Well, I spent 140 minutes of my life driving up and back to Maryville, to watch 29 minutes of football. Some people might say that that is not worth it – I disagree. When it’s been 133 days since you’ve seen the players dawn their uniforms and take the field, it’s worth it. As of right now there are still 136 days until the 2012 season kicks off. The spring game is a good chance to meet up with some of your football friends and helps take the edge off of the withdrawals that come with the off-season.
It’s hard to tell much from a spring game. There are a lot of players that are not participating in spring ball, and others who have been injured – and still others who may be playing a position that they’ve only played for 14 days. Regardless, I’m going to try to give my opinion about what I saw.
For the second year in a row, the starting QB looked bad. If you remember last year, BC looked horrible in the Spring Game, yet come the actual season, he was dead on when he was playing. Adams did not look good at all in the game – and I was NOT impressed with his decision making skills, in fact they looked downright bad to me. The interception that he threw, should never have been thrown. The WR was never open and it did not take much for the DB to get the ball. Adams was not checking down to his other receivers. That is something that will need to improve in the future. TA supposedly completed like 80% of his passes in spring practice, so my guess is that he was just having a bad day. With the exception of 2 games last year, TA was damn good. I expect him to be even better this year. Hopefully he is taking this opportunity improve his throwing skills when it comes to a wet ball. The other QB’s (Seals & Bolles) both looked pretty good. Seals obviously knows the offense better than Bolles, but Bolles looked much more athletic. Bolles did not look as fast as his brother, but his scrambling ability looked really good on the one play that broke down.
It’s hard to tell much about the Offensive line since it was a hodgepodge of players. But considering that they only lost 1 player, I expect that line to be really good this year. I did get to see the recruit Zach Hilsabeck who is 6’7” 312 lbs. That is one big boy – and I don’t mean fat. He looks like a big ole country boy who has the potential to be really really good.
As far as the Runningbacks go – not much new to report. Simmons was sitting out, so he didn’t play. James Franklin III (JF3) looked great as was expected. Billy Creason didn’t really impress me. The one thing I was impressed by was Kohlman Adema-Schulte’s speed burst after the initial cut. That is something that I hadn’t noticed before, and it was really nice to see.
I’m not sure how the TE spot will turn out. Vincent DeFeo accounted for the Green Teams only TD and Jon Gregg did not participate in the game. But last year at this time I would have said that I was unsure of the TE’s that NW had, but Kyle Kilgore really stepped it up and was quite the leader, so I’m hoping that that happens again this year.
The Wide-Receivers spot will be an interesting place to watch develop this upcoming season. Besides for Tyler Shaw, there really isn’t any receiver that has a lot of experience. There is a bunch of WR’s that have the talent, but haven’t yet stepped up and become “the man.” John Hinchey is the most probable one to step up and fill that spot. He has great athleticism but has a history of not having the best hands. I would not be surprised if Clint Utter or Bryce Young are able to step in and become a go to type of guy. UNO transfer from last year, Brian Miller is always in the mix as well. The biggest surprise that came out of the Spring Game in the WR dept, was the emergence of freshman Dearis Flint. He really stood out as being a physical receiver. There were a couple of balls that he used his athleticism and just went up and got the ball.
On the defensive side of the ball – I am quite excited. NW has one of the best corps of Linebackers in all of D2. That is one area that was strong last year, and will continue this year. The DLine last year was a bit young and undersized. I don’t think that that will be a problem this year. The addition of Brandon Yost at Tackle will be big. Not to mention the additional year of experience and year in the weight room for the rest of the guys. Longacre didn’t participate in the Spring Game, but he really came around and the end of the season, and he can help anywhere along the line. I’ve heard really good things about DE Jordan Chrisman. I’ve also heard that there is another DE that has signed out of a JuCo in California. I've been told that he's quite the track & field athlete, but is kind of new to football – one year in highschool and two in JuCo. So I’m not expecting a whole lot – but I've heard that he's a big human that could be a nice pick up. Overall, I think the Dline will be vastly improved from last year.
For the first time in a long time, I am actually excited about Northwest’s secondary. I had heard a lot of good things about Brandon Dixon at CB this spring, and the Spring Game showed his skills. He was definitely the best CB out there. NW has also announce that Brandon’s twin brother Brian will also be coming to NW this summer. Brandon admits that his brother is better than he is at CB, so that is very encouraging. Those two at CB, along with Manning and Key, NW should be good at CB. Bryce Enyard is currently not enrolled at NW (grades) but is still in town and attending a JuCo online to get his grades back up. My guess is that he is still working out, and probably playing a little ball with his friends on the team. If/when he comes back, he will make a really good Safety. For the first time in a long time I think we may have a really good field of DB's. It seems like we've always had one pretty good guy, and then mediocre rest. And having a good Dline covered up the rest. Last year, with the Dline being down and not having a pass rush - the weakness at CB was exploited. I think that between these additions to the DB, an amazing corps of LB's, and a much improved Dline, the D could be scary good!
Overall, I am pumped. I can’t wait for this season to finally get here. With any luck, by season kickoff I will be residing in Maryville and will be able to only increase the amount of devotion I have to NW Bearcats (wife permitting of course!)
