Spring Scrimmage Thoughts

Here are some quick thoughts on the Spring Scrimmage. Some units will have more written about them than others, and certain players warrant more of a mention based on a combination of performances and my own interest.

You can find Bear Insider’s scoring stats and summary of the game here.

Quarterbacks
By and large, I was pretty content with the quarterback play this year. Not speaking necessarily on individual performances just yet, but as a whole, I thought all five quarterbacks appeared capable and competent. No one appeared easily flustered or clueless, which has sadly not always been the case with our entire quarterback corps the past few years. The tricky thing about quarterbacks is that real refinement takes places over live reps, which is obviously limited this year. But all appeared to show flashes of really good things.

In terms of individual performances, I think Maynard’s improvement from last year should be apparent to anyone and everyone. He still has a tendency to float some easy passes, but he appeared confident and sure of himself in all of his throws. What I particularly liked was his ability to step up into the pocket when feeling pressure as opposed to immediately rolling left as he seemed to do all the time last year. He also did this while keeping his eyes down field. I’m still not sure how exactly he’s progressing in terms of the quickness at which he’s going through his reads, which was his weakest point last year in my opinion, but his performance on Saturday was encouraging.

I think some people may have been disappointed with Allan Bridgford’s performance, but I think those expectations may have been heightened a bit with the hope that he’d give Maynard a real run for his money for the starting job. I thought Bridgford started off pretty shaky, but settled down and was pretty good in his decision making for the most part. His TD pass to Spencer Hagan that was negated by a holding call was real pretty. However, Bridgford’s new and improved quickened throwing regresses back to his elongated throwing motion when he feels pressure, which results in some batted passes and tipped balls. His interception in what appeared to be quadruple coverage was just a matter of forcing things flat and simple.

Like I said above in regards to the entire quarterback unit, Kyle Boehm and Austin Hinder seemed fine. They both appear to be big, athletic, strong-armed quarterbacks who could do some nice things if given opportunities to develop. I’m genuinely intrigued by both right now.

Zach Kline didn’t do too much, but the sheer fact that Kline went out, competed, and looked very competent as an early-enrollee says a lot of this kid’s talent and potential. He looked poised out there, showed a nice arm, and really threw just one errant pass. Kline finished 3-5 for 52 yards and a TD which included a nice play in which he stepped up in the pocket and lofted a nice ball over the defender right into the hands of H-back Hagan. Just the sheer fact that he kept his eyes downfield in a crowded pocket was impressive enough. Really nice to see.

Runningbacks
The biggest story for with this unit is CJ Anderson. He was an absolute revelation on Saturday. I almost didn't recognize him during his first few runs, because looked like a completely different back out there. He appeared slimmer, shiftier, and more elusive in the open field. If there was any knock on his performance, it was that he danced a bit too much on those stretch runs, but he also had a number of occasions where he made something out of absolutely nothing. Coming into the spring, I though CJ was the perfect third down back, and now I'm not so sure he shouldn't be getting equal reps with Isi Sofele at this point. He impressed me that much.

Dasarte Yarnway looked right at home at his new fullback position. The position switch makes sense because of the logjam at the runningback position, but because of his size and physicality. He'll still need to put on more weight, and he also whiffed on a number of block (understandably), but he was a nice weapon catching passes out of the backfield, churning up tough yards for a first down in short yardage situations, and showed nice pad level overall (one of his biggest weaknesses his first few years here).

Wide Receiver
The fact there was a productive unit out there on Saturday says a whole lot about this offense's efficiency, and the wide receiving corps. With Keenan Allen out, this was a bare bones, skeleton crew of players (just one scholarship receiver) and they actually looked pretty good.

I had held off getting too hyped about Maurice Harris this spring after hearing that he had a slow start to the spring. But he had a nice showing on Saturday, hauling in 8 passes for 83 yards, including a score early on in the game in which he was left wide open after a nifty fake wide receiver screen. He doesn't show ideal speed, but he's got a nice rangy frame and even better hands. He should be a contributor this year, for certain.


Tight Ends
The tight ends had a quiet day, though Richard Rodgers looked shifty on his one catch. Spencer Hagan should step up and see a couple more balls thrown his way this year. He makes plays more often than not. Given the lack of depth here, it's encouraging enough just to see the entire unit healthy.

Offensive Line/Defensive Line
It's always a double edge sword when you're evaluating the strength of your offense against the strength of your defense. Generally speaking, you want your defense to at least be in position to make plays, and your offense to be able to execute the very basics.

It's even harder to evaluate when you're already thin offensive line is split into two different units. By and large, I thought both units did...ok, with the defensive line with the clear edge at this point in the preseason. The defensive line for the most part maintained their gaps well, and stuffed the majority of the runs. The only back who appeared to have consistent success against either defensive front was CJ Anderson, and a number of those small wins were the result of some nice vision and elusiveness at the second level. But make no mistake, the offensive line did appear to have some nice push and opened some nice lanes on some runs.

Pass protection was a mixed bag, but it actually didn't appear as bad as it might have been because of the headiness by the quarterbacks to get rid of the ball quickly.

Matt Summers-Gavin got beat pretty badly on two different occasions which continues to reinforce for me the notion that though he may be the Bears' best offensive lineman, tackle is clearly not his position. He simply handle the skill set of quick defensive ends or backers well enough, though given the Bears tackle issues, we may just need to continue to make the best of it.

Oh and Mustafa Jalil was flat out dominant. Geez, this kid's going to be real good when it's all said and done.

Secondary
This was one of the more confusing units to evaluate. On one hand, they showed really nice closing speed, and kept most of the passes ahead of them. On the other, there were some deep balls they were beat on, and they gave up a number of passes on third down. Avery Sebastian might exemplify this best. The youngster made a number of impressive plays include some nice hits and picking off Allan Bridgford's punt. Yet he was also beat a few times, and gave up the middle. This is one of those positions that are wide open, and will be an interesting battle to follow in the fall.

Closing Note on Event
As a whole, I thought the event was a smashing success. Close to 9,000 fans turned up, really just based on a week’s notice, and everyone seemed to walk away happy. Some Big-10 and SEC fans may scoff at that number, but it's not bad at all given the lack of history of a spring game. And remember, many casual fans have things to do on a beautiful day in the Bay, unlike...Ohio or Arkansas.

The fan team interaction including the halftime events was a nice touch, and it’s always fun when the game comes down to the wire. I know the likelihood of this event happening in the future will depend largely on the health of players, but I really do hope this becomes and annual event. It really seemed to be good for everyone involved.