Fall Camp Physicality

Ok, we have been pushing hard for physicality and now we have it.  How is everyone handling the injuries?  They are not always a bi-product of being more physical as some of these mounting injuries are clearly not due to contact to date.   If you were coach for a day would you change anything?  I know that I have been a staunch advocate of more physical practices and do away with No Pads November.  In fact, what does No Pads November tell the NFL about these kids entering the draft?  Does the NFL take 4 weeks off from pads?  Maybe some do I don’t know.

This years USC Fall camp has been as hoped.  Not the injuries of course but the level of physicality that is clearly up from previous years. It had to shift and the culture had to change with the lack of physicality over the past few years.  Starts with the Coach and Helton, so far, has delivered.  It hurts to see any player hurt but we are seeing the impact and hopefully the injuries will mend and we won’t see a lot of missed playing time for the key skilled positions and O Line.

Would be a ton of fun if we could get a little more visibility to the practice sessions but we follow the rules and USC under athletic director Lynn Swann set the tone early and so we are left to ad lib on some topics where in the past we had first hand knowledge.  Not sure its that impactful to have the media on the sidelines during practice.  I don’t see the problem but I carry tunnel vision on the topic so here we are.

The Quarterbacks

Quarterbacks are actually doing much better competitively than what we had seen coming out of Spring Camp and even Summer player run only practices.  But this is expected and hopeful for the strength of the program will clearly be run through QB-1.  The hype is clearly on J.T. Daniels but watching Jack Sears and thinking back to Spring and even Summer camp he clearly made progress and caught the eye of the coaches.  His ball seemed to be much tighter and receivers commented afterwards that they were noticing the difference.  Matt Fink has ok statistics but needs to go big or go home.  He has to make a splash with the limited time left for him to take the reins.  Hard to beat the hype on JT but right now Jack Sears is making a move.

Fight On