Sat 8 Sep 2007
A Week Certainly Flies By
Posted by Trick Daddy Doubloons under Hurricane Football, Defense, Offense, Offensive Line, Defensive Line, Defensive Backs, Linebackers, Quarterbacks, Running Backs, Wide Receivers, Tight Ends, Game Wraps, Cautious Optimism
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Once again, reality has intruded with a handful of predicaments, so, without much ado, last week in bullet form.
- The running game was good. Scary Good. The o-line looked vicious for Javarris James, Graig Cooper, Derron Thomas, Kirby Freeman, Jerrell Mabry, and a guy who I think got on the team bus by accident at the depot. During the leaner of the Coker years, even weak opponents would manage to every so often man-handle their counterparts and just decimate runners or passers. It’s hard to figure how decent a training session Marshall was, missing their star DE, but there’s cause for hope that wasn’t there recently.
- Damn, that was terrible passing. It was befuddling, too, because while Kirby showed solid quality on his shorter passes, last year’s Achilles’ heel, he was unable to complete several available deep passes, which was the reason I thought he had the inside track on Kyle Wright. It was certainly nice to not have drives end on sacks on third downs, but Kirby threw the expected brainbender of an interception. He also wasn’t able to move the ball on long drives, needing short fields from turnovers that may not recur against Oklahoma.
- Did I mention Graig Cooper? The kid is lightning in the backfield, and really only needs a crease. He gets to the line so fast in person, that even on his seventh carry you’re gasping. Javarris showed great speed too, but an exceptional ability to keep going forward after contact, crystallizing in the run before his second touchdown, where he was wrapped by two guys and losing his balance until he spun towards another two Herdsmen, picking up three more yards after he seemed down.
- The wideouts were as expected: nothing special. Better observers than I thought Lance Leggett appeared unusually active, which is a plus going forward, but Khalil Jones and Darnell Jenkins were nonfactors. The tight ends looked better than expected as blockers, but didn’t do a whole lot of receiving, which was the concern that went unanswered.
- The defensive line was lights out. Teraz McCray set everything in motion. In some cases, he feasted on single coverage thanks to Calais, but it’s not his fault he took advantage. Eric Moncur was unblockable. Dwayne Hendricks, who saw extended playing time for the first time in his four years at Miami, looked as capable as Antonio Dixon did at times last year. Vegas was interesting. It might have been a mirage from playing a second tier team, but he looked faster and stronger than he did last year.
- Randy Phillips is kind of the defensive analogue to Kirby Freeman. He got beat, though Kenny Phillips should have been providing help, but apart from a misstep or two, was vital. DeMarcus Van Dyke is the absolute truth. I spent 25% of the game watching his matchup with his receiver. Speaking as an amateur, I spotted no real problems with his techniques. As a matter of fact, he played what looked to be flawlessly. The safeties, KP, Willie Cooper and Lovon Ponder, however, were nonfactors. KP stood out, as a matter of fact, because he didn’t stand out. He had a damned poor game by his lofty standards.
- Tavares Gooden surprised me. I thought his record gave reason for pause playing a spread-option heavy team, but he was generally great in committing to the pass or run as required. He got lucky on an interception that was pretty clearly, by the lights of replay, skimming the grass, but even without it he had a game that ranked as likely his best. Colin McCarthy also looked solid, though I’ll be more tempered in my praise than most out there have been. He looked good, and his tackling in space was textbook. Still and all, he made a lot of tackles in space… missing his assignment numbers of tackles in space. I didn’t notice it, but the sheer numbers make it a surprising possibility
