Spring game provides a peek, but no real answers
Know this up front: The spring football game is nothing more than another practice. It is, to be truthful, probably the least important practice of the 15 a team holds in the spring. When fans show up and TV cameras turn on, coaches tend to go full turtle mode and take pride in showing almost nothing that could give their competition a hint at what will happen in the season opener four-and-a-half months from now.
I say all this to let you know that Missouri may very well have made every single field goal it attempted in the 14 practices prior to Saturday and that an 0-for-2 performance with two 27-yard misses should not necessarily send fans running for the panic button. I say it to tell you that quarterbacks not named Kelly Bryant completing just 19 of their 41 passes for 214 yards does not necessarily mean Missouri will be incapable of completing a forward pass should Bryant have to miss a series or a game.
But still, those things did happen on Saturday.
Coming into spring football, there were three significant questions about Mizzou's 2019 team:
1) How well can Bryant replace Drew Lock and what do the Tigers have behind him?
Using mostly short passes, Bryant drove Missouri's first-team offense 75 yards on six plays for a touchdown on its opening drive. He got them inside the 10-yard line again on both of the next two drives (more on that in a minute). He completed his first eight passes of the day before finishing an efficient 12-for-17 for 150 yards.
"You could really see Kelly improving," offensive coordinator Derek Dooley said. "He really had his best week the last week so that’s encouraging as you roll into the summer."
Dooley pointed out he was working without Albert Okwuegbunam and Daniel Parker Jr. most of the spring and had slot receivers Johnathon Johnson and Dominic Gicinto limited. Gicinto was the only one of the four who played on Saturday.
But beyond Bryant, the quarterbacks struggled mightily. For Shawn Robinson, who was 3-for-10 for 44 yards, that may not be much of a concern. He won't have another chance to be in even a simulated game until next year's Black and Gold game. But Taylor Powell was 10-for-20 for 142 yards and a touchdown, getting most of that yardage late after sputtering early and having his first pass intercepted and all of it against backup defenders. Lindsey Scott, facing mostly the starting defense, was 6-for-11 for 38 yards. Odom said afterward that the two had been neck and neck all spring long.
"Both of them have showed a lot of improvement," Dooley said. "Neither of them were fired up about the game I’m sure but I haven’t been disappointed in either one of them. We’re just going to keep carrying on and see where it heads."
"It would be foolish to think that Kelly’s going to take every snap of the season," Odom said. "We’ve got to find out which one it is. It wouldn’t be a truthful answer to say today, if we were playing this week, this is our backup."
2) Has the defense made strides?
The Tigers were nominally better defensively last year. But opposing offenses still completed passes at will at times, particularly the times when the opponent was Purdue or Oklahoma State. The Tigers still struggled to get stops when they absolutely had to have one, specifically against Kentucky and South Carolina. The first-team defense held the gold team to just three points and largely wasn't threatened on Saturday, but again, spring is about a lot more than these couple of hours.
"I thought we developed some more depth, kind of figured out identity wise who we are and what we’re good at," defensive coordinator Ryan Walters said of the spring as a whole. "It was exciting to see some of the younger guys who got some experience last season for the first time step up and be leaders for us.
I’m happy with where we’re at."
There are three spots--one on every level--that hold specific intrigue. Missouri struggled to rush the passer last year from defensive end. It also lost Terry Beckner Jr. at defensive tackle. The answer to one of those spots is likely junior Akial Byers. Which answer he is depends on what Walters sees out of some other defensive linemen.
"If we can get the production outside that we think from some of the younger guys we’ll be able to slide Akial in, where he’s kind of more natural," Walters said. "That’s why he’s so valuable to us."
Byers played a lot of tackle on Saturday, rotating with Kobie Whiteside, Jordan Elliott and Markell Utsey. The starters at defensive end were Trajan Jeffcoat and Chris Turner, but Jatorian Hansford and Franklin Agbasimere saw action for the black team as well.
At linebacker, Cale Garrett is the known quantity. As Mizzou moves to more of a 4-2-5 base look, Nick Bolton is stepping in for Terez Hall. Bolton played virtually every snap for the black team on Saturday. Odom said that weakside linebacker spot is one that has to be productive in Missouri's defensive scheme.
"A lot of times the offensive line can’t climb up to our WILL because of things that we do in the boundary and with our front," Walters said. "We need a savvy player back there. We had one in Terez and I think we have one now in Nick. Just being able to make plays and stay off blocks and leverage the ball the right way."
Many of Missouri's problems last season occurred in the secondary. Christian Holmes took over a starting spot midway through the season opposite DeMarkus Acy. Adam Sparks missed most of last season and was limited all spring. In his absence, sophomore Jarvis Ware got extended action with the first and second-team all spring.
"He put himself in that mix. That’s all him," Walters said. "There’s nothing circumstantial at all. He’s worked at it and he’s been blessed with some size and measurables that lend themselves to having special traits. If he can maximize his potential, I think he’s got a chance to be a special guy."
3) Can the special teams be something even approaching average?
Because they weren't last year. The litany of problems went from snaps to coverage to blocking to returns. It was all terrible and cost Missouri a minimum of two games a season ago.
Special teams aren't really live during the spring game. There is no coverage of kickoffs or punts and, therefore, no live returns after the ball is caught. The only portion of the special teams we really got to see on Saturday were field goals. And the results weren't pretty.
On the black team's second drive of the game, Sean Koetting missed a 28-yard field goal. On the next drive, Tucker McCann was no good from a yard closer. Koetting did make a 46-yarder for the gold team's only points, but it hit off the goalpost about a foot beyond the crossbar and appeared to require every bit of leg Koetting had.
"I thought throughout the course of the spring I thought our teams were better," Odom said. "Our coverage units, our punt return and also kickoff return, we made some fundamental changes there which helped us. But we’ve got to get better. I thought over the course, start to finish, we did get better. We didn’t look very good in some of those spots today, which was frustrating.
