Spring Football...news and notes

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Alabama

No position on Bama's defense was hit harder with offseason loses than the secondary, where they must replace both starting safeties. Tide coaches didn't have to look far, with senior Geno Smith moving from part-time starter to the guy at free safety, and junior cornerback Eddie Jackson sliding over to strong safety after starting much of last season on the edge. Still, there is plenty of untested youth in the secondary, including a pair of freshman potentially in line to see their first collegiate action this season. Given the high-octane passing offenses throughout the SEC, it's certain the Tide secondary will be tested early and often, and how they respond could mean the difference in whether Alabama retains its SEC championship crown.

Depth chart entering the season:

Cornerback: Senior Cyrus Jones, backup RS freshman Marlon Humphrey
Cornerback: Sophomore Tony Brown, backup senior Jabriel Washington
Safety: Senior Geno Smith, backup freshman Ronnie Harrison
Strong Safety: Junior Eddie Jackson, backup sophomore Hootie Jones

Alabama's recruiting class this year included a pair of potential immediate impact players in five-star corners Kendall Sheffield and Minkah Fitzpatrich. Both are among the top five in the nation at corner. Although the secondary appears relatively intact, could either Sheffield or Fitzpatrick rock the boat enough this summer and fall to crack the two-deep? There's potential for that to happen, and Alabama coaches aren't against playing freshmen, proven by the rapid rise of early enrollee freshman Ronnie Harrison at safety.

 

[BigdaddyQH]

Jim Harbaugh continues to lose players at Michigan. This time it is Dennis Norfleet, Michigan's record setting return man and WR. Harbaugh had hinted earlier in the spring that Norfleet may be a three way player. Now he is a no way player for Michigan. Harbaugh continues his downhill slide as a Head Coach.

 

[RunLeeRun]

Transfers are normal after a coach change. Short term it's not ideal, but I cant see any cause to start sounding alarms.

 

[BigdaddyQH]

Lee, I agree that transfers are normal when there is a coaching change occurs, but not this late and not this time. It was pretty much known around Ann Arbor that Norfleet was going to play on both offense and defense, beside return kicks and punts. Then something uknown to the public happens and Harbaugh kicks him off the team. He was, arguably, Michigan's best all around player. That is not normal. Harbaugh reminds me of another loser who got a big name job and has to have things done HIS way. That would be Charlie Strong.

 

[GoSooners]

Transfers are normal after a coach change. Short term it's not ideal, but I cant see any cause to start sounding alarms.

Run, did you happen to see what F**K Bo Pelini is making after getting fired by NU? He gets 128K a month thru Feb 2019. Including what's been paid, about $6.54 million. I wonder if Charlie Weis and Pelini have the same agent?

 

[RunLeeRun]

Run, did you happen to see what F**K Bo Pelini is making after getting fired by NU? He gets 128K a month thru Feb 2019. Including what's been paid, about $6.54 million. I wonder if Charlie Weis and Pelini have the same agent?

I did. He's making the exact same salary with the same bonus structure as the guy Youngstown St fired. It's just his attempt to stick it to Nebraska one last time buy keeping the buyout high. He's worth way more. Maybe he was burned out and needed a step down, but I'm sure he could have landed a high-profile DC job somewhere. I wouldn't be surprised if there was some fine lawyer-print in the contract about taking a job to his skill/economic level and how that effects the buyout. NU's Chancellor, Pearlman, is sharp lawyer (was head of the BCS) and he wanted Bo out every since that 2010 Aggie game where it all blew up on him image-wise. Maybe they are just ready to let it lay, but Pearlman is stepping down in 2016, and wouldn't that just put a cherry on top.

 

[cloverleaf]

Alabama

The most safe and secure positions on Bama's roster are on the special teams. Junior kicker Adam Griffith and sophomore punter JK Scott were among the best in the SEC last year. Scott, who became an immediate fan favorite with his powerful leg, lead the SEC during his freshman year averaging 48 yards per punt. During this year's A-Day game, he averaged 54 ypp on 6 kicks. Griffith was Alabama's second leading scorer, averaging 6.8 ppg, just behind All-American receiver Amari Cooper's 6.9 ppg.

While kicker and punter are set in stone, the Tide's return game is up for grabs with the graduation SEC leader Christian Jones. Coming out of spring drills, Senior Kenyan Drake and freshman Deionte Thompson look to be the lead kick returners while Cyrus Jones and Chris Black will handle punt return duties.

Alabama's expected strong defense along with a stellar kicking game should allow the offense plenty of good field position opportunities.

 

[BigdaddyQH]

Michigan HC Jim Harbaugh has lost another defensive starter. All Big 10 CB Blake Countess has announced that he will graduate in June and immediately transfer to another school to play his senior year. Harbaugh simply cannot stop the bleeding. Again, these "My way or the Highway HC,s will find out real quick what their attitudes will get them.

 

[groundhog11]

Mich is dropping people left and right...

 

[NoCoke]

Hopefully the Harbaugh hype keeps the Utah line down.. I think Utah will take care of Michigan at home week 1, especially with all of Michigan's departures. Michigan was only able to put up 3 points on offense vs them at home last year and I'm not sure that will change much this year.

 

[RunLeeRun]

Mich is dropping people left and right...

Theyve dropped 5 (qb, rb, c, db, te) but picked up 2 (qb, db) The qb is an upgrade, since he has experience. Harbaugh made alex smith look good. He might be able to work some maic with the iowa transfer and get him to look beyond 15 yards to pass.

 

[RunLeeRun]

On the other side of the conference, Nebraska, with a coaching change, has ZERO transfers to date. 120 players (before 2015 recruits) and not one guy is thinking of going? The downside is if all freshman qualify, NU is 3 players over the limit. Makes me wonder if Riley is that nice of a guy, or perhaps the last guy wasnt the "players coach" that local media chalked him out to be.

 

[cloverleaf]

Florida

The Gators are down to two scholarship quarterbacks with the transfer of Skyler Mornhinweg to Columbia. He's the 5th scholarship quarterback to leave the Florida program in the last 30 months (Jacoby Brissett - N. Car. St., Max Staver - Tyler Jr. College, Tyler Murphy - Boston College, Jeff Driskel - Louisiana Tech). Mornhinweg's departure leaves Florida with just RS freshman Will Grier and sophomore Treon Harris. There are three walk-ons on the roster along with Grier and Harris.

Everett Golson visited Gainesville on Tuesday but he is expected to sign with Florida State. Also, Luke Del Rio (Alabama, transferred to Oregon) will transfer again and join the Gators this summer. Florida did not sign a high school quarterback.

 

[BigdaddyQH]

USC TE Bryce Dixon is no longer in school. He was suspended from the team for spring drills because of a student conduct issue, and has now been kicked out of school. 5 players are expected to vie for the job, with no one having any advantage at this point. Three of those players are not on campus as of yet. The TE position is very important in Sark's offensive philosophy.

 

[cloverleaf]

Arkansas

The Razorbacks offensive philosophy is pretty simple. Snap the ball, let the big bodies smash into smaller bodies, and let talented running backs take care of the rest. Arkansas' two featured running backs both rushed for 1,100 yards last year and both are back. Also returning is a QB who will be starting his third season in Fayetteville. Add in a TE who may be the best player on offense and you have the equivalent of a team who can control the ball and wear down defenses. During the 2014 season, the Razorbacks time of possession was 34.03 to 25.57 for opponents. With TB's Jonathan Allen (225 lbs) and Alex Collins (220 lbs) alternating carries, chances are the Hogs will improve on time of possession stat. During 2014, Arkansas had a strong finishing kick to the season that carried over to spring drills and now has optimism running high for the 2015 season. A suspect defense and toughass SEC schedule will surely test the offense and its ability to control the clock...we shall see.

 

[BigdaddyQH]

Virginia QB Greyson Lambert will leave the school. HE graduates in June and has two years of eligability remaining. He started 9 games for UVA last season, and was expected to lose his starting job this season.

 

[cloverleaf]

Virginia's coach is living on borrowed time.....

Way overdue in my opinion.....

 

[cloverleaf]

Georgia Tech

The Yellow Jackets were the surprise team in the ACC last year by winning 11 games and covering 10. The offense outrushed its opponents by almost 3-1 (300 ypg to 115 ypg). After four average seasons, 2014 was a good bounce back for Paul Johnson and his staff. Johnson welcomes back at least seven starters to each side of the ball including quarterback Justin Thomas who had a stellar 2014 season. Unfortunately for Thomas, he won't have the same supporting cast at running back or wide receiver. Some concern in Atlanta about the state of the skill positions for this season. Fortunately for the Jackets, the defense is better positioned to pick up some slack than it was at this point last year. The defense must deliver for Tech to have any chance of a repeat season. Looking at the schedule, it looks more like a 7-5 or 8-4 season to me. Playing at Notre Dame and at Clemson plus hosting Florida State and Georgia will be difficult.

 

[cloverleaf]

Georgia

The Bulldogs ran the ball for 3,352 yards, 6.0 average and 38 touchdowns during the 2014 season. It's no secret, that Georgia will continue that trend this season. With the offense breaking in a new quarterback and replacing their top two receivers, the majority of Georgia's offense is going to rely on sophomore Nick Chubb's legs. During 2014, subbing for injured first round draft choice Todd Gurley, Chubb ran for 1,547 yards on 219 carries and 14 touchdowns. He averaged an amazing 7.1 yards per carry. Add the fact that Georgia returns four starters on the offensive line that averaged an SEC best 257 rushing yards per game last year and who have combined for 82 career starts plus a new offensive coordinator (Brian Schottenheimer) who is known as a run first guy...well you get the picture. If you want to beat Georgia this year...better stop the running game.

 

[BigdaddyQH]

When the two Georgia's get together, you may see 800 yards of rushing offense.