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Media was at practice this a.m. with a few nuggets...

BigOHawk

HR Heisman
Oct 27, 2001
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Gleaned these from various interweb resources and twitter, they are random but enjoy!
  • AJE is indeed bigger and stronger, more bulk and a winter with Doyle shows, he about ripped one of the OL/WR in drills in half, it may have been Ragini the WR but would have to re-watch the clip
  • Amani Jones is just nasty, in the limited video I saw he was throwing guys around and burying them in the turf, he will push for some #1 PT at LB
  • Staff wants RS FR Kallenberger to do more, he's a big boy too and tackle depth is paramount
  • Alaric Jackson was vicious as well, he more than held his own several times vs. the LB unit
  • Wirfs was Wirfs, locked up A. Nelson a few times and give little ground, future AA here..
  • Speaking of Ragini, not so sure he isn't a better Meerkat, same number, taller and just looked smooth in drills
  • WR group will go as far as ISM, Easley and B. Smith take them. Smith is def. bigger and looks like a WR we rarely if ever get, Easley will be solid and ISM looks like he benefited from winter workouts too
  • Really intrigued by Max Cooper, he's a burner, wonder if he becomes the new jet sweep/pitch/reverse guy and/or PR
  • RB group is slim...ISM, Young, Bryan and Harrell....Geil and Tracy will join in summer, I think we'll be fine here
  • TE is loaded as expected, Fant running like a deer and Hockensen and others there too. I think Beyer, one of the Paulsens and maybe McKnight only ones not practicing? Looked like a DL with a brace on
  • Nixon was there, wow, he's a large boy for a Soph, probably a good thing he RShirts and develops given our Dline can go about 8-10 deep (AJE, Hesse, Nelson, Nelson, Brincks, Jansen, Gholson, Reiff, etc.)
  • At Kicker, it looks like Recinos is a solid #1 but Shudak is ahead of Duncan for now..interesting
  • Stanley doing his best Big Ben in practice, Mansell looking more comforable and Petras can really spin the ball, a RS will do him well.
About all I remember, everyone is excited in spring, but from what I've read and seen after about 5 practices, D will be nasty and the expanded food and weight program is really showing in year 3-4.
 
Thank you so much for posting BigO! Just what I am looking for in spring practice. The kids are making names for themselves and the competition for starting spots sounds fierce.
 
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Thank you so much for posting BigO! Just what I am looking for in spring practice. The kids are making names for themselves and the competition for starting spots sounds fierce.
Sure thing! One funny moment was during a drill someone crashed into Brian Ferentz and he went flying but was ok....
Wallace loves to yell as does Polasek, new RB coach is a keeper, loved watching him drill the RBs and I think especially B. Ferentz and Stanley will be even more comfortable in year 2 of his system.
 
Gleaned these from various interweb resources and twitter, they are random but enjoy!
  • AJE is indeed bigger and stronger, more bulk and a winter with Doyle shows, he about ripped one of the OL/WR in drills in half, it may have been Ragini the WR but would have to re-watch the clip
  • Amani Jones is just nasty, in the limited video I saw he was throwing guys around and burying them in the turf, he will push for some #1 PT at LB
  • Staff wants RS FR Kallenberger to do more, he's a big boy too and tackle depth is paramount
  • Alaric Jackson was vicious as well, he more than held his own several times vs. the LB unit
  • Wirfs was Wirfs, locked up A. Nelson a few times and give little ground, future AA here..
  • Speaking of Ragini, not so sure he isn't a better Meerkat, same number, taller and just looked smooth in drills
  • WR group will go as far as ISM, Easley and B. Smith take them. Smith is def. bigger and looks like a WR we rarely if ever get, Easley will be solid and ISM looks like he benefited from winter workouts too
  • Really intrigued by Max Cooper, he's a burner, wonder if he becomes the new jet sweep/pitch/reverse guy and/or PR
  • RB group is slim...ISM, Young, Bryan and Harrell....Geil and Tracy will join in summer, I think we'll be fine here
  • TE is loaded as expected, Fant running like a deer and Hockensen and others there too. I think Beyer, one of the Paulsens and maybe McKnight only ones not practicing? Looked like a DL with a brace on
  • Nixon was there, wow, he's a large boy for a Soph, probably a good thing he RShirts and develops given our Dline can go about 8-10 deep (AJE, Hesse, Nelson, Nelson, Brincks, Jansen, Gholson, Reiff, etc.)
  • At Kicker, it looks like Recinos is a solid #1 but Shudak is ahead of Duncan for now..interesting
  • Stanley doing his best Big Ben in practice, Mansell looking more comforable and Petras can really spin the ball, a RS will do him well.
About all I remember, everyone is excited in spring, but from what I've read and seen after about 5 practices, D will be nasty and the expanded food and weight program is really showing in year 3-4.
Thanks for the summary/nuggets ... good stuff!
 
Let's see what Bryan can do behind this OL. Iowa does not get RBs out of Florida very often and he held offers from the in-state Big3 - Miami, FSU, and Florida (and Ohio State IIRC).
 
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Thanks for the summary/nuggets ... good stuff!
Rusty, everytime you post it makes me laugh due to thinking about one of my all time favorite movies Christmas Vacation! A true classic and they don't make movies like this anymore...clean family humor that stand the test of time. The procession of "yes" men with Clark's boss early in movie is one of my fav scenes.
 
Gleaned these from various interweb resources and twitter, they are random but enjoy!
  • AJE is indeed bigger and stronger, more bulk and a winter with Doyle shows, he about ripped one of the OL/WR in drills in half, it may have been Ragini the WR but would have to re-watch the clip
  • Amani Jones is just nasty, in the limited video I saw he was throwing guys around and burying them in the turf, he will push for some #1 PT at LB
  • Staff wants RS FR Kallenberger to do more, he's a big boy too and tackle depth is paramount
  • Alaric Jackson was vicious as well, he more than held his own several times vs. the LB unit
  • Wirfs was Wirfs, locked up A. Nelson a few times and give little ground, future AA here..
  • Speaking of Ragini, not so sure he isn't a better Meerkat, same number, taller and just looked smooth in drills
  • WR group will go as far as ISM, Easley and B. Smith take them. Smith is def. bigger and looks like a WR we rarely if ever get, Easley will be solid and ISM looks like he benefited from winter workouts too
  • Really intrigued by Max Cooper, he's a burner, wonder if he becomes the new jet sweep/pitch/reverse guy and/or PR
  • RB group is slim...ISM, Young, Bryan and Harrell....Geil and Tracy will join in summer, I think we'll be fine here
  • TE is loaded as expected, Fant running like a deer and Hockensen and others there too. I think Beyer, one of the Paulsens and maybe McKnight only ones not practicing? Looked like a DL with a brace on
  • Nixon was there, wow, he's a large boy for a Soph, probably a good thing he RShirts and develops given our Dline can go about 8-10 deep (AJE, Hesse, Nelson, Nelson, Brincks, Jansen, Gholson, Reiff, etc.)
  • At Kicker, it looks like Recinos is a solid #1 but Shudak is ahead of Duncan for now..interesting
  • Stanley doing his best Big Ben in practice, Mansell looking more comforable and Petras can really spin the ball, a RS will do him well.
About all I remember, everyone is excited in spring, but from what I've read and seen after about 5 practices, D will be nasty and the expanded food and weight program is really showing in year 3-4.

Good stuff! :)
 
Let's see what Bryan can do behind this OL. Iowa does not get RBs out of Florida very often and he held offers from the in-state Big3 - Miami, FSU, and Florida (and Ohio State IIRC).

Might want to temper those expectations a bit. Pretty well documented he didn’t have comittable offers from those 3 his senior year. Heck, Mike Dudek at Illinois beat him out as the starting running back his senior year.

Not suggesting he won’t be a good player, just don’t think you can assume he will perform like you’d expect a RB with those offers to perform.
 
Don’t forget about Evans at RB joining this summer as well. He could see time there if needed.
 
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Yeah, me too - Iowa finally wins a recruiting battle against Ohio State and Michigan (as well as the Florida schools) so let's put him to work.
I’m excited for him too, but I’m afraid those schools were not an option his senior year. Iowa beat out Pitt in the end...who always seems to have incredible RBs.
 
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It was Epstein and I think he hurt his knee prior to his senior year and Epstien took over. If memory serves he had a BUNCH of offers his junior year and after injury the blue bloods/ sec all backed off. If he is healthy he could truly be a stud.

Disclaimer: if I am getting him and someone else mixed up my apologies
 
re: Bryan. My previous posts were based on his Rivals profile offer list. If he is fully healthy again I'm sure he will get a good look because those schools have the luxury to narrow down their formal RB offers from an expanded list of highly rated athletes ..... which coincidently may explain why the Florida schools backed off after the injury - they all had other blue chip prospects on their board.
 
Might want to temper those expectations a bit. Pretty well documented he didn’t have comittable offers from those 3 his senior year. Heck, Mike Dudek at Illinois beat him out as the starting running back his senior year.

Not suggesting he won’t be a good player, just don’t think you can assume he will perform like you’d expect a RB with those offers to perform.
You mean Mike Epstein, not Mike Dudek. Also, Mike Epstein was injured as a JR in high school and ended up having a great SR year. Epstein had been at St. Thomas Aquinas for a year longer than Bryan. If you're entering a new program ... it can still sometimes throw you off a little to have to learn a new system. All the same, Bryan had a pretty solid high school career.
 
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Might want to temper those expectations a bit. Pretty well documented he didn’t have comittable offers from those 3 his senior year. Heck, Mike Dudek at Illinois beat him out as the starting running back his senior year.

Not suggesting he won’t be a good player, just don’t think you can assume he will perform like you’d expect a RB with those offers to perform.
You make some good points, South Carolina wanted him as a gray shirt.
 
re: Bryan. My previous posts were based on his Rivals profile offer list. If he is fully healthy again I'm sure he will get a good look because those schools have the luxury to narrow down their formal RB offers from an expanded list of highly rated athletes ..... which coincidently may explain why the Florida schools backed off after the injury - they all had other blue chip prospects on their board.
Are you trying to say is we didn't beat out the 3 Florida schools and OSU, they had all moved on ?
 
Are you trying to say is we didn't beat out the 3 Florida schools and OSU, they had all moved on ?
What I'm stating is that Bryan's Rival's profile shows him with offers from those schools and that other posters have stated that those offers were not "committable" - which means, as I understand that term, that the offer was conditional pending further developments. It appears that his injury caused those schools to back-off to a significant extent but not necessarily completely close the door. That's my understanding but other posters who are more attuned to recruiting could possibly explain the situation better.
 
Rusty, everytime you post it makes me laugh due to thinking about one of my all time favorite movies Christmas Vacation! A true classic and they don't make movies like this anymore...clean family humor that stand the test of time. The procession of "yes" men with Clark's boss early in movie is one of my fav scenes.
Ha! Great movie, right? One of my inspirations for choosing the name. It's a must watch for me every holiday season ... Cheers!
 
What I'm stating is that Bryan's Rival's profile shows him with offers from those schools and that other posters have stated that those offers were not "committable" - which means, as I understand that term, that the offer was conditional pending further developments. It appears that his injury caused those schools to back-off to a significant extent but not necessarily completely close the door. That's my understanding but other posters who are more attuned to recruiting could possibly explain the situation better.
I don't read much into whether a kid had a committable offer or not ... the key observation is that quality programs had a high level of interest in the young man. The bottom line being that they kid clearly has ability.

Now, the question is whether he can improve and learn to run well within our O. Should he do that ... then he has a chance to be a productive back for us. Hopefully that ends up being the case ... but there are no guarantees. Back around the time of '08-'10 ... I would have sworn that Jeff Brinson was going to be a beast-mode RB for us. Unfortunately injuries struck the young man ... and we had other quality RBs too ... but at the end of the day he ended up transferring. The sad thing is that a lack of depth at RB is ultimately a significant contributor to why we underperformed during the '10 season.

Similarly, during that same time-frame, who would have guessed that a Des Moines native, in Adam Robinson, would have been such a productive back fro us during the '09 and '10 seasons? He was even originally recruited as a safety for us ... it's just that the position never "took" ... and we needed depth at RB (and the rest is history).
 
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