Just watched the DVR replay of the game as I couldn’t watch live. Here are a few thoughts and impressions:
1) Swann. Wow. What an impressive freshman. Cutler ran a lot as a freshman but I don’t think he threw it as well as Swann. Cutty clearly had the big arm, but he lacked touch, often over-powering throws that were unnecessarily hard to catch. I didn’t see that from AJ. He showed touch, accuracy and power. There were a couple throws that would be picked vs Bama or UGa but overall great decision-making. The 4th down TD pass to Ray was VU Hall of Fame material! Incredible poise, instincts, confidence and skill. I wonder if the locker room is 100% behind him only because Mike was / is so popular. It’s hard to watch that game and not see that AJ gives you the best chance to win.
2) Ray Davis is so important to this team. He’s was a bell cow for us in this game, and forced defenses to respect the run. While not a blazer, he is shifty and hard to bring down. He must have broken 15 tackles in that game. Solid in pass pro. Also a smart player, wisely going down in bounds after getting the first down. Getting Rocko or Smith back will go a long way to ensure Davis is healthy-ish for the entire season.
3) I thought our D Line played its best game. I don’t know if it’s because of the rotation seeing more of youngsters or getting Lee back, but I thought they got decent pressure at point of attack, and at times got penetration. I’d like to see them play more consistently (eg, bad first half, great second half) but I thought the improvement was notable.
4) Sheppard, another wow. What a smoot athlete. He’s so fluid in his movement and I love how he climbs the ladder to high-point the ball. You can tell he and AJ are finding a rhythm. Can’t wait to see how he does against Bama and UGA. We need to sign a 4* receiver this year to complement him next year.
5) Bulovas is a stud. It wasn’t long ago that I sweated every FG attempt. I assume he’s going to make them all. He’s also looks like a LB so I keep waiting for us to run a fake FG to him. Save that one for UT.
6) Play calling is so much better. It’s been almost 10 years since our offensive play-calling looked dynamic, aggressive and smart. Kudos to Lynch for maintaining this despite starting two very different QBs
7) I though Max Worship had a bad game. Seemed to take some bad angles, missed a tackle or two and got run over a couple times because he didn’t “get low”. I don’t know if others saw this too but he jumped out to me.
8) Orji, Lucien, Patterson, Wright, Diakite, Wesley all stood out to me as having good games. I’m cautiously optimistic that our D can improve with more reps from youngsters, healthier veterans and more consistent effort and focus. They’re not going to be great, but they ought to be average in SEC and good enough for us to win at least 2 more games.
Roll Dores!
1) Swann. Wow. What an impressive freshman. Cutler ran a lot as a freshman but I don’t think he threw it as well as Swann. Cutty clearly had the big arm, but he lacked touch, often over-powering throws that were unnecessarily hard to catch. I didn’t see that from AJ. He showed touch, accuracy and power. There were a couple throws that would be picked vs Bama or UGa but overall great decision-making. The 4th down TD pass to Ray was VU Hall of Fame material! Incredible poise, instincts, confidence and skill. I wonder if the locker room is 100% behind him only because Mike was / is so popular. It’s hard to watch that game and not see that AJ gives you the best chance to win.
2) Ray Davis is so important to this team. He’s was a bell cow for us in this game, and forced defenses to respect the run. While not a blazer, he is shifty and hard to bring down. He must have broken 15 tackles in that game. Solid in pass pro. Also a smart player, wisely going down in bounds after getting the first down. Getting Rocko or Smith back will go a long way to ensure Davis is healthy-ish for the entire season.
3) I thought our D Line played its best game. I don’t know if it’s because of the rotation seeing more of youngsters or getting Lee back, but I thought they got decent pressure at point of attack, and at times got penetration. I’d like to see them play more consistently (eg, bad first half, great second half) but I thought the improvement was notable.
4) Sheppard, another wow. What a smoot athlete. He’s so fluid in his movement and I love how he climbs the ladder to high-point the ball. You can tell he and AJ are finding a rhythm. Can’t wait to see how he does against Bama and UGA. We need to sign a 4* receiver this year to complement him next year.
5) Bulovas is a stud. It wasn’t long ago that I sweated every FG attempt. I assume he’s going to make them all. He’s also looks like a LB so I keep waiting for us to run a fake FG to him. Save that one for UT.
6) Play calling is so much better. It’s been almost 10 years since our offensive play-calling looked dynamic, aggressive and smart. Kudos to Lynch for maintaining this despite starting two very different QBs
7) I though Max Worship had a bad game. Seemed to take some bad angles, missed a tackle or two and got run over a couple times because he didn’t “get low”. I don’t know if others saw this too but he jumped out to me.
8) Orji, Lucien, Patterson, Wright, Diakite, Wesley all stood out to me as having good games. I’m cautiously optimistic that our D can improve with more reps from youngsters, healthier veterans and more consistent effort and focus. They’re not going to be great, but they ought to be average in SEC and good enough for us to win at least 2 more games.
Roll Dores!
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