Pitch and catch

One happy take from yesterday’s scrimmage, as Marc Weiszer explains, is the improved health of the receiving corps.

• “Wide receiver Arian Smith returned after sustaining a sprained wrist a week ago and hauled in a touchdown pass from fellow redshirt freshman Carson Beck, a source said. Beck, who is competing with Stetson Bennett and Brock Vandagriff for the backup job, also was said to get some first teams reps.”
• … Smart said sophomore Jermaine Burton, who is sidelined with a hyperextended knee, did individual drills Saturday.

  “He’s back running around, doing some things,” Smart said. “He didn’t scrimmage but he’s doing a lot more and getting more flexibility.”

On top of that, some of the newbies appear to be taking advantage of their increased opportunities.

Redshirt freshman Justin Robinson and true freshman Adonai Mitchell are among wideouts who Smart singled out for making plays, Smart said.

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Kirby’s got ‘yer road map for next Saturday:

On what he wants to see from the offense on G-Day…
“Decision making. Throw and catch the ball on the plays the defense gives you. Be explosive. We want to be explosive, we want to be a vertical passing team. We’re not into making excuses for what receivers are in and what receivers aren’t. We’ve got really good receivers in and I think they compete well. That will be the expectation every day we go on that field is to attack people vertically and throw the ball and catch the ball.

Is that a verbose way of saying, “boys, we’ve got ourselves a G-Day QBR battle”?

Siri, what does “in flux” mean?

Soooooo… what are we to make of the offensive line with a week to go in spring practice?  Here’s what Smart had to say in general after yesterday’s scrimmage:

On the flexibility and depth of the offensive line…
“Hard to measure as a whole in the spring. I would reserve judgment on the day until I see it. There was some pressure inside and I don’t know if there were guys getting beat or guys making mistakes. I don’t know which one it was. There were a couple of times where it was a tough call on if it was a sack. We’re obviously not live and we’re trying to judge that in-game speed. The depth I hope is there. Traditionally we’ve had really good depth on the offensive lines. I can’t say that it’s any better or worse. We got who we got and I think we got one more young man coming in terms of offensive line in the fall. The beauty is that we got guys out there that are getting better and competing each day. We’ll see where we are. We certainly have not arrived or where we need to be”

And here’s a specific about the critical left tackle position:

“Left tackle—Truss has played there the most and has worked there the most. He’s continuing to work. He’s gotten better. With him so much of it is communication, demeanor, body language, fight and he’s improved in all of those areas. Very pleased with where he’s headed and what he’s doing. The competition is there. We’ve got guys competing. Jamaree’s taking reps there. So have Broderick (Jones) and (Amarius) Mims. Those guys will battle. Broderick and Mims are both working right and left. But that’s a spot again that’s always going to be open. Truss is getting most of the reps there until we figure out who the best five are.”

Yeesh.  I’m sure some of that is nothing but coachspeak, but some of that appears to be a genuine befuddlement about where the starting five is coming from.  I hope “We got who we got” is an affirmation of weeding through boat loads of recruiting talent as opposed to a more mundane “deal with it, folks”.

Needless to say, this should make for an interesting G-Day topic.