Several Southeastern Conference teams held scrimmages as March drew to a close and April, the usual final month of spring football practices, began.
Spring football is a time for coaches to experiment with players at new positions on both sides of the football. Scrimmages are a way of seeing how those players perform in game-type situations both as individuals and as units. And a lot of talent was on display around the SEC last weekend.
Ole Miss actually got things going with a Thursday scrimmage before taking the weekend off for Easter.
“I thought the one defense pretty much dominated the scrimmage,” Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze said. “The two offense did some good things. The one offense did some good things in the early drives, but had way too many negative plays still. I loved the competitive spirit. To have an early morning, a quick turnaround from yesterday, I thought they did well.
“I think all of our young backs are doing some good things at times. Nick (Parker) stood out today, and so did (Mark) Dodson. (Darryan) Ragsdale had a decent run.”
Things heated up at Georgia’s scrimmage in advance of the April 6th Spring Game.
“I thought this was an outstanding scrimmage,” said Mark Richt. “The guys were really having fun and competing well the whole day. We are still being undisciplined with some extracurricular stuff after the play ends. But I’d rather our guys have a heartbeat than have to get them going. We are still turning the ball over too much, but I was pretty pleased about today.”
Senior quarterback Aaron Murray had a nice day completing 13 of 21 passes for 159 yards and one touchdown. Junior Hutson Mason also stood out with an 8-for-14 performance for 154 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Junior flanker Chris Conley had six catches for 99 yards and a touchdown.
“Conley has been very productive and I think a lot of the reason why is because he works so hard,” said Richt. “His conditioning is better than about anyone late in the game. When people are getting fatigued, he still has stamina which gives him an edge.”
Auburn coach Gus Malzahn got a good look at his new team as he sent the Tigers through a physical 11-on-11 workout.
“We really strained them. It was good for us as coaches to see how they responded in different situations,” Malzahn said. “It was the first chance to see blocking and tackling and everything that goes with that. We’ve got a long way to go. That’s what I told the players.
“I thought there were some guys who really tried to and there were guys who have a long way to go,” Malzahn said. “A lot of them are in shock with everything how fast, the pace and everything that goes with that. Fatigue is a factor. We have to get them in our playing shape. But I believe our guys want to do that.”
Malzahn is happy with the way the defense responded.
“I’m very proud of those guys in the way they handled the pace,” he said.
At Arkansas, the Razorbacks are just getting familiar with new coach Bret Bielema and he is in the process of getting to know his players.
“It was good to play tackle football for the first time today,” Bielema said. “We want to play a physical style of football, and that all starts with today. I like how our defense was aggressive up front, and I was very impressed with some of the plays our guys made in the back end.
“The offensive line has a great attitude. They are very coachable, and have responded very well. They have a sense of pride and have really bought in. Our defensive line is also very gifted and very physical.”
At LSU this weekend, Zach Mettenberger stood out by going 21-of-35 for 247 yards and a touchdown.
“I think our team is making improvement,” said Les Miles. “We were sloppy at times on the offensive side of the ball. The offense is really much improved it’s just that they are shooting themselves in the foot and they have to understand that we are not going to play football that way.
“Again, the offense is much improved but we just have to eliminate those fundamental things. I think we have talented players who can make big plays, the quarterback is throwing the ball better but we have to improve on the little things.”
Steve Spurrier was happy with the work of the South Carolina Gamecocks over the weekend.
“It was a good practice for most of the guys,” said Spurrier. “I don’t think anybody got hurt, so that’s always good. We’ll probably do this again next Thursday and Saturday. Hopefully we can get a little crowd here. Maybe we’ll look better on offense.
“We’ve got a good bunch of guys. We’ve just got to play better. The offensive line has got to learn how to block. They’re pretty good at everything except blocking. Unfortunately that’s all we ask them to do. If we can block a little bit better, we’ll be in good shape.”
Vanderbilt concluded its last pre-Easter workout with an 89-play scrimmage.
“I thought we got really good work in, we’re staying healthy and we’re flying around,” head coach James Franklin said. “A lot of guys are getting reps in terms of guys that either redshirted last year or didn’t get a whole lot of opportunities to compete.
“I noticed the running backs. Everybody is talking about losing Zac Stacy. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to have Zac another year, but we’ve got three backs that I feel really good about in Wes Tate, Brian Kimbrow and Jerron Seymour — and they’re behind an improved offensive line. So that’s one of the things that’s jumping out to me right away.”