Spring Practice

[appstatealum]

So what is your time table to define the finished product? End of fall camp, end of the season? I don’t think that we will struggle mightily in the first year, but I don’t see us lighting up the scoreboard either. New playbook, philosophy and verbiage will lead to some teachable moments throughout the first season.

I’ll answer this April 1st....

[Rekdiver]

Has anyone seen a practice? Let’s get specifics on what looks different!

[The Rock]

These guys will have the playbook all summer and put in a tremendous amount of hours learning them. If everyone approaches the offseason like Sutton does the learning curve come September won't be tough.

How is Sutton approaching the offseason?

[appstatealum]

I’ll post something over in the Lodge.....

[AtlAppMan]

I think we will see a much more dynamic offense this year. We will see more passing than we have seen in some time and Zac is certainly capable of putting up crazy numbers. What I think hurt him last year was getting hurt and Satt’s style of playing a much more conservative/controlled offense where “big shots” were strategic versus plentiful. As the year progressed, Zac struggled with confidence (my opinion) and was not throwing as freely as he seemed to had been against PSU and Harrisburg. I think this is a natural reaction from a young QB in this situation where there is a sense of having more riding on a big pass because they are few and far between. In the Penn State game, it was “House money” and he was throwing darts,
I see Drink taking more chances in the pass game and making Zac feel like it is OK to have a few misses since we are going to try and be more of a scoring offense versus one that leans on ball control and defense. What will be awesome is if our defense plays at the level they did last year and our offense is high octane. Drink has plenty of time to mold this squad to fit his philosophy, and I expect the finished product to be special.

Zac was 25 for 38 in PSU game. Satt NEVER let Zac throw that many times in another game all season and as a result never really allowed Zac and the receivers to get into the rhythm they did in the PSU game. This was especially true as the season progressed and Satt seemed to get more and more conservative offensively with more run heavy play calling and lean more on defense to win games (i.e. Troy and both ULL games). The bowl game is a good example of letting Zac sling it around a bit even if weird stuff happens, i.e. interception not due to QB. They kept letting Zac throw it and we started killing them. You have to let the QB loosen up and get comfortable as well as the receivers. The more they throw it the more comfortable they get throughout the game and then they can convert more aggressive plays. Think about Zac to Williams in PSU down left sideline between three defenders. He threw a rope on a dime. Look at pass to Sutton in NO bowl between two defenders in tight coverage for TD. What about Sutton down right sideline in PSU game with tight coverage down to 5 yrd line. Zac can deliver it in tight coverage.

[appstatealum]

I think we will see a much more dynamic offense this year. We will see more passing than we have seen in some time and Zac is certainly capable of putting up crazy numbers. What I think hurt him last year was getting hurt and Satt’s style of playing a much more conservative/controlled offense where “big shots” were strategic versus plentiful. As the year progressed, Zac struggled with confidence (my opinion) and was not throwing as freely as he seemed to had been against PSU and Harrisburg. I think this is a natural reaction from a young QB in this situation where there is a sense of having more riding on a big pass because they are few and far between. In the Penn State game, it was “House money” and he was throwing darts,
I see Drink taking more chances in the pass game and making Zac feel like it is OK to have a few misses since we are going to try and be more of a scoring offense versus one that leans on ball control and defense. What will be awesome is if our defense plays at the level they did last year and our offense is high octane. Drink has plenty of time to mold this squad to fit his philosophy, and I expect the finished product to be special.

Zac was 25 for 38 in PSU game. Satt NEVER let Zac throw that many times in another game all season and as a result never really allowed Zac and the receivers to get into the rhythm they did in the PSU game. This was especially true as the season progressed and Satt seemed to get more and more conservative offensively with more run heavy play calling and lean more on defense to win games (i.e. Troy and both ULL games). The bowl game is a good example of letting Zac sling it around a bit even if weird stuff happens, i.e. interception not due to QB. They kept letting Zac throw it and we started killing them. You have to let the QB loosen up and get comfortable as well as the receivers. The more they throw it the more comfortable they get throughout the game and then they can convert more aggressive plays. Think about Zac to Williams in PSU down left sideline between three defenders. He threw a rope on a dime. Look at pass to Sutton in NO bowl between two defenders in tight coverage for TD. What about Sutton down right sideline in PSU game with tight coverage down to 5 yrd line. Zac can deliver it in tight coverage.

Bingo. You nailed exactly what I'm talking about.

[Saint3333]

These guys will have the playbook all summer and put in a tremendous amount of hours learning them. If everyone approaches the offseason like Sutton does the learning curve come September won't be tough.

How is Sutton approaching the offseason?

I imagine the same way he approached the game last year, working on every detail of his game, great work ethic.

[Yosef10]

Has anyone seen a practice? Let’s get specifics on what looks different!

If you have the $5/month you can sign up to be an App State Mania Premium member and you’ll learn just what you’re asking. Unfortunately since it’s behind a pay wall I’m not going to share specifics here, but you’ll see a completely different offense it seems. And in a good way IMO.

But i will say just off watching a couple NCSU games over the past few years. You’ll see a lot me more involvement in the passing game out of TEs and RBs. You’re not going to see us run the ball 67% of the time

[AppSt94]

Has anyone seen a practice? Let’s get specifics on what looks different!

If you have the $5/month you can sign up to be an App State Mania Premium member and you’ll learn just what you’re asking. Unfortunately since it’s behind a pay wall I’m not going to share specifics here, but you’ll see a completely different offense it seems. And in a good way IMO.

But i will say just off watching a couple NCSU games over the past few years. You’ll see a lot me more involvement in the passing game out of TEs and RBs. You’re not going to see us run the ball 67% of the time

Agree with what 10 is saying. But understand that what you see in September and possibly into October will not resemble the finished product in any way. This is going to take time for the playbook to open. I say this now to caution you potential “boo birds” that will start chirping when we don’t roll ETSU and Harrisburg to the tune of what you feel is expected. Think back to the torches and pitchforks when the motto “Always Attack” didn’t live up to the hype. That turned out OK.

[ericsaid]

Eric sits there and videos practice for DGB so that he is caught up and ready to be QB1 in August.

Have you taken the time to watch any of the kids tape or other videos he is in? If not for this seeming sibling rivalry mentality around here, I'd say someone with an objective viewpoint can't argue that the talent is there. Many of you seem jaded from Stephon Brown but DGB is not him and if you bothered to do the research it would be easy enough to see.

The point to be taken is that App should be in a much better position at the QB position in 2019 than in 2018.

Yes I watched his Highlight reel but sorry, I don't have any game tape lying around my house that shows off his incompletions and bad reads. Do you think that I was making up his flaws without seeing him play? I watched the highlight reel and have had discussions about it with people who are paid to analyze this sort of stuff. Having said that, I have watched the highlight reels of both Brown and DGB against high school players and can tell you the Brown was farther along in his abilities than DGB. No one is doubting the talent of DGB. He has potential but he is not Trevor Lawrence, a five star, can't miss recruit coming in here play. His game is simply not ready for the college level at this point. No one is jaded about Brown. His game was more ready for the college transition but his head wasn't and that is on him. No skin off my back. You are certainly entitled to your opinion. But when you come on here stating that a true freshmen is going to come in here and unseat the reigning OPOY in the conference, you are going to get questioned. When you, in your "objectivity", ignore the fact that he didn't even win the starting job on his high school team and was a backup to a kid that went to UAB, not Alabama or Auburn, but UAB is good enough to start here without seeing a complete game from him, you are going to get flamed. He has talent, but it isn't next level talent yet and if you put him on the field at the college level now, it is going to show.

Brown was playing in Kernersville, North Carolina. DGB was playing in LA and at IMG Academy against some of the top high school talent in the country. I'd say your evaluation and ability to add weight to adjust for overall talent is lacking of you truly believe Brown was farther along.

There is something to be said for a kid who moved 2,700 miles away from home to play football at a prep school against playing in Kernersville against teams that may have one recruit per 15 years. The mentality is there, the adjustment to new talent levels is already there, and the experience in a more sophisticated system than what Brown was running is there.

Interestingly enough, I'm fairly certain that this proves the point that there are some among you who were jaded by the Brown outcome. DGB isn't that guy and I'm pretty sure you'll see that in a few months time.

[AppSt94]

Dude, are you a runner for an agent because you love to hype this kid. Stop twisting thing around to make your points because your point is moot. He isn’t going to start next year and won’t start for at least two. Your reasonings and rationale are flawed. It took you a week to come up with a retort and this was the best you can do? Just stop it.