Saturday's Scrimmage - Teq's Thoughts

I'm going to keep it as brief as I can as I know that there are other reporting out there so no need to duplicate their efforts.

The defense could turn out to be better than I think most are expecting. Last year, Washington was 32nd in SRS Defense (which seems high to me upon reflection). I could see this unit being a Top 20 unit quite easily …

Davis and Prysock are going to be issues for the balance of opponent WRs that we play. Last season UW gave up 167 yards per game through the air (2nd nationally). A repeat performance is definitely possible. I think it's fair to question the quality of the S play but from what I saw it looked like it should be ok. There's some talented freshman in the secondary with Robinson and Dillard-Allen. Robinson likely gets some backup and depth snaps this year because of Davis/Prysock but he looks the part. Dillard-Allen still likely needs to bulk up a bit more to be a full-time starter but you can tell that he's a playmaker and it wouldn't shock me to see him flash significantly the 2nd half of the schedule. What I saw was a group that was around the ball and should be positioned to help drive a shift in the turnover margin.

I wasn't paying a ton of attention to the LBs from a run game perspective given the nature of the practice but what I saw in the passing game was a group with a lot of ability to drop into coverage and in particular to cover routes behind the LB lines and in front of the S. The big talk track to me here is that there's some LBs coming back from ACLs that hopefully will be able to add depth and quality over the back half the schedule. I do question how much depth we have overall at LB but I don't think it's in any way in a more dire position versus last year.

The DL was what I was largely most interested in and it didn't disappoint. What I saw was a unit that was deep and able to get into the backfield fairly consistently. When you combine this with the secondary offering the opportunity to have some very aggressive play calling there's some upside here. Durfee looks like he can be a difference maker on the EDGE but health will obviously be a huge concern … overall the EDGE is probably the bigger question mark. That said the overall depth on the DL is a MASSIVE uptick versus last season and one that we should all be excited about.

I didn't view the OL per se as a struggling unit despite some obvious wins by the DL. The OL created some decent creases in the run game and some opportunities for the QBs to take some downfield shots. It's not surprising to see the OL (particularly a younger one) have more success in run blocking vs pass blocking. The strength of this offense will start with establishing a run game and playing off that.

Speaking of the run game, Coleman looks like a bowling ball of muscle … wouldn't want to tackle that dude. That said, Adam Mohammad looks very physical as the RB2 and is someone that I could absolutely see taking a giant step forward this year. I'll be interested in seeing if another RB really takes a step forward this year in terms of earning snaps … from what I saw nothing flashed at me to suggest that securing Bonner as a massive recruiting win wasn't necessary.

What I saw with Demond was someone that is very actively working to throw from the pocket. In a setting like this you're not really going to get the full "experience" of Demond as a QB getting outside of the pocket or running. The flashes are there and it's not hard to see him rising towards the top of the conference QB ranking sooner than later. Practicing against the CBs that he is is also only going to make him better. That said, it's still important to remember that he's still a young QB and there will be young QB moments.

The WRs were the WRs and in particular the young guys are only going to get better going against the DBs. One thing that I do want to call out was the usage of Kade Eldrige as a HB/TE … at USC he was largely used as a blocker but I saw him getting used in a few different ways and showed some very solid athleticism to be a potentially valuable bit piece in the offense. Don't be surprised when he shows up in an impactful way.

Lastly, until they prove otherwise, special teams needs to get better. It's really hard to tell in a setting like that so it will have to be on the field. But yeah … it's still a concern.