Surprise, surprise. Word from today’s scrimmage is that the passing game, led by Mike Teel, dominated the first team defense; the offense scored 4 touchdowns and 1 field goal in it’s first five drives on the day. Teel ended up throwing 10-for-14 for 168 yards, including an impressive 70 yard touchdown drive. Of course, Teel had a slight advantage in the fact that quarterbacks cannot be hit in team scrimmages. Tom Luicci provides his recap on the day’s events. Some highlights:
. . . while Teel was going a combined 9-for-10 for 123 yards at that point, the first-team running game mustered just 21 yards on nine carries.
Mason Robinson got the start at tailback, but saw his day end prematurely after he took a hit just below his hip. He was still the scrimmage’s leading rusher with 48 yards on seven carries against a mix of starters and reserves.
“He’s going to be okay, but he’s hurting right now,” coach Greg Schiano said. “I don’t think it’s anything serious, but he’s going to be banged up for a couple of days.”
Hope Mason is okay. And if you think he performed poorly, read on:
Among the running backs, Joe Martinek had one of the more impressive runs — a 20-yard gain against the No. 2 defense. Kordell Young (minus-3 yards on seven carries) and Jourdan Brooks (nine carries for 15 yards) were held in check most of the scrimmage.
Hopefully Kordell and Jourdan just had off days because that’s pretty pathetic. I don’t care how good our passing game is; if our backs don’t provide some form of relief, this offense is going nowhere . . . fast. Still though, I don’t think it’s any cause for concern. It was the first scrimmage of the year and feeling the pressure of trying to replace Ray Rice probably didn’t help. I expect things to improve by leaps and bounds over the next week and a half. And I still hold that Kordell will be the starter come Fresno.
Now, onto the defensive side of the ball:
It wasn’t until late in the scrimmage that the defense took over, halting two Teel-led drives in short order.
“I’m concerned with the way we came out on defense. We turned it on as the scrimmage went on, but you can’t do that,” said cornerback Jason McCourty. “You can’t come out the first half of a game and be flat, and that’s basically what happened.”
Schiano, who doubles as defensive coordinator, said he would reserve judgment on how the unit performed until after he examined the tape.
“It’s hard when you have a veteran quarterback who understands things so well and he knows he’s not going to get hit,” Schiano said. “That changes the whole game. No one is going to come near him. So I hate to be too hard on the defense.
“Mike knows the offense so well, is so fast in his reads, I don’t want to overreact.”
Coach says it best: trying to stop Mike, Ti, and Kenny is not going to be easy, and I wasn’t expecting the defense to stop them today. It’s nice to see that the D finally settled in as the day went on, and was able to adjust to the passing game. As with the running game, I expect things here to improve over the next week or two.
Aditi’s Blog also has a very nice update on the scrimmage. Supposedly, true freshman Brandon Jones, David Rowe, and Patrick Kivlehan have all impressed in the secondary. And remember, Kivlehan didn’t even get his offer until the day before signing day. Impressive, indeed. I’m hearing Jones has worked his way to 4th on the depth chart at corner, and Rowe is right behind him, meaning they’ll both likely see significant action this season. Also, DC Jefferson had a 70 yard touchdown pass to Tim Wright. That’s going to be a deadly combo in the future.
Timmy Brown is also moving back up the depth chart and Schiano had some nice praises for him at the end of the day:
“I think it’s just a continuation of what all went on last spring. As long as Timmy keeps doing what he’s doing. He’s got a tremendous attitude and he’s working hard. He needs to put some hours behind him doing things the right way. If he can log some more hours doing things the right way, you and I know what Timmy’s capable of.”
Also, Ryan D’Imperio is starting to pull away from Damaso Munoz at the Mike.
And as a final thought, just think about this. Our secondary (you know, the one with Courtney Green and the McCourty twins who excelled last year and should be even better this year?) could not stop our passing game. And if they can’t stop it, I don’t know who on our schedule can stop it. It’s scary how good this passing game could be. But still, we need the backs to take some of the pressure off, or this will be a disspionting season.
Scarlet Blog 