Thursday, August 17, 2017

Flo By The Numbers

A friend of BGA has dug up a Turf Show Times participation breakdown from the first Los Angeles Rams preseason opener that offers an interesting insight to Dartmouth grad Flo Orimolade's chances to make the roster as an undrafted free agent. Here's the headline:

LA Rams-Dallas Cowboys Playing Time Breakdown: What The Snap Counts Say About The 13-10 Win

The piece lists Flo with 13 snaps at linebacker, representing 20.31 percent of the opportunities he had to be on the field at his position. He was on the field for 14 special teams plays, 46.67 percent of his opportunities in that capacity.

The post concludes:
I’m not going as far to suggest that (linebacker Andy) Mulumba, OL Folarin Orimolade or RB Lenard Tillery are going to make the 53-man roster. But I think it’s clear there’s a path to get there. And this is it.
We’ll have to see how the teams snaps develop over the course of the preseason, but if we’ve got a cluster forming among this group of players, I wouldn’t be shocked at someone to land on the final roster as a ST-only add.
On the flip side for Flo, he gets some mention (and shows up in a video) from the Dallas News SportsDay page after being burned for a TD by a Cowboys tight end. Check it out HERE.
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The Mobile Virtual Player gave Baylor players and coaches a good laugh with its response to losing a race with the football program's operations assistant. Check out the story and video HERE. (Be sure to watch the second video for a great angle on what happened.)

Well, there is expected to be a revenge match between the ops assistant and the MVP on the Tonight Show tonight. Be sure to tune in!

Speaking of Baylor and the MVP, if you check out an SI.com story about tackling in football and keep reading you'll eventually get to this:
Baylor received its first MVP-DRIVE shortly before camp opened this month. The 190-pound dummy (retail price: $8,295) can cover 40 yards in seven seconds, and it can spin 360 degrees to evade a tackler—if the coach or manager handling the remote control has been practicing. “The players look at it like a pop-up dummy,” (Baylor equipment director Jeff Barlow) says. “All of a sudden they see it moving and their eyes get wide.” 
Bears coaches plan to use the battery-powered dummy as a kickoff returner, which would allow coverage team members a rare out-of-game opportunity to make a tackle on that play. The MVP-DRIVE can play other positions as well. “You can use it as a receiver, and a DB reacts off of it,” Barlow says. “It can break on a post. It can do a corner route. It can do a straight go route. That thing hauls butt.”
Preseason FCS Coaches Poll 
1 James Madison (20) 642
2 North Dakota State (2) 618
3 Sam Houston State (3) 577
4 Eastern Washington 525
5 Jacksonville State 493
6 South Dakota State (1) 479
7 Richmond 474
8 Youngstown State 450
9 Villanova 413
10 North Dakota 412
11 Wofford 381
12 The Citadel 333
13 Chattanooga 330
14 Charleston Southern 261
15 Central Arkansas 251
16 New Hampshire 244
17 Lehigh 177
18 Illinois State 149
19 Samford 144
20 Northern Iowa 136
21 Grambling State 133
22 Weber State 102
23 Cal Poly 85
24 North Carolina Central 83
25 North Carolina A&T 78
Others receiving votes: Fordham (63), Albany (62), Western Illinois (54), Montana (51), Northern Arizona (42), McNeese State (34), San Diego (33), Tennessee State (26), Kennesaw State (17), William & Mary (16), HARVARD (16), South Dakota (14), Saint Francis (8), Southeastern Louisiana (7), Dayton (7), Nicholls State (6), PRINCETON (5), Prairie View A&M (5), Colgate (5), Towson (2), Eastern Illinois (2), Southern (2), Southern Utah (2), Mercer (1).

Green Alert Take: Penn?