James will add another tall, rangy TE that can run this fall.