This team deserved the win. It doesn’t change much in the big picture, but this was the first fun football Saturday all year. Some specific thoughts:
- This win was huge for TVD’s confidence and the confidence of his teammates. It’s telling that Mike Harley and Nesta Silvera made a beeline to him right when the game ended. He backed up his words.
- In terms of TVD’s game, there is progress every week. The biggest thing to me is that he’s getting more comfortable as an athlete. On 3rd and 4 on the last scoring drive, he easily picked up a bad snap and fired a bullet to Rambo in one smooth motion. Everything he does looks more confident and twitchy than earlier in the season. His baseball background allows him to get off throws from weird angles with defenders in his face, as we saw on the first two TDs. He also has the ability to change speeds depending on the throw. He looks like a kid who competed in multiple sports without a personal QB tutor. That untapped potential makes the upside exciting.
- TVD seems to have the mindset to maximize his physical traits. He competes and works hard. He told Don Bailey that he wanted to stop sliding on his runs. It’s scary right now because we have no backup, but TVD is realizing that he’s bigger and stronger than ACC defenders. Let’s hope he breaks the recent trend of Miami QB regressions, because he has next-level tools.
- This still does not look like a well-coached team. False starts to open drives, bad timeouts, selfish penalties, special teams miscues. The team looked lost in the four-minute drill and it almost cost them the game. All that said, they play hard and seem to care about each other.
- I compared him to Kurt Angle last week, but after seeing him live, there is no question that James Williams would be an elite professional wrestler. He is suplexing dudes and launching them into the air with shoulderblocks. When he gets knocked on blitz pickup, he sells it like Shawn Michaels. In between every play- and this means EVERY play- he is either lifting his arms in front of the crowd or trying to fight the other team. His energy is contagious and he is a freak talent. He reminds me of a bigger Derwin James.
- You can see the difference between Georgia-type physicality (JW and Tyrique) and the rest of the roster. We are still underwhelming in the back 7. Kam Kinchens is a bright spot. He gives us consistent tackling we haven’t had at safety since 2018. Avantae Williams played a bit on third down. We didn’t think we’d ever see him in a Canes uniform, so that was a nice moment. In retrospect, Ephraim Banda did a strong job recruiting and coaching safeties.
- Waynmon Steed played maybe his best game as a Hurricane. He was active and closed on some key tackles. He has dealt with a lot of adversity and shown character. Happy to see him rewarded with success.
- We seemed to play a more deliberate pace on offense. Wonder if this is just until TVD gets more experience or if it’s a lasting change.
- The program hasn’t been good in short-yardage since Damien Berry. When you watch winning teams on Saturday, they have the ability to dictate the game up front. Part of the solution might be relying on your 230-pound QB and RBs instead of 190-pound Rooster.
- Charleston Rambo has elevated the WR room. Harley was King’s main target in practice, but Rambo has taken over as the clear top guy. He is catching it more consistently and has a nice connection with TVD. Overall, the WR group is much improved from last year.
The writing is on the wall with the coaching situation. In the meantime, I hope the players enjoy some wins. Go Canes.
