Today was the third and final ‘real’ practice ahead of the game Saturday. Tomorrow is a walk-through, though I will still be there as there are a couple more interviews to conduct for a couple of coaches.
But there was a lot of work done today and I was able to get an eye on every player out there again so will give you what I saw.
So here are the takeaways from today.
- I thought Kris Hutson struggled some with drops yesterday but he looked a lot better today. He caught everything thrown his way and was really effective in seven-on-seven drills. One thing that Frank Beamer told me is that he is a really smart player who he thought ran really good routes and that he feels Hutson will have a chance to be really special down the road.
He is not a big player, but he has such an advanced understanding of route running that he has the chance to do some good things. There was an interesting play where he ran a dig route over the middle during sevens and had it been live he would have been covered by Justin Flowe. Flowe and he had a good time after that and it was interesting to watch the two together.
- I spent some time getting to know Flowe’s grandparents and his dad Justin, Sr. today. Grandfather is originally from North Carolina and a Navy veteran who worked with the VA for over 30 years. They are a really good family and it was interesting to watch them when JuJu Smith Schuster got to the stadium today. They had a good time getting to talk to someone that they greatly admire.
- Flowe was not quite ‘on’ yesterday as he did not sleep well the night b efoire, but you could tell the difference today. He was back to his normal self – which is to say that he was working really hard on the field, but also loves to dance a lot when he is not on the field. He is incredibly respectful saying ‘good morning sir’ as he passed me by as he got to practice and we had a good time at the end of practice.
We did a ‘specialty’ piece where he and Noah Sewell interviewed each other. We will have all of the player interviews up over the course of the next week.
- I spent a good amount of time talking to both Frank Beamer and Steve Spurrier about the Oregon signees and will have those thoughts in a separate article as well. Obviously they are both very impressed with guys like Sewell and Flowe, but it is their comments on other players that will really shine a light on just how special this class is.
- I spoke with Leonard Manuel today and will have the full interview tomorrow afternoon. Oregon has a legit shot with the wide receiver from Florida. Distance will not be an issue and he loves the concept of the Pac-12 and the way Oregon uses wide receivers.
- Robby Ashford had a solid day today and was much more crisp with his passes. He showed good footwork and a solid release. Spurrier said he had the chance to be ‘something really special’ down the road and was impressed. As he put it “Only God can give you the gift of how the ball comes out of the release, all I do is try to help the guy get to the point of release and then nature takes over.”
- Dontae Manning is still sick, but playing through it and once he got some cold medicine, he was a lot more vibrant and active on the field. We ran into his parents before practice and they are both excited about his choice. They told me “It was his decision one-hundred percent. Wherever he wanted to go, we were going to support.” They really love the coaches and when Donte Williams and Mario Cristobal came to Raytown right after the Rose Bowl, they were really impressed with the way Oregon coaches cared about them.
- Luke Hill is going to be special. He is quiet, but is definitely a tactician and works very, very hard. His technique is very good, he has very fluid hips and makes a good break to the ball once it is thrown. I have not seen him get beat all week and there are some really good receivers out here.
Needless to say, there is a reason that Hill is a first team All-American. He reminds me at this stage of Mykael Wright a season ago. That is about as much of a compliment as there is from this event.
- Faaope Laloulu is getting better each day. Beamer told me he was really surprised at just how well he moves for someone with that much size. He has been playing left guard and Beamer agrees that he is likely to play guard at the next level “He is going to do better when he is not out in space” is how Beamer worded it in our interview.
- Macael Afaese is already 265 pounds, but he looks like he could easily add to that frame and that is something that Beamer mentioned as well. When he does, he already has some solid strength and technique and could be very good. He is going to need the weight room and the ‘fourth quarter’ program to get him up there, but he could be a very special defensive tackle after a couple of years in the program.
- We have spoken with all 8 signees, two unsigned prospects, both head coaches and multiple assistant coaches this week. We have a couple more interviews to do tomorrow, plus we get the chance to speak with eight or nine 2021 recruits tomorrow night, so we will be pushing out a lot of content over the next few weeks for our subscribers.
It has been a very busy week with all of the team activities, but the Polynesian Bowl staff are very good; we have full access to everyone and the opportunity to get a lot of information. In addition to myself, Rivals has national coverage here as well. Dave Berry and Woody Womack have been invaluable here this week and we hope you guys like all the content.
All for now. I won’t have a practice report tomorrow since it will just be a walk-through, but will try to get the Leonard Manuel interview up for you instead.
But there was a lot of work done today and I was able to get an eye on every player out there again so will give you what I saw.
So here are the takeaways from today.
- I thought Kris Hutson struggled some with drops yesterday but he looked a lot better today. He caught everything thrown his way and was really effective in seven-on-seven drills. One thing that Frank Beamer told me is that he is a really smart player who he thought ran really good routes and that he feels Hutson will have a chance to be really special down the road.
He is not a big player, but he has such an advanced understanding of route running that he has the chance to do some good things. There was an interesting play where he ran a dig route over the middle during sevens and had it been live he would have been covered by Justin Flowe. Flowe and he had a good time after that and it was interesting to watch the two together.
- I spent some time getting to know Flowe’s grandparents and his dad Justin, Sr. today. Grandfather is originally from North Carolina and a Navy veteran who worked with the VA for over 30 years. They are a really good family and it was interesting to watch them when JuJu Smith Schuster got to the stadium today. They had a good time getting to talk to someone that they greatly admire.
- Flowe was not quite ‘on’ yesterday as he did not sleep well the night b efoire, but you could tell the difference today. He was back to his normal self – which is to say that he was working really hard on the field, but also loves to dance a lot when he is not on the field. He is incredibly respectful saying ‘good morning sir’ as he passed me by as he got to practice and we had a good time at the end of practice.
We did a ‘specialty’ piece where he and Noah Sewell interviewed each other. We will have all of the player interviews up over the course of the next week.
- I spent a good amount of time talking to both Frank Beamer and Steve Spurrier about the Oregon signees and will have those thoughts in a separate article as well. Obviously they are both very impressed with guys like Sewell and Flowe, but it is their comments on other players that will really shine a light on just how special this class is.
- I spoke with Leonard Manuel today and will have the full interview tomorrow afternoon. Oregon has a legit shot with the wide receiver from Florida. Distance will not be an issue and he loves the concept of the Pac-12 and the way Oregon uses wide receivers.
- Robby Ashford had a solid day today and was much more crisp with his passes. He showed good footwork and a solid release. Spurrier said he had the chance to be ‘something really special’ down the road and was impressed. As he put it “Only God can give you the gift of how the ball comes out of the release, all I do is try to help the guy get to the point of release and then nature takes over.”
- Dontae Manning is still sick, but playing through it and once he got some cold medicine, he was a lot more vibrant and active on the field. We ran into his parents before practice and they are both excited about his choice. They told me “It was his decision one-hundred percent. Wherever he wanted to go, we were going to support.” They really love the coaches and when Donte Williams and Mario Cristobal came to Raytown right after the Rose Bowl, they were really impressed with the way Oregon coaches cared about them.
- Luke Hill is going to be special. He is quiet, but is definitely a tactician and works very, very hard. His technique is very good, he has very fluid hips and makes a good break to the ball once it is thrown. I have not seen him get beat all week and there are some really good receivers out here.
Needless to say, there is a reason that Hill is a first team All-American. He reminds me at this stage of Mykael Wright a season ago. That is about as much of a compliment as there is from this event.
- Faaope Laloulu is getting better each day. Beamer told me he was really surprised at just how well he moves for someone with that much size. He has been playing left guard and Beamer agrees that he is likely to play guard at the next level “He is going to do better when he is not out in space” is how Beamer worded it in our interview.
- Macael Afaese is already 265 pounds, but he looks like he could easily add to that frame and that is something that Beamer mentioned as well. When he does, he already has some solid strength and technique and could be very good. He is going to need the weight room and the ‘fourth quarter’ program to get him up there, but he could be a very special defensive tackle after a couple of years in the program.
- We have spoken with all 8 signees, two unsigned prospects, both head coaches and multiple assistant coaches this week. We have a couple more interviews to do tomorrow, plus we get the chance to speak with eight or nine 2021 recruits tomorrow night, so we will be pushing out a lot of content over the next few weeks for our subscribers.
It has been a very busy week with all of the team activities, but the Polynesian Bowl staff are very good; we have full access to everyone and the opportunity to get a lot of information. In addition to myself, Rivals has national coverage here as well. Dave Berry and Woody Womack have been invaluable here this week and we hope you guys like all the content.
All for now. I won’t have a practice report tomorrow since it will just be a walk-through, but will try to get the Leonard Manuel interview up for you instead.
