Friday Practice observations

SilverEagle · March 3, 2017

I made it up to practice this morning (I like this better than afternoon practices) and have a few observations.

I met and talked/visited with a couple of people on the sidelines. A Mr. Lovelace (why does this name seem familiar) and the head coach of Fossil Ridge High Sthischool. I'll call him Coach B.

The team was in shoulder pads and shorts and the practice was VERY LIVELY. Lots of flying around and one can only guess how really intense it will get when they are in full uniforms and going at it full tilt.

Coach B. commented early in the practice that this team is much more talented than the ones he observed two or three years ago.

QB's taking snaps and running drills.

#8 Mason Fine, who doesn't appear to be rehabbing any longer as he had none of the usual appliances that they attach to you for such things. He ran and threw like his old self. #19 Quinn Shanbour, looked as good as always....great release and right on target with most of his throws. He also was a bit quicker and faster than all the others out theres. #10, Cade Pearson. Looks pretty good for just being out of High School. Not near as good as Mason Fine did in last falls practice when he was just out of High School. He throws the ball adequately and runs OK. #11 Mitch Cason, so-so in both categories........And finally, the one everyone seems to have a football woody for #17 Devlin Isadore. He is certainly physically impressive (6'3" X 200+lbs). He was wearing a knee brace but he was going through all the same drills as the other QB's. He moved well for his size, but not as well as the other QB's, and his arm was strong, but I wouldn't call it a cannon. Now, some people will say "well when he finishes his rehab......", but that only improves the mobility issue.

About half way through the practice when they were running pseudo-scrimmages and every QB was getting their turn, Coach B sauntered over to me and said "where is #16 from?". He pointed to Shanbour and I said, you mean #19?....."yes, that's who I mean". I told him where he came from and then he said "that guy can throw the ball.....and he can move too". So I decided to avail myself of his head coaching expertise and said 'what do you think of #17?. He semi-frowned and shook his head and said "he's not very good.....his throwing motion is too deliberate".

And finally, #18 Devin O'Hara. Still rehabbing and spent the whole practice gingerly throwing the ball to another player (who also seemed to be rehabbing), as if he were throwing it to his five year old nephew.

RB's

#21 Nick Smith seemed to be the #1 guy. Every bit as quick and fast as Ivrey.....only he's a much more decisive runner. Lots of big plays when he got past the line of scrimmage. But the O-line was not exactly being much help today.

#25 Andrew Tucker. Same as last year. Fast and elusive.

#4 Anthony Wyche. Looking a bit faster/quicker than last year. Also a pretty decisive runner

#46 Christian Hosley. Fast and very decisive. Doesn't go down with an arm tackle. If he gets better as he goes along, he should move past Wyche.

Looks like we are going to be pretty deep this fall. If the young man from Louisiana comes in and is as good as expected, then we're pretty set at the position.

WR's & TE's

#8 Bussy, #88Pertile, and #9 Guyton (he looks taller than 6'1") all looked great. Rutherford and Smiley were also making big plays. #82, Mr. Griffin answered my main question "can he catch?".......yes he can. He made a great catch 20-30 yards down the field whilst twisting his body around and catching it over his head.

But the back-ups #32,#34,#27,#84 all had a solid day.

Smith #87 looked as solid as always, but Chumley #15 looked almost as good. It's a shame they wasted two years pretending he had a chance at QB. Having said that, I didn't notice if he was an effective blocker.

That's all I got.

greenminer · March 3, 2017

Thanks Silver!

I always rooted for Ivery. He was very elusive and fun to watch 1-on-1. But if our offense is better as a whole because of Smith's apparent decisiveness, I'm all for it.

We are still riding a respectable run of great RBs, it seems. If we could only afford them the courtesy of consistently good run blocking.

outoftown · March 3, 2017

Thank you very much. very interesting read

BTG_Fan1 · March 3, 2017

1 hour ago, SilverEagle said:

And finally, the one everyone seems to have a football woody for #17 Devlin Isadore. He is certainly physically impressive (6'3" X 200+lbs). He was wearing a knee brace but he was going through all the same drills as the other QB's. He moved well for his size, but not as well as the other QB's, and his arm was strong, but I wouldn't call it a cannon. Now, some people will say "well when he finishes his rehab......", but that only improves the mobility issue.

So I decided to avail myself of his head coaching expertise and said 'what do you think of #17?. He semi-frowned and shook his head and said "he's not very good.....his throwing motion is too deliberate".

I wasn't there but maybe you could answer.

I would think yes the rehab will lead to better mobility, but I think rehab and some more weight room time would lead to having have power on his passes when he fully trusts that his lower body is healthy.

With that being said, was he using his lower body to throw? I know it's not fair to put you on the spot, but just wondering if you and the coach watched it? or noticed anything

I do think its worrisome about the HC being disappointed, but my hope with Izzy is its him being rusty and with him being in the JUCO rank that he may not have had the best coaching to break some old/bad habits?

GreenN'walinsVet · March 3, 2017

With any throwing position in any sport, if you think the lower body doesn't have a hell of a lot to do with it, then you are sadly mistaken. If Izzy lower body isn't fully healthy, then i can guarantee you we haven't seen his full throwing power.

SilverEagle · March 3, 2017

I'll add one other thing. It seems like there were a lot of guys rehabbing.......many of them looked like linemen. Most of them didn't have numbers on but all of them had shoulder pads on.....even one who was getting around with crutches.

SilverEagle · March 4, 2017

4 hours ago, BTG_Fan1 said:

I wasn't there but maybe you could answer.

I would think yes the rehab will lead to better mobility, but I think rehab and some more weight room time would lead to having have power on his passes when he fully trusts that his lower body is healthy.

With that being said, was he using his lower body to throw? I know it's not fair to put you on the spot, but just wondering if you and the coach watched it? or noticed anything

I do think its worrisome about the HC being disappointed, but my hope with Izzy is its him being rusty and with him being in the JUCO rank that he may not have had the best coaching to break some old/bad habits?

The coach didn't offer a conditional assessment. He could see the knee brace and didn't take that into consideration. I couldn't tell that his knee brace was hindering his mobility. Or anything else for that matter. He went through all the QB specialized agility drills without any problems. I'll have a better opportunity to assess him when they have their first scrimmage. All the QB's got pressure, but not as much as they will receive in a scrimmage.

It'll be an opportunity to see how well our true freshman #10 deals with D-1 pressure.

KRAM1 · March 4, 2017

6 hours ago, SilverEagle said:

I made it up to practice this morning (I like this better than afternoon practices) and have a few observations.

I met and talked/visited with a couple of people on the sidelines. A Mr. Lovelace (why does this name seem familiar) and the head coach of Fossil Ridge High Sthischool. I'll call him Coach B.

The team was in shoulder pads and shorts and the practice was VERY LIVELY. Lots of flying around and one can only guess how really intense it will get when they are in full uniforms and going at it full tilt.

Coach B. commented early in the practice that this team is much more talented than the ones he observed two or three years ago.

QB's taking snaps and running drills.

#8 Mason Fine, who doesn't appear to be rehabbing any longer as he had none of the usual appliances that they attach to you for such things. He ran and threw like his old self. #19 Quinn Shanbour, looked as good as always....great release and right on target with most of his throws. He also was a bit quicker and faster than all the others out theres. #10, Cade Pearson. Looks pretty good for just being out of High School. Not near as good as Mason Fine did in last falls practice when he was just out of High School. He throws the ball adequately and runs OK. #11 Mitch Cason, so-so in both categories........And finally, the one everyone seems to have a football woody for #17 Devlin Isadore. He is certainly physically impressive (6'3" X 200+lbs). He was wearing a knee brace but he was going through all the same drills as the other QB's. He moved well for his size, but not as well as the other QB's, and his arm was strong, but I wouldn't call it a cannon. Now, some people will say "well when he finishes his rehab......", but that only improves the mobility issue.

About half way through the practice when they were running pseudo-scrimmages and every QB was getting their turn, Coach B sauntered over to me and said "where is #16 from?". He pointed to Shanbour and I said, you mean #19?....."yes, that's who I mean". I told him where he came from and then he said "that guy can throw the ball.....and he can move too". So I decided to avail myself of his head coaching expertise and said 'what do you think of #17?. He semi-frowned and shook his head and said "he's not very good.....his throwing motion is too deliberate".

And finally, #18 Devin O'Hara. Still rehabbing and spent the whole practice gingerly throwing the ball to another player (who also seemed to be rehabbing), as if he were throwing it to his five year old nephew.

RB's

#21 Nick Smith seemed to be the #1 guy. Every bit as quick and fast as Ivrey.....only he's a much more decisive runner. Lots of big plays when he got past the line of scrimmage. But the O-line was not exactly being much help today.

#25 Andrew Tucker. Same as last year. Fast and elusive.

#4 Anthony Wyche. Looking a bit faster/quicker than last year. Also a pretty decisive runner

#46 Christian Hosley. Fast and very decisive. Doesn't go down with an arm tackle. If he gets better as he goes along, he should move past Wyche.

Looks like we are going to be pretty deep this fall. If the young man from Louisiana comes in and is as good as expected, then we're pretty set at the position.

WR's & TE's

#8 Bussy, #88Pertile, and #9 Guyton (he looks taller than 6'1") all looked great. Rutherford and Smiley were also making big plays. #82, Mr. Griffin answered my main question "can he catch?".......yes he can. He made a great catch 20-30 yards down the field whilst twisting his body around and catching it over his head.

But the back-ups #32,#34,#27,#84 all had a solid day.

Smith #87 looked as solid as always, but Chumley #15 looked almost as good. It's a shame they wasted two years pretending he had a chance at QB. Having said that, I didn't notice if he was an effective blocker.

That's all I got.

Good stuff Silver. I always enjoy reading your practice notes. Thanks.

Did you talk to Don or Dillon Lovelace? Don is Dad...Dillon son of Don. Both really nice guys and big time UNT supporters, but you probably knew that, right?

SilverEagle · March 4, 2017

1 minute ago, KRAM1 said:

Good stuff Silver. I always enjoy reading your practice notes. Thanks.

Did you talk to Don or Dillon Lovelace? Don is Dad...Dillon son of Don. Both really nice guys and big time UNT supporters, but you probably knew that, right?

I talked to the dad. He said he graduated in the late 60's. I thought I heard his name before. Just how "big time" is the elder Lovelace? Is the younger Lovelace a student at NT? I kind of got that impression from one of his comments.

MEANGREENCOACH2 · March 4, 2017

2 minutes ago, SilverEagle said:

I talked to the dad. He said he graduated in the late 60's. I thought I heard his name before. Just how "big time" is the elder Lovelace? Is the younger Lovelace a student at NT? I kind of got that impression from one of his comments.

LIKE BIG TIME!

Easily top 10 donors. Dillion is probably in his early 40's that's the son

Only reason I wouldnt say top 5 is because maybe there are people that I do not know about!

Edited March 4, 2017 by MEANGREENCOACH2

KRAM1 · March 4, 2017

2 minutes ago, SilverEagle said:

I talked to the dad. He said he graduated in the late 60's. I thought I heard his name before. Just how "big time" is the elder Lovelace? Is the younger Lovelace a student at NT? I kind of got that impression from one of his comments.

The Lovelace's have their name on our softball stadium big! The AD and Coach Littrell and others flew on the Lovelace's private jet to look at IPF's just recently. They are interested...as rumor has it...in being major donors to the IPF and to baseball should it come back as a priority. Yep...for UNT...big donors.

SilverEagle · March 4, 2017

1 minute ago, KRAM1 said:

The Lovelace's have their name on our softball stadium big! The AD and Coach Littrell and others flew on the Lovelace's private jet to look at IPF's just recently. They are interested...as rumor has it...in being major donors to the IPF and to baseball should it come back as a priority. Yep...for UNT...big donors.

Hmm.......idle curiosity. What is the source of his income/wealth?

KRAM1 · March 4, 2017

Just now, SilverEagle said:

Hmm.......idle curiosity. What is the source of his income/wealth?

Believe it or not....Aloe Vera

BTG_Fan1 · March 4, 2017

2 hours ago, SilverEagle said:

The coach didn't offer a conditional assessment. He could see the knee brace and didn't take that into consideration. I couldn't tell that his knee brace was hindering his mobility. Or anything else for that matter. He went through all the QB specialized agility drills without any problems. I'll have a better opportunity to assess him when they have their first scrimmage. All the QB's got pressure, but not as much as they will receive in a scrimmage.

It'll be an opportunity to see how well our true freshman #10 deals with D-1 pressure.

All good and thanks for the information. Sorry to put you on the spot, figured I'd ask.

I'm honestly hoping for Izzy to blow the staff away when he has more time in the system. Plus I think he could be playing for a scholarship as well.

Nothing against Fine, but I want him to be worst QB we bring in (meaning the QB recruits get better each class). I would love seeing Fine putting pressure on whoever is in front of him and behind for the QB spot. Fine is a kid that will play hard and practice hard no matter what, and he is someone who can change the leader room, and I hope he changes that QB room as well.

1 hour ago, MEANGREENCOACH2 said:

LIKE BIG TIME!

Easily top 10 donors. Dillion is probably in his early 40's that's the son

Only reason I wouldnt say top 5 is because maybe there are people that I do not know about!

The guy who created Interstate battery is a UNT grad... wishing we could get him on the hook