Spring Scrimmage (Practice no. 9) Observations and Quotes
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Peyton Ramsey takes a snap against Purdue in 2018 Image: Sammy Jacobs Hoosier Huddle
Written by Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)
It was scrimmage day on a gloomy day in Bloomington and while it was raining outside, the competition was heating up inside Mellencamp Pavilion. No score was kept in the scrimmage, but the defense clearly came out on top.
Observations
- IU’s defense is playing with a lot of confidence as they continue to fly around creating takeaways, pass breakups and pressure on the quarterbacks.
- On offense both Ronnie Walker and Kristian Pechec ripped off big chunk runs.
- Miles Marshall and Donavan Hale continued their solid spring seasons. Hale has looked to be moving smoother this season. Wide receiver coach Grant Heard says it’s due to Hale losing weight.
- Besides the scrimmage, IU worked on overtime situations and other in-game high-leverage situations.
Coach DeBoer Quotes
· On the competitiveness of the scrimmage: “I think that’s the way it is. Offense, defense you want to win. I loved the energy we had down at the end on the goal line. You know what you’re looking for, is that energy all the time. You have to manufacture sometimes. Sometimes it happens because of explosive plays, big plays, momentum, but if it isn’t happening right away and you don’t have that energy you have to manufacture it. That’s what we talked about, the energy. I thought everything was positive from the guys. I was excited about that. We have a bunch of good guys on our team and they’re all wanting to get better and everyday they’re bringing it.”
· On how the team is grasping the new offense: “Everything I have asked of the guys they’ve come through with. They’re a great group of guys. The coaches are selling out to it, I love the way we all come together and it’s a process. You want to focus on results and that’s important, we have got to have production. Right now, we are just trying to get our install together. We’ve had about five installs. We have had nine practices, but about five installs. So next week there is more to come, there’s the tempo stuff that we’ll build on, there’s the red zone, goalline, short-yardage. We haven’t even put anything like that in yet. We’ll get to that. What we want to have is the guys understanding at the end of the spring that the pieces that we have in place with our system and then we’ll figure out how to get the right guys in right spots over the summer and in the fall.”
· On the offensive line play: “I thought today we ran the ball better. We had our main group out there the main part of the scrimmage. I thought we ran the ball better today than we had in the mini scrimmage we had a week ago. We have to make some plays to make sure we are not in third and longs. Third and long is tough for everyone. I thought they did a pretty good job and I thought they made progress and a step in the right direction today.”
· On the Quarterbacks: “On the Quarterbacks: “Peyton (Ramsey) is so well respected amongst the team. The offense, when he talks, they listen. I think what he says always has substance to it. He just knows what to say at the right time. No one’s perfect, but he does a lot of things really well. There’s a thought process and I don’t think he thinks too much to where it slows down his play. I think he has a good balance of that. I think he’s had a consistent and solid, he’s picked up on everything that we’ve thrown at him. I think Jack (Tuttle) has done a great job. He has not seen some of the defensive looks that Peyton has seen so he’s trying to learn the offense plus understand how it matches up against the defense. He doesn’t always get the first stringers and so the opportunities are a little bit few and far between. I think Mike (Penix) has done a great job of staying in it even though his reps are considerably limited. I know his head, I always look at him when we are scrimmaging, watching him. I know he’s on the headphones listening, so I am trying to use teaching moments to him as well even though he’s not on the field so he knows what I am thinking. Peyton is going through those situations, I am talking to Mike to let him know what I am thinking in that situation. There (are) learning moments for him as well.”
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Mentioned: Ronnie Walker, Kristian Pechec, Miles Marshall, Donavan Hale, Grant Heard, Kalen DeBoer, Peyton Ramsey, Mike Penix, Jack Tuttle