Our new intern, @jackward9 attended Alex Golesh's first press conference of spring practice and gives his takes on CAG's answers. Our intent is to turn these around in a more timely fashion but between the basketball transfer portal and the basketball coach search I've been pretty swamped and just got around to reviewing what Jack sent me.
TAMPA, Fla. – South Florida held its first spring practice on Monday afternoon on March 6. Tuesday afternoon head coach Alex Golesh spent some time answering questions from local reporters. Here’s a transcript of what he said and what I think it means.
From his opening statement...
“The challenge to those guys after practice was simply to keep the energy through 15 practices. I think its easy day one. I challenge them what is two look like what is three look like? And then what is practice 13, 14 look like? You know, there's not really a game you're getting ready for there'll be a spring scrimmage, but there's really still no light at the end of the tunnel. So it's still focused on us and our process and how we go about doing things and the challenge for us as a staff is to clean up the cleanup the practice. Coach our tails off and keep moving forward. We got two more practices this week.
Jack's take: Having good energy and consistency was a point that Golesh emphasized Tuesday when talking about his players. It’s easy to see that this team has been lacking both the last few seasons and we will see if his guys step up to the challenge he has laid out for them. Spring is mostly getting a feel for things, so he is taking everything he sees with a grain of salt, trying to pinpoint who is going to stay focused and consistent with nothing to play for yet.
On guys that surprised him so far...
“Yeah, to be honest, the I think the guys that didn't play last year or played minimal snaps you really don't know what you have. You've seen him through winter workouts. You've seen him through competition drills. But until you lined up and you put pads on, it's really, really hard. Try not to pass judgment on young guys and young guys will grow in the offseason. So it was really it was really good to see some guys run around in a competitive environment that way but in reality until you put pads on and get hit a couple of times how you respond to that is that's what I'm excited to see and Friday will be the first day of pads on they won't be till the week after spring break that gets see some guys get tackled same bounced up and but certainly you were hoping some guys step up there's a bunch of spots where we need some depth and some guys to step up.”
Jack's take: It’s still really early in the spring. When the players are able to put the pads on is when evaluation gets easier, so while there were some guys that looked good out there to Coach, it’s going to be hard to single a guy out that wowed him.
On how optimistic he is for the depleted offensive line...
“I was really, really impressed with what that group looked like in day one, I think I think Hoody and his crew have done a really good job through these first eight weeks of the semester. Getting those guys ready schematically. For what was about to come. They weren't shocked by the tempo. They weren't shocked by how fast it was all happening. You know, it was it was really, really good to see that. Really there's 13 guys going through spring so it's not it's not a huge group of guys you want to be right around 16 to 20 But I thought they handled it really well was really good to see that group.”
“I thought RJ Perry at times flashed like I said he flashed I mean, Nikola Milovac, like for a freshman from Serbia, I was really impressed with him.”
“But really that that whole group I thought did a really good job again, no pads on so you're seeing how fast they're playing. You're seeing guys come off the ball, but you're not finishing anybody you know, from a past pro standpoint, are guys running by you or are guys just running free? Didn't see that. So I was really impressed with that group.”
Jack's take: This group was hit hard by graduations and transfers, and it’s a great sign that they are getting used to the offense this early. Perry, a junior that followed Golesh over from Tennessee, stands at 6’6 325 pound and should compete for a role in this unit along with Milovac. Again it’s going to take a few weeks to really tell anything with this group, so we will see.
On the wide receiver room...
“I think in what we do on offense, that is generally the group that's going to take a second. It is happening really fast, like really fast for those guys. So I would say probably hold judgment here for a couple of weeks and see that group. It's not a very thick group. We've got you know, we've got three more guys, young guys that are coming in in May, which will give us some more depth.”
Jack's take: This unit was also hit hard by players leaving. There were a few receivers that transferred in, most notably Seth Jones reuniting with quarterback Gerry Bohanon from their Baylor days. Along with losing receiving coach after receiving coach this offseason, it has yet to be seen if this group will have good depth this upcoming fall.
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