[EKUAlum05]

I think Zach Thacker may be my favorite Pirate on this year's team. He is, by no means, a very big kid...but man alive that boy will lay the wood.

WYMT stole my thunder a little because the thing I was most surprised with was the downfield blocking. I can't remember the last time I saw a Belfry team finishing their blocks downfield like that.

I think Thacker and the blocking combined illustrate what I see as this Belfry teams greatest strength. Not only is this team quick and athletic, but I think you are going to see a team who is much more aggressive then your typical Belfry team. These guys with 2 or 3 years of starting experience are very confident and seem to attack on defense instead of reading. Offensively, Carr and Johnson both looked very impressive hitting the hole aggressively and getting their shoulders square and attacking defenders instead of trying to side step them. Even in special teams you see Robinson looking to make a play with the punt returns whereas in years past Belfry was content to let it bounce.

Next week is going to be a whole new world and I am sure some points of concern will arise, but I really liked what I saw.