today's practice thoughts...

just got back from spring practice today. there's been a lot of positive posts over at Bruin Gold about the weekly practices but i can't say today was encouraging, especially on the offensive side of the ball.

when i got there around 1:45, after a few position drills, the team went into some red zone 7 on 7 drills and it seemed like the same old story. i know there's been discussion this week here on BN in regards to the QB controversy and it seemed like the same old problems. cowan can't make the throws, and ben only looks at one receiver for the ENTIRE play.

that being said, olson did get the ball in the end zone a few times. on a new formation we seem to be running quite a bit we had 2 receivers on the outside and a tight end in each slot so we had twins on both sides. bell then went right up the seam and olson lofted it right over the head of the linebacker and in between both safeties for a TD. he also threaded the needle to Gavin Ketchum, showing off the arm strength that makes us all remember why he was the 5 star recruit coming out of HS.

meanwhile cowan did a better job than olson in terms of checking down to another receiver if the first guy was covered. however, the only touchdown i remember cowan throwing was to dominique johnson who may have pushed off on michael norris in coverage. in any case, it isn't that difficult to pick on norris in the first place who will probably lose his 2 deep job to courtney viney come august...but on an out route to austin, the ball skipped into him and on a crossing pattern to ryan graves the ball was like 3 feet in front of him...typical cowan stuff...

once the team went into the 11 on 11 scrimmage it became apparent that the offense couldn't really move the ball.

first series: (Olson with the 1s)

1st down: play action out of a 2 back, 2 TE set, olson sacked for an 8 yard loss by Bruce Davis.
2nd down: incomplete short pass towards the sideline
3rd down: incomplete pass again

2nd series: (Cowan with the 2s)
1st down: play action, 30+ yd. completion to Jamil Turner, covered by Michael Norris. again, not that impressive as turner was wide open.

however, cowan couldn't move the ball after that and the team settled for a 35 yd forbath FG (no good)

it quickly became apparent in the next 5 series that the offense was not going to move the ball and the team went into red zone 11 on 11, which resulted in, you might have guessed it, a ton of field goal tries. it was the same old problems. ben not looking off his receivers, letting trey brown and ATV stay in excellent coverage all day. cowan checking to another receiver only to run the ball but not gain too many yards against our athletic defense. terrance austin dropping the ball and not running the correct routes. the most impressive sequence was big ben running the play  action bootleg on 4th and 1 and picking up 8 yards, and then hitting paulsen from the 3 on nice sprint out pass.

a few other notes from today's practice:
1) tom blake looked impressive. on one play, chane moline had a HUGE hole and then blake threw the guard right into moline, stopping him for a 5 yard gain on what could have been much more.
2) quite a bit of chippiness, as both bosworths were right in the middle of a number of scraps, often with 3rd string tackle scott glicksburg.
3) trey brown had an excellent day and was talking trash to the receivers all day.

in all, norvell's offense does indeed look more creative, but creativity doesn't always lead to effectiveness. it's hard to say what it will be like come september, if our defense is really that good or if our offense is really that bad...

GO BRUINS