Blake Sims looked sharp in Alabama's scrimmage Saturday. (John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports)
All across the Southeastern Conference this past weekend, football practice fields and stadiums were busy with spring scrimmages.
Position battles were highlights at almost every stop. Even at places where position battles are still unsettled, the weekend gave coaches more opportunities to see how individual players have progressed this spring.
At Alabama, Blake Sims made his statement in his fight to replace AJ McCarron as the Crimson Tide’s starting quarterback.
Sims led the offense by completing 16 of 23 passed for 227 yards and two touchdowns, including a 75-yard scoring pass to Amari Cooper. Kenyan Drake led the rushers with 60 yards and a score. Cooper had 190 receiving yards and two scores.
“I was really pleased with the effort and intensity the players had,” Nick Saban said afterward. “I really like the attitude of this team in terms of how they go about what they try to do, how they work, the effort that they give and the mental and physical toughness that we play with. A lot of guys are trying to be conscientious to do a good job and I think that it shows in the way we play and the way we compete. The togetherness on the team is, to me, a lot better.”
At Tennessee, coach Butch Jones opened the practice for the fans in an effort to create a game-like atmosphere.
Saturday’s practice was the first time that fans got to see a glimpse of this year’s team. Jones invited fans onto the field to help create a game-like atmosphere and give the students a chance to mingle with players after the head coach gave his post-practice speech.
At Vanderbilt, the scrimmage produced three offensive touchdowns in 14 possessions. The defense put constant pressure on quarterbacks Patton Robinette and Johnny McCrary and recorded an interception.
The offensive scores were registered by junior running back Brian Kimbrow and sophomore wide receivers Jordan Cunningham and Latevius Rayford. Redshirt freshman safety Ryan White had a diving interception for the only turnover.
At Ole Miss, the offense beat the defense 15-12 in the annual Grove Bowl, which signals the end of spring drills.
“I’ve obviously coached a lot of spring practices, and I can’t remember one being better in the area of effort,” Hugh Freeze said. “There are obviously a lot of things we can clean up, but I certainly believe that we got the most effort out of the young men that we put on the practice field for 15 days. It was extremely physical and extremely competitive for 12 of the days. I’m really pleased with the effort.
“That competitive nature will go a long way in taking whatever the next step is in our program. There are several reasons for that. One, we’ve obviously added depth through recruiting. Two, (head strength and conditioning coach) Paul Jackson and his staff have done a really nice job in developing our young men, and we’ve been with basically the same staff going into year three with a lot of the same kids.”
Junior running back I’Tavius Mathers had the highlight of the Grove Bowl with a 96-yard run. Mathers finished the day with four carries for 121 yards.
Young players stepped up and impressed Auburn coach Gus Malzahn Saturday even though he didn’t want to name names.
“Last year at this time we were coaching the first and second steps. And now we’re able to coach the third and fourth steps. That’s always a good thing,” Malzahn said.
“We haven’t arrived, but we do know a lot about our guys. We’ve got two more weeks, and we’ve got to put the hammer down and make sure we get better,” he said. “We’ve been very physical this spring, but we had more information about our team. Now, we’re starting to get our specific on building depth and making sure you’ve got guys who are prepared once you get to fall camp.”
Following Saturday’s scrimmage at Georgia, Mark Richt liked the progress his team has made this spring.
“We ran the ball better today,” said Richt. “There was more space created today. The offense had a good first and half and the defense turned it around in the second half. It was a good day of competition.”
Arkansas coach Bret Bielema had concerns going into the Razorbacks’ first spring scrimmage.
“I think going into our first scrimmage obviously I always have concerns about how everybody is going to handle the big moment and handle everything,” Bielema said. “There’s a lot of positives,” Bielema said. “I thought we caught the ball as well as we have since I’ve been here as far as guys just throwing and catching, which goes a long way, these guys that are open and being able to throw the ball and being able to catch and advance it a little bit. I thought there were some nice runs after the catch.”
At Missouri, the first scrimmage saw tailbacks Russell Hansbrough and Marcus Murphy go down with injuries.
“In the SEC you have to be very deep at every position certainly, but tailback is crucial to have three or four guys who can get the job done,” Gary Pinkel said. “We were very deep last year there, and a guy like Morgan Steward didn’t get a ton of opportunities, but he’s trying to show now that he can be someone to depend on. I was pleased with what he did today, and now the challenge is to continue to do that through the rest of camp.
The Kentucky football team had its fifth spring football practice Saturday and concluded the workout with a 30-minute scrimmage at the Tim Couch Practice Fields. The scrimmage was highlighted by a pair of touchdown passes — one from Patrick Towles to Ryan Timmons and the other from Drew Barker to A. J. Legree.
“Got some good work in today,” coach Mark Stoops said afterward. “(We got) Some good physical work at the beginning of practice and throughout the scrimmage, so I was pleased. Just like you’d expect, we did some good things and some not so good things.
“Overall, we’re definitely better. We’re doing some routine things. If guys are open, we’re hitting them and catching it, just basic things we need to do to move forward. I’m pleased with that. (There were) A couple good plays, good touchdown passes today, so that was good to see. We need to continue to improve a whole bunch, but overall, we’re moving forward.”
