Eagles have productive 1st controlled scrimmage

CHESTNUT HILL – Good day in Fish Field House.

Lots of recruits, solid two hours of action and just an overall good buzz in the building.

Have I been extremely positive this first week or two of spring ball? Yes. It’s kind of hard to find many negatives when everything is ‘being worked on.’ It’s not always going to look pretty, but frankly, there’s been very few mental mistakes or bad plays, but rather more playmaking from both sides leading to great offensive success or defensive playmaking taking place.

Breaking down today…

Early observations

-Ernie Adams was in the house patrolling the sidelines. The new Phillips Andover head coach usually walks to practice whenever he’s there.

-Always great catching up with Owen McGowan. Covered a ton of him at CM and obviously his whole BC career. Doing well and actually recovering from a neck surgery.

-Also always love chatting with Doug Marrone who was on hand Saturday as well. Re-lived the Super Bowl run a little bit and how crazy it all was. Also learned he’s friends with famous Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay.

-I didn’t chart anything other than team and 7-on-7 periods today since that was the focus, but every single drill was loud (both encouragement wise and trash talk wise) throughout the day.

1st team period

Mason McKenzie – Nice scramble. Chris Marable Jr. and Kameron Howard combine for a run stuff. Completion to Bo MacCormack. (I missed the next 2 snaps chatting with Owen)…sick grab by Reed Swanson on the left sideline after McKenzie was flushed out. (Throw was a dart, but he might have been sacked by KJ Sampson). Run by Evan Dickens. Run by MacCormack III. Offside. Completion to Brady Clough over the middle.

Grayson Wilson – Griffin Collins sack or a PBU by Marcus Upton depending on if it counted as a play or not for the coaches, they usually let things play out. Big run by Mekhi Dodd. Wheen rout to Nolan Ray. Run by Ray.

Femi Babalola – High snap/fumble/no play. Run stuff by Jackson Carlisle. Short run by Tim Longo. PBU deep by Max Tejpaul. (Missed final snap).

7-on-7

McKenzie – Short completion to Kaelan Chudzinski. No play (coverage). Wheel to MacCormack III. Deep sideline shot to Swanson for a TD. Incompletion deep.

Wilson – Short completion to Cameron Kossmann. Completion over the middle to Jonathan Montague Jr. (he’s been sneaky pretty good so far this spring. After the catch, he really made a guy miss for extra yards). (Missed the next snap). Drop in the bucket throw over a defender down the sideline to Montague.

Babalola – Crosser to Chudzinski. Incompletion. Slant to Zach Scnorrbusch. Incompletion.

Team

McKenzie – Short pass to Swanson. Big run by MacCormack III. (Missed next snap). QB run. Near pick by Max Tucker (dropped). Short pass to Jackson Wade…sack by Zacari Thomas. Long run after a screen to Dickens. Incompletion deep. Marcelous Townsend and KJ Sampson blow up a TE screen. Intrerception deep over the middle by Kameron Howard (poor throw/decision). Sack by Anthony Palano flying off the edge.

Wilson – Montague Jr. drops a deep ball (great pocket maneuvering by Wilson). High incompletion over the middle. PBU by Bryce Lewis. (Missed final snap of ‘drive’).

Babalola – (Missed first snap sneezing. Dead serious). Bad snap forces a scramble. Incompletion. Hard run by Dodd. Incompletion (near sack for E’Lla Boykin). Scramble.

Team period after a short break, presumably serving as a ‘halftime’ of sorts)

McKenzie – (Missed first snap). Outside run stuff by a bunch of guys. Hard run by MacCormack III. Hard run by Dickens. Screen to Nedrick Boldin Jr. and a completion over the middle to Boldin Jr.

Wilson – Completion to Kossmann. (Missed this snap). Deep crosser to VJ Wilkins. Run by Dodd. Short completion to Dodd. Batted ball by Bryce Lewis.

Red Zone

First bit of red zone we’ve gotten so far this spring. Whole bunch of S talking between the O and D…Ball initially placed at the 11…

McKenzie – Max Tucker drops an interception (through his hands). No gain on a Dickens run. Offiside. Sick toe-tap TD for Zeke Moore along the right side of the end zone, but he’s called for OPI. Short gain for MacCormack. QB run. Throw away through the end zone.

Wilson – Back-of-the-end zone TD catch for Danny Edgehill (toe tap back left corner). TD run by Nolan Ray following Kristian Phillips (one he gets moving out in the open field run blocking, watch out. He was SO fired up after the TD and immediately chirped the defensive sideline). Sack by Favor Bate.

Babalola – Short gain for Dodd. Touchdown toss to Kossmann.

Goal line

First bit of goal line we’ve seen too. Very physical…

McKenzie – Onye Nwosisi, Palano and Bodie Kahoun combine for a run stuff. QB TD run. Dodd TD run.

Wilson – Dodd TD run (despite it being a broken play). MacCormack III stuffed at the GL. QB TD run.

In closing

All in all, spring ball has been encouraging so far because of the back and forth. One day has gone to the O, the defense has responded the next practice and vice versa. McKenzie is really in control of the offense when he’s in there, it’s hard to tell he was ‘just a D2 guy’ if you watch him.

I still think the receivers are the biggest question in terms of consistency, but the running backs and tight ends continue to really impress. The OL and DL back and forth has been excellent and very even after a lopsided first couple days for the D.

Highly encourage by the athleticism of the linebackers, especially Palano and Cahoun. DBs and secondary overall is really, really good.

Back at it on Monday for Pro Day then Tuesday and Thursday practices before another, probably more game-like scrimmage next Saturday.