No extended preamble today, so we'll just get right into the goods.
TWO-DEEP DEPTH CHART
QB - Paul Jones, Marcus Prather
RB - Kenny Davis, Forrest Barnes
H-Back - Justin Kempka, Nick Sponyoe
WR - Duane Mitchell, Chaq Nettles
WR - Sean Gavin, Luke Centofanti
WR - Jordan Blackmon, Warren Fields
LT - Riley Feenan, Chris O'Connor
LG - Blake Chambliss, Dylan Knight
C - Nick Faraci, Dylan Knight
RG - Josh Thiel, Carlton Watson
RT - Jon Hill, Chris O'Connor
DE - Austin Trgovich, Zack Zamiska
DT - Zack Zamisa, Max Onyenwe
DE - Ryan Lewis, Austin Trgovcich
OLB - Nic Lamica, Zach Cooper
MLB - Jake Tkach, T.J. Waters
MLB - Jimmy Masson, Nelson Lucas-Murphy
OLB - Luke Mueller, Zach Cooper
CB - Antwan Eddie, Jones Twenefor
S - Logan Kelleher, Codi Casper
S - Andy Smigiera, Sam Woods
CB - David Taylor, Keith O'Kelly
DEPTH CHART NOTES
OL Jonah Tyus, OL Anthony Lucian, OL Max Robertson, OL Drew Garbenis, DL Henry Jartu, DL Steve Fiadewornu, DL Forrest Mason, RB Caleb Stennis and LB Mike Stojkovic did not take part in practice.The rotations in the backfield and at receiver were shaken up a little bit. Once he arrived from class, Duane Mitchell went almost exclusively with Sean Gavin and Jordan Blackmon, which has become common at receiver. And Kenny Davis and Justin Kempka worked frequently at the beginning of drills as well. But beyond that, the rotation behind that quintet were pretty different, especially amongst the backs. Nick Sponyoe, Travis Gregg and Erich Maine appeared to get a few more snaps than the last couple of practices. But the rotations have been pretty frequent and heavy throughout the first six practices, so it's not a total surprise, and it will probably change several more times before the end of spring ball.There were just 19 defensive players dressed today, including just four defensive linemen. Anyone complaining about reps (not that there is anyone) on the defensive side of the ball isn't living in reality. It'll be interesting if Robert Morris backs off some of the 11-on-11 stuff or anything else to make sure it doesn't wear the defense too thin and risk injury.
QB TRACKER
Practice stats are by far not the only thing that goes into seeing how players do, but ColonialsCorner likes to keep track of the quarterbacks every so often to see how sharp they are to an outside observer. Obviously the coaching staff has its own evaluations, but we aren't usually privy to those.
So we kept a close eye on the five quarterbacks during a 7-on-7 passing drill and two 11-on-11 sessions. One of those 11-on-11 sessions was full contact. Both 11-on-11 sessions featured running plays, too. So, some notes on each QB. Paul Jones (20 plays, 6-of-9 passing, 1 definite TD) - Jones has led off every drill, which was expected even though he and Prather split snaps in the season finale. In 7-on-7 drills, Jones really only missed on one pass, which went low to his receiver. His other incompletion in that drill was simply excellent coverage that he probably wouldn't have thrown. He also had to 'run' once because of coverage. Jones hit Duane Mitchell in stride on a nice post pattern for his passing touchdown. Marcus Prather (15 plays, 5-of-7 passing, 2 definite TDs) - Prather was a lot like Jones in the fact that he was pretty solid in 7-on-7 drills. He had to 'run' once and then didn't throw a second time because of coverage. His only incompletion in 7-on-7s was a missed connection deep with Jordan Blackmon. Blackmon, to his credit, got his fingertips on it but it was just out of reach. Prather fired a nice pass to Mitchell in a tight window a couple plays later, and he found Chaq Nettles for one of his TDs in the drills. He later hit Sean Gavin for a TD near the goalline in 11-on-11s. Derik Abbott (8 plays, 4-of-6 passing) - Abbott is showing no ill effects from his shoulder surgery. His only misfire in 7-on-7 drills was intended for Warren Fields, and he showed nice touch on the ball on a swing pass to Corey Garry in 11-on-11s. It's a non-passing note, but there's one other thing we've noticed with Abbott. Out of all the QBs, he seems most comfortable with some of the idiosyncrasies of the running game portion of the offense. With all the "window dressing" (as Darrin Hicks called it in December), the QB needs to sell elements of the running game well. All of the QBs seem to be handling it okay, but Abbott said he's run similar offenses before and that might help.Luke Brumbaugh (6 plays, 3-of-5 passing) - Brumbaugh was the only QB to go perfect in 7-on-7 drills, connecting on all three of his attempts. He almost made it four straight completions when he moved to 11-on-11 drills, but he was victimized by a drop. His last passing attempt nearly ended up in a Sam Woods interception when the redshirt freshman safety jumped a route and tried to make a diving pick.Joe Carroll (5 plays, 2-of-4 passing) - After a quick completion to Phil Peckich, Carroll tried to go deep on his next pass in 7-on-7 drills, only to have Andy Smigiera close the gap and knock the pass away. Odds are a number of opposing QBs may get to know that feeling this season. Carroll only got two snaps in 11-on-11 drills, one of them a checkdown to Forrest Barnes.
We'll keep an eye on things moving forward. It's not quite like training camp when there are usually two offensive huddles working at the same time, and that's meant fewer snaps for the younger QBs. That makes it tougher to get a full gauge on them.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
Some additional items of note....In that same 3-period stretch documented above, the quarterbacks completed passes to nine different receivers. The most popular? Duane Mitchell, Sean Gavin and Forrest Barnes, each with three receptions.That's of note only because you get a small glimpse into who the QBs look to on the field. It also gives you an idea of who tends to get open enough to flash into their field of vision. None of those three should be a surprise. Mitchell and Gavin are the team's two most experienced receivers, while Barnes played high school football in a somewhat similar offense that required him to get open out of the backfield. We'll have more on Barnes after another practice or two. We plan on catching up with him, but also highlighting how he and a few of the newcomers are doing in their first true work at Robert Morris. That will come after RMU hits the halfway point in spring ball early next week.The ball gets spread around a lot, but we're impressed with Kenny Davis this spring. His smaller stature didn't make him the best fit in Joe Walton's offense, and he also had some injury issues. But he seems to be doing very well in spring while he takes the snaps with the first team. He ripped off a couple of 10+ yard runs on Thursday.If you're wondering about updates on defense, it's been pretty quiet on that side with so few players. There aren't as many interceptions and there aren't nearly as many storylines. Most of the defensive storylines - especially what's going to happen in the secondary with so much turnover - will pick up in August. That said, three players had standout plays on Thursday. Sophomore linebacker Zach Cooper ripped past the blocking to 'sack' Paul Jones, who was left high and dry. A few plays prior to that, walk-on corner Jones Twenefor read a run perfectly and took Barnes down in the backfield with a nice open-field tackle. Finally, defensive tackle Max Onyenwe burst through the middle of the line and wrapped up Erich Maine in the backfield for a loss.
That's all for now. The next practice update will come after Monday's session. Until then, we'll be rolling out a few features the next few days, including ones featuring new defensive line coach Cornelius Coleman, new arrival LB Nelson Lucas-Murphy, and H-Back Justin Kempka
TWO-DEEP DEPTH CHART
QB - Paul Jones, Marcus Prather
RB - Kenny Davis, Forrest Barnes
H-Back - Justin Kempka, Nick Sponyoe
WR - Duane Mitchell, Chaq Nettles
WR - Sean Gavin, Luke Centofanti
WR - Jordan Blackmon, Warren Fields
LT - Riley Feenan, Chris O'Connor
LG - Blake Chambliss, Dylan Knight
C - Nick Faraci, Dylan Knight
RG - Josh Thiel, Carlton Watson
RT - Jon Hill, Chris O'Connor
DE - Austin Trgovich, Zack Zamiska
DT - Zack Zamisa, Max Onyenwe
DE - Ryan Lewis, Austin Trgovcich
OLB - Nic Lamica, Zach Cooper
MLB - Jake Tkach, T.J. Waters
MLB - Jimmy Masson, Nelson Lucas-Murphy
OLB - Luke Mueller, Zach Cooper
CB - Antwan Eddie, Jones Twenefor
S - Logan Kelleher, Codi Casper
S - Andy Smigiera, Sam Woods
CB - David Taylor, Keith O'Kelly
DEPTH CHART NOTES
OL Jonah Tyus, OL Anthony Lucian, OL Max Robertson, OL Drew Garbenis, DL Henry Jartu, DL Steve Fiadewornu, DL Forrest Mason, RB Caleb Stennis and LB Mike Stojkovic did not take part in practice.The rotations in the backfield and at receiver were shaken up a little bit. Once he arrived from class, Duane Mitchell went almost exclusively with Sean Gavin and Jordan Blackmon, which has become common at receiver. And Kenny Davis and Justin Kempka worked frequently at the beginning of drills as well. But beyond that, the rotation behind that quintet were pretty different, especially amongst the backs. Nick Sponyoe, Travis Gregg and Erich Maine appeared to get a few more snaps than the last couple of practices. But the rotations have been pretty frequent and heavy throughout the first six practices, so it's not a total surprise, and it will probably change several more times before the end of spring ball.There were just 19 defensive players dressed today, including just four defensive linemen. Anyone complaining about reps (not that there is anyone) on the defensive side of the ball isn't living in reality. It'll be interesting if Robert Morris backs off some of the 11-on-11 stuff or anything else to make sure it doesn't wear the defense too thin and risk injury.
QB TRACKER
Practice stats are by far not the only thing that goes into seeing how players do, but ColonialsCorner likes to keep track of the quarterbacks every so often to see how sharp they are to an outside observer. Obviously the coaching staff has its own evaluations, but we aren't usually privy to those.
So we kept a close eye on the five quarterbacks during a 7-on-7 passing drill and two 11-on-11 sessions. One of those 11-on-11 sessions was full contact. Both 11-on-11 sessions featured running plays, too. So, some notes on each QB. Paul Jones (20 plays, 6-of-9 passing, 1 definite TD) - Jones has led off every drill, which was expected even though he and Prather split snaps in the season finale. In 7-on-7 drills, Jones really only missed on one pass, which went low to his receiver. His other incompletion in that drill was simply excellent coverage that he probably wouldn't have thrown. He also had to 'run' once because of coverage. Jones hit Duane Mitchell in stride on a nice post pattern for his passing touchdown. Marcus Prather (15 plays, 5-of-7 passing, 2 definite TDs) - Prather was a lot like Jones in the fact that he was pretty solid in 7-on-7 drills. He had to 'run' once and then didn't throw a second time because of coverage. His only incompletion in 7-on-7s was a missed connection deep with Jordan Blackmon. Blackmon, to his credit, got his fingertips on it but it was just out of reach. Prather fired a nice pass to Mitchell in a tight window a couple plays later, and he found Chaq Nettles for one of his TDs in the drills. He later hit Sean Gavin for a TD near the goalline in 11-on-11s. Derik Abbott (8 plays, 4-of-6 passing) - Abbott is showing no ill effects from his shoulder surgery. His only misfire in 7-on-7 drills was intended for Warren Fields, and he showed nice touch on the ball on a swing pass to Corey Garry in 11-on-11s. It's a non-passing note, but there's one other thing we've noticed with Abbott. Out of all the QBs, he seems most comfortable with some of the idiosyncrasies of the running game portion of the offense. With all the "window dressing" (as Darrin Hicks called it in December), the QB needs to sell elements of the running game well. All of the QBs seem to be handling it okay, but Abbott said he's run similar offenses before and that might help.Luke Brumbaugh (6 plays, 3-of-5 passing) - Brumbaugh was the only QB to go perfect in 7-on-7 drills, connecting on all three of his attempts. He almost made it four straight completions when he moved to 11-on-11 drills, but he was victimized by a drop. His last passing attempt nearly ended up in a Sam Woods interception when the redshirt freshman safety jumped a route and tried to make a diving pick.Joe Carroll (5 plays, 2-of-4 passing) - After a quick completion to Phil Peckich, Carroll tried to go deep on his next pass in 7-on-7 drills, only to have Andy Smigiera close the gap and knock the pass away. Odds are a number of opposing QBs may get to know that feeling this season. Carroll only got two snaps in 11-on-11 drills, one of them a checkdown to Forrest Barnes.
We'll keep an eye on things moving forward. It's not quite like training camp when there are usually two offensive huddles working at the same time, and that's meant fewer snaps for the younger QBs. That makes it tougher to get a full gauge on them.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
Some additional items of note....In that same 3-period stretch documented above, the quarterbacks completed passes to nine different receivers. The most popular? Duane Mitchell, Sean Gavin and Forrest Barnes, each with three receptions.That's of note only because you get a small glimpse into who the QBs look to on the field. It also gives you an idea of who tends to get open enough to flash into their field of vision. None of those three should be a surprise. Mitchell and Gavin are the team's two most experienced receivers, while Barnes played high school football in a somewhat similar offense that required him to get open out of the backfield. We'll have more on Barnes after another practice or two. We plan on catching up with him, but also highlighting how he and a few of the newcomers are doing in their first true work at Robert Morris. That will come after RMU hits the halfway point in spring ball early next week.The ball gets spread around a lot, but we're impressed with Kenny Davis this spring. His smaller stature didn't make him the best fit in Joe Walton's offense, and he also had some injury issues. But he seems to be doing very well in spring while he takes the snaps with the first team. He ripped off a couple of 10+ yard runs on Thursday.If you're wondering about updates on defense, it's been pretty quiet on that side with so few players. There aren't as many interceptions and there aren't nearly as many storylines. Most of the defensive storylines - especially what's going to happen in the secondary with so much turnover - will pick up in August. That said, three players had standout plays on Thursday. Sophomore linebacker Zach Cooper ripped past the blocking to 'sack' Paul Jones, who was left high and dry. A few plays prior to that, walk-on corner Jones Twenefor read a run perfectly and took Barnes down in the backfield with a nice open-field tackle. Finally, defensive tackle Max Onyenwe burst through the middle of the line and wrapped up Erich Maine in the backfield for a loss.
That's all for now. The next practice update will come after Monday's session. Until then, we'll be rolling out a few features the next few days, including ones featuring new defensive line coach Cornelius Coleman, new arrival LB Nelson Lucas-Murphy, and H-Back Justin Kempka
