Elvis Akpla and MSU's veteran receivers help coaches evaluate secondary position battles in Wednesday's scrimmage
Photo by: Kelly Gorham
CATS IN CAMP: Day Twelve
8/17/2011 8:49:00 AM | Football
Bobcats stage second major scrimmage on Wednesday
Rob Ash knows he sounds like a broken record. And he can't help it.
“I say this all the time, but we have to evaluate the running game,” Montana State's fifth-year head coach said of the team's major scrimmage slated for Wednesday afternoon at 4 pm. “We have to evaluate tackling, because we can really only do that in scrimmages. We'll keep a close eye on DB's tackling in the open field.”
In addition to gauging his team's response to full-contact situations, Ash said the Bobcat coaching staff will be closely evaluating the team's performance in game-like situations Wednesday. “We had too many penalties Saturday morning,” Ash said. “We've talked to the team about cleaning that piece up.”
The days after Wednesday's scrimmage also mark the beginning of prime time for the Bobcat coaching staff in the process of whittling the current 94-man roster into a depth chart in preparation for the season opener September 1 at Utah.
“The film of that scrimmage will tell us a lot (about the team's personnel configuration),” Ash said. “We'll probably post a depth chart on Thursday.”
Three secondary positions – the cornerback opposite Darius Jones and to some degree both safety spots – along with the third linebacker position and running back enter prime time in terms of depth chart evaluations. “We're pretty settled at most positions,” Ash said, “but the ones that are unsettled are important positions.”
Ash also said that as the team hits the dog days of camp, with the excitement of the beginning of camp deep in the rear view mirror and game preparation still a ways away, depth is beginning to emerge. That evaluation continues during Wednesday's scrimmage.
“The (second team) offensive line is making progress with Ben (Tauanuu) getting back (from his leg injury), and Quinn Catalano is playing well,” Ash said. “That two O-line might match up a little better (with the Bobcat defensive line) right now than it has. We have a good idea what Cody Kirk can do, so we'd like to get a good look at Tray (Robinson), and we'll try to get a better evaluation of Kerry Sloan and CJ Palmer.”
Ash said Wednesday's session will be more game-like that last week's scrimmage. “I think we'll just play and play and play for a while,” he said. “At the end we'll do some four-minute and two-minute situations at the end, and I wouldn't be surprised if we do some work in the red zone.”
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