Start of Spring Practice

update 615pm local time
link from Chad Cripe's article on the first practice of Spring Practice....looks lile Harsin took heed and would like to see Kellen Moore throwing the pigskin downfield a lil bit more than last year! Thanks for Chad for timely reporting- wish I had a press pass....errr!

Also Dave from IdPress take of the first practice = J.C. Percy anyone

Also another blogger's take on Spring Ball ( Finally).... Orange and Blue Circus..... -still no OBNUG sighting

Original post below

Thankfully the college football off season goes on hiatus for a 5 weeks, as BSU takes to eradicating the painful 2008 P-bowl memories and instead start reloading for the impending season. The Statesman has a pretty decent article on some of the battles about to be waged on the Blue. Idahopress also has a lil tidbit here.....
-Will go on the record and state that I am not a fan of Mad Doug Martin headed to the defense. Love the athleticism but prefer him toting the rock. I understand the need to establish the rb's getting a rhythm with some carries, but why was that not the case last year with IJ? Maybe IJ was simply an equal part/cog in the BSU machine?

- I prefer keeping Hout at defensive end, opposite of King Swyke! Expect more zone blitzes. I do not foresee Bacon Atkinson dropping into zone coverage however!

- Hope Malcom Johnson redshirts ....unless he is too good and will thieve some carries from Harper/Avery.

- I do not think the wideout position is as bleak as it appears. I expect double digit td's for Titus Young. I know that some of those td's are being taken away from Austin Pettis but I can foresee a rejuvenated Young becoming a huge focus.

- The article states the focus will be about the return of emphasis on a dominant run game. I will buck the trend and suggest that Kellen Moore is your best offensive weapon and the passing game should be central part of this offensive machine. Let the passing game set up the run game. Put the ball in your best playmaker's hands as much as possible.

- Wish the practices were accessible as well- but beggars can't be choosers.


Most importantly....spring scrimmages are all at the stadium and free/open to the public .

( except for the Blue Orange game) which might suffer a 17% price increase)

From the Statesman=

KEY DATES
The Boise State football team will practice 15 times over the next six weeks. Here are the key dates:
Monday: First practice
Tuesday, March 17: Pro day for last year's seniors
Thursday, March 19: First scrimmage (2:30 p.m.)
March 21-29: Spring break
Wednesday, April 8: Second scrimmage (2:30 p.m.)
Friday, April 17: Spring Game (6 p.m.)
Note: All scrimmages are held at Bronco Stadium and open to the public.

Your thoughts?

Will OBNUG MAKE A RETURN VISIT FOR SPRING BALL?

Spring Scrimmage 2 pre rollout of the pics thoughts

Above everything else, I believe the Boise State defensive unit got the memo that defense usually dominates early on the spring practices as well as summer camp. Some how that memo got lost last week.....must have been a slow boat from Hosei, Japan.

OBNUG gives their take here and brings up points that I can agree with.

Fight Fight BSU supplies us with some humor in the always controversial QB marathon.

Broncosports, who again have more access than bloggers, puts out this write up of the second scrimmage

Roster, as far as we know it....accuracy unknown

pics are being compiled

Spring Scrimmage #2 Bizarro edition

and there will be pics uploaded tomorrow. Need to clear my head after seeing some brain-jarring hits by Acrey, Jason Robinson and others on the much improved defense. One thing I can tell you, the offense is got held in check by the D. There seemed to be more penalties and dropped balls ( Avery with no one in 20 yards and Titus dropped a inside screen, but Lomax had to double pump to avoid the rushing lineman's raised arms, and probably threw off the rhythm).

Statesman link to scrimmage wrap up

and the stats of the scrimmage....which to me are completely over analyze and I equate them to spring training stats or exhibition stats, I would rather measure the plus/minus on each play and grade out that way. I digress and submit to those are stat freaks....

Offense was Ho Hum, but the world was made right by an appearance by Paul J. Tom Scott was also spotted, groomed in causal wet weather gear. Also spotted include George Wade The Blade, Durrell Goodloe from early 90'2 fame, and a possible Brent Thompson sighting. Phil the old academic tutor to the athletes( forgot his last name) was also at the scrimmage and saw him speak to a few of the coaches before the scrimmage.

One thing I don't need to wait til tomorrow to discuss was the snaps from center while in the shotgun formation. Disgusting......but this is why it's called Spring Practice.

Toshi and Julian Hawkins took some huge hits and might need some advil tonight or a cold beverage. Best thing to look forward too, is the Blue and Orange Game is week from tonight at 6pm on the Blue.

Speaking of a cold beverage...enjoy the weekend and if you would like to request any music on the blog feel free to add some suggestions in the comment section.

In regards to the foreign exchange students visiting, I leave you with the thought that Team Hosei Tomahawks sport Under Armor and rock their gear quite well. Pics available tomorrow...

Spring Scrimmage Pics Only Involving Doug Martin

Spring Scrimmage Pics only involving Jarvis Hodge

long TD run sequence

Spring Scrimmage pics for Doug Martin #22

Here is a series of pics that shows the play that starts at the pre-snap, defense appears to stretch out the running play ( oops, a lil fuzzy), to Martin continuing to cause defenders to gang tackle or face chasing Martin all the way down the field. This might not be Martin but it seemed like these were the plays that Martin was involved in.

Here is a quick series of pics showing #22 acting angry again! From Lomax audibiling to barking the snap count, to handing off, to #22 about to stiffarm the DB, to finally getting tackled or pushed out of bounds.

Spring Scrimmage pics for all of the Kellen Moore fans

the name of the Kellen Moore " walks on water" club needs a nickname...suggestions?


Below, KM drops off the ball to #20 after taking the playcall from the sideline, good poise

Spring Scrimmage Comments ( at least while the beer is wearing off from the Lousville throttling)

I will say only this.....these pics are from the stands and under the watchful eye of the security gestapo ( moniker due to past run-ins).
1.That being said, the sun was out but so was the wind.
2.Minimal flags for a first scrimmage. Titus got called for a flag for pushing off, and initially I thought that was so obvious. He was running a fade and while Titus came back to push the DB, Titus should have continued running and the ball would have been on target. Misjudged to say the least.
3.Minimal fisticuffs.
4.The tempo was okay, nothing special in my eyes, not like the coaches were acting like drill sergeants or anything. I was maybe expecting more of a pace, I guess.
5.The majority, maybe 85% of the snaps were from the shotgun or Q. I was somewhat surprised when the QB was actually under center.
I6.f you remember the Wyoming offense where it was somewhat of a hurry-up offense, then after quickly lining up, the whole set of skilled position players would look up at the coaching staff for the next play. I know this is by designed ( and could be the wave of the future for the up and coming offenses) but I think the defenses will eventually catch on. This is type of style did appear to be working however.
6. Only one cheap shot, but a very minor one, where a unknown d-lineman sacked the QB, and knocked him down. I will add the video.
7. I am not ready to give Kellen Moore the job yet. Bush did not do so badly. Here are the stats
Lomax and Coughlin each started their first series with a fumble. Couglin look to under throw the ball, but some of that was the wind.
8. The hurry up offense should be here to stay as well as the spread look. The spread is the new "west coast offense", in my eyes. As for the hurry up offense, this is not a fad and I am sure the Broncos will run this at some key times to get into rhythm later on during the season.
10. Towards the end of the scrimmage, the offensive coaches were very excited about a certain TD pass from Lomax to a King. Coaches were high fiving all around ......
11. Loudest cheer might have been when the punter actually did not do a roll out kick- Aussie style- and kicked 40 plus yards to the 10 yard line. The fans could hear the coaches yelling "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie ( as in Australian Rules Football)" when the roll out punt was next up on the docket.
12.The kicking game needs to some help nonetheless. Kicking in the wind on field goals and kickoffs, as well as the snaps looks as if they need work. This is why it is spring practice.
14. #41 did not play a lot but made for a long touchdown run late in the scrimmage.
15. Avery did not suit up but gave a big high five to #41, after he scored on the long run.
16 If Kaiserman is #26, he made some nifty runs.
17. Martin has arrived, angrily in some people's eyes. I will upload some pics but it seem that it took at least a few tacklers to gang tackle #22.
18. Man, that new press box is amazing.
19. Looking back, #41 got a big cheer on the long td run as well as Titus running a reverse. This was late in the scrimmage, with coughlin leading the way on reverse. Not much of a gain but some shifty moves by Titus.
20. Th arrival of the Q offense was showed a few times, even with a full back in the backfield. The FB was commonly lined up next to the QB at 3 yrds deep.

Will continue on comments once the beer wears off, from the BSU slaughter on the hardwood.

The blog post brought to you by the letter "Q"

The Broncos are experimenting with using their version of the spread & pistol offense, just to throw even more wrinkles in to the WAC coaches nightmares. This happens to be also the most useful news coming out of this early Spring Period. Link