Greetings from a drop-dead gorgeous day at the JCFTC. Mother Nature has finally given us a break from the heat and delivered an almost cloudless, 70-degree day for the Cats as they prepare for Arkansas. We’ll have all the latest news and notes at approx 6 ET. Stay tuned...
* Arizona Cardinals scout here watching today. Saw him speaking directly with Stoops earlier. Looked like they were watching defensive players.
* Eddie Gran says all 3 QBs practiced today, did well. “Everybody practiced, everybody threw.” He did not elaborate, said he would defer to Coach Stoops’ comments on Monday. (I can confirm I saw Sawyer Smith on the field and throwing downfield, so it’s not coach misdirection stuff.)
* Good practice, lots of “juice” today, Gran said. He said he knows it’s cliche, but a lot of it comes back to fundamentals and preparation and a winning attitude when you come out to work every day. They treated today like a game, and the players were dialed in.
* Lynn Bowden has been great, Gran said. “He’s a football player, knows every position.”
* RB Travis Tisdale has been really coming on, Gran said. “Like night and day.” May be close to helping them.
* TE Nik Ognenovic and OL Eli Cox are other young players that have come on strong, starting to grasp the offense. Likes their progress.
* Gran said the offense is getting some answers to what they need to take out, what they need to focus on. Narrowing the playbook a bit.
* It’s difficult to block out “the noise” right now and to get kids to look forward instead of the rearview mirror, Gran said. But you have to keep pushing forward. He noted that it’s hard for even himself because the SC game was one of the worst he’s been involved with. “I was embarrassed.”
* How do you get better? “Protect. Throw. Catch. And coaches putting our guys in a better position,” Gran said.
* RB Chris Rodriguez won one of the team awards for pride a couple of weeks ago, Gran said. He’s not wavered since that bad start. He just keeps coming out to get better every day. He’s a guy who excites Gran about the possibility of getting better in short yardage situations.
* Gran said he got impatient in the SC game after getting stuffed on certain run plays. Needs to be more patient and stick with the run.
* Gran says the ARK defense has gotten better every week, something that is clear from film. Well-coached by John Chavis as DC. No. 3, No. 10, No. 8, No. 21 grab his attention. “Sorry, don’t know everyone’s name off the top of my head.”
* OT Landon Young said the coaches have challenged the older guys to be more vocal this week, bring more energy, drag the younger guys along with them.
* Young said the team let adversity affect them too much during the losing streak. He said they had good energy and good work in practice, just let things in the games bring them down too easily. That’s where the leadership is needed, he added.
* Not staying disciplined to technique has been the Cats’ biggest problem, Young said. Trying to do too much, to be the superstar.
* Young said the team will have some extra motivation against Arkansas with the program honoring Jared Lorenzen. “It’s real important to me,” the Lexington native said.
* Lynn Bowden told us he’s “just playing football.” Wasn’t really tipping his hand about the QB stuff. He’s been well-prepped by the coaches and media relations staff not to say too much.
* Bowden said the team feels like they can beat anyone if they’re healthy and playing at their best.
* “We’re all just anxious to get back out there,” Bowden said.
* QBs coach Darin Hinshaw said the main thing about dealing with this situation is taking care of the football (no matter who it is at QB) and playing with fundamentals.
* Hinshaw said there’s a fine line between Bowden playing the position like any of the other QBs would play it and just letting him use his natural talents to take over. He stressed that they need to be better in their RPOs and protection schemes for him to succeed.
* Hinshaw said it’s been his experience that no QB is really ever fully healthy. “You gotta be tough as nails.” He cited how tough Stephen Johnson was playing through a lot of aches and pains. Sounds like he’s challenging Sawyer Smith to do the same.
* Arizona Cardinals scout here watching today. Saw him speaking directly with Stoops earlier. Looked like they were watching defensive players.
* Eddie Gran says all 3 QBs practiced today, did well. “Everybody practiced, everybody threw.” He did not elaborate, said he would defer to Coach Stoops’ comments on Monday. (I can confirm I saw Sawyer Smith on the field and throwing downfield, so it’s not coach misdirection stuff.)
* Good practice, lots of “juice” today, Gran said. He said he knows it’s cliche, but a lot of it comes back to fundamentals and preparation and a winning attitude when you come out to work every day. They treated today like a game, and the players were dialed in.
* Lynn Bowden has been great, Gran said. “He’s a football player, knows every position.”
* RB Travis Tisdale has been really coming on, Gran said. “Like night and day.” May be close to helping them.
* TE Nik Ognenovic and OL Eli Cox are other young players that have come on strong, starting to grasp the offense. Likes their progress.
* Gran said the offense is getting some answers to what they need to take out, what they need to focus on. Narrowing the playbook a bit.
* It’s difficult to block out “the noise” right now and to get kids to look forward instead of the rearview mirror, Gran said. But you have to keep pushing forward. He noted that it’s hard for even himself because the SC game was one of the worst he’s been involved with. “I was embarrassed.”
* How do you get better? “Protect. Throw. Catch. And coaches putting our guys in a better position,” Gran said.
* RB Chris Rodriguez won one of the team awards for pride a couple of weeks ago, Gran said. He’s not wavered since that bad start. He just keeps coming out to get better every day. He’s a guy who excites Gran about the possibility of getting better in short yardage situations.
* Gran said he got impatient in the SC game after getting stuffed on certain run plays. Needs to be more patient and stick with the run.
* Gran says the ARK defense has gotten better every week, something that is clear from film. Well-coached by John Chavis as DC. No. 3, No. 10, No. 8, No. 21 grab his attention. “Sorry, don’t know everyone’s name off the top of my head.”
* OT Landon Young said the coaches have challenged the older guys to be more vocal this week, bring more energy, drag the younger guys along with them.
* Young said the team let adversity affect them too much during the losing streak. He said they had good energy and good work in practice, just let things in the games bring them down too easily. That’s where the leadership is needed, he added.
* Not staying disciplined to technique has been the Cats’ biggest problem, Young said. Trying to do too much, to be the superstar.
* Young said the team will have some extra motivation against Arkansas with the program honoring Jared Lorenzen. “It’s real important to me,” the Lexington native said.
* Lynn Bowden told us he’s “just playing football.” Wasn’t really tipping his hand about the QB stuff. He’s been well-prepped by the coaches and media relations staff not to say too much.
* Bowden said the team feels like they can beat anyone if they’re healthy and playing at their best.
* “We’re all just anxious to get back out there,” Bowden said.
* QBs coach Darin Hinshaw said the main thing about dealing with this situation is taking care of the football (no matter who it is at QB) and playing with fundamentals.
* Hinshaw said there’s a fine line between Bowden playing the position like any of the other QBs would play it and just letting him use his natural talents to take over. He stressed that they need to be better in their RPOs and protection schemes for him to succeed.
* Hinshaw said it’s been his experience that no QB is really ever fully healthy. “You gotta be tough as nails.” He cited how tough Stephen Johnson was playing through a lot of aches and pains. Sounds like he’s challenging Sawyer Smith to do the same.
