Spring Game
Out Front
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
When the UCF Knights took the field for their spring game on Saturday, they had a unique look.
UCF announced that in the spring game, players will be donning custom QR codes on the back of their jerseys in place of the traditional number. The QR code will link back to the player’s profile on the UCF athletics website.
On the UCF website, each player has links to their social media profiles. This innovative approach to the spring game further emphasizes the changing times across college athletics in the NIL era.
This approach is not the first of its kind for UCF in the NIL era. Last spring, UCF geared up for its spring game with different looking uniforms, just like this year. Last spring game, though, Knights players had their Twitter handles on their nameplates.
Things obviously look drastically different right now across college sports than they did a couple years ago. With players now able to profit off of their Name, Image, and Likeness, the game has completely changed. UCF head coach Gus Malzahn has seen those changes come by firsthand.
UCF has tried to embrace the evolving times under Malzahn, and now these types of things are par for the course in college sports.
“Last year, we put Twitter handles on our jerseys. I was like, ‘What the heck am I doing?’” Malzahn said. “We wanted to be the school that embraced it. At the old traditional schools, there’s a lot of dynamics. Yeah, they’re for it but really, they’re not for it. We are a school that can fully embrace it—the young school, social media. It fits with us. It was a little weird early on. Now it’s not. Now it’s part of the job description.”
UCF’s offense hit its stride in the Spring Game after quarterbacks Mikey Keene and John Rhys Plumlee combined to produce nearly 500 passing yards.
Malzahn’s optimism for the quarterbacks showed on the stat sheet with Keene going 21 of 28 for 282 passing yards and three touchdowns, while Plumlee went 11 of 15 for 189 passing yards and four touchdowns.
Opponents totaled 25 sacks for 158 yards against UCF last year. That’s 4 more sacks and 23 extra yards than the year prior.
With starters Cole Schneider and Marcus Tatum off to the pros, Malzahn turned to the NCAA transfer portal for more size. He found that with a 6-foot-10 offensive tackle Ryan Swoboda (Virginia) and a 6-foot-7 tackle Tylan Grable (Jacksonville State).
With the combination of adding two transfers with a full year of development under coach Herb Hand, Malzahn likes where things stand with his offensive line.
That success by the offensive line will lead to running the ball well. During the spring game, sophomore Johnny Richardson gained 108 yards on just 9 carries while Mark-Antony Richards, Anthony Williams and true freshman Jordan McDonald rushed for more than 30 yards each.
This all happened while starting running back Isaiah Bowser, who led the team with 9 rushing touchdowns last year, had the afternoon off.
Last season was the first for Malzahn at UCF. In his first year, he led the Knights to an overall record of 9-4, including a 5-3 mark against AAC opponents. UCF wrapped up the season with a victory over the Florida Gators in the Gasparilla Bowl.
“Ever since the bowl win, it’s been different,” Malzahn said. “I think the combination of the bowl win, the combination of going to the Big 12, you can feel when you’re here that we’re about to do something special. You can feel it, the recruits can feel it. Everybody wants to dream, everybody wants to be a part of something special, and we’re well on our way.”
UCF is definitely a bright future stock to BUY.
Dawgs’ New Tricks
By: Jason Bishop
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Gone are Sony Michel, Nick Chubb and Roquan Smith, Georgia’s best three players. All three will find themselves in the NFL very soon.
Despite losing those key pieces from last year’s run at a National Title, there are some familiar faces returning to the Georgia Bulldogs that were put on display during the annual Spring Game in Athens, G-Day.
Georgia fans will get to watch Jake Fromm return at QB, D’Andre Swift come back as the featured tail back in the 2018 season. UGA faithful will also get to see newcomers like Justin Fields, the number one QB in the country at the high school ranks last season.
Coach Kirby Smart took his team through the dog walk leading into Sanford Stadium to begin one of the most anticipated seasons in Georgia Football history and it all starts with G-Day.
A crowd of over 80,000 showed up to watch the Bulldogs spring scrimmage. In the game the Black team defeated Red team 21-13.
The Black team opened the scoring with a Deandre Baker pick-6 of Jake Fromm. A good sign from UGA’s secondary as most are predicting it will be the weak link for the Bulldogs in 2018.
Justin Fields was put in display for the fan base to see and he did not disappoint. Fields went 18-33 for 207 yards and a TD. He also did throw an interception.
Jake Fromm also put up decent numbers, going 19-38 for 200 yards and a TD. Fromm did end up throwing two interceptions.
Former Pierce County QB Stetson Bennett also out together an eight-play drive that covered 64 yards and ended with 3 points.
Georgia LB, Monty Smith had a great day. Smith ended up with 14 tackles and a sack. Smith will have big shoes to fill as most expect him to replace Roquan Smith at LB.
Overall, the Georgia defense had 4 interceptions. Baker, Richard LeCounte, William Poole and KJ Smith each intercepted a pass. The secondary will need to continue to be that opportunistic when the season starts on September 1.
The Bulldogs will open against Austin Peay at Sanford Stadium. Georgia will have to go to South Carolina on September 8th, host Tennessee on November 29th, go to LSU on October 13th, travel to Jacksonville to take on the Gators on October 27th, host Auburn on November 10th and then close the regular season out with in state rival, Georgia Tech coming to Athens.
The Bulldogs will also be looking for some help at WR. Coach Smart noted the wide receiver corps had a ton of drops in the Spring Game. Terry Godwin and Calvin Ridley look to step up for Georgia in those roles.
Georgia will still be tough to beat in the SEC East and I look for this team to at least make a return trip the SEC Title Game.
Auburn Spring Game
By: Kenneth Harrison Jr.
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Auburn is one of the traditional powers in college football. The Tigers had a great 2017 finishing 10-4 and 7-1 in the SEC. They beat both teams that played in the national championship game, Georgia and Alabama. They did lose the rematch with UGA in the SEC Championship. They also lost the Peach Bowl to UCF.
Star running back Kerryon Johnson declared for the NFL Draft after the season. Auburn will have to replace his 1,391 yards and 18 touchdowns.
One positive going into the 2018 season is they have finally found another quality quarterback to run Gus Malzahn’s offense in Jarrett Stidham. Stidham completed 66% of his passes for 3,158 yards and 18 TD’s. He did not play in the spring game.
In the A-Day game defense dominated. Auburn’s first-team defense held the second-team offense to minus-five yards in the first half and the quarterbacks combined to go 15 of 39 for 90 yards.
“We’re going to be top 10 this year,” defensive end Marlon Davidson said. “We’re going to be top 5; maybe even top 1. That’s how we feel. That’s how we’re going to carry it.”
I’m trying to not believe the hype. I think the defense can be very good but defense typically dominates the offense in spring or early in the season. It is worth noting that the Tigers have vastly improved over the past two years under defensive coordinator Kevin Steele.
In 2017 they had their best year in pass and total defense since 2008. Auburn ranked 12th in scoring defense and 14th in total defense last season and has ample depth returning, particularly in the front seven.
“Our pillars for success is that we want to be relentless in pursuit,” Steele said. “Effort is being coached at a high level on every day, on every play. Effort is an eraser. When somebody makes a mistake, effort will erase a mistake. Then we’ve worked really hard on physical fundamentals, being physical with your fundamentals. So, really, really good in fundamentals. And then, of course, tackling. We’ve done a lot within the framework of how much you can tackle. So, the proper tackling technique.”
The defense constantly pressured Auburn’s two younger quarterbacks, forcing several interceptions from Malik Willis and Joey Gatewood. They also forced fumbles from several players.
On A-Day, Nick Coe led a defensive line unit that combined for 6.5 of 11 tackles for loss, including two sacks, one from Coe, which led to a safety.
“Our defense has a chance to be really good,” Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said. “… I think we’ve got some quality depth upfront. We’ve got quality depth at the linebacker position too. I know coach Steele’s focus was on the backend, putting all the pieces to the puzzle. I think overall they’ve done a very solid job.”
The final score was Orange: 18, Blue: 10. My takeaway is that Auburn is expecting to have a great defense in 2018 and I think that is realistic. I don’t put a lot of stock in the A-Day defensive performance though because they did not face their first team quarterback.
We will see if they can live up to their potential when the season begins September 1st versus Washington in Atlanta.
Spring Game Report Card
By: Kipp Branch
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Several weeks ago Brunswick High School and Glynn Academy renewed an old tradition of having an annual spring football game as the Pirates beat the Terrors 21-12 in the varsity portion of the contest. Both squads had 9 days of practice to prepare for the contest.
SSE Minute May 19
