College football spring game breakdown: What we learned last weekend

Only seven teams across the Football Bowl Subdivision have yet to complete spring drills. For the rest of college football, it’s time to look ahead to the regular season, and to maximizing the three months until fall camp resumes in late July and early August.

Last week’s breakdown reviewed the springtime developments at a number of high-profile programs. Ohio State’s defense and overall depth might be the nation’s best. It might take Tom Herman some time at Texas. Southern California needs to find sophomore quarterback Sam Darnold a few receivers.

The second part of our breakdown of what to take from this spring peeks at the past weekend, which includes end-of-spring games and scrimmages at Alabama, Washington, Notre Dame and Penn State, among others.

What did we learn? Most of all, that those two reigning national semifinalists – the Crimson Tide and Huskies – seem poised to make another run at the College Football Playoff.

First look at Alabama’s offense

Saturday’s spring game provided the first look at coordinator Brian Daboll, formerly of New England Patriots, and how the offense might look as it transitions from Lane Kiffin’s up-tempo style to what some expected to be a more traditional approach.

We’ll know more about the Tide’s tempo come September. However, the spring game showed no decline in overall aggressiveness: Alabama went deep again and again with Daboll calling the shots, taking advantage of a healthy crop of receivers. But why should anyone be surprised? It’s not like recent New England teams embodied a run-first mentality, after all.

Of course, this story line ran second behind the attention paid to a quarterback competition that, to be honest, doesn’t really exist. While true freshman Tua Tagovailoa looked the part of a major recruit, his snaps largely came against Alabama’s backup defense – and as Nick Saban noted, he didn’t get a first down going against the starters. So there’s a takeaway from the weekend: Jalen Hurts is the starter, just as he was in 2016.

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Browning rounds into form

Washington quarterback Jake Browning injured his throwing shoulder in a November win against Arizona State, a fact Chris Petersen and his coaching staff hid from view, they said, so as not to tip off opposing defenses. (Petersen has long made a rule of not discussing injuries.)

Surgery followed in January, then nearly two months of recovery time. While he’ll surely need the summer to get fully healthy before fall camp, Browning looked on pace for September during the Huskies’ spring game, completing 6 of his 10 attempts for 47 yards with one near-touchdown pass ruled out of the back of the end zone.

This is a hugely positive sign for UW, which has major shoes to fill in the defensive backfield – one of the nation’s best in 2016 – and might need an uptick in overall offensive production to offset any step back, however slight, from its top-ranked defense.

Rough day at Georgia

Georgia’s defense will be fine. The young defense front showed well during the Bulldogs’ spring game, and an already solid secondary will be improved by the addition of several impressive recruits in February’s signing class. Overall, there’s reason for optimism heading into the summer.

Not so on offense. Well, a few positive signs: one, the backfield is clearly as talented as you’ll find in the FBS, and two, here’s betting true freshman Jake Fromm continues to push returning starter Jacob Eason to improve his game before fall camp.

But the offensive line had an awful spring game, again making this positional group the team’s greatest sticking point on offense. The receiver core has more depth, perhaps, but still suffers from the same issue: Georgia doesn’t have a go-to option. Saturday did little to stem those concerns after spring drills.

Notre Dame’s good and bad

Start with the bad news: Notre Dame’s offensive line, a projected strength, allowed nine sacks during the spring game – though quarterbacks weren’t allowed to get hit, so maybe that’s not a totally accurate number. Still, the defensive line looked very solid against this offensive front.

But is that a bad thing? The offensive line should be fine. But seeing the defensive line play well might help offset some worries over that unit’s experience and production. So it’s not all bad news.

And on offense, projected backup quarterback Ian Book might have outplayed the Irish’s new starter, Brandon Wimbush, albeit when going against the second-team defense. Wimbush does need time to grow into the position. But seeing Book make plays with his arm and legs is a very positive development, given how frequently the Brian Kelly-coached Irish have needed to rely on their backup in critical situations.

More to Penn State’s offense than Barkley

Any talk of the Nittany Lions’ offense begins and ends with junior running back Saquon Barkley, an early yet strong Heisman Trophy contender after back-to-back seasons with at least 1,000 yards. As the spring game illustrated, however, he’s far from the only piece for an offense destined to rank among the best in the Big Ten Conference in its second season under coordinator Joe Moorhead.

There’s quarterback Trace McSorley, the reigning Big Ten leader in passing yards, touchdowns and yards per attempt. The junior is set for another all-conference season. With increased depth and Connor McGovern’s smooth to transition to center, the offensive line should be the best of James Franklin’s tenure.

And the Nittany Lions are in great shape at wide receiver. Penn State already felt secure in the quartet of DaeSean Hamilton, Saeed Blacknall, DeAndre Thompkins and Irvin Charles. But the big story from spring drills was the growth exhibited by sophomore Juwan Johnson, who made just two grabs as a rookie but will hold a key role as the group’s big-body target.

Maryland recruiting takes off

After a somewhat sluggish start in recruiting, Maryland landed a pair of four-star local teammates following its spring game: Evan Gregory, an offensive guard, and defensive tackle Austin Fontaine. These commitments vaulted the Terrapins into range of a top-25 class in the early team rankings.

But the bigger story is what might come next. Last year’s class, ranked by every major recruiting service as one of the best in program history, took off after quarterback Kasim Hill gave his verbal commitment in April – so landing those two local recruits might open the floodgates for another solid class for D.J. Durkin and Maryland.

Ugly start for Canada at LSU

Hired to completely overhaul LSU’s tired and inefficient offense, first-year coordinator Matt Canada’s introduction at the Tigers’ spring game seemed strangely familiar. Inadequate quarterback play? Porous blocking? No explosiveness? Those are the qualities – maybe that’s not the best word – that came to define the Tigers’ attack for much of Les Miles’ tenure.

OK, so it wasn’t a good start. Is the sky falling? Not in the big picture. Canada is still an extremely gifted schemer and play caller, and he’ll make the most of the summer months to address those areas in need of improvement. But the spring game does underline the idea that an offensive rebirth won’t be as easy as flipping a switch – or, in this case, hiring one of the top coordinators on the market.

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