UCF Football: What we learned from UCF Spring Game

There is a lot of buzz coming from Gus’ first spring game.

The only real disappointment from the spring game was that it wasn’t at night. UCF had the perfect time to make this a night game and tie it into Gus’ first spring game. Other than that it was really impressive. There was a whole new buzz around this spring game. Everyone wanted to see what exactly a Gus Malzahn spring game would look like. What changes would be made on offense and defense? How would this team adapt? What impact would returning players like Kalia Davis have? How would DG look now that he wasn’t being rode into the ground by an obese clown? How would the recruits react to the game?All of these questions needed to be answered at the spring game. These were some of the things. that I wondered about as I headed to the spring game. So how did UCF go about answering these questions.

The first thing that leaps out is how well organized the spring practice was. Josh Heupel was a complete idiot that had trouble organizing a practice let alone a spring game. Gus did not have that problem. The players, coaches, support staff, etc all knew what they were supposed to do and where they were supposed to be. Contrast that with the mess Heupel had his three years here. No one knew where they were supposed to be. The game itself was a disorganized mess. That was not the case Saturday. This game was so organized and efficient. It only last an hour and forty five minutes. I was extremely impressed by how well the team looked in terms of being prepared and focused. It was was impressive to see. This is what big time football is about.

Offense Views:

Now let’s talk about players. We’ll start with the offense first. The first one we have to start with is RJ Harvey. The UVA transfer and former qb was outstanding at the running back position. I would actually say I was more impressed by RJ than by anything I have ever seen from Thompson. RJ had three touchdowns in the first half of the game. Otis Anderson was supposed to be the Swiss Army Knife running back under Heupel, but Heupel was too stupid to use Otis properly. Gus on the other hand is going to use RJ to perfection. When you think about it, RJ is the perfect player for Gus’ system. He’s big and physical, but has the ability to make guys miss. He’s very agile for someone that runs the way he does. He’s listed as 5’8, but he looks like he is a bowling ball. The strength program has done wonders for RJ this past month. He can also catch the ball out of the back field as we have seen. He gives Gus a new toy to play with. With MAR coming in the summer, I think RJ will be a strong compliment to MAR.

Then there is Johnny Richardson. I think one of the dumbest decisions Josh Heupel ever made was not using Johnny Richardson last year. The fat clown gave up on Richardson after the Tulsa disaster. It seemed like Heupel the Hutt tried to make Johnny the scape goat for that loss. Well now he’s come hack this year and looks outstanding. We have to hand it to Tim Harris he has done an outstanding job with all of the running backs. Richardson looks like the second coming of Adrian Killins. Richardson looks like he understands what Gus and the offensive coaches want him to do. He had some big runs and catches out of the backfield. Between Richardson, RJ Harvey, and the incoming Mark Anthony Richards, I am super excited to see these running backs in this system.

Something else that jumped out was the fact that this offense uses multiple different looks. We had the pistol, shotgun, and even DG get under center. This is one of the biggest, and best, changes that Gus could have made. Josh Heupel was too stupid to throw in different looks at teams. Instead he went with simplistic and stupid “run ever play from shotgun” strategy. We all saw how that was a disaster against team’s with a pulse. So it’s good to see that Gus is willing to try something different. Mix it up and give new looks that would confuse defenses. There is a lot more motion in this scheme than the last one. Hippo would just have limited motion, hardly any shifts to the backfield or motions out of the backfield. Instead it was very stagnant which let aggressive defenses tee off on Dillon. Gus won’t do this. Instead his offense will use motion to put the defensive players on the back foot. It seems simple to everyone, but to UCF fans this is exciting. Finally there is some diversity on this offense and not that vanilla garbage that UCF fans had come to hate under Heupel the Hutt.

The first play of the game was a pass to the tight end. I had to rub my eyes to make sure it was real. In fact the whole spring game, UCF attacked the middle of the field. All of UCF had a collective thought: FINALLY. For the past 2 years, UCF fans have been begging for more tight end use age and to attack the middle of the field. Heupel never did it. So for Gus to come out and use a tight end was a sign that this offense was going to be different. I really liked the crossing and outlet routes that attacked the middle. Brandon Johnson looked really good coming across the middle. I am also interested to see Hescock actually used as a tight end and not another blocker. Attacking the middle of the field is going to open up so much for this offense. It’s good to see a coach that actually knows how to utilize all aspects of the field of play. If you thought the UCF offense was good last year then this will be a new wrinkle to use.

Of course everyone wanted to see how Dillon Gabriel would look. Everyone was worried that Dillon would be upset at not hiring Lebby and the deep shot offense. Well Dillon looked awesome. His accuracy improved greatly. Now he actually has some outlets to work with in the middle of the field instead of the infamous air it out and pray style of Heupel. Heupel had no faith in his players to be able to attack the middle of the field or he was too stupid to attack the middle of the field. This allowed Cincinnati and Tulsa to tee off on Gabriel all game long. UCF needed a coach that could. attack this portion of the field. I don’t think Lebby would have done this had he been hired. This is why we needed Gus. Gus will attack this opening in the middle of the field. This was how Tulsa and Cincinnati were able to beat UCF under the last regime. Now UCF has finally caught up to these two. Yes it’s a minor, but it’s what UCF needed.

I like that Gus is getting Dillon rolled out and throwing on the run. Again it’s a minor detail, but something Heupel never did with great frequency. Dillon is a fantastic athlete, we’ve seen countless displays of this throughout his time at UCF. UCF fans have been crying out for DG to be moved around in the pocket especially against physical teams. Well we saw Heupel keep DG in the pocket last year against Cincinnati and Tulsa, he got destroyed back there. Now Gus has decided to roll him out. This is again going to open more opportunities for UCF. There will be more bootlegs and rollouts than last year. This will be a legitimate version of the RPO. To be able to see this in the spring game was huge. I know that some national media are already saying “it’s not explosive as Heupel’s offense”, but Heupel’s offense won nothing the last two years. We needed a change. Malzahn brings that.

Ryan O’Keefe is going to be a stud as a wide receiver. I know everyone is hyping up, but it’s deserved. He has looked exciting every time he has gotten ahold of the ball. He looked really good at route running and running after the catch. DG and him seem to have a real connection. O’Keefe might not be the most physical of wide receivers, Brandon Johnson appears to fit that role, but he most be one of the most explosive. Jaylon Robinson was not as explosive as he has shown in the past, but that was because Gus hadn’t called a throw and pray bomb all spring game. Once Gus has gotten some of his system down then he will start opening it up for J-Flash. So there is no need to be worried about him not getting all of the touches in the spring game.

I was so impressed by what I saw along the offensive line. Obviously Matt Lee is the anchor of the line, but what about the others? Afterall last year was a disaster for the unit ranking 115th under that idiot Ellarbee. Ellarbee never tried to change up the blocking schemes or anything. He just stuck with whatever Heupel wanted. Herb Hand on the other hand was mixing up the blocking schemes and trying. different things. He moved players around and tried new things. It was great to watch. This was the unit that I wanted to pay attention to the most on offense. I wanted to see the changes Hand would make. I already like them. It’s new and unique even Greg Austin didn’t mix the assignments up this much. You could really see the improvement on this line already. They looked more physical and aggressive than last year. Last year this unit was dictated to and pushed around. This year it looks like it is the opposite. That should excite UCF fans.

Defense insights

Now let’s look at the defense. Of course Kalia Davis returning was the biggest story on the defensive side of the ball. The big defensive tackle was needed last year as the defensive line had regressed without him. Kalia Davis looked outstanding in all aspects. He even ran the Wild Rhino in a gimmick play. Adding Kalia back is going to pay dividends for this defense line. I also thought Landon Woodson looked really good as well. I think that him working with the Kennys will do wonders for his game. Same for Tre’Mon Morris Brash. I am very excited to see the defensive line.

Holy shit UCF played more than two linebackers in the spring game. It’s a miracle. Joking aside it appears that T-Will has already had an impact on the linebackers. As I said before there was more than two linebackers playing in fact there was typically 3 and different looks. The linebackers seemed to be more aggressive than last year. And more important they were looking to cover as well. Again these are subtle changes that Travis Williams has made. I like what I have seen from this position. group so far with Williams working with them. You can just see a stark contrast in what these guys were being taught. It’s small and simple details, but ones they weren’t being taught by Shannon. That will make all the difference.

I’m still not 100% convinced by this secondary. I have many questions about Brown and Thornton, but that wasn’t the big story that came out of the secondary. It turns out that Divaad Wilson maybe converted to a safety. Specifically a safety to replace Richie Grant. I actually really like this move. I think Wilson and Richie’s games are very similar. They both are big and physical players that are turnover machines. At UGA, Wilson was known to be a hard hitter just like Richie. I think that the fact that this staff is going to convert him to safety is really smart. I had never considered that idea, but now it makes sense. It also makes me wonder if this staff is going to get a cb in the transfer portal or Juco. I am very interested to see how this plays out. It is a interfering suggestion if they go through with it.

Dud:

Of course there was one big dud in the spring game. That is Daniel Obarski. I am sorry, but he shouldn’t be a UCF player. He is probably the worst kicker I have ever seen. He went 1–3 from field goals and missed an extra point. This is on top of a disaster of a year last year which included him being such a prick that he fought with Quadry Jones on the sidelines. Obarski shouldn’t be on this roster and he proved that again at the spring game. It’s clear that already this staff doesn’t trust him. That’s why they are bringing in a transfer kicker from APP State. I don’t expect Obarski to be the kicker once the Boise game occurs. He cannot he if Gus wants to be good on special teams. Obarski has proven time and time again that he isn’t a college kicker.

Final Thoughts:

If this is what Gus has in store for UCF next year then I am excited. It’s just not the on field product that was good to see it was what was happening off the field. UCF had a tremendous amount of recruits come to the game. They made national headlines for the twitter uniforms which the players and recruits loved. But more importantly the old players returned. Heupel had discouraged the old players from returning throughout his tenure because he’s a pompous dick. But now that we have Gus the football alumni are being welcomed back. This is huge and creates more buzz. This Spring Game was a huge step in the Gus Era.