BOLU GIVES BRUINS THE BARE NECESSITIES

It’s a jungle out there — The White team uses Bolu to beat the Blues 17-10, as Olorunfunmi runs for 2 TD’s including a 46-yarder with 2 minutes to go to overcome Josh Rosen’s 14-for-18 resurrection

It’s an annual refrain:  You can’t glean too much from a Spring scrimmage.  A lot will change and develop in the four months leading up to the season.  Players will create chemistry, the QB will iron out timing issues with his Receivers, and Linemen will gel as they learn the playbook and master their assignments.  So any observations made at the showcase should be taken with a grain of salt.  That being said, Bruin fans on Saturday were fretting over the same issues that plagued last year’s 4-and-8 squad:  A number of dropped passes, wide open Receivers missed, and Blockers failing to get a push off the ball or open many holes.

Don’t worry.  It’s normal for the Defense to be ahead of the Offense at this point of the year.  Adarius Pickett underscored that with an early Interception of a Josh Rosen pass.  Even with Takk McKinley on the sidelines in his new Atlanta Falcons gear, the Defense still looked pretty stout.  But the Offense had its moments too:  Josh Rosen completed 14-of-18 passes, including a Touchdown to Darren Andrews;  Back-up QB Devon Modster consistently moved his unit down the field, picking up lots of first downs (despite missing at least 3 open targets with inaccurate throws); and Running Back Bolu Olorunfunmi gained 88 yards on the ground including 2 TD’s, the last of which was the 46-yard game-winner (pictured twice above).

But the best part to me of watching the new Offense:  Trick Plays!  There was one play where the QB flipped the ball to Wide Receiver Jordan Lasley, who then completed a pass downfield.  Later there was another play call that had a Running Back on a apparent sweep before tossing a completion.  The Offense also ran a Fly Sweep, and pulled off a Read Option.  The attack was simplified for this scrimmage, so that leads me to believe that there will be plenty of misdirection, gadget plays, and general creativity that was non-existent last season under failed ex-trojan Kennedy Polamalu’s scheme.

The three back-up QB’s all had their moments.  Modster moved the team better than Rosen did, while Matt Lynch and Austin Burton showed guts and toughness scrambling and taking hits.  The QB’s were NOT wearing red safety jerseys and were NOT off-limits.  Lynch, in fact, looked TOO courageous, and I’m afraid he needs to be coached up to avoid some of that contact, or his back-up will be needed quickly.  But based on the throws seen on Saturday by the back-ups, there is a steep drop-off from Rosen, arm-wise (as you would logically expect).  That’s not an indictment of the reserves, just a fact that Rosen is in a whole ‘nother league.  The point is, Rosen MUST be protected this year, via smart playcalling and better blocking schemes.

Anyway, I don’t want to make any more observations.  As I have said a thousand times – you can’t make serious assumptions based on a scrimmage, especially one where the female soccer coach is kicking extra points.  Today was just about fun, and fans, and getting a feel for the action again.  I will have much more to go on when Fall Ball gets under way.  Meanwhile, here are photos from the game.  The SPIRIT SQUAD photos will be in a separate article, which I will work on as soon as I finish this one…