Thursday, August 27, 2009

WHAT WE KNOW HEADING INTO GAME WEEK

These guys are really beat up...plenty of bumps and bruises. Steve Shimko is “foggy” following Wednesday’s scrimmage. Not sure if this is a medical term or a state of mind, literally. Stephante Kent is on the road to recovery but Marcus Witherspoon can’t seem to catch a break since enrolling late last summer. He once again injured himself this week, this time a leg muscle, and was referred to as being “snakebit”. George Johnson and Blair Bines appear to be slowly nursing themselves back to health following respective shoulder and leg injuries in the past week. I guarantee that we will see both of them will themselves back onto the field for the Cincinnati opener to the awe of Coach Schiano.

- No one seems to know the exact status of Ryan D’Imperio following his leg injury last week and limited work during Saturday’s scrimmage. Is he back to full health yet?

- TBA…Schiano seems set on holding off any key positional announcements until he absolutely has to. Not sure if this is a strategic move or he’s just not sure. I can understand that he want’s to let Antonio Lowery and Manny Abreu pound it out for a few more days since both have had great camps, but at wide receiver? It seemed like Sanu has this one wrapped up with a bow already behind Tim Brown.

- The running men…Joe Martinek and Jourdan Brooks with a little bit of Rocket sprinkled in put up some ungodly numbers in Wednesdays scrimmage (combined 22 rushes for 243 yards), albeit against a freshman and sophomore laden scout team. Whether you wan to call them a 1-2 punch or running back by committee, these guys are going to give opposing defenses fits this year with the different looks that each offers.

- On the offense…The chatter has been so focused lately on the quarterback battle (which is now down to two plus Jabu) that we’ve all somehow forgotten about how well the rest of the offense has played in camp. True, defense dominated for the better part of the first two scrimmages, but this is exactly what we expected them to do. I would personally have been surprised (and concerned) if the offense put up any kind of big numbers against the 1’s on defense during scrimmages. I’m not saying that the 38-0 hurtin’ that was put to the scout team is what our offense is capable of week in and week out in the Big East. But maybe the reality of this offense is somewhere in between this and the beatings they received in the first two scrimmages as long as they can protect the ball. Stephante Kent

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