Today was scout-team day, that annual moment when it becomes clear which players are expected to have a role this year and which players will not unless injuries pile up. There were a few surprises this morning, like DeShaun Batiste, who was active in Thursday night's scrimmage, working at defensive end on the scout team. I wasn't totally shocked because Jon Sumrall's response to my question about Batiste's rise was relatively lukewarm for him, but it was still unexpected. Near the end of practice, Batiste walked over to the side of the field where the regular defense was practicing, but he did not get any reps. At that point, Elijah Champaigne replaced him on the scout team, and that was a bit unexpected, too.
The other surprise, and this was probably the biggest, was Makai Williams on the scout team at linebacker. Both Willie Fritz last year and Sumrall this year have sung his praises, but he has fallen to third string during camp behind first-teamers Tyler Grubbs and Sam Howard and second-teamers Chris Rodgers (a heck of a player in my book) and Dickson Agu. Sumrall has talked about using five linebackers this year, so Williams still could get into the mix, but he is not there at the moment. He practiced with Jean Claude Joseph.
The biggest notable on the scout team offense was Dominic Stwward, who got plenty of time on the No. 1 offensive line due to injuries after enrolling in January. As noted in my reports earlier this week, he had slipped off the second-team offensive line. He practiced with Gabe Fortson, who is back from injury, and fellow freshmen Jayce Mitchell and Tristan Fortenberry on the scout team along with some walk-ons. Totally expectedly, Trey Cornist was on the scout team as well after not doing anything of note in camp and never been mentioned by Sumrall when he discussed running back depth. Kellen Tasby was the quarterback. All of the other skill-position players were walk-ons.
Darian Mensah continued to take the first reps with the No. 1 offense, but Sumrall said it did not mean he was the frontrunner to win the job. They are simply making up for lost time after he never got those reps earlier in camp when it was supposed to be a two-man race between Kai Horton and Ty Thompson. Sumrall had a lot to say today about the quarterbacks, some of it without being asked directly and some of it off of specific questions. He started by talking about the opening drive in Thursday night's scrimmage.
"Should have finished the first drive, and on the one where we didn't make the catch to score the touchdown, we didn't run the right route (Mario Williams). If we run the right route, it makes it a little easier to make the catch. So often the quarterback position is a heck of lot easier to play well when the receivers do the right thing and the O-line does the right thing and the backs do the right thing. I actually thought all three of the quarterbacks did some good things in the flow of the game, especially when everybody around them was doing the right thing."
I asked him about bad things happening around Horton in the scrimmage that had nothing to do with him.
"Yeah. No different than Mensah went with the young group maybe the week before and bad things happened. Kai went this week and bad things are going to happen. It's the nature of the deal. What stinks is when you're trying to get those quarterbacks the right amount of reps, but yet they all can't go with the 1 O-line. That's the way it is. Therefore you have to kind of mix and match when they go with the 1s, They've all gotten plenty of action with the 1s, really Kai and Ty have gotten plenty of action with the 1s. Mensah's sort of been thrust in that action more the last week. That's why we're giving him a lion's share of those reps because he's done good enough things that I want to see him a little bit more with the big guys. When you do it a week ago today with the young group, and yes, you've got some things gong around you that aren't perfect or clean and you still lead the offense to good things, it makes you go, OK, what can you do with the best players. Now the other side has the best players, too, and the windows get tighter and the processes happen faster and everything speeds up. All three quarterbacks did some OK things. It was probably the best day we've had even though the offense didn't have great production of the quarterbacks doing what they are supposed to do for the most part.
Asked about the depth chart in general, he had this to say.
"The depth chart is written in sand forever. You get what you earn. You can be the starter in week 1, and I told all the quarterbacks, too, just because you start week 1 doesn't mean you start week 1 doesn't mean you start week 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. The guy that starts week 1, what will determine whether he starts week 2 is does he play well and prepare well and lead well. Every position's that way."
He then was asked another question about the quarterback competition and how the QBs were handling it.
"Mike Tannenbaum talked to our team in the spring about being a force multiplier. To me what that means is regardless of the situation, make everybody else around you better. When something is going great, make people people, and when something's not going great, you still make them better. There's gong to be adversity at that position. I don't care how good you play, you are going to have a mistake here and there. I don't know how many quarterbacks have ever played without throwing an interception, so there are going to be things that don't go the right way and for me it's so much about how do you respond to those things that don't go well. I like where that competition's at. They are doing some things good. I'll be very blunt. Two weeks ago it was hard because nobody was elevating. Now it's getting harder as the coach because I see enough of them elevating a little to where I think, OK, Kai is protecting the ball better than he ever has recently and trying to play within the system a little bit better. Ty has done some things better the last few days. He had his best week last week. They have gotten better, but so has Mensah, who has really surged. When I say surged, we're throwing him out there and he looks like a really confident, calm player that's got more experience than he really does. They've all responded well. I'm going to challenge them to keep doing that. It's making the decision on who goes out first a little bit harder because they all have responded properly. I think we'll be fine. Somebody's got to go out and take the first snap, and expect those two guys to support that guy and be ready when their number's called.
"I can see a situation where all three will be needed this year. It may be in game 1. I don't know yet, so we just have to be ready. It's a little bit different in that for several years here there hasn't been a quarterback battle. I wasn't here and I could have told you Michael Pratt was going to be the starting quarterback the last couple of years. I'm not going to say it's truly like we're playing receivers where you're rotating guys, but it's more like we've got three guys and whoever shows to be the most ready by game 1 is going to be the guy that plays snap 1, game 1. I'm not going to be afraid to put another guy if we need to put another guy in. I'm also not going to try to create doubt within those guys, either, but we're going to, I don't want to say mix and match, but we're going to roll them in as we see fit that gives us the best chance ot be successful, short term and long term."
Finally, he was asked about how long a leash he would have for the starting QB.
"It's too early to say. It depends on what they do. If you take the snap and go hand it to the other team, well the leash is pretty short. If somebody throws a pick because somebody missed a block or somebody didn't run the right route, then the leash gets longer. The leash look is dependent upon what was the error. If the error was extremely self inflicted, then that leash gets stronger. If the error is caused because somebody around the quarterback did something that was wrong and didn't help him out, that's not on the quarterback. I can think of a thousand times I've seen bad plays around the quarterback that weren't the quarterback in my career. There's bad plays that are the quarterback's fault. Not all of them are the quarterback's fault."
The practice went 20 minutes longer than scheduled today and was moved back an hour, running from 9 until 11:05 with no break for the cold trucks. Vincent Murphy stayed in to take all of the reps with the first-team O-line, at least for the last 80 minutes, so the starting unit is intact.
They practiced kickoff coverage again and the coverage unit, from left to right, is Shaun Nicholas, Rayshawn Pleasant, Kevin Adams, Shi'Keem Laister, a player I missed, the kicker (it was Bobby Noel because they wanted the kicks to be returned), Dickson Agu, Michael Lunz, Mandel Eugene, Makai Williams and Jaheim Johnson. During the year, they probably are going to run a lot but not get to make a play as the kickoff sails into the end zone for a touchback.
They will practice again tomorrow morning, but I am skipping it. Sundays I don't do unless they decided to hold a scrimmage. They are planning to go the next several days and will take one mandatory day off next week with classes starting Monday.
The other surprise, and this was probably the biggest, was Makai Williams on the scout team at linebacker. Both Willie Fritz last year and Sumrall this year have sung his praises, but he has fallen to third string during camp behind first-teamers Tyler Grubbs and Sam Howard and second-teamers Chris Rodgers (a heck of a player in my book) and Dickson Agu. Sumrall has talked about using five linebackers this year, so Williams still could get into the mix, but he is not there at the moment. He practiced with Jean Claude Joseph.
The biggest notable on the scout team offense was Dominic Stwward, who got plenty of time on the No. 1 offensive line due to injuries after enrolling in January. As noted in my reports earlier this week, he had slipped off the second-team offensive line. He practiced with Gabe Fortson, who is back from injury, and fellow freshmen Jayce Mitchell and Tristan Fortenberry on the scout team along with some walk-ons. Totally expectedly, Trey Cornist was on the scout team as well after not doing anything of note in camp and never been mentioned by Sumrall when he discussed running back depth. Kellen Tasby was the quarterback. All of the other skill-position players were walk-ons.
Darian Mensah continued to take the first reps with the No. 1 offense, but Sumrall said it did not mean he was the frontrunner to win the job. They are simply making up for lost time after he never got those reps earlier in camp when it was supposed to be a two-man race between Kai Horton and Ty Thompson. Sumrall had a lot to say today about the quarterbacks, some of it without being asked directly and some of it off of specific questions. He started by talking about the opening drive in Thursday night's scrimmage.
"Should have finished the first drive, and on the one where we didn't make the catch to score the touchdown, we didn't run the right route (Mario Williams). If we run the right route, it makes it a little easier to make the catch. So often the quarterback position is a heck of lot easier to play well when the receivers do the right thing and the O-line does the right thing and the backs do the right thing. I actually thought all three of the quarterbacks did some good things in the flow of the game, especially when everybody around them was doing the right thing."
I asked him about bad things happening around Horton in the scrimmage that had nothing to do with him.
"Yeah. No different than Mensah went with the young group maybe the week before and bad things happened. Kai went this week and bad things are going to happen. It's the nature of the deal. What stinks is when you're trying to get those quarterbacks the right amount of reps, but yet they all can't go with the 1 O-line. That's the way it is. Therefore you have to kind of mix and match when they go with the 1s, They've all gotten plenty of action with the 1s, really Kai and Ty have gotten plenty of action with the 1s. Mensah's sort of been thrust in that action more the last week. That's why we're giving him a lion's share of those reps because he's done good enough things that I want to see him a little bit more with the big guys. When you do it a week ago today with the young group, and yes, you've got some things gong around you that aren't perfect or clean and you still lead the offense to good things, it makes you go, OK, what can you do with the best players. Now the other side has the best players, too, and the windows get tighter and the processes happen faster and everything speeds up. All three quarterbacks did some OK things. It was probably the best day we've had even though the offense didn't have great production of the quarterbacks doing what they are supposed to do for the most part.
Asked about the depth chart in general, he had this to say.
"The depth chart is written in sand forever. You get what you earn. You can be the starter in week 1, and I told all the quarterbacks, too, just because you start week 1 doesn't mean you start week 1 doesn't mean you start week 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. The guy that starts week 1, what will determine whether he starts week 2 is does he play well and prepare well and lead well. Every position's that way."
He then was asked another question about the quarterback competition and how the QBs were handling it.
"Mike Tannenbaum talked to our team in the spring about being a force multiplier. To me what that means is regardless of the situation, make everybody else around you better. When something is going great, make people people, and when something's not going great, you still make them better. There's gong to be adversity at that position. I don't care how good you play, you are going to have a mistake here and there. I don't know how many quarterbacks have ever played without throwing an interception, so there are going to be things that don't go the right way and for me it's so much about how do you respond to those things that don't go well. I like where that competition's at. They are doing some things good. I'll be very blunt. Two weeks ago it was hard because nobody was elevating. Now it's getting harder as the coach because I see enough of them elevating a little to where I think, OK, Kai is protecting the ball better than he ever has recently and trying to play within the system a little bit better. Ty has done some things better the last few days. He had his best week last week. They have gotten better, but so has Mensah, who has really surged. When I say surged, we're throwing him out there and he looks like a really confident, calm player that's got more experience than he really does. They've all responded well. I'm going to challenge them to keep doing that. It's making the decision on who goes out first a little bit harder because they all have responded properly. I think we'll be fine. Somebody's got to go out and take the first snap, and expect those two guys to support that guy and be ready when their number's called.
"I can see a situation where all three will be needed this year. It may be in game 1. I don't know yet, so we just have to be ready. It's a little bit different in that for several years here there hasn't been a quarterback battle. I wasn't here and I could have told you Michael Pratt was going to be the starting quarterback the last couple of years. I'm not going to say it's truly like we're playing receivers where you're rotating guys, but it's more like we've got three guys and whoever shows to be the most ready by game 1 is going to be the guy that plays snap 1, game 1. I'm not going to be afraid to put another guy if we need to put another guy in. I'm also not going to try to create doubt within those guys, either, but we're going to, I don't want to say mix and match, but we're going to roll them in as we see fit that gives us the best chance ot be successful, short term and long term."
Finally, he was asked about how long a leash he would have for the starting QB.
"It's too early to say. It depends on what they do. If you take the snap and go hand it to the other team, well the leash is pretty short. If somebody throws a pick because somebody missed a block or somebody didn't run the right route, then the leash gets longer. The leash look is dependent upon what was the error. If the error was extremely self inflicted, then that leash gets stronger. If the error is caused because somebody around the quarterback did something that was wrong and didn't help him out, that's not on the quarterback. I can think of a thousand times I've seen bad plays around the quarterback that weren't the quarterback in my career. There's bad plays that are the quarterback's fault. Not all of them are the quarterback's fault."
The practice went 20 minutes longer than scheduled today and was moved back an hour, running from 9 until 11:05 with no break for the cold trucks. Vincent Murphy stayed in to take all of the reps with the first-team O-line, at least for the last 80 minutes, so the starting unit is intact.
They practiced kickoff coverage again and the coverage unit, from left to right, is Shaun Nicholas, Rayshawn Pleasant, Kevin Adams, Shi'Keem Laister, a player I missed, the kicker (it was Bobby Noel because they wanted the kicks to be returned), Dickson Agu, Michael Lunz, Mandel Eugene, Makai Williams and Jaheim Johnson. During the year, they probably are going to run a lot but not get to make a play as the kickoff sails into the end zone for a touchback.
They will practice again tomorrow morning, but I am skipping it. Sundays I don't do unless they decided to hold a scrimmage. They are planning to go the next several days and will take one mandatory day off next week with classes starting Monday.
