Preseason practice continued yesterday; here are my thoughts a week in.
- Stephen Garcia's continued struggles are a cause for concern. However, the constant seems to be that Garcia is having accuracy issues. Other than in examples like this one, Garcia appears to be doing much better when it comes to making his reads, doing his progressions, and the other sorts of skills that he had yet to master last year. That bodes well for us. While intuitively one might think that accuracy is a difficult problem to correct, in actuality quarterbacks often show up to camp a little rusty in this regard. "Accuracy" is usually a matter of timing at this level, and Garcia's timing will get better as the week's go on. I'd be more worried if he was still tucking and running every time his first intended receiver was covered. As long as he keeps his head in the game, he'll get it together before N. C. State, I think.
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Aramis Hillary's progress is very promising. This guy sounds like a really hard worker, but I had concerns that his athletic abilities might not measure up to SEC caliber. If his performance ever matches up to his dedication, we might have a potential starting QB on our hands. That's important, because right now the thought of Garcia going down is downright scary because we lack a clear backup. Reid McCollum and Andrew Clifford both have their nights, but they're far from ready.
- I am concerned about the receivers. Other than Weslye Saunders, no one appears to be stepping up. I've heard that receivers are having trouble getting open and have dropped lots of catchable balls. Hopefully it's just rust, but I'll admit I'm more worried about this than I am about Garcia.
- The running game and line play continues to impress. If the passing game gets it together, we could have a Spurrier-esque offense this year.
- The defense has been very good all around. Ellis Johnson and Steve Spurrier have both made comments to the effect that this year's defense may be just as good as last year's. However, we really need to get Akeem Auguste and Addison Williams back on the field. These guys play at perhaps our thinnest position. It's hard to believe our bad luck in that regard.
Arky preview should be up tonight.