Tomorrow morning is fall scrimmage No. 2 for Idaho under coach Paul Petrino, and all eyes will be under-center. The quarterback receiving the snap and the offensive line protecting said quarterback will be the points of intrigue this scrimmage, following last Saturday’s scrimmage which saw an offensive line struggle at points and Chad Chalich have the better of quarterback performances.
So it’s back to basics for the offensive line, who are hoping to improve on a performance which saw the group give up a staggering 20 tackles for loss during last Saturday’s scrimmage.
“(We’ve) just been getting back to basics, fundamentals, staying low with our pads, things that we were taught on the first day are things we were having problems with the first scrimmage,” offensive guard Nick Van Rotz said.
Part of the struggles may have been Idaho being without two starters shortly into the scrimmage. Strong tackle Jesse Davis has been sitting out with a concussion, while strong guard Dallas Sandberg was injured shortly into the first scrimmage. Larry Dugan has filled in at guard with Calvin White filling in at tackle during this week’s practice, building depth that Idaho lacked months ago in the spring.
“Calvin (White) is a super smart kid, Larry (Dugan) is very smart as well. Which allows me flexibility in putting them in different positions, multiple positions,” offensive line coach Jon Carvin said. “One time they may be on the right side, one play they may be on the left side. So they need to know a lot of calls, they need to know a lot of techniques and having those two in my back pocket has been fantastic for me, they’ve done a terrific job.”
As the scrimmage went on last Saturday the line started to play better, but tomorrow Idaho will be looking for that consistency from start to finish, Petrino said.
“They just got to keep improving, there was parts of it that weren’t good, but if you score ten touchdowns they had to do something right. They really improved on a couple things yesterday and today that was good to see on some different runs that we put in and they got better on some protections so I just want to see them come out and play better,” Petrino said.
With the two-a-days week over with Petrino said he wants to see better execution in the second scrimmage.
“We got a lot of practice, a couple two a days in, some good walk throughs, just a lot of work. We better have better execution tomorrow, both sides of the ball should understand what they’re doing a lot better, have some good competition, some good hitting, definitely see things we’ve improved on. You see little things here or there technique wise that each position is getting better at, you just want to go see that when it’s live bullets tomorrow,” he said.
All eyes on the quarterbacks…but not our ears
Idaho could be making a starting quarterback after the second scrimmage, Petrino said. Or it could have already been made…or it could go all the way up to Aug. 31 before a decision is made. Either way, that decision won’t be made public, Petrino said on Friday.
“Everyday has a huge role (for the quarterbacks), but there’s no saying that the timeline isn’t already been done,” Petrino said. “What good does it do me to have North Texas know who our starter is? Our players probably know it, I probably know it.”
It won’t stop further competition from continuing even if a decision has already been made, he said.
“We’re just going to keep working hard, keep battling, keep improving and everyday is a big day. No matter what even after the first game you’re still going to be battling for who’s going to be playing and who’s starting.”
Getting familiar with the new offensive line tactics
As we touched on during an earlier post Idaho is going away from the traditional concept of a straight left to right offensive line, instead emphasizing the strong side and weak side to manipulate the best match-ups possible.
In short, the “strong” tackle will usually line up on the side of the tight end. Sometimes the guards will follow them around the line as well, meaning during certain plays you could see Cody Elenz and Dallas Sandberg on the right side of the line, with Van Rotz and Jesse Davis on the left.
“What it does is give us more options. We can make sure that our best players are blocking their best players. Instead of having a guy on the left side all the time, and maybe their right defensive end is a stud, well we can always position our best guys against their best guys,” Carvin said. “And on the other hand we can put our best guys against their worst guys, so that helps us in both of those aspects.”
It hasn’t been as complicated as it sounds for the players on the line.
“You get used to the tackle that you’re playing with so you get used to that guy, you do sometimes have to switch tackles (you’re with), we work so much during practice that it’s pretty easy,” Van Rotz said.
Situational dependency is the key there, meaning Idaho could be difficult to game plan for upfront early in the season.
Here’s a few more quotes from Carvin from this morning’s practice:
On this week of practice: “We’ve worked a lot on fundamentals really, back to basics, technique, working through plays, finishing down the field, and then foot work, hand placement, getting our pads underneath the defenders, communication, everything that makes an O-Line great we focus on everyday.”
On if those things are what hurt them during the last scrimmage: “I don’t know if anything hurt us, but there’s always things you’re trying to get better at. Even on a great play, on a great play you should find something. Coach Petrino is big on coaching every play, so that’s all we work on every time. Even if it looks great, maybe just one step that could’ve been a little bit cleaner, that’s something that’s going to give us success the next time.”
On the depth that’s been built compared to the spring: “It’s definitely an improvement. We were a little low there back in the spring but those guys battled through it then, now with a couple of injuries here we’ve actually been able to grow off of that, that we battled so hard in the spring. A couple of small injuries, not big injuries, a couple days out here. The depth, they understand the workload and the work capacity.”
That’s all for Friday. Remember to follow us on Twitter @VandalNation for scrimmage updates tomorrow morning.