Who played today?
Pretty sure I saw Thompson, Hartage (beast on special teams), Vitale, Nagel and Roberts. Who else?
Pretty sure I saw Thompson, Hartage (beast on special teams), Vitale, Nagel and Roberts. Who else?
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Freshman?
- Thread starter CoralSpringsCat
- Start date
Hartage and Vitale don't show up on the official participation report......
http://www.nusports.com/boxscore.aspx?path=football&id=2689
No. 32 RS FR Nate Hall, LB and no. 41 RS FR Jarrett McGee played today. Also, if RT Eric Olson is injured, we will see RS FR Doles or RS FR Hance play.
He played as the fourth SB in the wing for our heavy set, presumably because of Taylor's injury.
Sorry NJCat - missed your question. I saw him as a SB on one play, but he could have been in more.
One of the most exciting things about this team is the youth. Look at the talent of the underclassman. Jackson, Thorson, Dickerson, a bevy of wide outs, and Hance, Doles, North ( I saw the snaps too) ready if called upon. Vault is the forgotten man, Moton and Anderson waiting their turn. This O has a ton of young talent.
The DB's are loaded with youngsters with promise. Learning from NVH, Harris and Henry won't hurt. Igwebuike is already a stud. Watkins, McShepard, Queiro, McGee and hopefully Westphal all should see action. The DL, is currently laden with strong upperclassman. However, Lancaster, XWash, Thompson, bode well for the future. Oxley, Goens, and Gaziano should add to the rotation. Walker is already the most noticeable guy on the field on D the way he flys around. Hall looks promising and we'll need a few of the new guys or recruits to add to the LB core.
I am sure I missed a few , my apologies, but I can't remember this much young talent on the roster. I believe we will still have some growing pains and head scratchers this year, but this is a team to get excited about!
The DB's are loaded with youngsters with promise. Learning from NVH, Harris and Henry won't hurt. Igwebuike is already a stud. Watkins, McShepard, Queiro, McGee and hopefully Westphal all should see action. The DL, is currently laden with strong upperclassman. However, Lancaster, XWash, Thompson, bode well for the future. Oxley, Goens, and Gaziano should add to the rotation. Walker is already the most noticeable guy on the field on D the way he flys around. Hall looks promising and we'll need a few of the new guys or recruits to add to the LB core.
I am sure I missed a few , my apologies, but I can't remember this much young talent on the roster. I believe we will still have some growing pains and head scratchers this year, but this is a team to get excited about!
Well I be damned, I did see Tommy in on a pass pattern in the flat at the Stanford goal line in the 4th quarter. Stupor was right, I was wrong.
Are you serious? You think Tommy Vitale was in at SB because of injury?
I told everyone on this board that he was not only going to burn his shirt but also that he was already practicing to play offense. Not one person here believed me. Not one.
They had him in motion and made him a passing option for Thorson.
And you think it was because of injury at the SB position? That's comical. You truly could not possibly be more wrong if you tried.
Yes. I guarantee you that he wouldn't be in on that package if Taylor were healthy.
OK. Whatever you say. You just keep believing what you want to believe.
So you're saying that he would have taken Taylor's spot if Taylor were healthy? Why?
No. I'm not saying that. I said what I said.
They think Tommy is special and were prepared to make ways for him to get on the field - injuries or no injuries.
Of course, there's always the other scenario posed here: that we burned a shirt in the first game out of desperation and forced a no-hands linebacker to play SB because the third string SB was out for the season. Under this scenario, our red zone passing game now hinges on the route running and hands of a third string SB - and we have nobody else on the team who can perform the complicated trilogy of going in motion, running out to the flat and catching a football, so we were somehow forced to burn a defensive freshman's shirt ... in the healthiest pre-season we've ever had. Uh-huh.
Did anybody see the look on Fitz's face as they lined up? The guy was smiling and happy and borderline giddy on 3rd and goal - the biggest play of the game up to that point. Yeah, that's a decision made out of desperation due to injury...uh...right. We all have seen how Fitz reacts in important situations - he looks like he's going to snap his clipboard in half! Yet there he was, on a huge play, giddy like a schoolgirl.
The reality is that they wanted this kid on the field ASAP and they made it happen. And Fitz's proud papa grin was precisely because of that.
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Vault made a couple of decent plays. Don't think he's exactly a forgotten man.
I just mean he doesn't seem to get as much love as some of our other underclass man. I too think he is an explosive talent that I will we used more especially on special teams.
It really amazes me. The logic here from people that should be pretty smart. I believe Stupor is spot on here. How a 3rd option SB sees the field out of desperation in a pivotal point with other personnel available is ludicrous. Unless it was not desperation, unless it was part of the game plan (again, why a coach would game plan a weakness for a pivotal play means either fitz is incompetent or he believes little Vitale can be a valuable asset on offense. Since we know GCG does not believe Fitz to be incompetent, seems that Vitale on offense was not only by design, but desirable.
GCG used to be a pretty good source of information and explanation. Now his head barely fits in the room. GCG - you were wrong, plain and simple. Everybody is wrong sometimes. Stupor provided accurate yet unusual information and you stated he was wrong. Turns out he was right. A little humility - give the guy his props.
Stupor - any other interesting tidbits for this week?
I agree completely that Stupor was spot on here and any other insight he might have would be interesting.
But I still don't think we would have ever seen Tommy Vitale on offense if Taylor hadn't been hurt. The whole idea is that we don't have other personnel readily available as Dan Vitale, Garrett Dickerson, and Mark Szott were already in the formation.
In preseason, post Taylor, I think desperation would lead to using an offensive player - Long, JJ, AA, any number of the RBs that we have in spades before kicking the tires on a defensive true freshman - unless Fitz believes that this guy has something special to offer.
I'm not saying you are wrong, but that Vitale beat out all the alternatives on the offensive side of the ball and all the players older than him to be inserted into a pivotal role. Then, his role was not dumbed down. It was not send in the Fridge and tell him to run forward and hit anything that moves - rather Vitale went in motion and then ran a route. That says to me that his talents were identified as special and he may very well had beat out Taylor too.
None of the RBs are big enough to play the wing spot that Tommy Vitale played in the jumbo package. CJones could probably do it, but wouldn't be as effective as a blocker (plus probably best to limit his high-intensity contact coming off his second ACL). Other than him, we don't really have anyone else in the 230+ pound range of the other three SBs are already in formation.
My guess is that the coaches looked around for someone with the requisite size/speed combination to be an effective blocked and pass catcher at that spot, then realized Tommy was close enough to burning his shirt to play special teams and second string LB, so might as well put him into that spot.
Zack Oliver is 230 and if he is not going to play QB (which I admittedly do not know), he would be an option. Seems we had another QB switch to SB in recent years. Lutzen is bigger than Vitale and listed as a SB. Scanlan and Cam Green are guys with similar builds and play offense - they would seem to be better alternatives to a back up LB / special teams guy...unless that guy was assessed to be a potential talent on offense.
But to pass over a slew of guys that have participated in drills, meetings, practices - all on the offense and then pick a true freshman (already charged with the responsibility of learning special teams and linebacker responsibilities) and decide to give him one more playbook to study - well, it doesn't make sense. Unless the guy is expected to develop into an impact player on O or be transitioned away from D (another possibility, but not one suggested by any insiders here).
The number of meetings, calls, signals that Vitale has to learn - while enrolled full time at a pretty demanding academic institution is astounding. Hell, I don't understand how they manage to get him practice or drill time with all the different groups.
But to pass over a slew of guys that have participated in drills, meetings, practices - all on the offense and then pick a true freshman (already charged with the responsibility of learning special teams and linebacker responsibilities) and decide to give him one more playbook to study - well, it doesn't make sense. Unless the guy is expected to develop into an impact player on O or be transitioned away from D (another possibility, but not one suggested by any insiders here).
The number of meetings, calls, signals that Vitale has to learn - while enrolled full time at a pretty demanding academic institution is astounding. Hell, I don't understand how they manage to get him practice or drill time with all the different groups.
I really don't want to belabor this too much, but I am about 99.99% confident that Tommy Vitae is exclusively on offense for the jumbo set. It isn't terribly hard to learn three or four plays/signals, especially when he would probably have the play call coming in off the sidelines.
But for now let's just agree that it's nice to have dynamic athletes around who can do a lot of things with a lot of eligibility left. That's never been a bad thing.
I'll give Stupor his props. He was right. Everyone else was wrong. Everyone is still wrong.
I don't think they were so desperate that they'd play a true frosh in that play when Dickerson and elder Vitale were available. GCG you usually know your stuff, but I gotta say that this is complete BS.
I'd like to see him used at receiver as much as possible as well. We have very few big play guys on offense. JJ and CJ are both great football players but neither one is going to make a bunch of 40 yard plus plays. Looking at the rest of the offense, Thorson can make a big play if he has a clear running lane and Shuler has the speed but it does not seem to translate to the football field. Roberts will also get some touches, and that's about it.
Ohio State didn't have a bunch of 12 play drives on Monday. It's tough for any team to score consistently that way. We need to get our explosive players as many touches as possible, as long as they are otherwise doing their jobs.
I missed that.
OK, my bad. GCG I should have known better than to second guess you.
Stupor, maybe you got lucky afterall.
