Spring game notes

[JasonB]

Some notes from the spring game tonight...

- This was played in a more competitive format than in the past. In years gone by, the 1st team would play against the second and even third team in a relaxed event. This was a much more competitive event with the blue versus black format. The Starting OL was split between the teams. The blue team had the starting DTs, while the black team had the starting DE. Mixed the starters at LB, CB, S, TE, WR and RB between the two teams. So there was a pretty decent competitive balance, even though the Blue team won by a decisive score.
- Overall, the defense is really ahead of the offense, which is a massive change from just two years ago. Symons lost some players due to graduation, but the group has really reloaded.
- At QB, Luster continues to show how far he has come. He casually flicked a 30 yard TD to Moochie in the back corner from the 31, a play that really demonstrated his arm strength. Jennings makes some incredible plays with his arm strength, mobility, and changing arm angles. His next step will becoming more consistent, especially on throws down the field. He had Cozart deep after beating a walk-on by several steps and just threw a bad pass that fell harmlessly incomplete. He came back later with a deep pass that was completed, but the receiver had to come back for even though he had beaten that same corner by several yards. Lots of great throws and completions on contested routes, but needs to be consistent down the field.
- At RB, Camar had a really nice long TD run off right tackle where he hit a hole, made some nice moves to create space and then outran everyone up the sideline. I thought he showed a really nice burst, but he did fumble the ball after a long run late in the game. B Smith didn't hit any big runs, but is the fastest player on the field. LJ was the starter on the black team and I really liked how quickly he hit the hole. He had a really nice run for about 10 yards where he accelerated nicely into the hole and then drove a pile back. It was good to see from the group, especially with the mixed OL.
- WR Bailey had a ton of catches early and looked good. Daniels made a ton of plays later in the game and showed good acceleration overall. He has the potential to be really explosive. Brinson and Hudson to me are the guys to watch on the outside, and I think both took a step forward this spring.
- On the OL, with Parr and Sparks and other backups out, the second team gets pretty thin with a ton of walkons out there. Woods was playing RG and sealed the edge with Byrd on the long TD run from Camar. I thought that Byrd was much more consistent than when I saw him at practice earlier in the spring, but when he gets beat, he really gets beat. PJ is the same way - he would dominate his guy on several plays in a row, and then just completely miss. Both tackles were more consistent from earlier, but still need to improve to be ready for the ACC. Osborne and Clark will be a really nice physical pairing inside, but Osborne struggled with his snaps tonight. Caleb Johnson really struggled tonight. The JUCO tackle pickup was a good move, and I wouldn't be surprised at all to see us pick up an additional transfer tackle. Johnson really looks the part physically, but he isn't quite ready yet.
- On the DL, I thought pretty much everyone played well. Yes, some of that is due to the thin OL. But Lockhart and Booker inside create a lot of problems. Jefferson made some plays as well. Out on the edge, both Abor and Abiara made several plays. Not as many when they went up against PJ, but it was still good to see them dominate against the backup tackle on the other side.
- At LB, I think that by the time we get to fall, Miyazono and Kilgore are the second string behind Walker and Kobe. I'm not saying that Medlock and Burns are bad - Medlock made several plays tonight, and they are a very solid third group. But Kilgore looks like an NFL guy - he made 3 straight plays at one point, one on his right sideline, one up the middle, and the other on the left sideline. And Miyazono has put on weight but still moves extremely well.
- At CB, I thought Smoke looked good. The battle for the second corner spot is going to be interesting between Rogers, Deuce, AJ, and Knox. We are better at corner than I thought we were heading into the spring. Coming in, I thought for sure they would pick up a transfer after the spring. Now I am not so sure.
- At S, Sanders was great in the nickel. Cross played a lot of safety and did an outstanding job, picking a pass off in the corner of the endzone. Moses was all over the field, he might have taken another step up. One guy who really showed up though was Muhammad, the freshman. He didn't do anything of note in the practice I went to, and was just slow and unsure. He made a ton of plays in this game, both against the run and in coverage. He played some nickel and some safety, had several tackles and an interception. Impressive performance from the true freshman. I don't know if anyone was expecting anything out of him this season, but he sure looked the part tonight. I'm sure they plan on redshirting him, but he really flashed tonight. Very reminiscent of how Moses came in and flashed his freshman year and got on the field as part of the two deep.

[Donnell88]

Thank you, Jason B. Great stuff as always. I'm always glad we don't lose you to graduation.

[PonyPride]

• The teams were split — starters and backups mixed in on the same units, so there were examples of jumbled continuity. It was particularly evident on the offensive line, when the protection broke down and the QB had to take off, or running lanes disappeared early. In addition, the playbook was very conservative and the hitting was not that intense.
• The game was brief: four eight-minute quarters.
• Players wore blue jerseys and black jerseys ... presumably to make it as difficult as possible to identify people in the piles of players?
• Honorary captains: former SMU WRs James Proché and Courtland Sutton.
• It was good to see QB Preston Stone out there. He was wearing a bright red "don't touch him" jersey, and only did a few throws and probably didn't even break a sweat before calling it a night, but after getting cleared this week, it was good just to see him out there. His body language and the look on his face suggested that he was pretty happy about it, too.
• One player who showed up all night was S Ahmaad Moses, who has been playing multiple safety positions during the spring. On several occasions, Moses showed how he earned his reputation as one of the team's best tacklers, racing up from the secondary to make tackles in open space, preventing longer gains or possibly touchdowns. On one such play in the first quarter, RB Rooster Knighton ran off tackle toward the sideline, and Moses raced forward to grab Knighton around the ankles and pull him down. Had Moses not made that play, Knighton had acres of real estate in front of him...
• QB Kevin Jennings was terrific. He is fresh in everyone's mind because he started the last two games of 2023, but those were his only two starts at SMU. He played with the poise of a quarterback who has gotten the starter's reps in practice all spring. He was on-target all day; maybe his best pass was one that wasn't caught, when he fired a beautiful strike downfield toward TE R.J. Maryland, who had a step on two defenders. The ball was inches out of Maryland's reach — in a real game, he presumably would have laid out for it, and might have caught it. But while nobody has complained about Jennings' arm strength, there have been times when he could have benefited from taking a few miles per hour off the fastball and dropping a pass over defenders, rather than trying to launch the ball through them. The toss to Maryland was one of several that showed Jennings' improved touch on deep balls.
• Several fans (and surely SMU coaches) held their breath when Jennings got sacked and then got up hobbling a little. But he stayed in the lineup, and a few plays later he rolled to his right, and when he didn't see a receiver open downfield, he hit the jets toward the sideline, turned the corner and beat the defense upfield for a gain of about 25 yards. Whatever hurt after the sack apparently felt much better.
• Speaking of getting to the outside, RB Camar Wheaton had a 54-yard touchdown on a similar play, when he took a handoff, headed right, turned the corner and outraced the entire defense up the sideline.
• Jennings is exceptional when throwing on the run. Rolling to his right, he snaps quick, accurate passes downfield as well as an SMU quarterback in recent memory. But what really separates him is the way he throws when rolling to his left. The right-handed Jennings rolled out to his left several times Friday — some coaches tell their quarterbacks to throw the ball away when pressured into running toward their non-throwing hands — opened up his shoulders and threw accurate strikes while maintaining his speed. On one such play, he threw the ball at such an awkward angle that it looked almost like a shot put ... and it turned into a perfect strike that missed a defender's fingertips my inches before being caught.
• A lot has been said about new defensive tackles Tank Booker and Mike Lockhart — and rightly so. But the defensive ends looked impressive, too ... especially Ohio State transfer Omari Abor, who raced into the backfield, untouched, several times. His pure speed jumps out at you.
• Justin Osborne, the veteran who head coach Rhett Lashlee said could "play all five (OL) positions, if we need him to," has been impressive this spring in his transfer to center, but he did airmail a pair of snaps over Jennings' head. Lashlee said after the game that Osborne "hasn't had a bad snap all spring," only to have two Friday. It happens. Other than that, Osborne has looked like a poised, veteran that he is.
• The transfers who joined the team in January did not get jerseys with their names on the back.
• S Abdul Muhammad was impressive Friday, turning in several big hits and snatching an interception.
• QB Keldric Luster looks even stronger than he did last year, and effectively finished off the scrimmage with a 31-yard touchdown pass to WR Moochie Dixon, who jumped up and over a would-be defensive back to make the play
• Best part of the night: no injuries.

[Roach]

Great stuff, JasonB and PP

[Topper]

Thanks for those updates. I am always happy to hear that Camar played well as I think he has the potential to be an important part of the running game once he is injury free and gets his act together otherwise. Jennings passes still remind me of the great Don King but with more natural potential.