We’re officially in midseason mode.
Well, we’re officially in midseason spring* mode. What that is exactly, I’m not entirely sure. All I know is that for the next couple weekends, we’re going to have a full slate of SEC spring games.
Saturday’s slate of SEC spring games feature Mizzou, Florida and Texas A&M, all of whom have big-time expectations in 2018 (don’t forget that Drew Lock set the bar at a “championship level” for the Tigers).
I don’t want to see any serious injuries, nor do I want to see scoring systems that make my brain hurt.
Here are 5 things I do want to see:
1. A not-confused Drew Lock
Usually with a senior quarterback as accomplished as Lock, a spring game is about as meaningless as what he had for breakfast that day. But this year, obviously, that’ll be a different story. With Derek Dooley running the show, Mizzou fans have to be curious how similar the offense looks to Josh Heupel’s and whether Lock looks comfortable in it.
To me, that’s as important as anything we’ll see from the Tigers on Saturday. Mizzou needed Lock to lead the nation in touchdown passes just to get to 7 wins last year. That’s not to say that Lock has to repeat those numbers, but the margin for error for a team that still lacks a defensive identity is slim.
A couple of early touchdown passes and a brief day from Lock would be a welcome sight.
2. Kyle Trask get a fair shake
Speaking of quarterbacks, Trask is basically the opposite of Lock from an experience standpoint.
The third-year signal-caller is sort of the forgotten man in the quarterback battle at Florida. But with the accuracy and mobility issues of Feleipe Franks and the inexperience of Emory Jones, I wouldn’t be surprised if Trask found a way to win the starting job despite his zero career snaps.
In order for that to happen, though, he needs to get some reps with the first-team offense. I’d expect that Trask, Franks and Jones all get equal first-team reps, but you never know in situations like this. Trask has the ability to make the quick reads out of Mullen’s spread, zone-read option, and he could easily be the furthest along in the offense.
I hope that Florida fans don’t dismiss Trask because he was the lightly-recruited high school backup (for real) who isn’t a household name. If he balls out on Saturday, there shouldn’t be any reason for Gator fans not to get on board with the idea of him leading the offense in 2018.
3. Hard-hitting Todd Grantham defense … sort of
Yes, I think there’s a good chance that Florida has a top-20 defense with Grantham running the show. Nationally, I’m not sure if people appreciated just how good of a job he did with turning around the Mississippi State defense. He might’ve been an Alabama stop away from winning the Broyles Award as the nation’s top assistant.
On Saturday, I want to see that front-7 dominance. The adjustment to the 3-4 should work wonders in Gainesville with guys like David Reese and Cece Jefferson back.
Especially with the learning curve expected at quarterback, I want to see just how dominant this unit can look. Maybe the Florida defense looks like Auburn did last week and takes over the game. Perhaps that’s still a work in progress and we see some hesitancy from the front 7.
The expectation is that this group will be able to get to the quarterback. If it can do that against Mullen’s quick-hitting offense, that’d be a good sign for the Gator defense heading into fall camp.
4. Trayveon Williams thriving with extra help
If you would have told me after that 203-yard opener against UCLA that Williams was only going to hit the 80-yard mark once the rest of the season, I would have assumed that he had a serious injury. The latter didn’t happen, but for one reason or another, Williams still wasn’t the All-SEC back that many thought he would be in 2017.
With Jimbo Fisher’s touch, maybe we see that happen in 2018. Fisher already added a fullback to the offense, which is a new concept that Williams is fired up about. We’ve seen what he can do if he gets a head of steam at the second level. One has to think there will be more opportunities for that, especially with Keith Ford off to the NFL.
With all the attention and pressure on the quarterbacks, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Williams shine brightest among the Aggies playmakers on Saturday.
5. The biggest SEC spring game crowd in College Station
I love, love, love, love when teams have free spring games. How badly do big-time programs really need that $5 admission to watch an exhibition game? Texas A&M went the free route for the first time and coupled with the beginning of the Fisher era, I’d fully expect the Aggies to have a massive crowd.
Texas A&M should get at least triple the 21,000 fans it got last year. In fact, Texas A&M is a good bet to record the SEC’s largest spring game attendance of 2018 (it was sixth last year). Temperatures in College Station are expected to be in the 60s, which is better than the storm-fueled spring game cancelations in the Midwest. As long as the weather holds up, it should be an extremely high number for the team that already has the SEC’s best attendance.
In the first year of the Kirby Smart era, Georgia drew 93,000. In the first year of the Nick Saban era, Alabama drew 92,138. In the first year of the Gus Malzahn era, Auburn drew 83,401.
That’s the class that Texas A&M wants to be in. Aggie fans can start the Fisher era by making a big-time spring statement.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Down South. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.
