Spring
Preview
2008
Independent Spring Football Previews
By
Pete Fiutak
-
2007 Independent Spring Analysis
-
2008
Early Lookaheads -
Independents
Army
Spring Practice
Begins: March 19 Game: April 12
The early spring buzz ... The coaching staff isn't panicking, but
it's changing things up after going without a winning
season since 1996. The offense is getting a new look,
although it's unsure what that will be, and the athletic
department is providing a bit of help by wussing, er,
backing out of a few possible tough games for some
easier ones. There are dates at Texas A&M and Rutgers,
and the next most difficult battles will be against Navy
and Air Force. The program is looking for wins, and now
it has to take advantage of the Eastern Michigans and
Louisiana Techs of the world.
The big spring question is ... What exactly is the offense
going to be? Keeping with the times, head coach Stan
Brock will likely move to a spread attack to cater to
the recruiting limitations. It's harder to run a
pro-style offense if you can't get pro-style players,
while the spread works better for Army, who can go after
smaller, quicker linemen and then get the right
quarterback to run things. You don't necessarily need
all-star receivers in the spread, just competent ones,
and Army, who loses Jeremy Trimble, can do that. Now the
big question will be what to do at ...
The most important position to watch is ... Quarterback.
Carson Williams is a 6-3, 210-pound bomber who was
supposed to transform the Army attack when he arrived on
the scene a few years ago. He struggled with
interceptions, David Pevoto was more effective, and now
the offense appears to be changing. Williams isn't a
spread offense passer, but at the very least he could be
a great option to keep involved when the team needs to
go to the air in comeback mode. The hype will be around
Paul McIntosh, Indiana's Mr.
Football and the perfect prospect to run the spread.
Will he be ready in time for Temple? What will the
coaching staff do with Williams?
Spring attitude... Just start winning. The defense has to
replace most of its most productive players, the offense
loses Trimble, it's only playmaker, and has to find a
running game of some sort, but there's plenty of
optimism that with the right changes, a few more
victories can be had with the light schedule. Of course,
all the average teams on the slate are going to pencil
in Army as a win.
Is Army's Carson Williams able to play a role
considering he was supposed to be the program's star
quarterback a few years ago?
From
Don Yates, ArmySports.com
The big question is what kind of offense will Army
head coach Stan Brock install. We are pretty sure it'll be some kind of
option offense but not sure which. The rumor mill is that it will be the
spread option similar to what Florida runs. Carson Williams is more of a
drop back passer and may not be suited for any kind of option. In
February Army signed 5 quarterbacks including Mr. Indiana Football, Paul
McIntosh, who is a 3-star Scout.com prospect. As a senior McIntosh
completed 146 of 227 passes for 2,292 yards with 22 touchdowns and six
interceptions. He ran 205 times for 1,621 yards and 34 scores in 15
games. The four other quarterback signees also have good
running skills.
Navy
Spring Practice
Begins: March 5 Game: April 7
The early spring buzz ... There really might not be much of a
drop-off in production, if any, in the transition from
Paul Johnson to Ken Niumatalolo.
There's still plenty of speed and athleticism in the
backfield waiting in the wings despite losing Reggie
Campbell and Adam Ballard, while the overall formula
will stay in place. Remember, one of the keys to Navy's
success under Johnson was an easy schedule, and this
year's continues the tradition with Towson, Ball State,
Duke, SMU, Temple, Northern Illinois and Army to deal
with.
The big spring question is ... What's going to change under
Niumatalolo? Not a whole bunch.
He's going with the it-ain't-broke
theory, so he's not going to try to fix anything. One
thing he does have to address is a secondary that got
lit up like a Christmas tree with the nation's worst
pass efficiency defense. The defensive backs actually
weren't that bad, and Rashawn King and Blake Carter are
good corners, but there was no pass rush whatsoever. The
defensive front did nothing, absolutely nothing, to get
to the quarterback, but there's great depth and two
starters back on the front three to hope for more
production so the outside linebackers can get into the
backfield on a regular basis.
The most important position to watch is ... Center. The
Midshipmen don't just need to replace the quarterback on
the line, they have to replace Antron Harper, a
fantastic all-around blocker who could've played for
several much bigger names. Also gone is his backup, Reyn
Kaupiko, so Sander Gossard, who was third on the depth
chart last year, will get a look, or else someone else
needs to slide in. Also a problem is tackle, where Josh
Meek and Paul Bridgers are gone.
Spring attitude... Keep everything rolling. The athleticism
is still there, Niumatalolo did a great job recruiting,
especially getting Kriss Proctor, a tailor-made option
quarterback, and the schedule isn't that bad. This is
still Navy, so the overall talent level is still going
to be far, far less than almost everyone else in D-I,
but as long as the scheme is still working, and it will,
there's no reason to not go to another bowl.
Notre Dame
Spring Practice
Begins: March 28 Game: April 21
The early spring buzz ... Enjoy 2007 while you can Irish bashers,
because you'll likely have to deal with a major
turnaround. The Irish might not be BCS-good this year,
but the latest recruiting class is loaded, last year's
team has the potential to be night-and-day better with a
little bit of tweaking, and yes, this is a great
coaching staff. Remember, last year's offense, as
abysmal as it was, had to start six underclassmen with
more in almost all the key backup roles.
The big spring question is ... Will the line be able to
protect the quarterbacks? Jimmy Clausen and Evan
Sharpley could be Tom Brady and Peyton Manning and they
still wouldn't have had much success behind a porous
line that led the nation in sacks allowed. It's not like
the Irish faced a who's who of attacking, pass rushing
defenses; the line was simply awful. But don't forget,
the line was lousy when Brady Quinn was under center,
too, but he was a veteran who was able to get rid of the
ball in a hurry along with the pounding he took. Left
tackle Sam Young is a talent, and all five starters
return up front, so the potential is there for
experience to turn into production. It has to.
The most important position to watch is ... Quarterback. Is
it going to be Clausen, everyone's No. 1 recruit last
year, or is Sharpley the better overall option to build
around, or is new hotshot recruit Dayne Crist the main
man? There's no quarterback controversy, at least for
the time being; Clausen is the Notre Dame starting
quarterback. It's his job, he's the one, he's the
franchise. Sharpley is No. 2, but as Charlie Weis showed
last year, he's not above making a big change when
needed. Crist is the third man in the mix, but he'll get
a few chances to compete this summer. However, Weis has
said he'd rather not play Crist this year and would just
go with his two veterans.
Spring attitude... Rebound. Weis has relinquished the
play-calling duties to focus on the entire team, and now
he's focusing more on what he can do for the entire
team. The time off at the end of last year might
actually be a good thing considering it allowed everyone
a chance to take a deep breath and start anew, and now
with a far more experienced team returning, anything
less than a decent bowl will be a unacceptable. However,
the team is about a year away from being really, really
good again.
