Saturday, March 29, 2008

Spring Game Thoughts

I would be a hypocrite to tell you that the lackluster offensive performance today at Lockhart means that this team is doomed. After all, I've said that all the high praise we've gotten through Spring practices aren't to be taken too seriously. We hear great things about this team every Spring, so it's not a surprise to see them struggle a bit on offense.

I wouldn't blame the QBs too much yet. I didn't get a chance to catch the scrimmage, but most of the picks were tips or desperation Hail Mary passes. However, it is a bit disturbing that our only passing offense the entire afternoon consisted of passes to the backs in the flats. Our receivers dropped a handful of balls, and Aldarius Johnson particularly had a case of the dropsies. Oh well. Hopefully the kinks will be worked out before the season starts.

We have to be excited about the defense, which featured a bunch of young playmakers in Arthur Brown and Sean Spence. The future definitely looks bright there. We should see an improvement on defense, especially now that we have an experienced coordinator running the unit.

Right now I would say the biggest concerns is the intermediate-to-deep passing game and the kicking game. Will we have a starting kicker by the time Charleston Southern rolls around? I want to know that we will be taken care of there. With a team that will likely struggle to put up a lot of points early, having a solid kicker will be a crucial need. We should also be concerned that the receivers dropped everything once the lights were on. I've heard great things about every receiver, even Sam Shields, but none of it translated to the scrimmage. We'll see if Aubrey Hill can get their heads on straight.

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