Hookem2147

A few practice notes from Alex Dunlap on OB

A buddy and I were talking this morning and trying to remember the big storylines from camp last year (aside from all the Arch stuff) to compare to last year. I went back and re-read some of what was being reported/said in the 2025 fall camp thread in early August: Wingo got severely dehydrated during the first practice and missed a good chunk of time Mosely's mysterious injury DJ Campbell got a concussion early and missed time Backup QB talk, Owens vs Caldwell There was a lot of talk about Guilbeau's position and if he would move to corner (should have been a red flag for the season that we started that guy at corner) Lots of CJ Baxter and Christian Clark return from injury talk. Bobby reported a year ago at this time that Baxter was moving like he was pre-injury. Lots of Parker Livingston jokes (CTJ was right all along) Bobby posted an article on August 6, 2025 raving about Graceson Littleton. Listed him as the #1 freshman performer during camp. Nick Brooks as #2. Lance Jackson #3. Jeff Howe dropped this jinx

Are you aware of a school where transfers arrive in the summer and have already mastered the playbook?

Maybe it's just me, but I feel like every damn year Missouri or Tennessee finds themselves 24th or 25th in a preseason poll and proceeds to do very little before somehow ending the year ranked in the exact place they started.

I would think they will be on the hunt for a senior eval or two at LB. Same for safety, maybe? And perhaps a flier take at OT since we've been a little light on numbers there the last few cycles.

I was really surprised when Sumrall didn't retain Juluke, especially given Juluke's background in Louisiana and Sumrall's time at Tulane. If I remember right, Florida's RB coach search took a while, and they interviewed Chad Scott.

I wonder if the recent court ruling could impact the roster at all. I saw South Carolina got a commitment yesterday from someone who got an extra year. From our current team, I think the ruling would apply to a guy like Max Grubbs and everyone’s favorite player Jayden Duplantier.

One of the funnier 9.95 updates I've seen courtesy of Anwar Richardson earlier today. OB must really be struggling for team sources to be passing this along as inside info. -The battle between KJ Lacey and Dia Bell for the backup quarterback spot will resume when training camp begins next week. I was told nothing has been determined yet, even though Lacey is expected to enter training camp the same way he exited spring football: the No. 2 quarterback behind Arch Manning. According to those close to the situation, Lacey and Bell both performed well this summer, and the staff expects strong competition throughout training camp. -I was told Lacey's biggest strength is throwing without defensive pressure. Basically, Lacey is like most quarterbacks who thrive when the pocket is clean and don't have to progress beyond their second read. I was told Lacey throws a "pretty ball" in those situations. However (as you know), the real test comes when the bullets are flying, and that's an area where the staff wants Lacey to improve. Again, Lacey is a young quarterback, and there is no level of panic inside the building (Manning also struggled under pressure during the first half of last season). It's simply an area that needs to be cleaned up.

That would be really impressive considering only 2 teams averaged over 40 last year (Notre Dame and North Texas). The highest SEC team was Vandy at 37.9 PPG. I have a feeling we are going to see PPG drop-offs for a lot of SEC teams, since all 16 teams are trading a layup 40+ point non-conference game in favor of a 9th conference game.

At minimum, the position player depth should be much better in '27, especially in the outfield. Borba, Mendoza, Rodriguez, Pack, Armstrong, Brennan, Solitaria, Garcia, Lugo and Goldenetz were all starters last season. So 10 guys with starting experience + any impact freshman. Much better spot than when Maddox Monsour and Cal Early were backing up multiple spots most of last season.

I find it pretty hard to believe Sark or PK felt so much booster pressure to hire a specific position coach that they couldn’t have stepped in with their own preferred option(s) and done something else. Nansen worked with Akina at Arizona. It’s a lot more believable that he championed Akina than guys writing checks demanded his return.

I think the problem was it felt like he was a dude with 30+ years of coaching experience who somehow had no DB coaching rolodex outside of Jimmy Lake. So when a position coach would leave (Joseph/Gideon), which happens frequently with good college football programs, you were just left hoping whatever hire Sark made for him would mesh or we were screwed. I’m also not suggesting you just outsource position coach hiring to a coordinator, the head coach should be very involved and have final say, but preferably your $2 million a year DC has some idea of what he is looking for in a secondary coach and can communicate that to the head man.

Fair, it wasn't good, but relative to his overall season performance, his game against Texas was a high point.

We had some great DBs in 2024, but we also caught some huge breaks with the QBs we faced. 3 G6 creampuffs Davis Warren for Michigan Backup Michael van Buren for Miss State Backup Michael Hawkins for OU Third stringer Austin Warner for Florida Backup Cutter Boley for Kentucky Marcel Reed (who started the year as a backup) Even got to face backup Gunnar Stockton for a half in the SEC title game Compare that to this year's schedule, where even our 2 easy OOC games feature QBs (Brad Jackson and Owen McCown) who could be invited to an NFL training camp down the road.