Thoughts on Brandon Smith? Mark Emmert of the Register chimes in

[Franisdaman]

What follows are some quotes from Mark Emmert (Des Moines Register writer) on the HawkCentral postgame podcast:



Brandon Smith...boy....

He was the intended target on a pass that got intercepted.

There was a long pass where he possibly ran the wrong route and was about 20 yds away from the ball.

He had a drop on the first play of the game.

You just have to wonder how much longer that is going to go on. At some point its gotta click for him or this offense is going to have a tough time.

I don't think this is a great group of corner backs that they saw today. The fact that they couldn't exploit that may be troubling....

 

[millhawk]

Some quotes from the HawkCentral postgame podcast:

Brandon Smith...boy....

He was the intended target on a pass that got intercepted.

There was a long pass where he possibly ran the wrong route and was about 20 yds away from the ball.

He had a drop on the first play of the game.

You just have to wonder how much longer that is going to go on. At some point its gotta click for him or this offense is going to have a tough time.

I don't think this is a great group of corner backs that they saw today. The fact that they couldn't exploit that may be troubling....

Agree with everything but that first play was not a drop. Terrible pass and the blame goes to Stanley on that one. Although the really good ones might haul it in. Stanley was disappointing imo. We need to get Groeneweg some chances.

 

[dcfan1]

Yep receivers have A LOT of work to do. I am maybe giving #14 a shot..... and Cooper..?

 

[Kurt Warner]

His chances are running out

 

[EpenesaEpenesa]

Looks unsure of himself. He has to compete harder, he let those corners dictate everything. That PI he drew was a gift

 

[AlabamaHawk]

Kind of confusing based on all the positive comments about him over the offseason. Hopefully he just had a bad day that everyone encounters at some point, and gets back to work next week.

 

[GunnerHawk]

WR play was weak to put it mildly

 

[grayhair81]

Like others have already said, I was really disappointed with the WRs in general, and Smith specifically. I.don't remember seeing any of them except Easley having any separation today. I was excited about Smith's prospects. I am starting to fade on that. WR is absolutely the single-most limiting factor in this team's potential. They are the difference between 7-5 and 10-2 or better.

 

[93hawkeye]

He's a big strong dude. He needs to play strong/angry when competing for balls.

 

[Franisdaman]

Like others have already said, I was really disappointed with the WRs in general, and Smith specifically. I.don't remember seeing any of them except Easley having any separation today. I was excited about Smith's prospects. I am starting to fade on that. WR is absolutely the single-most limiting factor in this team's potential. They are the difference between 7-5 and 10-2 or better.

its one game...but....

 

[QChawks]

We badly n Ed someone on the outside to step up.

Easley and SM are good slot men, but we need a big body that can control the far side corners.

 

[Walleye70]

In the last 14 games- every corner has been better than our receivers. 21 total catches last year and three yesterday.

 

[BirdistheWord]

Agree with everything but that first play was not a drop. Terrible pass and the blame goes to Stanley on that one. Although the really good ones might haul it in. Stanley was disappointing imo. We need to get Groeneweg some chances.

Agree Stanley did not have a great day but that was a very catchable ball on first play IMO.

 

[Shafthawk]

Great WR's have a mentality that every ball in the air, is their ball.

So far, Brandon Smith has reminded me of Jerminic Smith. Jerminic did not compete for balls and I always felt was not very comfortable with the physicality at the College level.

A WR that is thinking more about the defenders than his route and the ball, will tend to have a lot of drops. They may also look much better in drills and lower contact internal scrimmages.

 

[Gonzo Bloor]

Wish they'd run a few quick hitches/curls to him and/or a WR screen or something short where he'll likely be open so he can get some catches under his belt and start feeling more comfortable out there.

 

[Hawkfan_08]

I didn't mind Smith Marsette yesterday. I thought he was open a few times that Stanley either gave up on his route or threw to someone else.

Brandon Smith didn't have a great game but we are also dogging him for only a few targets on week one.

 

[yrunvs]

Agree with everything but that first play was not a drop. Terrible pass and the blame goes to Stanley on that one. Although the really good ones might haul it in. Stanley was disappointing imo. We need to get Groeneweg some chances.

I respectfully disagree with your statements regarding Stanley. He threw a perfect bomb to Fant that should have gone to the house early in the game and with Smith's drop of a very catchable throw the receivers set the tone with the early drops.

 

[ichawk24]

I predict less Smith against ISU. More Easley and Groeneweg.

 

[Zildjian6868]

The deep ball was really not his fault as well. Jalen Embry clearly cut his route off, but the refs called the ball uncatchable. (BS)

 

[Hawktagonapus]

I respectfully disagree with your statements regarding Stanley. He threw a perfect bomb to Fant that should have gone to the house early in the game and with Smith's drop of a very catchable throw the receivers set the tone with the early drops.

His throws were mostly accurate, but he made a few bad reads on which route to hit.

 

[nu2u]

Jesus people, give the guy a chance to play his way into improvement. He is one game into his sophomore season and 1st game as a starter. I'm pretty damn sure Kelton Copeland would not place him in a starting role unless he believed he was capable.

It was pretty obvious that the coaches wanted to target Brandon early vs. NIU - he didn't shine but not all of his passes were catchable and, its true, NIU has a pretty decent veteran secondary. He will learn and improve or he will lose his position. I trust the coaches, especially Copeland. KC is an accountability guy but he will also give Brandon room for improvement. Hawk fans should too.

 

[anon_hc7hkvtk15hp5]

I respectfully disagree with your statements regarding Stanley. He threw a perfect bomb to Fant that should have gone to the house early in the game and with Smith's drop of a very catchable throw the receivers set the tone with the early drops.

Admitted, I didn’t watch the whole game, but how was Cooper supposed to do anything with the little bubble screen he caught? I saw several balls that Stanley was off target on not allowing the receivers to do anything after catching the ball. Even the TD to Fant was almost over his head. It makes it hard to say if it was Stanley or the recievers then.

 

[ghostOfHomer777]

Agree with everything but that first play was not a drop. Terrible pass and the blame goes to Stanley on that one. Although the really good ones might haul it in. Stanley was disappointing imo. We need to get Groeneweg some chances.

The second point wasn't correct either - Smith wanted to run to the outside to get to the ball, but he let the DB dictate the route for him. He needed to be more physical, he needed to run harder ... and then he needed to work to the outside. As Epenesa stated ... he shouldn't have let the DB dictate things to him. Because he wasn't more assertive ... he got himself caught in the situation where he'd have to run through the DB to get where he needed to go (and that, of course, would have earned him a flag). The point being ... it wasn't really the wrong route ... but it still was something that was his fault.

 

[Wasnt-drunk-didnt-troll]

I am as big as a Brandon Smith Advocate as can be but the dude is the classic "looks like Tarzan plays like jane". Stanley had a ROUGH day yesterday (excluding the fant drop which was still slightly underthrown) Stanley is risk adverse for sure and those quick out routes were ALL behind the guys. Hell, he shorted one to Max Cooper's feet on a screen. The Int should have been about 10 feet in the air when it got to the point of catch, where Brandon could have made a play, or hit someone in the first row. Bad under throw there and BS was the defender the moment that ball was released. That being said Brandon needs to fight through the body of the defenders to get to the ball. He should have caught the first pass and there was a slant that he alligator armed BAD. Really hope Brandon can pick it up but when your WR's account for 33 yards that isnt good enough. Our WR's got one on one coverage most of the day and didnt do a damn thing with it. We were them down in the 2nd half but the vibe in the stadium wasnt super happy at half time. That last 2 minutes was about as vanilla and poor coaching as it gets. We punted right before half and took timeouts into half time, so one should point out to BF that should never happen.

 

[Wasnt-drunk-didnt-troll]

Admitted, I didn’t watch the whole game, but how was Cooper supposed to do anything with the little bubble screen he caught? I saw several balls that Stanley was off target on not allowing the receivers to do anything after catching the ball. Even the TD to Fant was almost over his head. It makes it hard to say if it was Stanley or the recievers then.

Agree 100% Stanley seemed like he had a little paralysis by analysis yesterday.

 

[Hawktagonapus]

Even the TD to Fant was almost over his head.

It hit him right in the hands. That’s was 100% on Fant.

 

[David1979]

There were at least 4drops. Stanley can’t catch passes

 

[Wasnt-drunk-didnt-troll]

It hit him right in the hands. That’s was 100% on Fant.

I think he is talking about the TD. That wasnt far from an overthrow, which could be viewed as perfect if they can do it exactly like that 100% of the time. Noah had to fight to get his feet down.

 

[Hawktagonapus]

I think he is talking about the TD. That wasnt far from an overthrow, which could be viewed as perfect if they can do it exactly like that 100% of the time. Noah had to fight to get his feet down.

Oh right

 

[Wasnt-drunk-didnt-troll]

Again BSmith Homer:

The other thing I noticed yesterday was "we" had several good down and distances from 30-40 out to take a jump ball shot at the endzone and not once did we take that chance. Part of having a guy who is lacking confidence might be forcing him the ball, when you have the oppurtunity, to build confidence.

 

[Stormn Norman]

He's a big strong dude. He needs to play strong/angry when competing for balls.

Yep! He needs to play 6’3 200 plus and not 5’7 164.. can Akron Wadley give him some of his heart???

Side note: he seemed to block well, it almost looked like he would have rather just did that all game! Looked more comfortable blocking than catching the ball.. Brandon is not ur prototypical WR as far as confidence goes..

 

[OILCHECKER]

Do we know if Easley was dinged up? He didn't play much yesterday.

Also, last year we ran the play where Vandy and Easley would be lined up outside in a stacked formation and we would throw a quick pass to either with the other blocking. We typically ran that play 6-7 times a game and had quite a bit of success with it. I don't recall running that play once yesterday.

 

[greenelite]

Smith will get toughed up and then we're going to be happy campers. He's only a soph. Be patient.

 

[ichawk24]

We ran a quick out to Easley in the slot with Brandon Smith blocking that was poorly thrown for an incomplete. The only thing I noticed looking similar to bubble screen that we ran a lot last year.

 

[herkhatescy]

Stanley needs to see the field better, on the pass to Smith when he was flagged for going out of bounds and being the first one to touch the ball there was a wide open receiver running the length of the endzone would of been a touchdown.

 

[HawkNole09]

I’m tagging each of you guys dumping on BSmith.

Fact is he’s going to make big plays this year. Just wait until he GETS COMFORTABLE in his new starting role.

I think just because he walks in at 6’3 219 people assume he should play like the All-Pro version of Calvin Johnson.

Give him 4-5 games before you start making any assumptions about what his is, or isn’t.

 

[NorthDSMHawk]

He’ll be fine. Still plays nervous. He’ll get over it.

 

[Wasnt-drunk-didnt-troll]

Stanley needs to see the field better, on the pass to Smith when he was flagged for going out of bounds and being the first one to touch the ball there was a wide open receiver running the length of the endzone would of been a touchdown.

It was Noah who stepped out and came back but your point still stands.

(Patience with the passing game is not something the Iowa coaching staff can afford. It has been terrible for too long and there is another group of playmaking freshman who have joined the b10, none of which seem to be here. We cannot have one aspect of the game that is just atrocious and expect to compete.)

 

[lost in gatorville]

It hit him right in the hands. That’s was 100% on Fant.

Wrong play.

 

[Obviously Oblivious]

Agree with everything but that first play was not a drop. Terrible pass and the blame goes to Stanley on that one. Although the really good ones might haul it in. Stanley was disappointing imo. We need to get Groeneweg some chances.

This. Nate was not great yesterday, not by a long shot.