Day After the Storm: FAMU Post Game

[NYCCaneadian]

The biggest thing I wanted to see was, how quickly we put them out of the game. Could we start focused, or would we sleepwalk through another one of these games? Safe to say, I got my answer pretty quickly.

There are definitely things you can’t take too seriously against an opponent like FAMU, but I liked the way we came out and handled business. The most interesting part of the night was getting to see some of these younger guys. And thankfully, minimal injuries.


My top observations:

• Great start. Three-and-out on the first defensive possession, then we came right back and blew them off the ball on offense. That’s exactly what I wanted to see. Against this level of competition, there shouldn’t be any drama about whether we’re going to put the game away.
• The defense looked much more swarming tonight. I liked the energy and pursuit a lot more than I did against Stanford. Guys were flying around and getting to the ball. The caveat is obviously that FAMU is a really weak opponent, so it’s hard to take too much away from this game. Still, I’d rather see the defense swarming than sleepwalking.
• Still too many missed tackles. I counted three in the first quarter alone. Again, we’re playing FAMU, so it didn’t really matter tonight, but that’s something that needs to get cleaned up. You can’t give good teams extra yards after contact and expect to get away with it.
• Mensahs deep ball is a thing of beauty.
  Mensah just looks like such a dynamic passer. He has a different element to his game than what we had with Carson Beck last year, particularly when it comes to pushing the ball downfield and making things happen outside the structure of the pocket. There was a throw to Josh Moore that was just…pretty.
• I really liked that Mensah didn’t really target Barkate. I suspect that was intentional. Those two already have so much chemistry. Mensah needs to build that same rapport with the rest of the receiver room, and tonight was a good opportunity to spread things around and get comfortable with some of the other guys.
• The WR room is ridiculous. Vance Spafford is a future starter. I really like what I’m seeing from him. And Wingo can absolutely contribute too. Between those guys, Josh Moore, Upshaw, Toney, Barkate and everyone else, there are going to be a lot of mouths to feed.
• Luke Nickel… we might have something here. That dime to Dre Jacobs was a serious head-turner. For a young backup, that’s the kind of throw that gives you confidence and makes you start wondering if we actually have a viable No. 2 QB. He’s a bit too much of a gunslinger lol, that amazing Spafford catch was not a smart throw. But he has some moxie.
• Coleman has some serious arm juice too. When he throws the ball, it absolutely explodes off his hand. There is a LOT of zip on that thing. He is small as **** though. Between Mensah, Nickel and Coleman, I feel pretty good about the QB room right now.
• JJ Dunnigan is this year’s hidden secret from the staff like Mali was last year. Two games into the season, it’s becoming pretty clear to me that the staff tried to keep this guy under wraps.
  He just plays so **** fast and so sound. He’s always around the football and doesn’t seem to waste many steps.
  I have a feeling we’re going to be talking about this dude a lot more as the season goes on.
• Young corners showed a few flashes. There was a nice PBU by Chris Ewald. A nice TFL from Waters. With the game getting into backup territory, these are the reps that matter. We’re going to need the young corners to step up.
• Mallory (Will’s cousin) really does remind me of Frank Gore and Tyrone Moss a little bit. I know that comparison has been made before, but it’s uncanny.
  There’s something about the way he runs that just looks similar. I don’t want to get crazy with the comparison because, well, Frank Gore is Frank Gore, but I understand why people keep bringing it up.
• Lofton just looks slow to me. And honestly, I’ve felt that way since his freshman year. He’s obviously a talented player and has made plenty of plays for us, but every time I watch him run, I find myself wishing he had another gear.
• I don’t love how far off Heatherman plays the corners. It feels like we’re giving up too much easy space underneath. Again, FAMU isn’t the game where I’m going to lose sleep over it, but against better quarterbacks, I want to see us challenge receivers more at the line and make them earn those completions.
• Apparently FAMU’s coach wasn’t thrilled that we weren’t kneeling at the end, which I find pretty funny considering Miami was basically playing the scout team at that point.
  If you’re going to schedule Miami, take the check and go home.
• Overall, I liked the way we handled this game. This is a game where Miami should be significantly more talented at basically every position, and we played like it. We came out focused, put them away early, got a bunch of young guys meaningful reps, and got out of there without major injury.
  
  The real season starts when we get into games where the talent gap isn’t this ridiculous. But I like what I’m seeing from the depth, I like what I’m seeing from Mensah, and I really like the number of young guys on 2nd, 3rd, 4th string who are starting to make you say, “Wait, we might have something with this dude.”