How About Some Updates on The Team

[Panther FANatic]

Please any word on anything going on in camp, battles, studs, etc?

[Panther FANatic]

Wow nothing like replying to my own thread

With all of the insiders on this board there isn't one person who can give us an update on the team?

[Matt Trump]

What I've heard:

Lewis is the real deal and will be freaking stud at RB

The new receivers are impressive

We need some depth at FB and TE

Defense is looking good. The DBs are going to be the best group they've had in awhile.

Practices have been some of the most physical in a long time. Farley is not letting and trying to push this team to the next level.

[jegbomb52]

I will have an elaborate post regarding the team on Sunday night. I am spending Saturday and Sunday on the practice field.

[PurpleCatFan]

will the team be holding a scrimmage this Saturday morning?

[joecooll6]

Which Lewis are you talking about?

[Matt Trump]

Which Lewis are you talking about?

Corey Lewis.

[OH BABY! I luv this team!]

I was at the scrimmage at Wartburg on Thursday night and here are a couple of things I saw. First of all, they held the "private" scrimmage at Wartburg to get on the field turf that Drake has and also to get under the lights to simulate playing conditions as close as possible to what they will play in at Drake. There were less than a dozen people at the scrimmage so they somehow were able to keep it very quite as to when it was. Corey Lewis looks VERY good, very quick and could have a big year running the football behind that "O" line.

Speaking of the "O" line, UNI is big, strong and deep at this position and put up a protective wall for the QB's whenever they wanted to throw and opened up some great holes for the RB when they kept it on the ground.

Whitney Lewis participated in this scrimmage and he looked good. If you haven't seen him yet, he is a little bigger "terrance Freeney" in looks, but seems faster and quicker than Terrance, I was very impressed with him, he ran hard and had some GREAT moves and vision, or so it appeared; I think we have a great tandem of backs this year with Lewis and Lewis and Co.!!!!

Terrell Allen, the WR from Pitt did not scrimmage. He must be nursing some kind of minor injury. WR Victor Williams looked very good. Bigger receiver who can catch the ball and knows what to do with it when he does. Thought James Lindgren was sharp at WR also. Curt Bradley did not scrimmage due to the broken finger, he was running a few pass patterns in warm ups and catching the pass's one handed!

Other than SR Ross Hannem we are young at TE, Austin Howard is back as a soph, then it is redshirt freshman and true freshman but I think we will be ok there. It appears coach farley has a couple of TE he likes to throw to and then a couple of others when it is a running situation he likes to use.

Sanders was Sanders. If he stays healthy he has a shot at being the 1-AA Player of the year, he just has so much poise and savy and controls and runs that offense like nobody else! That O line should give him plenty of time to pick apart defenses when UNI throws and help take the pressure off of the passing game because the running game should be there too! Panther fans need to make sure they really enjoy Eric the next two years at QB because he really is something special. You hear some of the older UNI fans talk about Mike Smith and Bill Salmon when they QB UNI, well, I think this generation of Panther fans will do the same with Eric Sanders.

Defense was solid, I like the LB that are back and that was one area I was really concerned about but Justin Kirk, Dave Schratzs and Brannon Carter did a good job. They were rotating a number of guys in the D line so it was hard to tell how well that went and unless you sit and watch on film that is one area very tough to break down just watching it at game speed. At times it appeared UNI wasn't very big up front and at other times we did look big so it just depends on who they play there. Getting a good rush on the QB will be important this year for that D line but our O line seemed to protect the QB really well in this scrimmage.

UNI's starters at DB are excellent. They did give up one long TD pass when a DB bit on a pump and go and Sanders hit his WR for a long TD pass but they looked good most of the scrimmage. I am not sure if we have alot of depth at that position but most 1-AA teams don't. Dokes, Cooper, Parsons and Tharp are solid!

Getting back to the Offense, I didn't think the transfer QB from Minnesota looked comfortable yet when he was in there. At times seemed to hang on to the football too long on pass plays and tucked and ran a little soon on others. We will get better and get more comfortable with the system as QB coach Mario V. will groom him over the next few years. Nick Nelson would most likely be the back up QB early on and he seemed to do a nice job running the offense when he was in there.

Kicking game is a real positive this year. Wingert was booming them and punter Kos was too!

I want to get back to the O Line for a just moment. We are deep there, deep as the grand canyon, to start the season! five starters back and two D-1A transfers who appear to be absolute studs backing up the front five. Brandon Keith from Okla and Jason Fiacco from Iowa State would be starting in the O line for any other team in our league, and maybe any other team in D-1AA. Those two will be pushing the starters ahead of them and that is always good. There are a couple of other guys backing up the starters that looked good so the O line is not only very good but appears to be very deep. Also, UNI is going to look VERY IMPRESSIVE when they take the field!

The Panthers are HUGE, we have a number of guys who look like NFL players in their uniforms. The likes of Everett P., Brandon Keith, Austin Howard to just name a few, UNI looks bigger and stronger than ever; I am not sure how many games this team will win but if nothing else we are going to "look" very very impressive when we take the field! When you see this years team in uniform for the first time see if you don't agree with me!

Staying healthy will be a key as always and I think another big key for this team is team chemistry. Last years team really came together, they were a unit, one heart beat, and now this team must unite and be the same. There are a number of D-1A transfers who have to get comfortable with their role and this team and if they come together and all play with that one goal in mind, and that is to win each every saturday and win a Gateway Conference title, get back to the playoffs and get back to the NCAA D-1 National Championship Subdivsion Game than this team will take us all "on a ride to remember"!

That is my personal take on the team so far, tune into my sports talk show "On Press Row with The Sports Guy Gary Rima" on NEWSTALK 1540 KXEL Monday through Friday from 5pm to 6pm and I will keep you updated on there also!

[PurpleCatFan]

Thanks for the update

WOW! What a great inside update to the Panthers of 06!
The O-line sounds like the real deal! When you have a QB as good as Sanders you want to have the type of line to protect him and it sound like we have. The running game sounds solid as well. How does the RB from Iowa Central (Williams) look? Also are we going to have a FB to replace what Garrett did last year since he is now a DE? The FB position is very important in helping protect the QB and open the holes for the running game. If you recall last year Garrett also came up with some big catches since Sanders has a knack to find all receivers.

The D-Line to me I think is the key this season. We need to have a pass rush to replace what Hermann did last year as well as the size to stop the run at the line. Do we have good depth at the D-Line position?

[ubuntuCAT]

Great update thanks a lot

[Dome fan]

Boy I can hardly wait! Just nine more days!

[Panther FANatic]

Gary Rima

Your the man Gary, you are definately a favorite of mine in my extended Panther family!

[Marc Wigim]

Well done sir, that's incredibly helpful. I love the work you're doing!

[beamout2000]

Just wanted to wish you guys good luck this year. I sure would like to see another UNI-Texas State playoff game in December. We too are looking forward to a good season. Our defense will be better even with the loss of Fred Evans who is tearing it up with the Miami Dolphins. The offense is unproven as of yet although it has looked strong at times during scrimage games, but still has some nagging timing issues and accuracy problems in the passing game at this point. We are however fully stocked with powerful running backs and have a killer kicking game. I wish you guys luck against Drake in the opener and especially against Iowa State. Our 1-A game this year is against Kentucky on September 9th.

[UNI Prof]

How has the USC transfer looked?