FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[New Tradition]

Alright, now that I’m back in town, I’ll give you guys some of my thoughts on the North Central/Olivet scrimmage.

QB – The top 2 quarterbacks, Fanthorpe and Kniss, rotated every other play, which was nice because we were able to see both qb’s with the first team in just about every situation.  All in all, I believe that Fanthrope had the edge.  His throws were a bit more accurate, and it seemed to me that he had better command and control of the offense.  I am sure that this is a product of the year that he has already spent in the system, learning the plays, etc.  Not to say that Kniss did poorly.  He made some nice throws as well, however, I believe that Fanthorpe just made more of them.

RB – This is where I believe the majority of the Cardinal offense will come from this year.  Both backs, Sulo and Izzy Brown, looked fantastic running the football.  There was a good amount of yardage gained straight up the middle, several 8 and 10 yard chunks.  There was even use of a pretty decent sized fullback named Champion (I'm sorry, but that has to be the coolest last name ever) in a few of the sets.

WR – From what I saw, the wide outs ran crisp routes, but I have to say that I did not pay attention to them because I was watching the quarterbacks.  I know that many balls were caught, but there were no stellar catches or runs after the catch.  They seemed to pretty much do their job, but nothing out of the ordinary.  I do know, however, that #1 receiver Perry Welch did not dress for the scrimmage.

OL – The offensive line looked very good overall.  There was a good surge when the ball was handed off, but what really impressed me was the time that they gave the quarterbacks to throw the football.  It seemed like no matter what blitzes Olivet threw at them, they had an answer for all of it and picked everything up.  I know the Offensive Line Coach, Ponx, always worked very hard on the o-line knowing their assignments for the different blitzes that teams throw at them from week to week.  Also, a sophomore named Delancy took the spot of Scott Plamer, the right tackle who chose not to come back, and did very well.  I also did not realize until yesterday, the Ryan Armstrong also did not come back.  He saw a significant amount of time on the o-line, but decided that he wanted to concentrate on track.

Offense overall – While it is obvious that the Cardinals will not have the high-octane air attack that Kam Kniss provided (at least until the quarterback(s) get a better grip on the offense) I believe that they can still score by a more balanced attack and involving the running game more than they had in the past 2 years.

DL – Only having 3 down linemen translates to a lot of depth for the Cards.  Look for them to rotate a lot and have a lot of fresh bodies.  The D-line played very tough and had several tackles for loss and sacks.

LB – The linebackers impressed me the most in this 3-3 scheme.  I know that they proclaim this to be an attacking defense, and that is exactly what they did.  For several series, Olivet was unable to pick up many blitzes while they were in pass protection and the LB’s were able to get a few sacks and put a ton of pressure on the qb.  The 2 outside linebackers, Kostellic and Hammers, are both seniors with a lot of experience, and in the middle, they have Wenger, a sophomore who saw a fair amount of action last year.  Hammers, to me, looked like he made more plays than anyone.  He was all over the field.  Wenger had a few monster hits, though.

DB – Kind of tough to go wrong when you have 5 of them.  I did see kind of a Jekyll and Hyde with the DB’s.  Several times they were in excellent position and defended well – thrown balls, and even made a few picks, but there were many other times when the Olivet receivers were able to find soft spots and catch the ball completely undefended.  Jordan Hoffman and Tyler Venier looked very good and had interceptions, but aside from that there was nothing out of the ordinary.

Defense overall – Going into this scrimmage I was very skeptical about the 3-3-5.  I’m still not completely sold on it, but I have a slightly better feeling about it than I did before.  It was very effective for the first few series, but eventually Olivet figured out what they were doing and was able to move the ball.  From the stands, it looks like they gamble a LOT with some of the blitz schemes that they run.  Talking to a few players after the scrimmage, one told me that it looks that way, but there are a lot of checks involved based upon the formation that the offense lines up in, and their tendencies out of certain formations, so its not as big of a gamble as it appears.  All that being said, Olivet did only put the ball in the endzone 1 time during the entire scrimmage with about a minute left to go.

Special teams – I will say that the special team that impressed me the most was Kickoff return.  Joe Mastrino had several excellent returns that put the Cards in great field position.  Joe Rubin, the other returner, did not dress for the scrimmage.  I have been coaching football at the high school level this season, and watching the kick returns almost looked like watching film in fast forward.  It is amazing how much faster things happen on the college level!

Team overall – I think that the Cards dominated the scrimmage, early on especially.  Once Olivet settled in and figured out the new defense, things evened out a bit.  As the scrimmage progressed, it became evident that Olivet had been in camp for 2 weeks as opposed to the Cards 5 days because the Cards seemed to lack conditioning, to me.  All in all, it was fun to watch and I am excited to see what happens in the CCIW this year!

[Mugsy]

I hope anyone on the board who attends the Wheaton/Wabash scrimmage will pay particular attention to how Ittersagen looks, how he looks coming out of his backpedal and planting, changing direction, etc. in addition to whether he's limping or favoring the injured leg after the play.  I'm very anxious to hear that report.

Any further word yet on the extent of the injury to McKinney?

McKinney's knee is a torn ACL.  Since he is a senior I hear he is going to rehab it and give it a go to see if he can play on it.  I know a few guys who have been able to play a good chunk of the season on a bad ACL.  We'll see...

It has been a relatively tough preseason for Wheaton - injury-wise... Hopefully they can heal up in time for the meat of the CCIW schedule.

[Mugsy]

I heard it was a dislocated hip as well.  Red Men running game will be fine. 

I thought so as well as that is where the player pointed to while laying on the field. First heard speculation about dislocated, then heard shattered hip as the player was still laying on the field waiting for emergency services. Later on one of the moms came back to the stands after she said she had talked with CJ's mom and reported to all around that it was a broken leg. The femur I would guess as it had to be high on the leg. Regardless if hip or leg it is a sad way to end a season before it gets started.

Couldn't help but notice and truly don't really care, but how does a benign scrimmage report merit a knock on karma? Don't need the karma conversation again, been there done that. If someone disagrees or is offended by something I reported let's talk about it. I really dislike the snipping. I'd prefer to discuss differing opinions not be left wondering what bothers a reader of one of my posts. Seems kind of gutless.

Don't look at me... I appreciate the input and highlights from around the league.  Keep them coming and don't sweat the karma.  Regulars on this board know about those who add value to this board.

[usee]

I hope anyone on the board who attends the Wheaton/Wabash scrimmage will pay particular attention to how Ittersagen looks, how he looks coming out of his backpedal and planting, changing direction, etc. in addition to whether he's limping or favoring the injured leg after the play.  I'm very anxious to hear that report.

Any further word yet on the extent of the injury to McKinney?

McKinney's knee is a torn ACL.  Since he is a senior I hear he is going to rehab it and give it a go to see if he can play on it.  I know a few guys who have been able to play a good chunk of the season on a bad ACL.  We'll see...

It has been a relatively tough preseason for Wheaton - injury-wise... Hopefully they can heal up in time for the meat of the CCIW schedule.

Agreed Mugsy. All of our projections on this season are contingent on injuries. I am quite certain carthage would have been a much better team last year without some of the key injuries they recieved to star players. If healthy, Wheaton has a chance to be a special team this year. So far in camp it doesn't look like a championshp team and if they have key people out to start the schedule it will be very tough to win the CCIW.

[DIIIinVA]

What is the scoop on McKinney's replacement at LB?  

Mugsy, any further word on Ittersagen's recovery and how he has looked in early practices?

What about Wheaton's other starting CB - did he really just not return to school?  What's the scoop on his replacement at that position?

[redman04]

I hope anyone on the board who attends the Wheaton/Wabash scrimmage will pay particular attention to how Ittersagen looks, how he looks coming out of his backpedal and planting, changing direction, etc. in addition to whether he's limping or favoring the injured leg after the play.  I'm very anxious to hear that report.

Any further word yet on the extent of the injury to McKinney?

McKinney's knee is a torn ACL.  Since he is a senior I hear he is going to rehab it and give it a go to see if he can play on it.  I know a few guys who have been able to play a good chunk of the season on a bad ACL.  We'll see...

It has been a relatively tough preseason for Wheaton - injury-wise... Hopefully they can heal up in time for the meat of the CCIW schedule.

Agreed Mugsy. All of our projections on this season are contingent on injuries. I am quite certain carthage would have been a much better team last year without some of the key injuries they recieved to star players. If healthy, Wheaton has a chance to be a special team this year. So far in camp it doesn't look like a championshp team and if they have key people out to start the schedule it will be very tough to win the CCIW.

Haven't posted in a while, wife and I had a baby girl a month ago.   I am looking forward to another great season.   

I think you said best, injuries are key.  Carthage was a good example of that last year.  I think that they would have been much better if they could have stayed healthy.  Maybe this is just Wheaton's turn?  It seams that they have been pretty lucky as far as injuries have gone in the past couple of years.  They have had some, but this seams like this is the first time the have really had been bitten by the injury bug!
Glad it happened to someone else.

Reidy Sorry I haven't got back to you.  I'll give you a call this week.

[redman04]

Couldn't help but notice and truly don't really care, but how does a benign scrimmage report merit a knock on karma? Don't need the karma conversation again, been there done that. If someone disagrees or is offended by something I reported let's talk about it. I really dislike the snipping. I'd prefer to discuss differing opinions not be left wondering what bothers a reader of one of my posts. Seems kind of gutless.

Don't sweat the small stuff.

[ncc58]

Yeah, I'm sure that Olivet wasn't very happy when NCC came out in a 3-3-5. You're not likely to spend any practice time for a scrimmage on a teams offense and defense - especially when they give you something you likely won't see again all season. You like a scrimmage opponent that is predictable.

I don't think what you saw was neccesarily a lack of conditioning on part of NCC. The general theory is that in the first week of camp, you do  a lot of contact drills, agility drills, and running - and you tend to break down your bodies. You've identified your players and the focus changes in week 2. Then, players' bodies begin to recover a bit and show better quickness and speed by the end of week 2. NCC is still in training camp mode since they don't open until the 8th. Olivet is thinking about game preparation for next weekend.

Team overall – I think that the Cards dominated the scrimmage, early on especially.  Once Olivet settled in and figured out the new defense, things evened out a bit.  As the scrimmage progressed, it became evident that Olivet had been in camp for 2 weeks as opposed to the Cards 5 days because the Cards seemed to lack conditioning, to me.  All in all, it was fun to watch and I am excited to see what happens in the CCIW this year!

[matblake]

Haven't posted in a while, wife and I had a baby girl a month ago.   

Congratulations. 

[Comet 14]

I made it to Elmhurst for the scrimmage. Luckily I was planning to make the practice at noon because they changed the schedule to scrimmage first and practice later due to the lack of power. I thought elmhurst looked pretty good there lines played pretty well on both sides of the ball, Qb looked good as did the recievers. Running was o.k bot not great. On Defense again line looked good. Linebackers and Safeties looked real good and corners looked so-so. A couple of blown coverages has me a little concerned but I think this gives the coaches some good film to look at and a week to tweak anything. I think the chance to study the film is of greater importance than the actuall outcome of the scrimmage

[Carthage Fan]

Congrats Redman!  As my wife reminds me...she "had" the baby, I "observed" the delivery process.    

[Comet 14]

Congrat's Redman! Many gray hairs to come.

[New Tradition]

I don't think what you saw was neccesarily a lack of conditioning on part of NCC. The general theory is that in the first week of camp, you do  a lot of contact drills, agility drills, and running - and you tend to break down your bodies. You've identified your players and the focus changes in week 2. Then, players' bodies begin to recover a bit and show better quickness and speed by the end of week 2. NCC is still in training camp mode since they don't open until the 8th. Olivet is thinking about game preparation for next weekend.

This is very true.  I forgot about how I felt about 5 days into camp.  Its tough to play a scrimmage like that with dead legs! 

[Mugsy]

Congrats to redman04.  That is awesome!

[Mugsy]

FYI:  Rules and games for first week of 2007 CCIW Pick-Em's contest have been posted over on the CCIW Pick-Em's board.

Let me know if you have any questions.  Picks must be submitted by noon on Saturday.