HUBERT DISMISSED | LAJ's Don Williams tweeted and reported yesterday that LB Cqulin Hubert was dismissed from the team for violation of team rules. I'm usually always okay with this sort of thing and it seems that Tuberville is willing to give a fairly long leash in terms of allowing players correct mistakes and not kicking them off the team entirely. However, the only players that come to mind are DE Scott Smith and RB Ronnie Daniels, and I believe that Smith's suspension was mandated by the NCAA (i.e. a 12 game suspension) and thus far I don't think that Tuberville has over-reached, but I could be wrong. And I'm fine with a coach asking that players adhere to a code of conduct and I cannot recall another player being dismissed for a violation of team rules. Plenty of players have left the program, but I don't recall this morning a player being dismissed from the team for violation of team rules.
And I'm not too concerned about the timing although Hubert was a good linebacker and I'm thinking that other than LB Daniel Cobb, he was the most experienced, but there were still holes in his game and I don't know that I ever had the time to write about it, I hated the late hit during the Baylor game (I think it was Hubert). This certainly cuts into overall depth on the defense, but if it is a violation of team rules then you have to let the player go.
SCRIMMAGE UPDATE | The only free report this morning is from LAJ's Don Williams, who has a summary and a notebook. The LAJ also has a photo gallery so there's that. It sounds like the offense didn't have that good of a day, QB Seth Doege was less than 50% (10 of 25) for about 70 yards, while QB Michael Brewer had a good completion percentage (13 of 16), he didn't try to complete much deep as he also only had about 70 yards. Just a lot of short stuff. Williams reported that head coach Tommy Tuberville Doege was doing more coaching than playing in working with various new players. I mentioned yesterday that Tuberville said that Brewer would play in games next year and he clarifies it a bit:
"He’ll play some next year," Tuberville said. "We’re going to get him in as much as we possibly can. We’ll probably have a package for him every game — possibly running it, play-action. He’s a guy that can get out of the pocket now and put pressure on a defense."
I'm fine with this and think it's beneficial for Brewer to get some time this year so that he knows what to expect when he's expected to become a full-time starter next year.
In any event, IR/RB Sadale Foster also impressed on offense, but it was the defense that ruled the day, in particular LB Will Smith, who's name has been mentioned a handful of times during the course of these few spring practices:
"Will Smith obviously showed up," Tech coach Tommy Tuberville said. "We knew he was going to make a huge impact early, if he can just continue to learn. He’s got to get stronger. He’s going to be a good leader for us. He got experience playing junior college, and that’s helped him."
You can find some more quotes from Tuberville at both articles, but here's a bit:
"I saw a lot of balls knocked down on the outside by corners," he said. "The thing I think everybody recognized, we were a lot closer to receivers in most situations than we have been in the past. We were able to break on the ball, knock the ball down, and it looked like we challenged receivers a lot more, which was good."