FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[washdupcard]

I think we need some football to calm the waters.

[Mugsy]

I think we need some football to calm the waters.

Yeah... that'll do it.

[matblake]

Your QB is very good, Mobile and quick with a good arm and a lot of accuracy. I thought your outside zone running game looked good against Lakeland's D. I think the O line will be OK. The two safeties really can bring it. Good size and speed.

Good news for Elmhurst from the Lakeland poster.  If Kubdya is back in full form, things will be better for the Jays. 

[New Tradition]

Hello everyone!  I just got back from the North Central scrimmage against Olivet.  Unfortunately, I'm about to head out of town for the remainder of the weekend, however, I'll post some of my thoughts and observations when I return.  Quickly, I will say that the Cards did very well, and, as a former o-lineman/fullback, their 3-3-5 defense is very confusing and would be very tricky to pick everyone up when they send random people and you are trying to pass.  More to come on Monday.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

[usee]

Wheaton had an intersquad scrimmage tonight under the lights. a few notes:

walker smith is not on the roster. didn't come back to school and was expected to be the starting tailback. Hershey did not play and appears banged up. brett jackson and a couple freshmen carried the load.

the news on Mckinney (lb) is true. out for the year w an ACL. was a team captain and returning all conf player. also on defense the expected starting corner opposite ittersagen is not on the team. Geoff Burns. Studebaker didn't play in the scrimmage either. nor did the starting middle LB, pagh.  Ullirch looks really good and Ittersagen appears to be fine for now.

its early but there are some concerns from Thunder camp

[matblake]

walker smith is not on the roster. didn't come back to school and was expected to be the starting tailback. Hershey did not play and appears banged up. brett jackson and a couple freshmen carried the load.

Hershey played quite a bit last year.  Hope that works out alright.

the news on Mckinney (lb) is true. out for the year w an ACL. was a team captain and returning all conf player.

I feel really bad for him.  It's too bad that happened.

also on defense the expected starting corner opposite ittersagen is not on the team. Geoff Burns. Studebaker didn't play in the scrimmage either. nor did the starting middle LB, pagh. 

Did they dress for the scrimmage or were they in street clothes? 

  Ullirch looks really good and Ittersagen appears to be fine for now.

At last some good news.  Thanks for the update usee, very interesting!

[Titan Q]

Pantagraph article on the IWU/Benedictine scrimmage...

http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2007/08/26/sports/doc46d0f4c12d8ec692723381.txt

[Tailgater]

Beautiful day in Kenosha to watch some football. Nice to see a blue sky again and to once again see and hear the sounds of D3 football. The Carthage/Concordia scrimmage provided a little peak into how Carthage is progressing so far. Not knowing the status of the Concordia squad (Rebuilding? or again a conference title contender?) it is difficult to draw detailed conclusions on various units for the Red Men.

The defense, as expected, appears to be ahead of the offense in execution and development at this stage of the season. Throughout the day the D-line had good penetration in reaching the Concordia QB. Very few rushing yards were allowed and pass coverage looked solid with the DB's picking off a few passes. Concordia struggled to move the ball most of the time. It was good to see Franko Shenault and Donovan Moore back in action after missing the entire season last year with injuries. They saw limited action.....just in case. There appears to be some good depth at most of the positions.

The offense is still in question for me. There is an obvious concern for Carthage over the depth on the O-line. One of the players fighting for a starting job sat out with an elbow injury, but should return to practice this week. The first unit has good size, but was not very successful in moving the D-line to open holes for the running game. In fact the running game was very ineffective all day. Working in a spread formation from shotgun, Brennan O'Boyle looked good in throwing the ball and has obviously grown in confidence in his third year as a starter. His knee injury, that ended his season late last year, showed no ill effect. I was not impressed by any of the running backs. Not to say that they are not capable, but that they were never able to get on track. Most appeared to be under average size, but certainly looked to have good speed. Carthage ran a single set back  and sometimes worked a split backfield. No fullback. The offensive bright spot I saw was Freshmen QB Chris Shulz. Although a little under-size he showed a strong arm and outstanding speed in running the ball. He was very illusive in the pocket. Every series he was on the field Carthage moved the ball and chains and Shulz scored their only TD of the day on a draw play.

Moore was outstanding punting 3 times from the Red Men 30. All 3 kicks died inside the Concordia 20 and none were returnable. Matt Denny's kicking leg was strong and accurate. He will score a lot of points for Carthage once again this season.

One bad injury. Defensive reserve, Soph C.J. Finn, went down for the year with a broken leg. I hope he heals well and fast in order to begin prepairation for next year

[Son of Tailgater]

Some notes from the Carthage/Concordia scimmage continued from Tailgater:

Offense:
QB - O'Boyle was very accurate in his pass attempts and seemed confident in the pocket and showed no signs of the injury from last year. He will be a leader on offense as well as Bergman. There are also some young QB's that could easily develop into starters as they get stronger and more confident.

RB - I could not yet determine who the starters would be since there were a lot of different faces recieving hand offs back there. They were running out of a single set back and there was also a pro-set that and it seemed that they were not using a FB for most of the day.

WR - Eric Halderman was a stand out as one of the top WR's and I expect him to have a solid year. Luke Mussleman and Rick Loisi also made some plays as the WR core will provide most of the yardage for this year. It also seems like they moved Danny O'Donnell to the other side of the ball as a DB.

TE - Bryan Bergman returns for his 4th year and looks to repeat his all-conference performance from last year. He looked very good at the scrimmage as both a receiving TE and a blocker. He will be a leader on offense and a go-to guy on 3rd downs.

OL - After losing the 5 starters from last year I think that they are actually in good shape for this year. The major aspect they seem to be lacking is the playing time and experience which could hurt early on. Malcom Scott will step in as a starting Tackle this year and has made the effort to bulk up and take the leadership role. Also look for Joe Vanko to be a leader on the line for his senior year. Steve Greenwood will also step in for his soph. year to be an anchor at one of the tackles. Even with his size, Steve is quick and very physical. The freshman class of lineman was also impressive and Carthage is looking to have 1-2 of them start. Terrance Clark, a freshman from Thornridge HS looks like he will be getting some starts this year at either right or left guard. The center position will see Matt Favero taking most of the snaps. He is a very smart player with quick feet and has made strides both in the weight room and with the playbook.

Punt Team - With D. Moore punting again we all know that anything can happen. He was very impressive yesterday with at least 2 of his punts landing inside the 5 yard line. The rest of the 10 on the punt team were quickly swarming to the ball and will definetly be an impact for Carthage this year.

(Comments on the defense will come later today)

[football2007]

Beautiful day in Kenosha to watch some football. Nice to see a blue sky again and to once again see and hear the sounds of D3 football. The Carthage/Concordia scrimmage provided a little peak into how Carthage is progressing so far. Not knowing the status of the Concordia squad (Rebuilding? or again a conference title contender?) it is difficult to draw detailed conclusions on various units for the Red Men.

The defense, as expected, appears to be ahead of the offense in execution and development at this stage of the season. Throughout the day the D-line had good penetration in reaching the Concordia QB. Very few rushing yards were allowed and pass coverage looked solid with the DB's picking off a few passes. Concordia struggled to move the ball most of the time. It was good to see Franko Shenault and Donovan Moore back in action after missing the entire season last year with injuries. They saw limited action.....just in case. There appears to be some good depth at most of the positions.

The offense is still in question for me. There is an obvious concern for Carthage over the depth on the O-line. One of the players fighting for a starting job sat out with an elbow injury, but should return to practice this week. The first unit has good size, but was not very successful in moving the D-line to open holes for the running game. In fact the running game was very ineffective all day. Working in a spread formation from shotgun, Brennan O'Boyle looked good in throwing the ball and has obviously grown in confidence in his third year as a starter. His knee injury, that ended his season late last year, showed no ill effect. I was not impressed by any of the running backs. Not to say that they are not capable, but that they were never able to get on track. Most appeared to be under average size, but certainly looked to have good speed. Carthage ran a single set back  and sometimes worked a split backfield. No fullback. The offensive bright spot I saw was Freshmen QB Chris Shulz. Although a little under-size he showed a strong arm and outstanding speed in running the ball. He was very illusive in the pocket. Every series he was on the field Carthage moved the ball and chains and Shulz scored their only TD of the day on a draw play.

Moore was outstanding punting 3 times from the Red Men 30. All 3 kicks died inside the Concordia 20 and none were returnable. Matt Denny's kicking leg was strong and accurate. He will score a lot of points for Carthage once again this season.

One bad injury. Defensive reserve, Soph C.J. Finn, went down for the year with a broken leg. I hope he heals well and fast in order to begin prepairation for next year

Thought the injury was a dislocated hip.  sure looked bad from the stands.  Sorry to see that happen at a scrimmage.  Wow Moore sure can punt.  We left early.  My son was very impressed with the Freshman QB also.

[Carthage Fan]

I heard it was a dislocated hip as well.  Red Men running game will be fine. 

[Tailgater]

I heard it was a dislocated hip as well.  Red Men running game will be fine. 

I thought so as well as that is where the player pointed to while laying on the field. First heard speculation about dislocated, then heard shattered hip as the player was still laying on the field waiting for emergency services. Later on one of the moms came back to the stands after she said she had talked with CJ's mom and reported to all around that it was a broken leg. The femur I would guess as it had to be high on the leg. Regardless if hip or leg it is a sad way to end a season before it gets started.

Couldn't help but notice and truly don't really care, but how does a benign scrimmage report merit a knock on karma? Don't need the karma conversation again, been there done that. If someone disagrees or is offended by something I reported let's talk about it. I really dislike the snipping. I'd prefer to discuss differing opinions not be left wondering what bothers a reader of one of my posts. Seems kind of gutless.

[Carthage Fan]

Tailgater....I am a rookie here don't even know how karma is calculated, awarded?

Sorry about CJ think the dislo would have been a quicker recovery. 

[Tailgater]

No worries Carthage Fan. You need 200 posts before being able to applaud or smite (karma) someones post. This is the same "troll" that did this last year. Must really be insecure and hate Carthage. Ignoring him/it is indeed the best coarse of action.

[New Tradition]

Alright, now that I’m back in town, I’ll give you guys some of my thoughts on the North Central/Olivet scrimmage.

QB – The top 2 quarterbacks, Fanthorpe and Kniss, rotated every other play, which was nice because we were able to see both qb’s with the first team in just about every situation.  All in all, I believe that Fanthrope had the edge.  His throws were a bit more accurate, and it seemed to me that he had better command and control of the offense.  I am sure that this is a product of the year that he has already spent in the system, learning the plays, etc.  Not to say that Kniss did poorly.  He made some nice throws as well, however, I believe that Fanthorpe just made more of them.

RB – This is where I believe the majority of the Cardinal offense will come from this year.  Both backs, Sulo and Izzy Brown, looked fantastic running the football.  There was a good amount of yardage gained straight up the middle, several 8 and 10 yard chunks.  There was even use of a pretty decent sized fullback named Champion (I'm sorry, but that has to be the coolest last name ever) in a few of the sets.

WR – From what I saw, the wide outs ran crisp routes, but I have to say that I did not pay attention to them because I was watching the quarterbacks.  I know that many balls were caught, but there were no stellar catches or runs after the catch.  They seemed to pretty much do their job, but nothing out of the ordinary.  I do know, however, that #1 receiver Perry Welch did not dress for the scrimmage.

OL – The offensive line looked very good overall.  There was a good surge when the ball was handed off, but what really impressed me was the time that they gave the quarterbacks to throw the football.  It seemed like no matter what blitzes Olivet threw at them, they had an answer for all of it and picked everything up.  I know the Offensive Line Coach, Ponx, always worked very hard on the o-line knowing their assignments for the different blitzes that teams throw at them from week to week.  Also, a sophomore named Delancy took the spot of Scott Plamer, the right tackle who chose not to come back, and did very well.  I also did not realize until yesterday, the Ryan Armstrong also did not come back.  He saw a significant amount of time on the o-line, but decided that he wanted to concentrate on track.

Offense overall – While it is obvious that the Cardinals will not have the high-octane air attack that Kam Kniss provided (at least until the quarterback(s) get a better grip on the offense) I believe that they can still score by a more balanced attack and involving the running game more than they had in the past 2 years.

DL – Only having 3 down linemen translates to a lot of depth for the Cards.  Look for them to rotate a lot and have a lot of fresh bodies.  The D-line played very tough and had several tackles for loss and sacks.

LB – The linebackers impressed me the most in this 3-3 scheme.  I know that they proclaim this to be an attacking defense, and that is exactly what they did.  For several series, Olivet was unable to pick up many blitzes while they were in pass protection and the LB’s were able to get a few sacks and put a ton of pressure on the qb.  The 2 outside linebackers, Kostellic and Hammers, are both seniors with a lot of experience, and in the middle, they have Wenger, a sophomore who saw a fair amount of action last year.  Hammers, to me, looked like he made more plays than anyone.  He was all over the field.  Wenger had a few monster hits, though.

DB – Kind of tough to go wrong when you have 5 of them.  I did see kind of a Jekyll and Hyde with the DB’s.  Several times they were in excellent position and defended well – thrown balls, and even made a few picks, but there were many other times when the Olivet receivers were able to find soft spots and catch the ball completely undefended.  Jordan Hoffman and Tyler Venier looked very good and had interceptions, but aside from that there was nothing out of the ordinary.

Defense overall – Going into this scrimmage I was very skeptical about the 3-3-5.  I’m still not completely sold on it, but I have a slightly better feeling about it than I did before.  It was very effective for the first few series, but eventually Olivet figured out what they were doing and was able to move the ball.  From the stands, it looks like they gamble a LOT with some of the blitz schemes that they run.  Talking to a few players after the scrimmage, one told me that it looks that way, but there are a lot of checks involved based upon the formation that the offense lines up in, and their tendencies out of certain formations, so its not as big of a gamble as it appears.  All that being said, Olivet did only put the ball in the endzone 1 time during the entire scrimmage with about a minute left to go.

Special teams – I will say that the special team that impressed me the most was Kickoff return.  Joe Mastrino had several excellent returns that put the Cards in great field position.  Joe Rubin, the other returner, did not dress for the scrimmage.  I have been coaching football at the high school level this season, and watching the kick returns almost looked like watching film in fast forward.  It is amazing how much faster things happen on the college level!

Team overall – I think that the Cards dominated the scrimmage, early on especially.  Once Olivet settled in and figured out the new defense, things evened out a bit.  As the scrimmage progressed, it became evident that Olivet had been in camp for 2 weeks as opposed to the Cards 5 days because the Cards seemed to lack conditioning, to me.  All in all, it was fun to watch and I am excited to see what happens in the CCIW this year!