Air Force held its final session of preseason scrimmaging at Falcon Stadium today, which means another monster blog post, hopefully chock full of information and semi-coherent analysis. Without further ado …
Overall Impression
As I mentioned in my notebook that will appear in tomorrow’s edition of The Gazette, there were plenty of good plays on Saturday (see “Top Players and Plays,” below) but also plenty of mistakes. Specifically fumbles, busted assignments and penalties.
“It’s got to get cleaned up,” Calhoun said of his team’s overall play. “I think to play at the level that you want to as a team, and to be able to play well next Saturday, it’s stuff that’s got to get fixed.”
“I think we’re going to be ready to go, judging by today,” sophomore quarterback Tim Jefferson said. “We need to clean up our penalties, and that’s the main thing coach Calhoun was concerned about.”
News and Notes
-Rembert Status: Air Force coach Troy Calhoun was noncommittal about junior cornerback Reggie Rembert’s status for next Saturday’s opener.
Rembert was suspended last spring for an unspecified violation of academy standards. While suspended he is allowed to practice but cannot “represent the academy,” meaning he can’t play in games or speak with the media.
When I asked Calhoun if Rembert would play against Nicholls State, Calhoun said: “We’ll see.”
When pressed, Calhoun said Rembert had not yet been cleared and that he’d get word through “a chain of command” about when he could play.
Now, the coaches simply have to know when they’re getting Rembert back. They just aren’t permitted to (and don’t want to) say.
My take is Rembert will not play in the opener because all his reps in recent practices – and specifically today during the scrimmage – have come with the second-team defense. So I expect Rembert to miss at least the first game. Sophomore P.J. Adeji-Paul was playing corner for the first-team defense in Rembert’s place.
-Jefferson at the Helm: There’s no question sophomore Tim Jefferson has won back the starting quarterback job. Jefferson took all the snaps with the first-team offense on Saturday. One of his top competitors for the job, sophomore Asher Clark, was back at tailback with the first-team offense and did not take any snaps at quarterback.
More on TJ and Clark in the “Top Players and Plays” section.
-Injuries: I wouldn’t count on senior guard Nick Charles for the opener. Charles (hamstring) was in a red jersey at practice.
“We’ll see,” Calhoun said of Charles. “Right now I’d say probably not in the first game.”
If Air Force was playing Navy next Saturday, I’m betting Charles could go. Against Nicholls State, I’d expect him to sit. Sophomore A.J. Wallerstein will play in his place.
In addition, junior outside linebacker Patrick Hennessey did not participate in practice again Saturday because of an injured right shoulder. If he does not play in the opener, freshman Alex Means might start in his place. Means, who has an impressive frame (he’s listed at 6-foot-6, 215 pounds) and has been impressive in camp, looked good Saturday. “He did some good things,” Calhoun said.
-So Long Larson: Senior defensive tackle Stephen Larson no longer is with the team. Larson, who gave the Falcons a solid veteran reserve, will concentrate on wrestling. Larson is a standout heavyweight.
“Larson was a huge asset on the defensive line – great player, great guy,” said senior defensive tackle Ben Garland. “With the (knee) injuries that he had, he just felt like wrestling was the best. I think we still have great depth. We have (sophomore Henry) Kehs, and (sophomore Ryan) Gardner’s really looking great. And even if we needed to, (junior Bradley Connor) or (junior Rick) Ricketts could move to nose guard.”
Top Players and Plays
- In six possessions with the first-team offense, Jefferson completed 5-of-8 passes for 64 yards (according to the stats I took while walking the sideline).
Jefferson and Tew botched a handoff, leading to a fumble that the defense recovered, and Jefferson sailed the first pass he threw. But otherwise he was extremely solid. His best moment came on the first-team offense’s second series. Facing a third-and-16 from the defense’s 30-yard line, Jefferson rolled right to avoid pressure and then fired a strike to sophomore receiver Zack Kauth for a gain of 22 yards.
-Speaking of Kauth, he had another reception for 20 yards. But with the first-team offense running hurry-up at the end of the first “half” of the scrimmage, Kauth lost a fumble after a catch.
-Clark had five carries for 27 yards.
-Sophomore Z receiver Jonathan Warzeka carried the ball three times for 36 yards and a touchdown.
-Junior inside linebacker Ken Lamendola made a bunch of tackles and had a sack.
-Coaches are excited about freshman safety Brian Lindsay, and it was easy to see why on Saturday.
Lindsay picked off a pass and also blocked a punt and then scooped it up and returned it for a touchdown. Look for him (and Means) to make big contributions on special teams this season.
-I wrote in a notebook last week about sophomore cornerback Josh Hall, who has made some “splash plays” in the preseason, according to secondary coach Charlton Warren. Hall is rail thin, and Warren said he probably needed to “move in” with strength and conditioning coach Matt McGettigan for a while.
But he sure delivered a big hit on Saturday. Facing the scout offense, Hall sniffed out a pass in the flat, flew to the receiver and delivered a hit that knocked the receiver’s helmet off.
-Connor Dietz had some nice moments quarterbacking the second-team offense – particularly passes to Drew Coleman and a touchdown pass to tight end Joshua Freeman.
Other Stuff
-Game Day Videos: Got a glimpse of some of the videos that will be played on game day (including one for The Gazette, which is pretty cool) and the new intro video. The intro video weaves the military and academic aspects of the academy into the first part, then gets to the highlights designed to pump up the crowd. (I’ll try to get a link to it, if possible). It features senior strong safety Chris Thomas.
-Calhoun on the Defense: Air Force’s first-team defense was mostly good on Saturday, but Calhoun said it isn’t where it needs to be yet.
“You see some positive signs,” he said. “There’s some aggressiveness there. But we still have too many assignments that just aren’t dead-on. And if they were dead-on we’d create more turnovers and we’d give up less big plays. There were a handful of big plays today that shouldn’t be big plays if we’re assignment sound. But you do see some positive signs there.”
Calhoun said the strength of the defense would be “right down the middle” – the nose guard (Garland), the inside linebackers (Justin Moore and Lamendola) and the safeties (Thomas and Jon Davis). I had Thomas for three tackles for losses and Davis for another. That duo could be something special this season.
-Backups Need to Step up: Calhoun said there were several spots on the field where he needed better play from his backups. He mentioned in particular his safeties, wide receivers and offensive linemen.
“We’ve got some backups that need to develop and grow up and realize they’re going to have to be contributors for us this fall,” Calhoun said. “I think sometimes what can happen is you can get a mindset that you’re a backup and maybe I won’t play. … You don’t get by only playing 11 on both sides of the ball and only playing 11 on each of your respective special teams.”
-Returners: Looks like Anthony Wright Jr. will be the Falcons’ starting punt returner and Warzeka and Tew will be the starting deep guys on kickoff returns.
-Marshall Plan Wouldn’t Work at AFA: And, finally, with all the buzz surrounding Brandon Marshall, the Broncos’ immature, malcontent receiver, I had to ask Calhoun if he’d ever had a player loaf through drills and then punt a ball instead of giving it to a manager.
“I have not,” he said. “No sir.”
What would happen, I asked, if a player did that at an Air Force practice?
“Well I don’t think you’d make it through a day of basic training,” he said. “I don’t think we’d ever get to the football part of it.”
-And with that, the preseason is a wrap. Bring on the games.
