I heard really good stuff about Mendoza in spring practice last year. Were you wowed by him from the start?
@zeke4ahs wowed? Not really, until fall camp. I knew he had the tools to be really darn good, but the wow stuff didn’t come until the fall.
Hoover is good, don’t get me wrong. But we got so used to seeing Fernando and those guys not drop passes that it was jarring to see a few drops.
That’s also why I think people need to have some restraint for their expectations at the Spring Game.
Neither Kurtis nor Fernando looked all that great during their spring games. To some extent you have to figure it was 1-part being new to a program/playbook.
but I think the bigger issue for both of them was that it turned out that the defenses they were playing against at the spring game were among the best defenses in the country.
so, my expectation is that Hoover will not wow us when all the eyes are on him but he will be substantially more productive by week 4 in-season.
Yes, that seems to be the pattern. I can remember a lot of doubt early on in both seasons about both QBs. But by about the 4th game they were both clicking. I’m quite happy the B1G has not decided to put us up against OSU in the first game of the year again.That’s also why I think people need to have some restraint for their expectations at the Spring Game.
Neither Kurtis nor Fernando looked all that great during their spring games. To some extent you have to figure it was 1-part being new to a program/playbook.
but I think the bigger issue for both of them was that it turned out that the defenses they were playing against at the spring game were among the best defenses in the country.
so, my expectation is that Hoover will not wow us when all the eyes are on him but he will be substantially more productive by week 4 in-season.
@tmft Cig's first spring game, I walked out saying we would be good. It just looked different. We saw Rourke win MAC offensive player of the year and knew what he could be.
First spring game (wish we could stiill get them televised!) I also said, wow, we look coached. Which then really solidified our first fall game where we looked coached, something I had never seen. Not a knock on all our previous coaches, I just mean to that level of organization.
But in the first spring game several were saying "Man, Rourke doesn't look like all that..." yet Coach Cignetti said no, he did OK, said nobody was great in the game, but it was what he expected and that Rourke was coming along well. I guess Coach knows what he's talking about. 🤣
OT maybe, recent interview of coach he mentioned how important it is to treat the players as people, not just players, care about their futures. Said his staff is very good at that. I liked hearing that!