I got the opportunity to see a couple practices this weekend during the K-State Coaches Clinic. First, this was an excellent clinic and run very well by John Colbert and Sean Snyder along with the staff. They did a great job blending direct contact to ask coaches questions, speakers from the HS and college level, on-field demonstrations, and up close and personal looks at practice. One of the best clinics I have been to in my 8 years of coaching.
Right now the standout on offense has to be James Johnson. He continues to make plays, has a great understanding of what's expected of him in the offense, and his conditioning/speed looks much better than last year. He is going to help this offense a lot, and I can't wait to see Patton along with him. Granted, we need solid O-line play with it, but you are going to see these guys makes some plays. We do need Patton healthy b/c there isn't much depth at all right now. With Patton out, right now the only healthy option is Petrie. Petrie is a solid kid for a walk-on, but he doesn't have the flash of Johnson or Patton. McCardle has also been hurt and after Johnson was dinged thursday, Petrie had to be one tired guy b/c he got a ton ofr reps. One of the guys coming in the spring will more than likely get in the mix b/c I'm sure we'll want a 3rd option.
Freeman isn't standing out right now other than he looks like a freak of nature. I think they are putting more on his shoulders and he's still trying to figure things out. He does make plays, but he also makes his share of mistakes. Coffman really looks like a young kid out there, but he has some ability and at times looks more steady than Freeman. Granted, don't make too much of that b/c he is going against the 2nd defense, but he also has is with 2s on offense. He will be a very capable back-up and really push Josh b/c if anything he has aways to go physically to really challenge for the position.
The offensive line is getting better IMO, but right now a lot of their mistakes are mental as much as they are ability. Way too many silly penalties by these guys, especially in saturday's situational practice which was officiated.
We are very solid at TE with Mastrud, Norwood, Pooschke, and Alstad. We've got playmaking ability there and they seem to be improved in their blocking as well. Like has been said, the TE coach is one of the most energetic coaches you will ever see. Pooschke is the #1 FB right now as well, but they ran very few 2 back sets.
At WR I really think the two standouts are Nelson and Gonzales. I want to like Wilson, but he seems so inconsistent making great catches occasionally and really he doesn't play any faster than Gonzales. IMO in some ways Purvis is a more consistent player b/c you know he's going to give great effort every play he's out there. Nelson has adequate speed since he's healthy, but the biggest problem is lack of a guy who can stretch the field. One of those guys coming in the fall will have to provide that. The staff indicated they want the ability to stretch things to be an integral part of the offense, but that is still being worked in as Prince and Franklin get what they want in place.
Offensively in what I've seen we are mainly a 2 TE, 1 RB team as we saw most of last year, but we are moving the TEs around a lot and going with a bunch set a lot. Also blended in some 3 WR, 1 RB and some no back spread as well. Lots of outside zone, trap, and counter action in the run game with some toss out of the bunch set and play action and mix of progression looks in the passing game.
I didn't pay as much attention to the defense, but the guys really flashing right now are Campbell and Jackson. Roland and Walker look good inside and from what I see we will be solid in the secondary. Looks like we have 3 or 4 in position to compete at CB and at S. Moran didn't look bad at NG either, and we were solid up front for the most part, but we do look small and could get into some trouble against power teams willing to settle for 4 or 5 per play.
If you like agressive defense, you are really going to like what Tibesar and company have in the works. The 3-4 scheme is really agressive and we constantly bring 4 or 5 from different spots on the field. This is going to be a big play defense, but with the first year in the scheme and being somewhat small up front we will probably be big play for both teams at times. The issue with the 3-4 if you slant a lot (and we do) is getting washed down the LOS which can lead to some big running lanes. The secondary will mix coverages between different zones (depending on where we bring pressure) and man. The Tampa 2 is gone for good and it sounds like many of the returning staff weren't big fans of it. It will be a lot of fun to watch this defense progress.
IMO, Prince did a great job with his new hires; my first impressions of Leonard, Brock, and Burns were very good, and in moving Rahne up from GA we have a young, bright coach that will be a very good one as well.
