Overall, I thought that the game went about how I'd expect. Seems like in the past, we would have let that be closer than expected just due to the let down/trap game factor. But we jumped on them early and made sure it wasn't in doubt. I probably have some slight concerns about our running game, but they are clearly more comfortable letting Dekkers throw it around than trying to ground out opponents. Still, we can run well enough to keep teams honest and if defenses are dropping everyone, make them pay. Defensively, it's really hard to tell how good they are. They just haven't played a good offense yet. But, the pieces are there and having a fairly stout run D with a good pass rusher is a pretty good place to start. Special teams are a work in progress that I don't know will ever be fixed under Campbell. Some thoughts by position:
QB: I've been super impressed by how calm Dekkers is and how quickly he can get the ball out. No doubt he can make every throw, but he does make some bad decisions here and there (which we can live with). He may trust his arm a little too much where he'll see more picks against better defenders, but that's just kind of the learning process with a young QB. I'd rather have that than a lack of confidence. I'm not sure that Cook or Becht can successfully run a pass first offense right now that they've been running, so we obviously hope Dekkers doesn't get hurt.
WR: Hutchinson has been great. IMO having Dekkers throwing to him has kind of unlocked his skill set and he's at another level now. I feel like he's moved past the LaMichael Pettway level and is now close to the Lazard/Butler level. I was kind of expecting more from Noel after the Clemson game and while he's been good, it's not really what I expected. I don't know if it's just not getting him the ball in the right spots or maybe poor blocking on the perimeter, but he needs to get the ball in space more. Shaw had a good game Saturday and maybe he's the 3rd WR that we've been missing. He's never going to burn anyone, but just getting open and making contested catches would be pretty valuable. I've been disappointed in Stanley's hands. Was hoping he'd be a deep threat for us, but he hasn't yet. It seems like Wilson has always been just a guy and I don't really expect more from him at this point. Bitter has definitely shown flashes and if he continues, he's going to get more snaps. If none of the other guys are consistent, I wouldn't be against moving Noel outside and starting Bitter in the slot. We have yet to see Daniel Jackson this year, even though he had a good spring. Hopefully he gets healthy. First snaps for Essex and Gaines on Saturday too.
TE: Obviously, a much more limited role in the offense from past years, which was to be expected. I feel like Hanika has shown to be a decent receiver and Dean probably more of a blocker in the Chase Allen role. Tyler Moore played decent in mop up time yesterday. I really like what they've done with Rus in the passing game. That takes a little bit of the predictability out of the offense. And Klotz has done well when he's gotten in.
OL: Downing is a beast. Simmons and Hufford will make some mistakes, but they've been solid. Miller I feel has played really well for a young guy and I feel comfortable with him at LT. He's going to run into some speed rushers that will cause him problems, but he'll be fine and we can scheme to help him if needed. Trieber has done fine as a backup starting his first games. Can't really ask for much more from him. I do hope that Remsburg can get back in there, as we'd have an even better OL, but you never know when that's going to happen. Getting Zach Ross in on short yardage has proven valuable. I still don't know about our overall depth, but I feel like the young guys are developing and it was good to see them get some time yesterday.
DL: Absolutely cannot complain so far. Lee has been good, Singleton is solid at holding the edge and taking up blockers. I've been a little disappointed in McDonald, even though I know he's being schemed for and chipped. I love that they're moving him around some on passing downs. Watching him yesterday, though, he was consistently slower getting off the line than Lee and Singleton, which surprised me. Not sure what was up with that. Still, he's a beast getting after the passer and at the very least, teams have to gameplan around him. I've been very impressed with Anderson. What a great pickup. Onyedim has also made plays and gotten into the backfield. And you can just see that Orange has so much potential. That's not even mentioning Blake Peterson, Howard Brown, Joey Peterson, Jayden Gray. The amount of talent and depth they've put together is amazing considering where we've been.
LB: I've been critical that they put too much weight on Vance, but he had one of his best games on Saturday. He'll make mistakes and pick the wrong hole, but he's still solid at the very least. Vaughn continues to improve and while he's not Hummel, he does a good job. Reeder was a home run pickup from the portal. He's not Rose, but he's as close as we could ask for. Showed some really good speed on that pick yesterday. I don't think that he tackles like Rose, but he does everything else almost as well. We're starting to see some of the depth show up with Mendeszoon, Marshall and McLaughlin. We're going to need those guys at some point, so I hope they keep improving.
CB: So far so good. I've been impressed with Tampa and Purchase this season. They definitely haven't been tested by the WRs they've faced, but they've done well with who they've went up against. Purchase will miss some tackles from time to time, which is concerning. I like the depth with Porter and Kyle. Have not really seen anyone else though. I guess we'll know more about the CBs against Baylor and KSU.
S: Johnson has played really well. Made the transition easily and even got his first pick. He can cover better than a Safety should and still play center field and tackle well. Just a really nice piece back there. Freyler is the other major piece and thankfully, him being out didn't hurt us on Saturday. Hopefully he's back against Baylor, but you just can't trust the staff on those things. The other spot is kind of a mystery to me. Cooper has done well enough as a TRFR, but he looks pretty thin. Verdon is back and still looks pretty green to me. Seems like there are a lot of bodies they are mixing in with Howard, Chambers, Cooper, McGee, Verdon and they haven't really found their best lineup yet. Once Freyler is back, that should solidify things some.
P: Well, they did mix up the blocking some by putting Ross and Orange back there. But Perkins absolutely needs to get his kicks off quicker. If we don't fix it, we are going to get one blocked every game.
K: Although the XP wasn't his fault, Gilbert needs to get his kicks up some. We're going to end up getting a FG blocked soon if not. Also, I'd like to see someone else get a shot at KO. It wasn't very windy Saturday and most of the kicks didn't make the endzone. That's a problem and we've seen it before. Kickoffs can lose you games as we all well know. They need to find a kid that puts every one in the endzone if wind is negligible and give him a scholarship...I don't care if he never kicks a FG in his career. The talk was that walk-ons Shackford and Bittman both had huge legs, but if they aren't beating out Gilbert on KO, then that was a lie.
QB: I've been super impressed by how calm Dekkers is and how quickly he can get the ball out. No doubt he can make every throw, but he does make some bad decisions here and there (which we can live with). He may trust his arm a little too much where he'll see more picks against better defenders, but that's just kind of the learning process with a young QB. I'd rather have that than a lack of confidence. I'm not sure that Cook or Becht can successfully run a pass first offense right now that they've been running, so we obviously hope Dekkers doesn't get hurt.
WR: Hutchinson has been great. IMO having Dekkers throwing to him has kind of unlocked his skill set and he's at another level now. I feel like he's moved past the LaMichael Pettway level and is now close to the Lazard/Butler level. I was kind of expecting more from Noel after the Clemson game and while he's been good, it's not really what I expected. I don't know if it's just not getting him the ball in the right spots or maybe poor blocking on the perimeter, but he needs to get the ball in space more. Shaw had a good game Saturday and maybe he's the 3rd WR that we've been missing. He's never going to burn anyone, but just getting open and making contested catches would be pretty valuable. I've been disappointed in Stanley's hands. Was hoping he'd be a deep threat for us, but he hasn't yet. It seems like Wilson has always been just a guy and I don't really expect more from him at this point. Bitter has definitely shown flashes and if he continues, he's going to get more snaps. If none of the other guys are consistent, I wouldn't be against moving Noel outside and starting Bitter in the slot. We have yet to see Daniel Jackson this year, even though he had a good spring. Hopefully he gets healthy. First snaps for Essex and Gaines on Saturday too.
TE: Obviously, a much more limited role in the offense from past years, which was to be expected. I feel like Hanika has shown to be a decent receiver and Dean probably more of a blocker in the Chase Allen role. Tyler Moore played decent in mop up time yesterday. I really like what they've done with Rus in the passing game. That takes a little bit of the predictability out of the offense. And Klotz has done well when he's gotten in.
OL: Downing is a beast. Simmons and Hufford will make some mistakes, but they've been solid. Miller I feel has played really well for a young guy and I feel comfortable with him at LT. He's going to run into some speed rushers that will cause him problems, but he'll be fine and we can scheme to help him if needed. Trieber has done fine as a backup starting his first games. Can't really ask for much more from him. I do hope that Remsburg can get back in there, as we'd have an even better OL, but you never know when that's going to happen. Getting Zach Ross in on short yardage has proven valuable. I still don't know about our overall depth, but I feel like the young guys are developing and it was good to see them get some time yesterday.
DL: Absolutely cannot complain so far. Lee has been good, Singleton is solid at holding the edge and taking up blockers. I've been a little disappointed in McDonald, even though I know he's being schemed for and chipped. I love that they're moving him around some on passing downs. Watching him yesterday, though, he was consistently slower getting off the line than Lee and Singleton, which surprised me. Not sure what was up with that. Still, he's a beast getting after the passer and at the very least, teams have to gameplan around him. I've been very impressed with Anderson. What a great pickup. Onyedim has also made plays and gotten into the backfield. And you can just see that Orange has so much potential. That's not even mentioning Blake Peterson, Howard Brown, Joey Peterson, Jayden Gray. The amount of talent and depth they've put together is amazing considering where we've been.
LB: I've been critical that they put too much weight on Vance, but he had one of his best games on Saturday. He'll make mistakes and pick the wrong hole, but he's still solid at the very least. Vaughn continues to improve and while he's not Hummel, he does a good job. Reeder was a home run pickup from the portal. He's not Rose, but he's as close as we could ask for. Showed some really good speed on that pick yesterday. I don't think that he tackles like Rose, but he does everything else almost as well. We're starting to see some of the depth show up with Mendeszoon, Marshall and McLaughlin. We're going to need those guys at some point, so I hope they keep improving.
CB: So far so good. I've been impressed with Tampa and Purchase this season. They definitely haven't been tested by the WRs they've faced, but they've done well with who they've went up against. Purchase will miss some tackles from time to time, which is concerning. I like the depth with Porter and Kyle. Have not really seen anyone else though. I guess we'll know more about the CBs against Baylor and KSU.
S: Johnson has played really well. Made the transition easily and even got his first pick. He can cover better than a Safety should and still play center field and tackle well. Just a really nice piece back there. Freyler is the other major piece and thankfully, him being out didn't hurt us on Saturday. Hopefully he's back against Baylor, but you just can't trust the staff on those things. The other spot is kind of a mystery to me. Cooper has done well enough as a TRFR, but he looks pretty thin. Verdon is back and still looks pretty green to me. Seems like there are a lot of bodies they are mixing in with Howard, Chambers, Cooper, McGee, Verdon and they haven't really found their best lineup yet. Once Freyler is back, that should solidify things some.
P: Well, they did mix up the blocking some by putting Ross and Orange back there. But Perkins absolutely needs to get his kicks off quicker. If we don't fix it, we are going to get one blocked every game.
K: Although the XP wasn't his fault, Gilbert needs to get his kicks up some. We're going to end up getting a FG blocked soon if not. Also, I'd like to see someone else get a shot at KO. It wasn't very windy Saturday and most of the kicks didn't make the endzone. That's a problem and we've seen it before. Kickoffs can lose you games as we all well know. They need to find a kid that puts every one in the endzone if wind is negligible and give him a scholarship...I don't care if he never kicks a FG in his career. The talk was that walk-ons Shackford and Bittman both had huge legs, but if they aren't beating out Gilbert on KO, then that was a lie.
