WEDNESDAY, August 9 (practice No. 12)
The team practiced outside today, it wasn’t unbearably hot today and there was some cloud cover. There was a good bit of scrimmage work. Here are some thoughts, some specific today and some specific to what I’ve seen in camp.
Darren Agu has a dislocated elbow, but it’s not as severe as feared.
Coach Clark Lea talked about DE Darren Agu’s injury today; it was a dislocated elbow and sounds as if it’ll just be a matter of swelling going down and healing, and there isn’t a fear it’ll cause him to miss a ton of time. I asked Lea who he expected back earlier, Agu or DL Christian James; you can see it for yourself on the video but Lea didn’t much hesitate and said Agu would be back sooner. To me that’s terrific news because, while I think James will miss some games, I’m not sure it’ll be many.
How would they replace Agu?
I talked to a team source in addition to asking Lea about this today. In practice, Alex Brown has been getting a lot of reps at that spot, but, I’m pretty sure that wouldn’t be “Plan A.” James would obviously play there if healthy. I have Linus Zunk listed as the backup there but I’m not totally confident in that. Yilanan Outtara’s name came up a couple of times and my guess is he’d be the starter there, but I don’t say that with complete confidence. Bradley Mann would be an option and Brayden Bapst would be also.
The Jayden McGowan/Junior Sherrill battle in the slot
I think it’s safe to say these are the two best options, and I’m not sure which is the best at the moment. We got a video of McGowan’s interview; he alluded to a hip injury that required January surgery of which I was unaware and then hurt his hamstring in the spring. McGowan’s production dropped off dramatically in the second half, and he said “I should have taken that way more seriously.” I always look for reasons if performance changes, and so maybe we have an explanation there. McGowan has talked about ball security being a point of emphasis too; that was a problem last year.
Sherrill has gotten more reps than McGowan and presumably McGowan’s injury has something to do with that. Comparing the two, I’d say McGowan is faster, but not by a ton, and Sherrill is the more polished football player at this point. I think McGowan will likely enter the fall as the starter but I’m not sure it’s a given, and this is a terrific issue to have because I think Sherrill can be a significant help right now too, and probably will be.
Running back battles
I would handicap it this way: 1 Patrick Smith, 2. Sedrick Alexander, 3. Chase Gillespie, 4. AJ Newberry, 5. Deago Benson, 6. Dylan Betts-Pauley.
IMO, Alexander has the biggest upside of the group, with Newberry probably coming next. Benson just hasn’t made a big splash when I’ve watched but admittedly I need to hone in on him a little more. I’d still handicap Smith as the guy to win the job due to experience and the fact that, while he’s still not what I’d want as by RB1 in the SEC, he’s been markedly better than he was last fall and this spring, also.
This and that:
- Freshman LB Bryan Longwell continues to make some plays here and there. I don’t see a huge role for him this year unless it’s special teams, but with some of these late signees, it’s a dart-throw that doesn’t work out more often than it does. To me, Longwell looks like more of a keeper.
- Some housekeeping notes on freshmen OL: Cooper Starks got some reserve reps at right guard today; I don’t think I’ve written about him all camp. Anthony Miles has been out but last I checked, they were using him at left tackle, which is also where I’ve seen Barrett Maddox playing some. Misael Sandoval has seen a little time at RT. I don’t expect any of those guys to play this year based on camp but could be wrong.
- Lea was asked about LB Prince Kollie and while he wouldn’t go into the situation, sounded optimistic that he’d contribute this year. So that would be good news.
- Anchor CJ Taylor is still out but as Lea said Saturday, he's among a group of guys who'd be playing if it were game week. S Jaylen Mahoney got a lot of reps today. I can't recall seeing S De'Rickey Wright out there today but he did play yesterday.
- I have no idea whether Jeffrey Ugo or Steven Sannienola play any time soon. I’m not sure either has played in camp and if they have, it’s been so long I’ve forgotten.
- To that last item: Nobody has benefitted more from others being out that S Savion Riley, who continues to make plays about every day. I still think Riley is a backup if everyone’s healthy but I like what he’s shown and I bet he’ll be a starter this time next year.
- St. Paul Christian’s football team was here today, and Lea spent some time greeting that team and welcoming it to campus.
www.youtube.com
vucommodores.com