Flea'd from another forum...

[The Prowler]

former spuat OL William Barger (redfish on TI) shares his views on spuat's 2nd spring scrimmage yesterday....essentially we suck (talent) but CNS and staff are so good, it probably won't matter...we'll be good anyway...

#Scrimmage observations .... redfish 2008-04-06 08:54:16
Went to the scrimmage yesterday with John Clay who was not only my rommamte for 4 years at UA, but he also played Inside linebacker for two years before switching over to OG.

We both thought the the scrimmage was very bad. There was zero intensity and physical hitting going on. A lot of JPW's passes that were completed were due to the fact the the QB's could not be hit or sacked. Here is a rundown by position.

QB's - The Darrah kid has an outstanding arm. the best on the team by far and I did see some things out of him that showed alot of promise. JPW will be the starter, but he looks to still be struggling with alot of the same things he did last year. Screen passes and short passes to the RB's being the main problems with him.

Fannuzzi and GM are not a threat at this point to push JPW at all.

RB's - Upchurch showed some flashes yesterday of being the complete RB you need to win in the SEC, but CNS has already said why he does not get to play very much, so i will leave it at that. Grant looked like Grant a few times in space, but just like last year, we are going into the season w/o a bigtime SEC RB. This is one area that we need help from the recruits.

WR - McCoy is a player and Hanks will help us this year. Saw some good potential out of Jackson, but again, you can see 2-3 of the freshman playing here real quick. Very few play makers or deep threats.

TE's - this is one area that we are starting to develop some SEC type players at. Walker has improved as a receiver and Underwood has talent to spare. Saw some flashes from Dial and Peek. If they put the Williams kid at TE, we will be loaded.

OL - RT is a huge problem. The media can make up all the nice things about the two kids playing there right now all they want to, but I think we will see a freshman there or Caldwell/Johnson come Clemson. The rest of the starters look very good to me. Seeing Andre up close yesterday, he is about 345 lbs (not 370 as rumored on the net and other places) and not near as sloppy looking as the TI photo made him out to be. What a talent he is. Valchos and Ross looked good at OG's at 2nd team.

DL - I think Dareus and Lewis have a chance to play right away. We will be ok vs the run, but have zero pass rush guys right now. Chapman, Deadrick and Washington are pretty good, but we need one more legit DE and Greenwood is still not it.

On defense overall, Rolando, Jackson and Rashadd are all SEC type players, but after that you can see the drop off. John Clay laughed when I asked him if JJ's could play LB in the SEC. Fanney needs a lot of work too. Chavis Williams has lots of potential, just needs to get bigger. Rolando is the only SEC LB I saw on the field yesterday.

DB's - We really have a few good players at DB. Johnson and Jackson are NFL type players. Arenas and M.Johnson caught my eye as well. We will be very good at DB when Barron and Lawrence are added to the mix.

I got to meet new OC Jim Mc. yesterday. He is a high energy guy. He was very subdued about our talent level. to say he was shocked at what he found in Ttown would be an understatement. I told him that I thought one of the young wr's would be pretty good and he said "that guy will be a 4th wr type player" meaning he will never be higher that the 4th wr in the rotation. If we can have that kind of talent where this kid is the 4th wr, we will be ok in a few years. Jim Mc. will be a great recruiter and is a "in ya face" type coach.

We need football players in a bad way at a lot of positions, but CNS will get them. This staff is full of good teachers and better yet outstanding recruiters. I can't say enough good things about CNS and the job he and his staff are doing.

One thing I do want to leave you guys with is that Jim Mc said that the staff and CNS is so good at getting the most out of players, that last year we should have/could have won 9-10 ball games even though we were not a 9-10 win team based on talent. He said if the players had done things CNS's way and made some better decisions, we would have had a very successful season.

I really am happy about this group of coaches. UA is lucky to have them.

Our Special teams look like they could be one of the best in the SEC this year.


#I dont think some people understand how far our program had fallen .... plutonium 2008-04-06 09:29:22
One more year with CMS and you could have nailed the coffin shut IMO.

#Been anxious to hear your report...?? on 2 players .... how did E. Alexander and Jimmy Lee Farnsworth 2008-04-06 09:10:14
Alfred McCullough look to you yesterday? Alexander is a big guy that had a 4.45 40 time at a high school combine. McCullough is from my high school and I'm pulling for him. It's probably hard to tell since he is going up against Conference USA talent at RT...

*AM has gotten himself in great shape. He is playing NT and DE .... redfish 2008-04-06 09:14:48
Will be intersted to see where he ends up after spring.

I do not see EA being anywhere near 4.4 speed. He looks like he is about 4.6 to me, and with his size that is plenty fast.

I would be looking over my shoulder if I was him. there is some serious WR's coming this summer.

#How good do you think our defense will be? I believe some freshman will play .... bamamgr 2008-04-06 09:08:08

*CNS and Kirby Smart proved to me last year that they can be ceompetitive with .... redfish 2008-04-06  09:20:33
average talent. We are in better shape this year and have another year in their system. We will be fine on D.

I think Dareus, Lewis, Harris, Hightower, Lawrence and Barron will all factor in on D.

#Thanks redfish. Nice read this morning while drinking my coffee. Do you .... clifford 2008-04-06 09:03:53
think Tyler Love will have chance to start? For some reason posters here seem to think because he signed with Bama that he will have to wait, but that a true freshman can start at uga. or auburn. I think he as good, probably better than what we have on campus now.

*I think if he is ready, he will. I saw Boswell at the scrimmage and he is very .... redfish 2008-04-06 09:06:34
well put together.

Boswell, Love and Jones were told by CNS to all come in ready to play RT.

#Redfish, in your opinion will Jerrell Harris come in as ready to play .... ONE 2008-04-06 09:12:31

#JH has been told to come in ready to start from day 1. He is not nearly as big .... redfish 2008-04-06 09:16:46
as RM, but you do not have to watch practice long to see his talent is needed right away.

[El Guapo]

You should change your name to The Lurker! 


Also, he is an artard and should know better than to assume how things will go this time of year. A whole lot can change. I base more on the upcoming season when fall practice hits, as I'm sure others do. You have to assume that every year, one or two freshmen, at least, will come in and help. To just say "we suck at 'X'" is dumb as shit.

[The Prowler]

redfish 2008-04-06  09:20:33
CNS and Kirby Smart proved to me last year that they can be competitive with
average talent. We are in better shape this year and have another year in their system. We will be fine on D.

Really?  Better shape on D this year than last year?........LMFAO.  Yeah, OKAY.  uat has ONE LB returning (Prince Hall might come back if the Freshmen can't produce, just watch).  And, the DL is REALLY Thin from what I've heard and seen.  DBs are the ONLY group on Defense that has more than two players returning with any kind of Real experience. 
And by the way, Mullet, I got this off of the Bunker in the Auburn Tigers Rival's Forum....again, you're the one to talk....This is an Auburn Site, you know, the KING of Alabama...