College Football: 5 takeaways from April 14 spring games
The second big weekend of spring football games is upon us. Here are my takeaways from the biggest college football spring games of the week.
The April 14th slate of spring football games has a quarterback battle focus as many programs across the country have seen prolific starters leave school either early or due to exhausted eligibility.
The Louisville Cardinals have to replace Heisman Trophy winner and record setting quarterback Lamar Jackson, and The Ohio State Buckeyes are looking to find a new leader with the graduation of J.T. Barrett. Clemson and Miami have incumbent quarterbacks, but both have been the subject of much scrutiny and are now pressed by high profile youngsters.
Related Story: Spring 2018 Quarterback Battles
A team that won’t be playing on April 14 after all is the Michigan Wolverines. Weather has cancelled the spring game up in Ann Arbor, so the wacky story that is Michigan’s spring will have to transition into summer workouts uneventfully for now. The Oklahoma Sooners and USC Trojans both have to replace first-round picks, and with USC Sam Darnold might be the first pick overall in the 2018 NFL Draft.
Spring games are just exhibitions and every coach runs them differently. From running clocks, to 7-on-7 periods and whether or not the quarterback can be hit; every spring game has a different element than another, even scoring.
The April 14 lineup had fans bouncing channels (or tabs) between the Big Ten Network, the ACC Network, the SEC Network and even good old ESPN itself. You have to be a real die hard to throw away a warmer and sunnier Saturday afternoon so luckily most of these exhibitions will be streaming shortly.
Here are my five takeaways from the spring games of this weekend.