Badger Spring Game

Camp Randall was the site of today's UW spring football game, and I have a friend and fellow UW-alum who was among the plus-20,000 crowd. Scott S. was good enough to share his thoughts on the game and the 2008 Badger team:


This spring for the UW football team has been marred by injuries, mainly to the defensive line. That said, the defense played relatively well. The kickers, well, that’s another story. The game featured the starters, the Cardinal team, against the reserves, the White squad. The Cardinal won a lethargic game, 28-3. Here’s a position by position breakdown of UW’s spring game:

Quarterback
Following Tyler Donovan’s graduation, this has become a two man race between Senior Allen Everidge and Junior Dustin Sheerer. Both alternated shifts for the Cardinal squad. Sheerer was the better QB today, but both were somewhat limited by poor play by the receivers. Both QBs went through their progressions well against a depleted secondary, but Everidge had one absolute horrible decision that resulted in an interception. Since QBs were off limits to tackling, it was impossible to judge their ability to run the ball. Third stringer Scott Tolzein played very well for the White squad. Heralded recruit Curt Phillips was the 5th QB today, and played with mostly 3rd stringers. He was sharp passing the ball, but was still somewhat confused as to his reads. Barring a miracle, look for him to redshirt this year.

Running Back
Easily the most talented position on the team. PJ Hill and Zach Brown both ran with the Cardinal, while Lance Smith and heralded recruit John Clay ran with the White. Hill had some impressive runs in the first half; however they were against essentially a 4th string defensive line. Brown had a few nice runs as well, but did not distinguish himself. Smith looked excellent catching the ball out of the backfield, and also broke a few long runs. The staff has been experimenting with him at WR, and he looks like a natural catching passes. Clay’s much anticipated debut did not disappoint. Going against the number one defense, Clay ran with impressive burst and power. He never got into the open field, but reminded me of Ron Dayne in the way that he had to be gang tackled each play, always carrying the pile. His skills in the passing game will take some time to develop. At this point, I think Hill will be number 1, Clay has an excellent chance to overtake Brown for number 2, and Smith will be a slotback/3rd down running back.

Wide Receiver
David Gilreath, last year known exclusively as a punt returner, was the only wideout to distinguish himself. He made a nice catch on an up and out route, and showed sure hands. No other WR did anything to impress, and the drops, especially a dropped TD by Issac Anderson made the game painful to watch at times.

Tight End
With Travis Beckum out, Mickey Turner played extremely well in the passing game, though his run support could have been better. Freshman Jake Byrne had a nice catch for a touchdown late in the 4th quarter.

Offensive Line
Going against a defensive line ravaged by injuries, this unit should have dominated the game. They did not. The line effectively opened lanes, but never got their hands on the linebackers, who roamed free for most of the game. I was expecting more from this unit. I was also looking forward to seeing redshirt freshman Josh Oglesby, a 5 star recruit from Milwaukee make his debut. He played left tackle with the White squad and had a really rough day. On consecutive plays he committed a false start, and then was bull rushed by O’Brien Schofield (80 pounds lighter than Oglesby) and thrown into Lance Smith, who was trying to run a stretch play. Pass protection was generally good; again, hard to say because QBs were down by touch.

D Line
Here’s the list of players who missed the game that are on the 2 deep depth chart: Matt Shaughnessy, Dan Moore, Jason Chapman, and Mike Newkirk. That said, the group held up well. I was impressed with Schofield, as well as little used nose tackle Jeff Stehle. The silver lining to the injuries is that we may develop some depth at this position.

LBs
Usual up and down day for the talented trio Casillas, Hodge, and Levy. All three would be in on the play one moment, then conspicuously absent the next. Clay was a good test, as he is big enough to run over the athletic linebackers, and at some points, did. Their ability to cover tight ends, or lack thereof, was exposed, yet again. Watch out for the spread offenses this year, as Minnesota and Michigan will be employing UW’s biggest nemesis in 2008.

DBs
Again, a group ravaged by injuries. Langford and Henry are recovering from ACL’s, and at points their replacements were too soft in zone coverages, opening up huge holes for Gilreath and Turner to exploit. Niles Brinkley acquitted himself well at corner, as did Jay Valai at safety. Still waiting for Aubrey Pleasant to have an Atari Bigby type awakening, thinking less, and just running around and hitting people.

Kickers
WOW. We will miss Ken Debauche and Taylor Melhaff. The kickers had competitions at the end of the first and third quarters, each kicking 4 field goals from 25, 35, 40, and 45 yards. No wind, no rain, nothing. Both Junior Matt Fisher and Freshman Philip Welch were horrible. At one point, Fisher missed 3 in a row, with no rush, from dead on. Welch was erratic as well, hitting the triumvirate of misses, left, right, and short, while only connecting on half of his 8 attempts. And THAT was the good news. The new (and only) punter is Debauche’s little brother, Brad. We’re going to need those genes to kick in real soon. Brad punted about 5 times. All five were short, line drives that easily could have been returned by Gilreath if returns were allowed. His average was around 30 years, some only around 20, and the net on most would easily be in the teens. An overall terrible day for the new Debauche. But hey, it’s the spring game, so he has all summer to add 20 yards and 2 seconds of hang time until it counts.