Notes from Monday’s “Irish Eyes” Drill

UND.com posted the full video of the “Irish Eyes” Drill (the drill in which a defender lines up in front of a blocker and needs to shed the block and tackle a running back).  Here are my observations on the drill with my full notes of each play I could make out on the video after the jump.

• Sam Young didn’t look good at all here.  Justin Brown, Morrice Richardson, and Pat Kuntz all got the better of Young in this drill and I didn’t see him win any battles.
• Chris Stewart on the other hand flat out dominated from what I could see.  He flattened Toryan Smith on one play prompting the entire defense to go nuts.
• Speaking of Toryan Smith, his window of opportunity seems to be closing – he didn’t look good in this drill and with all of the young talent at linebacker in the freshman class, he is going to have an up hill battle for playing time.
• Eric Olsen looked pretty good at times.  He and Stewart appear to be our best run blockers thus far.
• Brian Smith looks like he has the strength to play inside linebacker.  He didn’t win every battle, but won more than he lost.
• Hafis Williams looks like he could be a player down the line.  He will need a lot of work on his technique as evidenced by Braxston Cave pancaking him, but he also looked great the next time out against Cave and just swallowed up the running back.
• Ethan Johnson looked quick, but got over powered at times.
• Kerry Neal was another guy who looked really good at times in this drill.
• Paul Duncan, who is battling Michael Turkovich for the LT spot, had his moments.
• Pat Kuntz got stood up a couple of times by Stewart and Olsen.
• Steve Filer and Joseph Fauria had a couple battles with each winning one.

Here is the full play by play of this drill.

• Justin Brown vs. Turkovich: Brown shed the block and gets run over by Schwapp
• Pat Kuntz va. Eric Olsen: Olsen pancakes Kuntz
• Ian Williams vs. Eric Wenger: Wenger pushed back Williams and back runs right by
• Mike Ragone vs. Scott Smtih: Ragone stands him up and Allen flys by
• Kerry Neal vs. Sam Young: Young pushes back Neal
• Paddy Mullen vs. Paul Duncan: Mullen trys to shed the block, gets caught up
• Toryan Smith vs. Robby Parris:  Parris pushes back Smith who can’t shed the block
• Morrice Richardson vs. Matt Romine: Richardson sheds the block but the back ran to the other side right by him
• Emeka Nwankwo vs. Andrew Nuss: The two battle for a draw, but the back gets by
• Kevin Washington vs. Chris Stewart: Stewart pushed Washington back
• Brian Smith vs. Kyle Rudolph:  Smith sheds the block and tried to strip Gallup
• John Ryan vs. Taylor Dever: Ryan throws down Dever and makes the tackle
• Sean Cwynar vs. Eric Olsen: Cywnar battled, but didn’t gain much ground
• Brandon Newman vs. Trevor Robinson: Robinson ends up throwing down Newman
• Steve Filer vs. Joseph Fauria: Filer flew into Fauria but he didn’t budge
• Kalen Wade vs. Lane Clelland:  Clelland held up Wade for a bit, but Wade ended up shedding the block and making the tackle
• Brandon Newman vs. a walkon: Newman sheds the block and makes the stop
• Hafis Williams vs. Braxston Cave: Cave put Williams on the ground
• Steve Quinn vs. Mike Ragone: Ragone pushed Quinn back pretty easily
• Ethan Johnson vs. a walkon: Johnson gets pushed back and the back runs by him
• Ian Williams vs. Dan Wenger: Williams wins the battle, but doesn’t make the stop
• Kerry Neal vs. Turkovich: Neal sheds the block and makes the tackle
• Kuntz vs. Stewart: Stewart wins the battle easily again
• Crum vs. Olsen: Olsen puts Crum on the backside
• Kyle Rudolph vs. Filer: Rudolph pancakes Filer
• Justin Brown vs. Sam Young: Young got beat
• Mullen vs. Duncan: Duncan pushes back Mullen easily
• Toryan Smith vs. Stewart: Stewart absolutely FLATTENED Smith
• Brian Smith vs. Rudolph: Smith threw Rudolph out of the way pretty quickly
• Ethan Johnson vs. Taylor Dever: Dever threw Johnson around a bit
• Sean Cwynar vs Trevor Robinson: Robinson stood up Cwyanr and pushed him back some
• Filer vs Fauria Round 2: Filer throws Fauria out of the way and makes the tackle this time
• Kapron Lewis-Moore vs. Lane Clelland: Clelland pushes Lewis-Moore back
• Hafis Williams vs. Braxston Cave: Williams sheds the block and just engulfed the runner
• Lewis-Morre vs. a walkon: Kapron sheds the block and makes the stop
• Mullen vs.Cave: Mullen false starts and gets a lap penalty
• Newman vs. Cave: Newman battles, but Cave ends up getting the best of him
• Richardson vs. Young: Richardson beats Young  prompting one of the coaches to yell, “Bring your hands Sam”
• Nwankwo vs. Duncan: Duncan pushes Nwankwo back
• Couldn’t tell who it was on put Jonas Gray deliver a SHOT to one of the defenders as he ran  through the drill
• Kuntz vs. Young: Kuntz wins the battle and makes the tackle