The football team had its first spring scrimmage on Saturday and the offense, trying to learn a new system, struggled against the experienced defense.
With new offensive coordinator Jay Norvell installing new terminology and plays, Saturday’s 45-minute scrimmage showed the offense has not exactly mastered the new schemes.
“Really, it’s a completely different offense than what we were doing last year,” quarterback Ben Olson said. “So a lot of it’s different, a lot of shifts, a lot of shotgun, different formations. So it’s new stuff.”
With the exception of a well-thrown touchdown pass by walk-on quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson and a handful of nice runs by walk-on tailback Ryen Carew, the offense struggled to move the ball.
Olson threw for 100 yards on 6-of-11 passing with one interception and Pat Cowan completed two of eight attempts for 7 yards.
The defense made some key plays behind the line, including a sack by Shawn Oatis and tackles for loss by Bruce Davis and Fred Holmes. They also made four consecutive stops within their own 10-yard line.
Coach Karl Dorrell is not concerned that the defense seems be a step or two ahead of the offense at this point.
“The defense should be a little bit ahead given their experience back and not really changing much on that side of the ball in terms of what we do,” Dorrell said. “Offensively it’s probably a little bit harder just because of the new coach and new terminology, new plays and things like that.”
Cowan sees Norvell’s system as very similar to last season’s offensive scheme, just using different terms for plays and schemes.
“A lot of the concepts are the same, but the terminology is different,” Cowan said. “We’re picking it up well and we’ll get better with it.”
One thing the offense will be looking to do more of is getting the ball downfield and letting the experienced receivers make plays. For sophomore wideout Terrence Austin, this means an opportunity to make a bigger impact than the two catches for 29 yards he had last season.
“(Norvell) pretty much wants a certain caliber out of his receivers and he thinks that I can add to it,” Austin said. “So I think I’ll get to showcase some of my talent in this new offense.”
BREAZELL OUT FOR SPRING: The injury list got a little bit longer after an MRI came back showing a posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) strain and a possible tear for wideout Brandon Breazell after coming down awkwardly on a catch Thursday. “He’s definitely out for spring,” Dorrell said. “We anticipate a pretty good recovery and have him be ready to go in the fall.”
He is not expected to need surgery.
CAREW MAKES AN IMPRESSION: Walk-on running back Ryen Carew was the standout for the offense on Saturday, rushing for 77 yards on nine carries, including runs of 20 and 26 yards.
“He’s doing a great job picking everything up and learning it,” Olson said. “Carew obviously has talent. Everybody can see that.”