It still is a shame that they close all the spring practices but at least we are allowed to interview players and coaches afterwards. Thinking back to the last couple weeks talking to all these guys a few themes have emerged.
Overall everybody likes the switch to Hoke and the 4-3
The defensive linemen like Maloata, Kaumatule, Prevot and T.J. Daniel I talked to all think the 4-3 is better for them. In the new scheme they all have one-gap responsibility instead of often having two-gap like in the 3-4. Two-gap techniques are more read oriented. One-gap you can go ahead and penetrate up the field.
Coach Aiken seems to really like it when we spoke with him too.
Of course when I talked to Coach Pellum it was a tougher conversation. He kind of stiffened a bit when I brought up the "change" to 4-3 because as he said before, he had 4-3 packages in his defense.
Then talking to Hoke today was interesting. He is definitely not ready to say where they are at on defense except it needs work. He is a no-nonsense guy and kind of reminded me of Chip in some ways with his answers to questions.
Guys like Yost as QB coach and we will have a new QB again
The QB's seem to like Yost. He is perhaps more detail oriented than Frost was at least that was what I got from Alie, Lockie and Prukop last week. Yost seems pretty laid back and I liked talking to him.
Lockie and Alie have not been getting as many reps as Jonsen and Wilson but that is by design. Lockie seemed kind of fired up about the challenge for playing time ahead. But for spring the coaches want to see the new guys.
Does this mean they are #4 and #5 on the depth chart? Not at this point I don't think. But the starter won't be either Lockie or Alie.
Lubick crazy
I was chatting with Matt Lubick after practice the other day off the record. He was saying that now that he is offensive coordinator he gets to pick some of the songs they play at practice. So he is hitting the guys with hits from the '80's. In past years it seems it has been a lot of hip hop.
He was talking about all the songs he was going to add to the play list. I can't remember them but ABBA was one of them. Not sure what the guys will think of 'Dancing Queen.'
Pharaoh back
I did talk to a number of offense guys and coaches too and the big thing I got out of it was that Pharaoh will be back and he will be very good. Probably half the defenders who answered the question I asked 'who has been looking good on offense' or 'who is tough to guard' have answered Pharaoh Brown.
Then Coach Osborne was pretty firm that he expects him back this year. It sounds like he is close to 100% but Oz did not want to put a number on it. But since fall is a ways off and guys are talking about how he is playing now...
Please check out all the video interviews from the last two weeks if you get a chance. Most of them are one-on-one exclusives so you will know things other people don't!
All for now.
Overall everybody likes the switch to Hoke and the 4-3
The defensive linemen like Maloata, Kaumatule, Prevot and T.J. Daniel I talked to all think the 4-3 is better for them. In the new scheme they all have one-gap responsibility instead of often having two-gap like in the 3-4. Two-gap techniques are more read oriented. One-gap you can go ahead and penetrate up the field.
Coach Aiken seems to really like it when we spoke with him too.
Of course when I talked to Coach Pellum it was a tougher conversation. He kind of stiffened a bit when I brought up the "change" to 4-3 because as he said before, he had 4-3 packages in his defense.
Then talking to Hoke today was interesting. He is definitely not ready to say where they are at on defense except it needs work. He is a no-nonsense guy and kind of reminded me of Chip in some ways with his answers to questions.
Guys like Yost as QB coach and we will have a new QB again
The QB's seem to like Yost. He is perhaps more detail oriented than Frost was at least that was what I got from Alie, Lockie and Prukop last week. Yost seems pretty laid back and I liked talking to him.
Lockie and Alie have not been getting as many reps as Jonsen and Wilson but that is by design. Lockie seemed kind of fired up about the challenge for playing time ahead. But for spring the coaches want to see the new guys.
Does this mean they are #4 and #5 on the depth chart? Not at this point I don't think. But the starter won't be either Lockie or Alie.
Lubick crazy
I was chatting with Matt Lubick after practice the other day off the record. He was saying that now that he is offensive coordinator he gets to pick some of the songs they play at practice. So he is hitting the guys with hits from the '80's. In past years it seems it has been a lot of hip hop.
He was talking about all the songs he was going to add to the play list. I can't remember them but ABBA was one of them. Not sure what the guys will think of 'Dancing Queen.'
Pharaoh back
I did talk to a number of offense guys and coaches too and the big thing I got out of it was that Pharaoh will be back and he will be very good. Probably half the defenders who answered the question I asked 'who has been looking good on offense' or 'who is tough to guard' have answered Pharaoh Brown.
Then Coach Osborne was pretty firm that he expects him back this year. It sounds like he is close to 100% but Oz did not want to put a number on it. But since fall is a ways off and guys are talking about how he is playing now...
Please check out all the video interviews from the last two weeks if you get a chance. Most of them are one-on-one exclusives so you will know things other people don't!
All for now.
