Spring Scrimmage Review

There were a couple of incoming guys on the sideline.
If I remember the photos from signing day, Austin Horton and David Tachie were there. Both are huge. Tachie is massive. They were talking to a third guy that I didn’t recognize – he wasn’t as easy to peg to a position. There could have been others on the defensive sideline.

Guys who were not dressed out: Darrien Daniels, Jordan Childress, Gilberto Garcia.
And it certainly looked like Jaquon Goodman (linebacker who was listed at WR last season) broke his arm/wrist. Other than that, everyone else seemed to make it out healthy.

Pretty much every QB got to rotate in with the 1s. All of them looked pretty good at times. The 1s looked how I expected the 1s to look. The spring – to me – is about finding out about the guys who were freshmen/redshirting last season and the transfers.

• I thought Roman Gordan and Houston Vanya really stood out. Gordon is going to be good. Vanya is a big kid. He’s only listed at 220 but looks a lot bigger.
• The last play of the scrimmage was a deep pass from Trey Shucker to Jose Moore. It was the only big play for the gray team I remember. Purple had big plays from several guys – Matthews, Lewis and Wilson I can remember.
• Don’t know where Alex Deason came from, but he got some carries with the 2s. He and Jeff Anderson both ran hard with the 2s. Kelton Warren didn’t play, but we went five deep – Deason, Anderson, Blake Veasley, Danzell Williams and Willie Matthews.
• Thought it was interesting that Justin Dickey was with the ones and Thomas Hart with the 2s. I don’t remember any passes to Dickey though.
• There were some pretty big hits from Ricky Wyatt and Fernando Van Hook that I remember. Really looking forward to Van Hook getting more time on the field.
• Maybe I’m mis-remembering, but I feel like Woodard was wearing gray (which seemed to be second team). And I don’t remember him out there much. Maybe I was focusing too much on the offense.
• I don’t know how much “3-4” we truly ran. The offense spreads the formations out so much that one of the “linebackers” was split out on a WR almost every play it seemed. But it was interesting to see only three down lineman and still so much pressure on the quarterbacks.
• Little-known guy/guys I’d never heard of that got some plays in – Armani Phillips (So. LB that was running with the 1s some), Robert Jones (Jr. DB from Pine Bluff), Deason (Jr. RB from Pearland, TX), Calvin Goshen (So. DB from West Memphis), Andrew Morton (RsFr. Center from Hot Springs) and Michael Moore (So. DT from Memphis).
• Both Martavis Moore and Izaiah Skelton (transfer DBs) were on the gray team.
• Guys who have made position changes – Goodman (was WR/now LB), Bo Harper (TE/DE), Bailey McIver (DE/LB, although I don’t remember seeing him today).
• Offensive line depth chart: Caruthers, Manley, Willis, Simon, Stouffer (Kloker was in purple too) / Kersh, Appe, Morton, Mallett, Camp
• Defensive back depth chart: Watkins, Wellmaker, Brown, Van Hook, Winfrey, Odum / Mitchell, Moore, Jones, Skelton, Goshen, Heard
• Guys I don’t remember: Terrence Partee, McIver, Kamane Thomas

Summary: The 1s offense dominated. And with all the guys returning, you’d expect that. We’re pretty loaded at QB. And for the first time in a long time, we may have some legit depth at RB if everyone can actually stay healthy. The defense has several new names but a lot of familiar ones. I didn’t notice a lot of guys completely blowing coverages, although there were some missed tackles. It’s going to be a fun season.