by Ross Coleman - Contributing Editor
August 25, 2009 21:31
Yesterday marked the end of training camp for the Bruins. Between now and the September 5 opener the main focus of the team will be San Diego State. This also means that practices are no longer open to the public and information will be hard to come by.
But for now let us take a look back at the scrimmage this past weekend and what it means for the team going forward.
Saturday at Drake Stadium the Bruins had their fall scrimmage. Some good things happened and some bad things happened. So lets start with the good.
The Good
Johnathan Franklin - Everyone, let me introduce you to Jet Ski. Franklin, a redshirt freshman, showed his homerun hitting ability breaking a 60 yard touchdown run. Franklin gained 99 yards on only six carries and one touchdown.
Damien Thigpen - The true freshman is being nicknamed Blur due to his blazing 4.28 speed. Thigpen returned a kickoff 61 yards for a touchdown, a punt 70 yards for a touchdown and gained 41 yards on seven carries.
Rahim Moore - Moore showed that starting last season as a freshman was a good plan. He intercepted a Kevin Prince pass and returned it 37 yards for a touchdown. Moore should bring more maturity to the secondary.
Jeff Locke - The redshirt freshman filled in for a sore All-American Kai Forbath by kicking three field goals. Locke sent in kicks from 53, 23 and 35 yards. The one downside was a missed extra point.
Courtney Viney - Although the nickname Tiny Viney can be a downside when playing on defense, it can come in handy when the redshirt sophomore is returning punts. Because of his diminutive size he can be hard to find behind blockers. Viney proved this by returning a punt 94 yards for a touchdown.
The Bad
Quarterbacks - Prince, Richard Brehaut, Kevin Craft, Nick Crissman, and walk-on Ted Landers were a combined 16 of 34 for 184 yards two touchdowns (Crissman passing and Prince running) and one interception (Prince). Although the poor numbers Coach Rick Neuheisel said that after watching the tape Prince was better than originally thought.
The Top Two Running Backs - Christian Ramirez and Derrick Coleman both finished with negative yards rushing and Ramirez only played one series because he sprained his ankle. After the scrimmage the ankle injury was thought to be nothing too big, but Ramirez was on crutches and in a walking boot at practice on Monday.
Kick Coverage - On the other side of the coin from the great returns by Thigpen and Viney, the kick coverage on all of those plays was atrocious. No matter how electrifying return men are, they should not get that much room on returns.
Injuries - The two main injuries from the scrimmage were Ramirez ankle and freshman defensive end Keenan Graham suffered a broken jaw and will be out for an unspecified amount of time.
Freshmen Receivers - Ricky Marvray, Randall Carroll, and Morrell Presley combined for zero catches despite Carroll starting and Marvray and Presley getting plenty of plays.
Later this week I will be breaking down the team outlook for the rest of the season.
Quicknotes: Senior guard Micah Kia suffered a torn ACL last week in practice. Kia had taken a leadership role on the offensive line and was thought to platoon the left guard position with freshman Stan Hasiak. Kia will use his redhsirt season and sit out this year... The starting offensive line has been set at left tackle freshman Xavier Su'a Filo, left guard freshman Hasiak, center redshirt sophomore Kai Maiava, right guard junior Eddie Williams, and right tackle Jeff Baca. Baca is the only starter to play for the Bruins last year... The Bosworth twins Korey and Kyle have missed the last few days of practice due to an illness in the family.
One final thing to get people excited. I thought this link was great and reminds me of better times in the past and hopeful for better times starting this season.
Go Bruins.