Bumped. GO BRUINS.-N

Here we go... I took way too many stats, and so we'll see if I actually get this all in cause I'm not sure if everyone cares about the amount of stats from the entire 7 on 7s, 9 on 9s and 11 on 11s.

1) Got there as stretches were finishing up, and it went into position drills. the offense then did some basic plays as a unit without the defense...toss plays, the norm chow bubble screen, and then a play action screen.

The important thing to note is that Cowan was working with the 1s and Olson with the 2s...this became the theme for the day, and if today's practice is any indication, i don't think there's any doubt that PC is RN's guy as of right now.

2) Field Goal time...what i LOVED was that there was no hesitation...both units huddled and lined up for the first FG and Forbath DRILLED it with authority. then, there was ZERO hesitation...the units lined up and forbath made another one.

If you remember back to my first day of practice notes, ST coach Frank Ganz had to correct the foot position of the guards...EVERY single time the guards lined up perfectly. Ganz was still stressing the details, barking out the to corners on the FG Defense that BOTH of them are assigned to count up the number of players on the field. attention to detail is DEFINITELY there on special teams.

Then the 2nd teams went at it, and Rotstein missed 2 and then had his 3rd blocked by Courtney Viney...I imagine Viney is finding his way on to RNs board as he has been getting a lot of verbal praise from the coaches during drills.

3) One on one pass protection drills...I have to say that Nate Chandler had his moments today...on Saturday he didn't seem to be in the drills, didn't know where to lineup, etc. you could still see some of that today, but he was looking more active and starting to get some good feedback from the coaches as well.

Anyways, during the one on one pass protection drills, Ramirez and Carter fought to a draw, Akeem Ayers worked Logan Paulsen, Ryan Moya stood up John Hale (who i have to say is not very impressive as a senior), Kyle Bosworth popped Chane Moline and got to the QB, and then Craig Sheppard, who i have to say is pretty solid for a small guy, stood up Steve Sloan.

4) Some one on one WR vs. DB drills, took place, and then Punt team duties. Ganz was using today to walk us through different formations for punting and punt return depending on situations. As I have said before, we WILL not lose games because of special teams this season.

5) Then we did some 11 on 11 scrimmage, just for a bit. The way we do our 11 on 11s is to run a few in the middle of practice, exclusively working on the running game and mixing in a PA here and there, and we do the full scale 11 on 11s at the end of practice.

Of 18 plays, Cowan took 10 of them, with Olson taking 4 and Craft taking 4...seems pretty clear to me that Cowan is our guy.

Here's my unofficial stats on 18 plays:

Chane Moline 5 car, 15 yds...
Ramirez 5 car, 10 yds...
Sheppard 3 car, 10 yds...

Cowan 0-1, under throwing a WIDE open TA by 10 yards...and then sacked by Brian Price.

Olson did not throw
Craft attempted one pass and was sacked by LB Mike Schmitt.

Tackles: Harwell 3, D.Carter 2, lots of others with 1.

More after the jump ...

6) Then we did some 9 on 9s, which is basically 7 on 7s, with 3 O-lineman and 2 DLine rushing, to create some simulated pressure while working on pass plays.

# of reps:
Cowan 14
Olson 4
Craft 4
Forcier 4

Cowan, 8-13 for 45 yds...one nice TD to TA during red zone.
Olson, 3-4, 62 yds...one nice 25 yd. TD throw to Jamil Turner, and one Norm Chow FB Wheel throw to Theriot for 25 yds. Olson looked pretty good during this drill, but it did not earn him more reps.
Craft 4-4, 35 yds...some blown coverage by the 2s involved.
Forcier 1-2 12 yds, the incompletion being a drop by the walk-on TE.

I was surprised to see Forcier in there, but it appears that RN is looking for options, even with PC getting the majority of the workload. I couldn't hear what was said to RN, but as he put Forcier in there, he said to someone..."Don't tell me which QB is hot...I need a QB to GET hot!"

7) End of practice with 11s ... I would say that if PC is our guy...RN appears to just be riding him no matter what happens in practice, but i didn't see that much from Cowan...(although he would still be my choice to start)

Cowan vs. the 1s:
Moline 3 yd carry, POPPED by Reggie Carter.
9 yd pass to DJ
Fumbled Snap
Moline -1 yd loss (Carter, Siewerzki)
Ramirez no gain (Siewerzki...who had a GOOD day)
Incomplete deep ball to DJ, slips with the ball in the air...

Olson vs. the 2s:
Overthrows on PA, into triple coverage
Fumbled Snap
Overthrows Graves
10 yd bootleg PA to FB Theriot

Cowan vs. 1s and 2s
Moline 4 yd gain
Batted ball
Bubble Screen Batted down
Pass broken up nicely by LB Boz
Moline 7 yd gain out of a check by Cowan
8 yd swing pass to Ramirez
Coverage Sack
Sack by Price on PA
Ketchum drops a nice throw on the post pattern
Ramirez -2 yd loss, nice play by DE Blake

Olson vs. 2s (Red Zone)
TD Pass to Moya on TE Seam...NICE throw
Sheppard 10 yd gain
Moline 3 yd loss (Chase Moline on the tackle)
8 yd pass to DJ in the flats

Cowan vs. 1s
Ramirez 6 yd gain
Ramirez no gain POPPED by Reggie Carter again...
1 yd swing pass to Moline, nice stop by Hale
Moline 10 yd on draw
DJ drop in the flats

then the offense started from the 24 and actually advanced the ball in game situations...

Forcier vs. 2s

9 yd pass to WR Embree (ball tipped, broken play)
Defense offside
Moline 3 yd run
Forcier 2 yd run
Sheppard 3 yd run
Field Goal

Cowan vs 1s

4 yd curl to DJ
12 yd curl to DJ
Moline 4 yd run
Moline 2 yd run
Incompletion
FG

Craft vs 3s

Now it started to get intense because the defense was giving up yards but would NOT let the offense into the end zone, and RN announced that this would be the last series...

Nice PA, 13 yd pass to TE Martin
Incomplete, Craft overthrows receiver
Sheppard 9 yd run

1st and goal...both O and D started to hoot and holler and encourage the 2nd and 3rd string players, both wanting to win...

1st: Sheppard 3 yd loss (Chase Moline nice tackle)
2nd: Forcier throws ball away on PA
3rd: Sheppard 2 yd run to the 1.

RN says..."4th and goal...we're going!"

Sheppard gets LIT by DT Siewerzki, fumbles the ball, recovered by the D, with all the defense streaming onto the field in celebration.

The defense won today...

Anyways, impressive players continue to be the same: Reggie Carter, Courtney Viney, Trevor Theriot, Terrance Austin, but you can add Chase Moline and Jerzy Siewerzki to that list...we look pretty good at the 2 deep at DT, but a lot of that may be our OLine that is STILL struggling.

But the big news I would say is the amount of reps that Cowan got...probably more than the other QBs combined...let's get ready to go to battle with PC!

I would say that the offense does look better scheme-wise. Cowan and Craft know when the short stuff will be available from their pre-snap reads. Cowan has learned how to check into a play to run away from whichever side the defense is favoring.
Olson looked really good at times, and really bad at times, and so I think we just need to ride with Cowan, which it appears RN is looking to do.

However, I didn't make practice Monday or Tuesday (grad school and jobs are getting in the way) and so if someone else saw a different amount of reps on those days, then maybe i'm reading too much into the fact that PC is getting as many reps as BO, Craft and CForce combined (with OR not getting any during 7s, 9s, or scrimmage action)

I’m 50-50 for Saturday's practice...can likely make it back for Tuesdays practice, but not Monday's.

GO BRUINS