Spring Game Recap - Part I

I just finished my third time rewatching BC’s spring game, so I think its safe to say I’m officially ready for football season to start. Fortunately, this year’s 17-17 game was a little more watchable than the 6-2 barnburner last year. Any time you have an opportunity to analyze the shit out of an 80%-speed, no-tackling, controlled scrimmage that took place 4 months ago and extrapolate it into your entire perception of the team's chances this season and each player’s ability you have to do it, right? Let’s break it down.

We open up the action with some fireworks, as Taj-Amir Torres takes it to the house without getting touched. Unfortunately, it was less a result of Torres’ explosiveness and more one of the worst kickoff return coverage defenses I have ever seen. Add in two separate fumbles on kickoff and punt returns later in the game, and it’s safe to say that there is room for improvement on special teams. Last year, Tyler Rouse quietly led the ACC in punt return yards. Good defense plus bad offense equals punts, so hopefully Al Washington’s departure doesn’t derail this unit. Trivia question: where did Ricky Brown, new Special Teams Coordinator, work prior to joining BC last year? That’s right, he was Coach of Defense Quality Control in 2014 for the USC Trojans. Oddly enough, quality and control seemed to be exactly what the USC defense was lacking in 2014 when BC hung 37 points on them.

The first drive of the game was the 1s (Wade, Hilliman, Baker, Sweeney) vs. the 1s (Landry, Allen, Strachan), and Wade’s first series was likely a pretty good representation of what we’ll see from the offense this year: Hilliman up the middle, Jeff Smith sweep, and a short pass to Sweeney over the middle right at the first-down sticks. Once Daz opened up the playbook a little bit, Wade led an impressive first drive, making accurate throws and the right decisions before stalling in the red zone. The OLine looked promising, as they got a great push off the ball and opened up some huge holes on a couple of Davon Jones’ runs. Wade appears to be equally as impressive on the bootlegs going to the left as much as he looks like Smalls from Sandlot (pre-paper route) on bootlegs to the right throwing across his body.

Call it first-game jitters, call it nerves from the 169 fans in attendance, call it having a terrible 2^nd team OLine, but Brown looked BAD on his first drive. Not getting rid of the ball fast enough, underthrows left and right. He did play a little bit better the next drive with the first team, including a nice play above where he had a sick juke/pump fake to get Zach Allen on his feet and threw an accurate TE slant on the run.

That drive ended in a 4^th down jailbreak blitz, with Ty Schwab and Noa Merritt getting the sack. Lindstrom (#75) got beat bad, with Leonard (#59) and Conte (#65) both missing their assignments/colluding to pull a Ray from Remember the Titans (the racist 5’8 right tackle that intentionally botched an audible to get Rev knocked out of the game). If that OLine shows up in Clemson, Christian Wilkins might break the single game sack record.

Overall, Wade looked like the clear number #1, going 16-27 for 194 yards and generating 31 of the 34 total points scored, compared to Brown’s 10-27 for 84 yards. Can he throw the deep ball? No. Exhibit A:

But do Alex Smith and the Chiefs make the playoffs every year? They sure do. If Wade can master the 10 yard post routes, utilize the slot, and rely on Sweeney as a safety outlet, that should be enough to keep opposing defenses from loading the box. Brown may be a bigger home run threat – he hit Elijah Robinson right in the hands on a forty yard fly pattern – but he also had two picks, and it probably could have been four or five. Brown probably has better wheels in the open field, but Wade showed perfectly adequate escapability and field vision to effectively scramble and run the ball when needed. Our ground game is going to win us football games, we just need our QB to not lose them. Brown may be the next Vince Young, but for this year, for this team, Wade is the guy.

Stay tuned for Part 2, where we dissect the RB’s, WR’s, and why the defense may not be as good as you think.