Great start to the season last night.
Loved the night game. The atmosphere and the new UNIs are sweet.
Just a few thoughts about the game…
Our perimeter speed is vastly improved. We closed on the ball all night quickly.
It takes a lot of effort to keep up with who's on the field in the defensive backfield, and we heavily rotated the entire game. Boy, what a difference Chizik makes. Cally makes plays, same for Yates, a heck of a climb up the ladder interception.
I thought coming into the NGU game. Our strength was the defensive backfield - now I'm starting to think our D-LINE might be a difference maker this season. We have guys with size and motors. I really liked the line of Stephens, Stainfield, and Maier. They were exploding off the ball. Also, good to see Jack Barton in there making plays.
This has been overlooked… Bryce McCormick got the start over Gilby. Furman again rotated linebackers all night, so I'm not reading too much into this other than McCormick looked solid in his first start.
Offensively, as good as we looked, I don't think we opened up the playbook. The DINS put the cork in the bottle early in the second quarter and went primarily to the running game. All of our backs played physically and displayed a lot of quickness. Roberto is primed for a very good year. I've been telling you all not to sleep on Myion Hicks!
Justin Roper. Already gets one big star for moving Wayne Anderson to the slot. The Dude is going to be a weapon. Can't wait to see how JR is going to use KT.
The play that made me go wow! The catch and run by freshman Ben Ferguson. Unfortunately, there was a penalty on the play-still-Ferguson showed some nifty moves in traffic.