Blakeney on ESPN2 First Take

September 04, 2007

Drew Champlin

Caught the “replay” of it and here’s pretty much all of it. Sage Steele interviewed Blakeney over the phone. He wasn’t shown live - just his mug, name, and picture of a phone

On what he thought about Appalachian State over Michigan

It was a shocking event to me, but I wasn’t surprised as I thought about it. I do know Jerry Moore and Coach Carr. Great football men at two storied programs that have been around for a long time. On any given Saturday, things can happen, especially if you have a team that has the personnel that Appalachian State has.

It’s all about emotion, who you think you are and who you think they are. Sometimes coaches can do everything perfectly and not have their team totally ready to play against a team.

On the transitions between classes

The I-AA to I-A transition has been the toughest transition for us. Division II to I-AA wasn’t as tough. We got a lot of players in recruiting through the I-A transfer. The program at App State has been around for a long time. The I-A transition is the most difficult when you transition, especially without a conference which we tried to do without a conference.

What he thinks about going to Florida

I don’t think our kids will be intimidated. We hope we’ll be well-prepared and have a way to scheme and compete with the Gators. I think our guys will be excited to play and look forward to playing the Gators. THey’re an awfully good, well personnel, well-coached football programs, but we’re going in there - they’ll probably have their guard up even more based on what happened last week.

We can’t be living off what happened to Michigan ... (Florida has) a lot of speed on defense, a great quarterback and tremendous skill on offense. The Wolverines and Appalachian State is history.

I think there was too many questions about App State-Michigan, but it was good exposure for Troy.

On another note, I went 15-1 in the fearless forecasters in the Dothan Eagle, going into Week 2 with a three-game lead over whoever is in second place. Last year I was tied for last and in 2005, I held last place all by myself. Lost in the emotion of going 8-0 in the college games (my only loss was high school - Houston County beat Ashford and I had predicted the 4A Yellow Jackets to beat the 2A Lions, which didn’t happen) was losing my lead in Fantasy NASCAR. Oh well.

Tuesday morning

Drew Champlin

Was just on the radio with Barry “Touchdown Men of Troy” McKnight and John Longshore out of Montgomery AM 970. Here’s some highlights:

Omar Haugabook will play. If he doesn’t play, it won’t be because of his thumb. It was the size of a baseball Saturday night, but he was throwing and completing with accuracy passes yesterday in practice. I’m sure it didn’t feel 100 percent, but he’s tough, and it will be better Saturday.

The special teams needs to improve. Seven-yard punts can’t happen, and kickoff coverage must be better.

Florida’s fast. Real fast. I think Tim Tebow’s going to be a star in the SEC but he’s yet to see a real defense for a full 60 minutes. No offense to the Hilltoppers, but they’re no Appy State.

Today’s links. Here’s my notebook on the special teams needing more consistency with other notes at the bottom.

Check out Media General brethren Andy Staples’ blog of the Tampa Tribune. Here’s some notes from the Trib.

From the Miami Herald, Riley Cooper had a big day Saturday.

From the Sun-Sentinel, Percy Harvin is fast, but now he’s more polished.

From the St. Pete Times, Urban Meyer says not to take Troy lightly.

Here’s some notes from the Orlando Sentinel.

From the Palm Beach Post, Meyer isn’t happy with the defense.

A good column from the Gainesville Sun on how the Troy sandwich might not taste very good. Also a good story from the Sun on Troy standing tall. Kudos to the Sun for sending a reporter 5 hours to Troy to do some coverage. You don’t see that much in newspapers anymore.

Omar Haugabook

September 03, 2007

Drew Champlin

In the few minutes of practice I saw after finishing my daily work, Omar Haugabook was throwing with the quarterbacks in a drill where 5 QBs get snaps, and 5 WRs run different routes all at once.

He didn’t look any different than he ever has, so I imagine that’s a good thing.

Offensive line grades

Drew Champlin

It’s always interesting to find these. They’re in the game notes.

Dion Small was outstanding, (85 plays, 77 pluses, 7 knockdowns - grade 91)
Here’s the rest
Steven Adams (45 plays, 38 pluses, 84 grade, 1 penalty)
Wes Potter (40 plays, 32 pluses, 80 grade)
Chris Jamison (85 plays, 1 penalty, 78 grade)
Danny Franks (85 plays, 63 pluses, 5 knockdowns, 74 grade)
Will Chambliss (60 plays, 40 pluses, 67 grade)
Tyler Clark (25 plays, 11 pluses, 44 grade)

Small, Jamison and Franks played the whole game. Steven Adams played well in pretty much his first action. Tyler Clark’s grade is low but he’s a walk-on who last year was battling the Mountain Brooks of the world. The OL should get Steven Merkel back. Tyrell Curtis is a guy who could sneak into the rotation.

Monday quick hits

Drew Champlin

In Troy doing some work. Usually for Tuesday I’ve got a big notebook, and tomorrow nothing will change. It will lead with special teams.

Larry Blakeney on the new offensive line, which gave up only one sack and that was very early in the game.

“It’s an 11-man deal when it comes to protecting the quarterback. As far as the load of the offensive line, I thought they did an admirable job for the first time out.”

I talked to Tony Franklin just a second ago and he said right tackle Dion Small played the best. Right guard Steven Merkel should be available Saturday (ankle), and I guess he’ll split snaps with Wes Potter.

Blakeney on punter Adrian Vera, who struggled with a 25-yarder and a 7-yarder in his first appearance.

“We think this guy can be even a great college punter if he continues to work. He’s got to block out all that noise. We’ve got other avenues to take, but we’re not interested in those. He’s our punter.”

Of the defensive line, Blakeney said defensive tackle Chris Bradwell was probably the best (I’ve got a feature on him later this week), with Steve McClendon close behind. Dion Gales “played a number of snaps, not error-free, but he played hard.”

Kickoff coverage was the worst thing of the night. Special teams coach Shayne Wasden said a lot of young guys with speed and tackling ability were on the kick cover team when Felix Jones ran one back 90 yards, and there will be some replacements there. The last time Troy had a kickoff return for a TD against them was in 2003, when Laurence Maroney of Minnesota did it. Maroney was my first-round pick in my fantasy NFL Draft a couple of weeks ago.

The linebackers didn’t play very well - maybe I overrated them in my team rankings this morning. Shows how much I know about football.

“Marcus (Richardson) played well. The Legend (Boris Lee) played well in the middle. Some of those other young men have got to get better. One guy can ruin the efforts of 10 others. That’s why we call this the ultimate team sport.”

On Florida’s environment at “The Swamp”

“It’s full, No. 1. No. 2, it’s loud. It’s right on top of you. You don’t start a fight unless you want a fight. There’s going to be one if you start one. They have great football fans who try to be the 12th man. When they want to be loud, they’ll make your ears hurt. I’ve coached in games there that even if you wore a headset, your ears hurt for 24 hours.”

That’s it for now. Once I empty out the quote book later this week, I’ll share what I don’t use in stories.