College football spring practice is wrapping up across the
country, and there was a huge slate of spring games on Friday and Saturday,
including at Alabama, Notre Dame, Oklahoma and Ohio State. Here are some early
overreactions and takeaways from Friday and Saturday's top games.
OKLAHOMA
SOONERS
In his playing debut as a Sooner, quarterback Jalen Hurts
delivered an impressively crisp performance, leading his Red squad to a 35-14
victory over the White on Friday in Oklahoma's spring game.
Hurts set the tone on his first pass, opening the scrimmage
with a 33-yard completion to Nick Basquine
rolling to the right, which set up a touchdown. Two possessions later, Hurts
came right back and led the Red on another scoring drive, capping it with a
6-yard touchdown to running back Kennedy
Brooks off a swing pass.
All told, Hurts completed 11 of 14 passes for 174 yards
while adding a rushing touchdown. Not that it should've been surprising, but
the Alabama transfer was collected, poised and in command throughout the night.
Coach Lincoln Riley has yet to declare Hurts his starter.
After Friday, that appears to be mere formality.
ALABAMA
CRIMSON TIDE
A year ago, Alabama had perhaps the most overqualified
backup quarterback ever in Jalen Hurts.
Now that Hurts has moved on to Oklahoma, the question turns to who would
replace Tua
Tagovailoa in the event of an injury. Mac Jones was
the answer on paper entering the spring, given his experience, and on Saturday,
he solidified his standing. Granted, the redshirt sophomore threw one bad
interception early, but overall, he showed good command of the offense, completing
19 of 23 passes for 172 yards and two touchdowns.
That wasn't the case for the freshmen. Freshmen Paul Tyson --
the great-grandson of Bear Bryant -- and Taulia
Tagovailoa -- the younger brother of Tua -- have potential, but
as Nick Saban noted during the telecast, they're lagging behind in terms of
understanding coverages and where to go with the football. That will come with
time, of course, but for now, it means Alabama's safety net remains Jones.
OHIO STATE
BUCKEYES
All the particular gears and rods of Ohio State's offense
are not yet in place at the end of spring practice. It's clear, though, that
Ryan Day's Buckeyes are going to have the athletes and the attack-minded
attitude needed to strike quickly. After a sleepy first quarter Saturday, the
Buckeyes' starting group scored five straight touchdowns on its defense. All
five scores came on drives of less than three minutes, and three of them came
in less than 60 seconds.
Georgia transfer Justin Fields connected
with Binjimen
Victor for a 98-yard score on one fast drive. Freshman receiver
Garrett Wilson showed why folks in Columbus are drooling over his potential by
snatching a fade route over a defender's head to finish another speedy scoring
drive. As in all spring games, it's impossible to say if touchdowns are the
sign of a good offense or a bad defense. But it's clear after Saturday's game
that Ohio State's offense will be at its best when it's moving fast.
NOTRE DAME
FIGHTING IRISH
Notre Dame's post-2016 renaissance has been defense-driven,
but the Fighting Irish are primed to flex on offense more this fall. That is,
if they can stay healthy.
The drop-off from Notre Dame's first-team offense to its
reserve unit stood out in Saturday's spring game. Top quarterback Ian Book triggered
two quick touchdown drives, completing his first six attempts and displaying
the efficiency (16-of-21 passing, one touchdown, no interceptions) that defined
him in 2018. He also showed greater patience in the pocket, finding Michael Young
for a 12-yard score. "He had complete control of our offense," Coach
Brian Kelly said.
There's more concern about backup signal-caller Phil Jurkovec,
who completed 15 passes for 135 yards under constant duress. Kelly said Jurkovec
has "too much going on right now" and needs to release the ball more
quickly and make things easier on himself. "It was a helpful day. It was
terrible for me, but at least it was helpful," Jurkovec said.
The defense recorded 15 "sacks," needing only to
touch quarterbacks, and 21 tackles for loss, most of which came against the
second-team offensive line. Julian Okwara and Khalid Kareem showed
why they'll be among the nation's top pass-rushing tandems.
MICHIGAN
WOLVERINES
Michigan's spring game was more of a public practice than a
game, but it gave viewers a glimpse of the new offense.
Josh Gattis was hired as the offensive coordinator, and we
have heard about his speed-in-space mentality but haven't actually seen it. The
biggest difference, from what was presented in the form of a small scrimmage,
was the tempo and no-huddle between plays. Last season, Michigan was often slow
to run offensive plays, but that was so evidently different with Gattis that
quarterback Dylan
McCaffrey talked about making sure his endurance is up to keep
up with the new tempo.
The offense lived up to its premise of speed in space,
getting wide receivers Ronnie Bell and
Mike Sainristil some big opportunities in the passing game. If this is what
Michigan's new offense will look like during the season, it will be a big
change from what we saw last season.
TEXAS
LONGHORNS
Tom Herman has hauled in consecutive top-10 recruiting
classes the past two years, and even though weather disrupted the Longhorns'
spring game to the point of making the offense nearly nonexistent, there were
enough flashes from some of the freshmen and sophomores to give Texas fans some
excitement headed into the fall.
Jordan
Whittington, the ESPN 300 athlete from Cuero (Texas), showed some
potential at running back, being productive as a runner and receiver. Defensive
backs Kobe Boyce and Jalen Green made
plays (Boyce had an interception; Green had a big-time hit on Whittington), and
redshirt freshman quarterback Casey
Thompson used his speed to rush for 47 yards and a touchdown as
he assumes the backup quarterback job behind Sam Ehlinger.
The freshman and sophomore classes are certainly poised to contribute this
season.
AUBURN TIGERS
Don't get too carried away with what you saw Saturday. When
it's the first-team offense going against the second-team defense, you have to
grade on a curve. That said the play of the quarterbacks has to come under
close inspection. Malzahn said it was a wide-open race to replace Jarrett
Stidham, but it doesn't look that way now.
Joey Gatewood and Bo Nix are
clearly a cut above Malik Willis and Cord Sandberg.
Nix, in particular, looked sharp, especially when you consider that he's a true
freshman. He completed 11 of 16 passes for 155 yards, two touchdowns and no
interceptions in his first live action in front of fans at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
Don't sleep on Gatewood, though. He has the edge in terms of experience, with a
year already in the program, and he played well, too, with 123 yards, two
touchdowns and no interceptions on 7-of-10 passing.
FLORIDA
GATORS
Dan Mullen delivered on his promise of a trick-filled spring
game, with cameos from Gators legends Lito Sheppard and Chris Doering. But what
really stood out was the continued growth of Feleipe
Franks, who looked sharp and poised and played with a different
energy now that he is the definitive starter at quarterback. It is always hard
to read too much into what amounts to a scrimmage, but Franks is light-years
ahead of where he was at this time a year ago.
In one half leading the Orange team, he went 13-of-18 for
327 yards with four touchdowns. His lone interception was a pick-six to
Sheppard, on which the receivers were told to let Sheppard have it. Trevon Grimes (195
yards receiving, two touchdowns) and Kadarius
Toney (94 yards receiving, 40 passing yards, one receiving
touchdown) had big days, too, and given all the skill players the Gators return
at running back and receiver, this offense could get back to the days when it
averaged 40 points per game.
"Feleipe, that's what you've seen out of him this
spring. Using the offense to make plays, knowing how and when to make
plays," Coach Dan Mullen said. "It's good to see him do that in a
game setting
TENNESSEE
VOLUNTEERS
With several new faces on Tennessee's offensive staff, not
to mention some staff shuffling, the Vols looked a bit different on that side
of the ball Saturday in their spring game. Coach Jeremy Pruitt liked what he
saw for the most part, especially the way quarterback Jarrett
Guarantano spread the ball around.
Senior receiver Jauan
Jennings looks as healthy as he has been, and junior
receiver Josh Palmer is
making more contested catches. Jennings, coming off knee surgery a year ago,
had two touchdown catches Saturday. Palmer was named the Vols' most improved
player this spring.
It's still pretty obvious that Tennessee has to get better
in pass protection. Guarantano was sacked four times, and it's not out of the
realm of possibility that the Vols could start two true freshmen at the tackle
positions. Look for new offensive coordinator Jim Chaney to use junior running
back Ty Chandler in
a number of roles and get the tight ends involved. Dominick
Wood-Anderson caught four passes Saturday, including a 7-yard
touchdown.
TEXAS A&M
AGGIES
The Aggies were one of the nation's best teams against the
run last season, and even though they lost a couple key defensive linemen, it
was clear in their spring game on Friday that they have plenty of depth up
front.
The defensive tackle duo of Justin
Madubuike and Bobby Brown looks like a potential
all-conference-caliber tandem that will disrupt opposing offenses consistently
this season. Both are big, strong, physical players. Defensive end Michael
Clemons, who also looks the part, appears to be emerging as a contributor.
On offense, even though Jimbo Fisher has a proven
quarterback (Kellen Mond)
and all of his starting receivers returning, there's some promise in a pair of
true freshmen: quarterback Zach Calzada, who
appears to have all the talent and tools when his time comes, and tight
end Baylor Cupp, who
has the talent to be a productive successor to tight end Jace
Sternberger, who entered the 2019 NFL draft
No comments:
Post a Comment