What an absolutely amazing day at Alumni it was! I'd call it perfection. A 10/10. The weather was absolutely perfect, and while I usually hate the middle time slot for our games it was nice to arrive at my seats already in the shade. I really hate burning up at football games, even worse to have the sun in your eyes. The food was decent and efficient, the crowd was loud as hell and had far fewer late arrivals in my area. The students were early, loud, and stayed late. I loved the addition of a live DJ in the crowd, and overall the music selections were a massive improvement. Loved some of the crunk, loved Crazy Train. It felt, overall, like a legit FBS atmosphere.
I'll be the first to admit, this team played well above what I expected. I thought VT would be better than they are, but more to the point I really thought we'd play well below the level we did. Such a damn nice surprise.
The headline for me for the day was TJ Rayam. I thought he was absolutely sensational. if he puts together a season playing at that level he should be 1st team All-ACC. He was good against both the run and the pass. Surprisingly to me, he was extremely toolsy. He has a rip, a swim, a jump cut, and a bull rush. Profoundly apparent that he's been working on his craft in a big way. He was damn near unblockable. He faced a decent number of double-teams, and he generally beat them, and when he didn't he sucked them up. His first step is quick, and he's extremely light on his feet. He'll start drawing press soon. Someone compared him to Raji, and athletically that's pretty accurate. His bull rush isn't quite where BJ was, but he's as quick on the step, and quicker laterally.
The subtext to that headline is that, surprisingly to me I thought the interior DL was the best unit on the field outside, maybe, of RB. Karafa is exactly what we thought. Tough, smart, gap sound, insanely high motor, in a word the type of player that represents why I love CFB so much.
Given the play of our inside, we really got a sense of how much in development our edge rush is. It essentially didn't exist. This is not to say the cupboard is bare. We have guys we just need to coach them up. And we're going to want to get that handled by the time we're done with SUNJ, because our DB's aren't stout enough to cover 3.5 seconds with consistency against a + QB. In fact, had VT not had their best skill player, All-ACC 1st team WR Hazelton come down with a late hammy the outcome could have been different.
I thought the DBs were pretty rough. To me easily the worst unit on the field for us. SeaBass looks solid. No worries there. However, I thought Haynes struggled mightily. I gave him a poor grade in coverage, in run support, and tackling. The entire game seemed a bit big for him I thought. Let's hope we can get him coached up.
Mike Palmer is a missile, but I think maybe out of place in the back. I'd like to see him rove playing closer to the LOS. I think he'd excel in Donnie Brown's scheme. To augment the lack of rush I'd like to see some more zero and 1 high sets with him as Palmer as the dog. He seems to really have that nasty mentality. A smaller Milano, quicker Sylvia is how I'd characterize him.
I though Lamot was excellent both in read and recog, and as a run stopper than can cover some space with instincts. A heady thumper. Want to see him get as many snaps as possible manning that middle.
Offensively, I felt like AJ is totally back, but just facing 11 guys 100% keying on him. Don't expect that changes. David Bailey is easily good enough to take 40% of AJs touches. I thought he was sensational. He runs behind his pads with as low a lean as you'll see. Hitting him hurts. I can see that. Not as physically gifted as AJ in some regards, I like his full compliment of tools almost better, and while he won't be drafted as high, I could see his game better translating at the next level. He also seems to ride the roller coaster far less than AJ.
Hunter Long is an impossible matchup. If you're big enough you're not fast enough, if you're fast enough you're not tall enough. He builds that frame up he's an 1st round lock in a few years.
Korab Idrizi is the Karafa of offense. Hard working bulldog. Impossible to count all the things he does well for this team.
I thought the ACCN coverage was excellent, loved both Kotter and Herzy. Herzy is going to be good at this. Didn't sound like his first color outing, which I feel like is harder to pick up than play-by-play.
Finally, I'm not going to be at the Richmond game. You all know how I feel about these FCS games, and I was planning on going. But the Spiders are so bad, and BC is good enough that its for sure going to be nothing but scrimmage. Our guys deserve asses in the seats, so I did my due diligence and got some BC asses in those seats. I'm going to the Patriots game, so will be tired, and the 3:30 kick is just too destructive to my day. Would cause me to miss Clemson/A&M and some of LSU/Texas which are massive games. Plus, I just love my full CFB Saturdays at home - and this may be the only one I get this Sept as will for sure be at Kansas and Wake, and if we're undefeated will be at Rutgers.
National notes: Did you all see Bama/Duke vs listening to the ESPN highlights or just looking at the score? This is not the same Bama. As I've been predicting the sun is quickly setting on the Saban dynasty. Clemson straight-up recruits right over them, 3-4 programs are either tied or coming hard. Duke outplayed them in the 1st quarter, and it was a very legitimate game (not at all a fluke) well into the second half. Ultimately, Duke wore down and Bama had more depth, but Bama couldn't do anything with a vanilla offense or defense. They had to go full bore to beat Duke on either side of the ball.
Someone other than Bama is going to rep the SEC in the playoffs.
And with that, I'm on to Richmond.
I'll be the first to admit, this team played well above what I expected. I thought VT would be better than they are, but more to the point I really thought we'd play well below the level we did. Such a damn nice surprise.
The headline for me for the day was TJ Rayam. I thought he was absolutely sensational. if he puts together a season playing at that level he should be 1st team All-ACC. He was good against both the run and the pass. Surprisingly to me, he was extremely toolsy. He has a rip, a swim, a jump cut, and a bull rush. Profoundly apparent that he's been working on his craft in a big way. He was damn near unblockable. He faced a decent number of double-teams, and he generally beat them, and when he didn't he sucked them up. His first step is quick, and he's extremely light on his feet. He'll start drawing press soon. Someone compared him to Raji, and athletically that's pretty accurate. His bull rush isn't quite where BJ was, but he's as quick on the step, and quicker laterally.
The subtext to that headline is that, surprisingly to me I thought the interior DL was the best unit on the field outside, maybe, of RB. Karafa is exactly what we thought. Tough, smart, gap sound, insanely high motor, in a word the type of player that represents why I love CFB so much.
Given the play of our inside, we really got a sense of how much in development our edge rush is. It essentially didn't exist. This is not to say the cupboard is bare. We have guys we just need to coach them up. And we're going to want to get that handled by the time we're done with SUNJ, because our DB's aren't stout enough to cover 3.5 seconds with consistency against a + QB. In fact, had VT not had their best skill player, All-ACC 1st team WR Hazelton come down with a late hammy the outcome could have been different.
I thought the DBs were pretty rough. To me easily the worst unit on the field for us. SeaBass looks solid. No worries there. However, I thought Haynes struggled mightily. I gave him a poor grade in coverage, in run support, and tackling. The entire game seemed a bit big for him I thought. Let's hope we can get him coached up.
Mike Palmer is a missile, but I think maybe out of place in the back. I'd like to see him rove playing closer to the LOS. I think he'd excel in Donnie Brown's scheme. To augment the lack of rush I'd like to see some more zero and 1 high sets with him as Palmer as the dog. He seems to really have that nasty mentality. A smaller Milano, quicker Sylvia is how I'd characterize him.
I though Lamot was excellent both in read and recog, and as a run stopper than can cover some space with instincts. A heady thumper. Want to see him get as many snaps as possible manning that middle.
Offensively, I felt like AJ is totally back, but just facing 11 guys 100% keying on him. Don't expect that changes. David Bailey is easily good enough to take 40% of AJs touches. I thought he was sensational. He runs behind his pads with as low a lean as you'll see. Hitting him hurts. I can see that. Not as physically gifted as AJ in some regards, I like his full compliment of tools almost better, and while he won't be drafted as high, I could see his game better translating at the next level. He also seems to ride the roller coaster far less than AJ.
Hunter Long is an impossible matchup. If you're big enough you're not fast enough, if you're fast enough you're not tall enough. He builds that frame up he's an 1st round lock in a few years.
Korab Idrizi is the Karafa of offense. Hard working bulldog. Impossible to count all the things he does well for this team.
I thought the ACCN coverage was excellent, loved both Kotter and Herzy. Herzy is going to be good at this. Didn't sound like his first color outing, which I feel like is harder to pick up than play-by-play.
Finally, I'm not going to be at the Richmond game. You all know how I feel about these FCS games, and I was planning on going. But the Spiders are so bad, and BC is good enough that its for sure going to be nothing but scrimmage. Our guys deserve asses in the seats, so I did my due diligence and got some BC asses in those seats. I'm going to the Patriots game, so will be tired, and the 3:30 kick is just too destructive to my day. Would cause me to miss Clemson/A&M and some of LSU/Texas which are massive games. Plus, I just love my full CFB Saturdays at home - and this may be the only one I get this Sept as will for sure be at Kansas and Wake, and if we're undefeated will be at Rutgers.
National notes: Did you all see Bama/Duke vs listening to the ESPN highlights or just looking at the score? This is not the same Bama. As I've been predicting the sun is quickly setting on the Saban dynasty. Clemson straight-up recruits right over them, 3-4 programs are either tied or coming hard. Duke outplayed them in the 1st quarter, and it was a very legitimate game (not at all a fluke) well into the second half. Ultimately, Duke wore down and Bama had more depth, but Bama couldn't do anything with a vanilla offense or defense. They had to go full bore to beat Duke on either side of the ball.
Someone other than Bama is going to rep the SEC in the playoffs.
And with that, I'm on to Richmond.
