Boise State : What We Learned From The Spring Practice

All across the country this week we have teams playing their annual spring games. Most teams don't have two full squads, so the game becomes an Offense vs. Defense rally. It is also a good time to see what's in store for your favorite football team coming into the next season.

When it comes to Boise State, I expected to see some improvement in the offense, but I still expected the defense to crush the life out of their fellow broncos.

But when I was done watching the spring game, all I could say was:

Wow!

I have to tell you guys, I was feeling pretty confident going into the next season.

Returning 21 of our 22 starters.

Running a monstrous defense that shows no signs of slowing down.

Kellen Moore, Kellen Moore, Kellen Moore!

Even Kyle Wilson found time to stop being a first round NFL draft pick for a day and was on hand to see how his former teammates had progressed.

The Defense really had Moore's number. He and backup QB Micheal Coughlin were sacked a combined total of five times by up-and-comers such as Jarrel Root and experienced starters like Byron Hout.

By halftime, the score was 6-16 defense.

Please don't misunderstand, Moore and Coughlin are both great quarterbacks. It takes nothing away from them to be beaten up that bad against one of the top defensive squads in the country.

Especially when this squad knows who you are and how you run the offense.

But a new and very interesting thing happened after halftime. Kellen was taken out of the game, and was replaced by the much-hyped third string quarterback and redshirt freshman Joe Southwick.

Southwick quickly became the QB who got the most playing time over Coughlin, completing a 48 yard pass into heavy traffic to another freshman named Aaron Burks.

After 16 minutes and a ton of struggle up and down the field, Southwick had scored two touchdowns and a field goal. His favorite redzone target was another freshman by the name of Preston Minter.

Between Minter and Burks, the defense had no idea what hit them.

I'm not  referring to second string guys here.

These three freshman were confounding the likes of Jarrell Gavins, Winston Venable, and Jeron Johnson.

After an amazing comeback, the score was tied 28-28, with 13 seconds to go. The offense went for a two point conversion, but fell just short of catching the ball.

The final score was 28-30 defense.

I can't say enough, however, about the fact that Moore didn't really have that bad of a game. He is a good quarterback who faced some NASTY D!

I just think that Southwick might be better.

And if that is the case, what a great problem to have.