College Football's Most Intriguing Spring Game Storylines of 2015
It's not real college football, but at this point, we'll take whatever we can get.
Spring football is in full swing at colleges all over the country, with most schools capping off their allotted offseason workouts with scrimmages of varying levels of formality. Referred to most commonly as "the spring game," these scrimmages give coaches one last opportunity to see their teams in game-like situations before the summer break while giving fans a glimpse of the upcoming season's team.
For action-starved college football fans, who have been mired in a competition abyss since January's College Football Playoff championship game, these spring games are like a cooler full of cold drinks after an endless walk through the desert.
A handful of schools have already held their spring games—including Duke, which wrapped up "spring" practice before winter officially ended—while most are set to have theirs sometime between Saturday and early May. Each game and each school has its own unique drama and intrigue when it comes to the spring game, but some storylines stand out more than others.
We've chronicled the most noteworthy spring storylines to keep an eye on over the next few weeks. Read along to see what's in store for this activity-filled month in the middle of college football's long offseason.
Harbaugh's Coaching Debut
1 of 8
Michigan's coaching vacancy was by far the most noteworthy of all the openings this past offseason, and even though Jim Harbaugh had been identified long ago as the top choice for the job, there was still plenty of intrigue during the courtship process.
Since Harbaugh has come on board, he's made headlines for his ability to flip recruits just before signing day and for his social media expertise. But the only opportunity we've gotten to see him do any sort of hands-on work with players was during his one-day stint coaching the Oakland Athletics during spring training.
We get our first glimpse of Harbaugh, the college football head coach, on Saturday when Michigan has its spring game (noon ET, Big Ten Network). And it will make a definite sea change from the approach that predecessor Brady Hoke took during the spring.
Bleacher Report's Ben Axelrod spoke of what Harbaugh will bring to Michigan's spring game:
""As opposed to the past two years, where Hoke used the spring game platform to host what were closer to actual practices than glorified scrimmages, Saturday's exhibition will do its best to simulate an actual game. It won't quite be the same as when he runs onto the field for Michigan's official home opener against Oregon State five months from now, but make no mistake: The Harbaugh era in Ann Arbor is officially underway."
"
New Coach Optimism
2 of 8
While Jim Harbaugh's hiring at Michigan got the most headlines, it was just one of 15 FBS head-coaching changes for 2015. And just like Harbaugh's hiring, each of the others brought with it great hope for the future.
Reality will set in during the fall, when many of these first-year coaches find themselves in charge of programs that still have a lot of work to do. But for now, each new guy is the most popular person in the athletic department and is saying all the right things about what to expect from his team this upcoming season.
All 15 new coaches are set to have their spring games sometime between Saturday (Michigan) and April 25, with the lion's share on April 18. That's when a quartet of schools (Houston, Pittsburgh, SMU and Tulsa) that went the high-profile-coordinator route at head coach have their scrimmages, and those figure to be some of the more intriguing competitions to see how these first-time head coaches operate.
Oklahoma's Return to the Air (Raid)
3 of 8
Following two of the most unproductive passing seasons since the old days of Oklahoma smashmouth football, Bob Stoops set fire to his old playbook (while also handing out a bunch of pink slips) and has decided to return to an offensive system that worked wonders for the Sooners in the past: the Air Raid.
Oklahoma was 85th in passing offense last season at 203.5 yards per game, its second straight year around that average after being above 300 yards in nearly every year since Stoops took over in 1999.
"Little by little in the last several years we slowly drifted away from it," Stoops told Eric Bailey of Tulsa World in January when introducing new offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley. "I had a goal in mind to get back to running that kind of system and I felt I got the absolute best guy."
Riley was in charge of an East Carolina offense that was among the tops in the country each of the past five seasons. He's inherited a roster that includes some players with Air Raid experience, such as Texas Tech transfer quarterback Baker Mayfield, but also one that includes breakout running back star Samaje Perine.
Stoops believes its possible for the new offense to be prolific both in the air and on the ground, and the first chance to see how that looks will be at Oklahoma's spring game on April 11 (2 p.m. ET, Fox Sports Southwest).
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
The Ohio State Quarterback Reality Show
4 of 8
If ever there was a time for a college-football-rooted reality show, it would be this spring with Ohio State. Not only are the Buckeyes coming off a national championship, one that came seemingly out of nowhere following an early loss, but they also did so by going deep down the quarterback depth chart for leadership and performance.
OSU coach Urban Meyer now has had to figure out how to deal with the "problem" of which of his three star passers to go with for the title defense. Will it be rising sophomore J.T. Barrett, who seemed poised to make a Heisman run before breaking his ankle in November? Could junior Cardale Jones, who came off the bench to pilot three postseason wins in his first three starts, get the nod? Or what about senior Braxton Miller, the starter from 2011-13, who is still coming back from a shoulder injury that knocked him out for last season (and got the quarterback carousel rolling in the first place)?
It's the kind of competition that warrants roses being handed out or maybe granting immunity to one or more participants after successfully navigating some sort of challenge.
It's not a full-fledged battle right now, as Miller's injury is still limiting him, but Barrett's recovery has been exceptionally fast, and he's challenging Jones hard in practice. How they perform in Ohio State's spring game (April 18, 1:30 p.m. ET, Big Ten Network) will go a long way toward influencing Meyer's decision for the fall.
Texas Strong 2.0
5 of 8
Most coaches get passes during their debut seasons, but that is to a lesser degree at the top-tier programs like Texas. Head coach Charlie Strong made some strides during his initial season in Austin despite the 6-7 record, but he now no longer has any leeway to slowly bring along his rebuilding plan.
The time is now, and that starts with how the Longhorns look in their spring game (April 18, 2 p.m. ET, Longhorn Network).
Strong announced earlier this year that he is switching to a spread offense for the 2015 season, part of a massive overhaul that included staff changes after Texas ranked 113th in yardage last year and ended that first season with a 59-yard performance in the Texas Bowl. The change impacted Texas' recruiting, bringing in players who better fit that system, but also will force existing players to learn on the fly.
As a result, Strong has said the new offense won't be completely installed by the spring game, which should make for an awkward public display.
Regardless of how big the playbook is, the spring game is still a make-or-break situation for maligned junior quarterback Tyrone Swoopes, who has struggled during his first two years in Austin and faces major competition from redshirt freshman Jerrod Heard (who has more experience operating the spread) for the starting job.
The Muschamp Effect at Auburn
6 of 8
Will Muschamp had barely had enough time to experience what unemployment life was like when he set out on the next step in his coaching career, going from embattled head coach at Florida to defensive savior at Auburn. Muschamp's final game with the Gators, a 24-19 loss to unbeaten Florida State, was two weeks before he was officially introduced as the Tigers' defensive coordinator for 2015.
Muschamp worked with Auburn's defense in preparation for its Outback Bowl appearance against Wisconsin, but he did so more in an advisory role. His real responsibilities at that time were to get out on the recruiting trail, tapping into the relationships and connections he'd made with some of the top prospects in the south whom he'd hoped to lure to Gainesville and instead sway them to the Plains.
This worked quite well, as Muschamp was able to land players like defensive end Byron Cowart, linebacker Jeffery Holland and athlete Tim Irvin.
But his main job now is to find a way to take Auburn's talent-laden defense and make it somewhat respectable. It doesn't need to be No. 1 in the SEC, not with the way the Tigers score, but it does need to be better at rushing the passer and tackling in space.
The Muschamp-coached defense gets one of its toughest tests right out of the gate in the spring game (April 18, 2 p.m. ET, SEC Network Plus) by going up against Auburn's potent offense, but it will serve as a strong indicator of what Muschamp has been able to accomplish to this point in terms of schemes and effort.
Teams Taking the Next Step
7 of 8
Every season sees a handful of teams break through with big years, often after being down for an extended period of time before that or during the transition from one coaching staff to another. This was no different in 2014, as teams such as Arkansas, TCU and Tennessee went from below .500 the year before to bowl-game winners that headed into the offseason with major momentum.
The hard part is to keep that forward motion going—not plateauing or falling back to old levels.
Arkansas ended a long SEC losing streak with a pair of big wins late last season, then the Razorbacks bulldozed Texas in a bowl game and, as a result, are projected to be even better in 2015.
Same for Tennessee, which finished with its first winning record since 2009 and did so with a lineup that was overflowing with freshmen and sophomores.
That youth now becomes experience for the Volunteers, but among the many things that can quash momentum are injuries, which is leading coach Butch Jones to have to hold back on being too aggressive with practice this spring in order to continue moving forward.
"If Jones and the Vols stay healthy this spring and continue to develop, a run to the SEC East title this fall won't be too far behind," Bleacher Report's Barrett Sallee wrote.
TCU might have the most difficult second act of last season's breakthrough programs, since it went from 4-8 to a playoff contender in less than a calendar year. The Horned Frogs bring back the bulk of that 12-1 team that tied for the 2014 Big 12 title and demolished Ole Miss in the Peach Bowl, and as a result, expectations are at an all-time high.
"Either you're trying to prove them wrong, that you're a better team than you were when they picked you low, or you're trying to prove them right if they pick you high," TCU coach Gary Patterson said in January, per Carlos Mendez of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "So either way, you've got to get a chip on your shoulder."
Who (or What) Will Surprise Us?
8 of 8Though many coaches try to treat their spring scrimmages as much like a real game as possible, there's still a certain casual nature to the events because their purpose is as much to entertain the fans and generate excitement as it is are to generate results.
Because of this, spring games often feature trick plays that would never be tried in the fall and scenarios involving fans or guest participants. Occasionally, a cat gets involved.
In the past, we've seen former players rekindle their collegiate glory days, such as when Marshawn Lynch scored a touchdown for California during its 2013 spring game. Other schools have made it possible for children with major illnesses or disabilities to run a play or two. Last year's Arizona spring game saw coach Rich Rodriguez go into the crowd and have fans choose which play for the offense to run.
What wrinkles will schools have in store for this year's spring games? We'll just have to wait and see.
Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
