Tough Monday night. I wanted to give myself some time before sitting down and rewatching the tape. I think just about everything game wise that can be said has already been posted, so I wanted to give my thoughts on personnel performance and what our starting lineup oughta be.
- Talking about Cade is beating a dead horse, but it's gotta be said. Game is still just too fast for him. Think he has improved at not purely panicking, but the footwork is leading to these missed throws. His base gets too wide and it stops him rotating properly through his hips and led to most of his misses Monday. Timing is off. I'm not losing hope though. I thought he looked pretty good in the 3rd (minus the read option fumble obviously). This is clearly a work in progress but I think he can do the job. People also are harping a lot on the 4th down and gotta have it slide. I think he just lost where he was on the field since it was so close. I'm not gonna question his toughness -- go watch some of the drives down in the redzone. Not afraid of contact.
- TJ Parker was our best defensive end. Gave the Duke RT fits in his reps bullrushing and testing his strength, while XT just tried to bend around him all night. Frustrating. Think XT's weight loss may not have been what was best for him. Both are a hell of a lot better than Mascoll though. XT/Parker against Southern please.
- LBs were bad. This point has been covered but an unexplainable amount of missed assignments for a returning duo of their quality. They played slow. Need the defense to run through them, not whatever that was. Woodaz deserved a lot more snaps with their performance.
- I was pretty happy with the secondary. I thought Mukuba looked way more physical and did a decent job in coverage. Seemed to process a lot quicker -- big third down stop in the 3rd was all him using his eyes and coming down from the 2nd level on a crossing route. Wiggins still sucks against the run but that's the tradeoff you make for his coverage I suppose. Lukus playing as much as he did surprised me, but I thought he actually did well. Seems to have surpassed Pride on the depth chart, which was unexpected but probably a positive when you consider the size and length Lukus brings to the table. A LOT of Duke's big gains were from the flats where the LBs missed a tackle or took a bad angle. Jalyn Phillips was poor. Mickens I thought was average. Definitely one of the last places I'd throw the blame.
- Special Teams. I mean I don't even need to say it. Getting sick and tired of our field goal unit crapping themselves.
- Not a ton to be said on the wide receivers. Did an adequate enough job of getting separation but did Cade no favors with consistent drops. Turner needs to earn snaps again in practice after that performance. Tyler Brown lived up to expectations. Collins/Brown/Williams should be the group until proven otherwise.
- OL was fine. Made holes and created push in the run game. Sadler is who I'd go with at Left Tackle based on that one game sample size.
Starting Lineup:
QB: Cade Klubnik
RB: Will Shipley
WR: Beaux Collins
WR: Tyler Brown
WR: Antonio Williams
TE: Jake Briningstool
LT: Collin Sadler
LG: Marcus Tate
C: Will Putnam
RG: Walker Parks
RT: Blake Miller
DE: TJ Parker
DT: Peter Woods or Tyler Davis
DT: Ruke or Tyler Davis
DE: Xavier Thomas
MLB: Jeremiah Trotter
WLB: Barrett Carter
SLB: Wade Woodaz
CB: Nate Wiggins
CB: Jeadyn Lukus
NB: Andrew Mukuba
S: RJ Mickens
- Talking about Cade is beating a dead horse, but it's gotta be said. Game is still just too fast for him. Think he has improved at not purely panicking, but the footwork is leading to these missed throws. His base gets too wide and it stops him rotating properly through his hips and led to most of his misses Monday. Timing is off. I'm not losing hope though. I thought he looked pretty good in the 3rd (minus the read option fumble obviously). This is clearly a work in progress but I think he can do the job. People also are harping a lot on the 4th down and gotta have it slide. I think he just lost where he was on the field since it was so close. I'm not gonna question his toughness -- go watch some of the drives down in the redzone. Not afraid of contact.
- TJ Parker was our best defensive end. Gave the Duke RT fits in his reps bullrushing and testing his strength, while XT just tried to bend around him all night. Frustrating. Think XT's weight loss may not have been what was best for him. Both are a hell of a lot better than Mascoll though. XT/Parker against Southern please.
- LBs were bad. This point has been covered but an unexplainable amount of missed assignments for a returning duo of their quality. They played slow. Need the defense to run through them, not whatever that was. Woodaz deserved a lot more snaps with their performance.
- I was pretty happy with the secondary. I thought Mukuba looked way more physical and did a decent job in coverage. Seemed to process a lot quicker -- big third down stop in the 3rd was all him using his eyes and coming down from the 2nd level on a crossing route. Wiggins still sucks against the run but that's the tradeoff you make for his coverage I suppose. Lukus playing as much as he did surprised me, but I thought he actually did well. Seems to have surpassed Pride on the depth chart, which was unexpected but probably a positive when you consider the size and length Lukus brings to the table. A LOT of Duke's big gains were from the flats where the LBs missed a tackle or took a bad angle. Jalyn Phillips was poor. Mickens I thought was average. Definitely one of the last places I'd throw the blame.
- Special Teams. I mean I don't even need to say it. Getting sick and tired of our field goal unit crapping themselves.
- Not a ton to be said on the wide receivers. Did an adequate enough job of getting separation but did Cade no favors with consistent drops. Turner needs to earn snaps again in practice after that performance. Tyler Brown lived up to expectations. Collins/Brown/Williams should be the group until proven otherwise.
- OL was fine. Made holes and created push in the run game. Sadler is who I'd go with at Left Tackle based on that one game sample size.
Starting Lineup:
QB: Cade Klubnik
RB: Will Shipley
WR: Beaux Collins
WR: Tyler Brown
WR: Antonio Williams
TE: Jake Briningstool
LT: Collin Sadler
LG: Marcus Tate
C: Will Putnam
RG: Walker Parks
RT: Blake Miller
DE: TJ Parker
DT: Peter Woods or Tyler Davis
DT: Ruke or Tyler Davis
DE: Xavier Thomas
MLB: Jeremiah Trotter
WLB: Barrett Carter
SLB: Wade Woodaz
CB: Nate Wiggins
CB: Jeadyn Lukus
NB: Andrew Mukuba
S: RJ Mickens
