Every year, when spring semester rolls around, a group of high school seniors make a mature decision. They decided to skip out on things like senior prom, graduation and, everyone’s favorite, senior cut days, and instead get their high school diplomas early in order to join their new football programs a semester early.
The SEC West saw a solid group of early enrollees get to campus this spring. Who is making practice headlines, and how are they doing? We’ll take a spin through the division to check in on the true freshmen already on campus, leaving the junior college transfers out.
ALABAMA
With Cam Robinson out for the spring after shoulder surgery, four of the five spots on the Alabama offensive line are open for competition and five-star offensive tackle Jonah Williams is already getting first-team reps.
While sophomore Lester Cotton appears to be the frontrunner for the starting right tackle spot, Williams should be able to provide nice depth at both tackle positions in 2016 by getting a large amount of reps in the spring and summer until Robinson returns.
ARKANSAS
It’s no surprise that McTelvin Agim is making waves this spring. He enrolled early and was actually practicing with the Razorbacks before their bowl game. The defensive end has enough experience in practice and confidence from the coaching staff that it’s allowed defensive lineman Jeremiah Ledbetter to move inside.
Agim, Arkansas’s first consensus five-star prospect signee since 2009, was recently presented with the Dan Hampton Award as the top high school defensive lineman in Arkansas.
AUBURN
Marlon Davidson is going through some of the same growing pains that Byron Cowart went through last season. The highly-touted four-star prospect has been getting his “butt kicked” according to Tigers defensive line coach Rodney Garner.
“It’s been great watching him get beat,” Garner told AL.com. “It’s been a humbling experience because he hasn’t had many of those opportunities. … It’s good for him. I think Marlon, he’s a pretty unique kid and he’s a very competitive kid.”
Meanwhile with A-Day right around the corner it looks like freshman Malik Miller could get a large amount of carries with Jovon Robinson and Roc Thomas already solidified in the top two spots and Kerryon Johnson unavailable because of a shoulder injury.
LSU
Five-star defensive back Saivion Smith is seeing an increased workload this spring as Kevin Toliver deals with an injury. Smith received praise from head coach Les Miles as he had an interception on a tipped pass.
Pics of Saivion Smith @Saivion_1k at LSU spring practice 2016 pic.twitter.com/afo63OUUAi
— Phillips QB Academy (@PhillipsQBA) March 8, 2016
On offense, sophomore wide receiver Jazz Ferguson had positive things to say about early enrollee Stephen Sullivan.
MISSISSIPPI STATE
Three-star defensive back C.J. Morgan-Walker was not shy in his first spring scrimmage at Davis Wade Stadium.
While the entire defense had a good day according to head coach Dan Mullen, Morgan-Walker led the group with nine tackles in the scrimmage.
OLE MISS
Starting quarterback Chad Kelly will miss the rest of spring practice with a sports hernia surgery and it should give five-star freshman quarterback Shea Patterson an opportunity to take some reps with the first team in the final practices of the spring.
Patterson has been splitting second-team reps with redshirt freshman quarterback Jason Pellerin for most of the spring. Kelly is expected to be fully recovered by the end of the month.
As for the defense Rebels defensive coordinator Dave Wommack said he was as “proud as I can be” in regards to the contributions of five-star defensive tackle Benito Jones. Wommack said Jones will definitely help the unit next season.
TEXAS A&M
As the Aggies coaching staff tries to place a greater emphasis on the running game, it was a promising to hear head coach Kevin Sumlin tell The Eagle that four-star early enrollee Trayveon Williams is having an excellent spring.
OFFICIAL: Welcome to Aggieland, Trayveon Williams #12thMan #NSD16 pic.twitter.com/GHx0bn3CfP
— Texas A&M Football (@AggieFootball) February 3, 2016
However it was a walk-on, Kwame Etwi, who made the most of his opportunities in Friday’s public scrimmage. The spring game is Saturday and it will be interesting to see how much work Williams gets.
Texas A&M walk-on RB Kwame Etwi (22) with a nice move to get by safeties Justin Evans (14) and Armani Watts (23). pic.twitter.com/XjZww3nFjB
— Sam Khan Jr. (@skhanjr) March 8, 2016
Corey Long is a freelance writer for SaturdayDownSouth.com. Follow Corey on Twitter @CoreyLong.
