Sunday, August 21, 2011

Thunderwolves Scrimmage

I have never been a fan of using intra-squad scrimmages as a measuring stick as to where your team stands for any organized team sport other than baseball. The reason being is you have been practicing against that same team over and over and over again and pretty much have a handle on what their stuff is. It is the main reason professional sports teams conduct a preseason schedule in order to measure progress against an opponent who is not real familiar with what you do. Hell even on the local level here in Pueblo the high school football programs conduct at least one and most times two scrimmages against an outside opponent. College football doesn't have that luxury. There is no preseason. There are no exhibitions. You are expected to be at your best right from the get go if you expect to in some cases make the post season let alone win your conference. You get no mulligans. And of course when you conduct scrimmages against yourself inevitably not everybody comes out of the circus happy.
Last Saturday at The Neta and Eddie DeRose Thunderbowl Colorado State University-Pueblo held their first of two such scrimmages before their season opener Thursday September 1st at West Texas A&M. And as usual nobody came out of the deal happy. See it goes something like this.......Man the offense looked good on that opening drive but it was the "number 2's" going against the number one defense. What the hell is wrong with our defense. Later on it might be why cant our number one offense put up more points against the number two defense. When the number threes take the field and battle each other pretty much nothing looks pretty. But then again that's why they are number threes! And so it goes pretty much for a couple of hours.
Now that you have the backdrop for a typical intrasquad football scrimmage here are what I felt were the big highlights of Saturday's work with some added emphasis on the local Pueblo kids angle............Early on the first big hit of the day was andministered by safety Jon Bailey as he crunched redshirt freshman tight end Trent Thompson. But the former Central Wildcat product held on to the pass and moved the sticks picking up 11yards...............Number two offense moved downfield efficiently but not a whole lot on the glamourous side eventually settling for a 32 yd field goal attempt that sailed wide left from the foot of sure to be redshirted freshman K Greg O'Donnell.........One thing that was apparent from the first drive and then on several other occasions during the scrimmage is Johnathon "JB" Mathews is the real deal. The Aurora Rangeview High freshman is perhaps a slight tick slower than all-american candidate Jessie Lewis but he does have that little "shake" that you either have or dont at the running back position.........one of the big highlights on and otherwise mediocre day for the defense was the play of Pueblo East freshman DE Darius Allen. The former Eagle put alot of pressure on the QB all day long and recorded two sacks against first string QB Ross Dausin...........Speaking of Dausin he made it crystal clear there is no battle for number one at the most important position on the field. Last spring and then again early on this summer camp there were rumblings that there was gonna be a battle for number one with transfer Jon Kuzava from Chadron State and former prep star at Heritage High in Denver. But the 6-5 junior native of San Antonio, TX made it know with his size,skills and moxy that this was pretty much an open and shut case. Plus his play in the scrimmage left no doubt as well. On the number one's first drive that resulted in a touchdown Dausin hitting Jonathan Owens for 13 yards and a first and goal. Dausin finished off the drive by hitting reshirt freshman Deontrae Cooper on a 3yd fade pattern for the touchdown.........Still for sure the most exciting player on the field if not all of division two football is running back Jessie Lewis. I have dubbed him early on as "a touchdown just waiting to happen." The senior pre-season all american didnt disappoint ripping off runs of 18 and 11 yards on his first two carries of the day. Later on he delivered again on a well designed screen pass that produced a 25yd gain but did result in a fumble proving the senior speedster is human..........Dausin led the number one "O" to another score highlighted by a gorgeous 37yd pitch and catch to Pueblo South senior Da'Quan Cartwright. Dausin then hit jr Jared Sperber for 16 yards on 3rd and 13 to give the number one O a first and goal at the seven. The defense then rose up and produced a stand resulting in 20 yd field goal by preseason all american Kyle Major..........And to top things off it just wouldnt be right if Pueblo East sophomore Josh "Beetle" Sandoval didnt produce a spectacular catch. The former Eagle did just that tipping a fastball delivered high and outside twice to himself before hauling it in amongst heavy traffic. Sandoval looks noticably stronger this year after working out hard all spring and summer........On defense senior all-American Lee Meisner looked uncomfortable to say the least just getting stretched out before the game. The defensive team leader has battled a tender back at times all summer. But after a couple of shaky series early on he came to life. It seemed as if he gained confidence in his health and that translated into making play after play in the middle......outside Linebacker Beldy Nseka was his usual disruptive self on a number of plays.........One cause for concern is the relative inexperience at cornerback for the Thunderwolves. Sophomore Stephan Dickens sat out the scrimmage with what was described as a groin strain. You would never know it was bothering him judged by his dance moves as the team came out to warm up. In his place CSU-P started Mark Sterling on the right side. On the left side perhaps the best looking Thunderwolve in a uniform Florida redshirt freshman C.J. Roberts established his presence.
There you have it. A quick synopsis of what this broadcaster took in. All in all I thought it was a good day for the offense. The playmakers made plays. The new look O-line played well after losing starting guard Drew Swartz to a season ending knee injury Thursday. The defense must get better should they want to stay in the first game or the RMAC let alone win it. The kicking game is solid strength of the team with Major and punter Brandon Kliesen. The return game has a home run hitter in Jamall Johnson. But like most home run hitters they strike out from time to time. In Johnson's case he has showed a penchant for leaving the ball on the carpet which is sure to give coach John Wristen and the fans cause for unease if he doesnt find a way to hold onto the pigskin. But as I said right from the top. This was an intrasquad scrimmage. None of us will really know what the Thunderwolves have 'til they turn on the lights in west Texas September 1st.

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