Spring Football 2011
What's Going On? ... Part 1
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2011 Spring Preview
The start of the Muschamp era at Florida
So what did the new Florida coaching staff
show after spring ball? The offense isn't quite
there yet, The Blue beat the Orange 13-10 in a
defensive battle, that was a disaster for QB John
Brantley, who completed 4-of-14 throws for 45 yards.
However, he was reportedly decent throughout spring
ball and is the No. 1 man. It's still going to be a
work in progress to change from the Urban Meyer
spread to what Charlie Weis wants to do, but it
didn't help that the first big showcase for the
passing attack was a dud. There were several injured
players and Brantley didn't have his full attack to
work with, but still, it wasn't a plus on a day when
the school unveiled statues of Tim Tebow, Danny
Wuerffel, and Steve Spurrier.
LSU's offensive star
Just when it seemed like all the focus was
going to be on the fight between Jordan Jefferson
and Zach Mettenberger for the starting quarterback
job, it was running back Spencer Ware who stole the
show. Jefferson was awful completing 4-of-14 throws
for 102 yards with a pick, but the ground game
looked great as Ware tore off 94 rushing yards and
two scores showing the flash and dash in the swampy,
90+ degree heat. Fast, tough, and always making the
right play, Ware served notice that he and banged up
RB Michael Ford might carry the attack. Jefferson,
who's expected to be the starter - at least
according to new offensive coordinator Steve
Kragthorpe - and was better throughout spring ball
in the more simplified offense than he was in the
scrimmage, struggled throwing the ball but he ran
well. Mettenberger completed 5-of-8 passes for 86
yards and Jarrett Lee completed 9-of-14 throws for
63 yards and a pick.
Is Tajh Boyd ready to star for Clemson?
2010 wasn't a down year for the Tigers, but it was a
bit of a disappointment after a program-turning
2009. One of the big problems was the inconsistent
play at quarterback from Kyle Parker, meaning all
eyes were on Tajh Boyd in the spring game. There's
no question who the No. 1 man is, and it's going to
be sink-or-swim time with the big, talented
prospect, but he struggled way too much in the
spring game completing just 8-of-24 passes for 114
yards and a score as he took his Orange team to a
25-13 win. Mobile, Boyd ran for a score, but the
concern wasn't his inaccuracy, it was his inability
to find the right receiver. In a new offensive
system under coordinator Chad Morris. Boyd will be
the talk of the game, but the excitement came from
running backs Roderick McDowell and Demont Buice,
who each ran for over 100 yards and showed that Boyd
isn't going to have to carry the attack.
Oh yeah, Luck is pretty good
Instead of looking for the right house in a
Charlotte suburb, Andrew Luck is still at Stanford
and still looks like the type of player the Carolina
Panthers wished they could be drafting in a few
weeks. New head coach David Shaw put all the first
team offensive stars on one side and the Cardinal
crushed the White 42-3. Luck was razor sharp
throwing three touchdown passes to tight end Zach
Ertz, while backup Josh Nunes showed he could step
in if needed and produce completing 16-of-22 passes
for 165 yards. Okay, so Luck wasn't going to be
touched and he could do whatever he wanted with five
days to throw, it was still a nice sign that the
offense was business as usual with Jim Harbaugh
across town with the Niners.
The BYU offense might be back
Even though the BYU offense was starting to
work late last year, it wasn't enough for head coach
Bronco Mendenhall as he all but kicked out all the
assistants. Some left, some stayed, and quarterback
coach Brandon Doman was moved to offensive to
coordinator. So how did the attack look in spring
ball? If the quarterback play in the game is any
indication, things are getting back to normal.
Mendenhall let the Blue and White teams go to
overtime with Riley Nelson connecting on a fourth
down play before running for a touchdown to pull his
White team within one. Nelson connected with Bryan
Sampson for two and the 18-17 win, but of more
importance was that Nelson was back and solid after
missing half of last year hurt. Nelson completed
8-of-11 passes for 149 yards with a touchdown, while
starter Jake Heaps played well completing 16-of-21
passes for 126 yards. There weren't too many big
plays, but the quarterbacks were far sharper than
they were last year at this time.
Purdue's starting quarterback will be ...
We'll have to wait until fall. Robert Marve
is still getting past a knee injury and didn't see
time in the spring game, so it was up to Rob Henry
and Caleb TerBush, who's back in the mix after being
out last year, to battle it out. Henry completed
8-of-12 passes for 76 yards and a six-yard touchdown
to cement himself as the starter going into the fall
... for now. TerBush is still going to get his
chances to win the job after looking great
completing 16-of-27 passes for 172 yards and a
score, but it's Marve who's the wild card with his
repaired ACL appearing to be healthy enough to allow
him to go full go in a few months.
The Texas quarterback situation
Is Case McCoy going to challenge Garrett
Gilbert for the starting job? The brother of legend,
Colt, completed 9-of-11 throws for 124 yards and a
score, and he moved the ball without much of a
problem against the first teamers. Gilbert wasn't
awful, but he was off completing 8-of-15 passes for
76 yards with a poorly read pick during his
inconsistent day - even though he went against the
twos most of the time - and was shaky enough to open
things up for a real, live quarterback fight later
this summer. The bigger news for the Longhorns was
the play of the defense, and more specifically, Alex
Okafor, who spent the scrimmage sitting on the
quarterbacks' heads registering four sacks.
Defensive coordinator Manny Diaz has made it known
he plans to ramp up the aggressiveness into the
backfield, and it showed. The pressure had something
to do with it, but the passing game sputtered
whenever McCoy wasn't under center. Freshman David
Ash and redshirt freshman Connor Wood didn't get too
much work, and are supposedly still in the hunt for
the job, but come August it'll be McCoy vs. Gilbert.