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Cobblestone
April 26th, 2008, 06:58 PM
Nice afternoon for two hours (1-3) on a beautiful sunny day. First the day starts with the P.A. announcer asking all to please stand for the National Anthem. Funny thing is there was no flag flying and no URI band. So I figured they'd have a recorded version. Well, the recorded music didn't work so we in crowd did it acapella style. I might add that we sounded pretty good.

I always have a tough time writing about a spring game, if a second team QB throws 3 TD passes do you credit that QB or do you chastise your secondary. If a DB picks off a pass do you say that your secondary looks good or do you start to wonder about your QB? Anyway, here is what I observed:

1. Our offense looks quite different this year. Much more passing and more spread out.

2. Given the fact that our offense will be throwing more I can already see that we'll have a new QB this fall. D.J. Stefkovich threw for 3 TD passes and 317 yards. He looked quite comfortable in the pocket and could scramble if needed. I think Derek Cassidy (our starter for the past 3 seasons) looked uncomfortable with this style offense. He threw a couple of INT's. I don't think there is any question who won the job today.

3. A nice surprise on offense was Michael Okunfolami. He rushed for 66 yards and showed the ability to turn the corner quickly.

4. Due to the new style of our offense many of our WR's were catching the ball for the first or second time in their college career. I expected a ton of dropped passes. I did see some but overall I think our receiving crew did a good job. Nice to see Bob Griffin back on the sidelines working with them.

5. Our running game looks pretty solid. In addition to Okunfolami, I saw some good hard running from Anthony Ferrer and Jimmy Hughes. For some reason Joe Casey did not play. I don't know why not, perhaps his injuries from last season are still nagging him. But he didn't play in the spring game last season either so I am not too worried about it.

6. Defense is a bit of a concern. I saw probably our best tackler Jeff Ball go down early with an injury; not good.

7. A few good pops from the secondary but nothing spectacular.

8. Pass rush was a little slow.

9. Most of the alignments seemed pretty vanilla; to be expected for a spring game along with no blitzes. We seem a little small on defense, hopefully some creative alignments and blitzes will make up for that as the season goes on.

10. Kicking game looks strong. Pedro Belinchon can kick, no question about that.

After the game the team lined up on the 50 yard line and Rizzi grabbed the mic and thanked the fans who attended. He then handed out awards. One thing I noticed about this was the players stood in formation with their helmets on; almost militarily. You NEVER saw discipline like that when Stowers was the coach. And it was nice to not see Stowers' kid on the sideline with his helmet off looking in the stands and joking with his friends.

One thing is for sure, Rizzi is a hard-nosed guy who has this team disciplined. I don't expect too much this season because he has to clean up after Stowers and then rebuild but I really do think we are headed in the right direction.

Monarch History
April 26th, 2008, 07:04 PM
It sounds like Rizzi has the Rams headed in the right direction. xthumbsupx I look forward to seeing the Rams play in Williamsburg on October 25th.

Cobblestone
April 26th, 2008, 07:10 PM
The URI web site says Okunfolami is a transfer? Does anyone know from where?


I think that's an error. According to the roster he is a Freshman from LaSalle Academy. Although he didn't look like a Freshman out there today.

Cobblestone
April 26th, 2008, 08:00 PM
I think he might have played at a prep school in Conn?

I would think so judging by his performance.

Cobblestone
April 26th, 2008, 08:04 PM
You're right bdfan. He played at LaSalle Academy in 2005. He played for Canterbury in '06. Here are his numbers; impressive.

http://www.maxpreps.com/FanPages/Player.mxp/AreaID-27bed942-9fd3-4165-afd9-f36edaea45aa/AthleteID-786ccfd8-cf40-4569-8008-a1abe0c1bc2c/SchoolID-d72aac62-057b-415c-9aae-4cd16c154c1f/Boys_Varsity_Football_Fall_06-07/Connecticut

Bos8
April 27th, 2008, 01:46 PM
Thanks for the info. I stopped by towards the end. It was refreshing to see the ball in the air. Hopefully Stefkavoich starts. He has a very strong arm and good mobility. One of his biggest problems last year was holding on to the ball too long, whether it be a pass or the option play. Hopefully he improves upon that with increased playing time. It was good to see WR Nick Del Grasso catch a few passes. He has good size, but was not on the team this past season. I think he caught a touchdown pass or two in the spring game two seasons ago. The secondary should be fairly weak with the graduation of AO and El-Amin. Hopefully people like Rob Damon and Matt Hanson step up and have good seasons. I am expecting big things out of LB Steve Weedon next year. He commited to West Virginia out of high school, but had to go to prep school. He is athletic and has good size. He looked good in part time action last season, and should be given the starting spot this season.

Ram Ball
April 28th, 2008, 05:24 PM
Good stuff. Thanks for the recap, Cobblestone.