Local Sports
JUSTIN GRAVES: Spring drills didn’t bring much more information
By Justin GravesIt’s official. Spring football practice is officially over at both Alabama and Auburn.
So now that we’ve seen a sneak preview of what we’ll see on the field for both programs this fall, we should know what to expect when toe touches leather in five months.
Or maybe not.
No matter how you shake it, spring football practice is still spring football practice. It’s nothing more than a few weeks of basic practice where a coach can evaluate his team’s needs and what players could possibly fill those needs.
Despite popular belief, coaches aren’t going to put in anything too complex at spring practice. And if a coach does put in a new offensive or defensive scheme, he definitely isn’t going to show his opposition all the bells and whistles in a spring game five months before the season starts.
That would be insane. No coach in his right mind would even think about letting his rival have that much time to prepare for a new system.
So with that said, what do we know about Alabama and Auburn now that spring practice is officially over?
Basically, we don’t know anything new.
Heading into spring training, we knew that both Alabama and Auburn will feature new offensive coordinators this fall. And we also knew that both coordinators — Alabama’s Jim McElwain and Auburn’s Tony Franklin — ran pass-happy systems at their previous jobs.
During the spring games, we saw a glimpse of those systems. But it was also obvious that neither coordinator really opened their playbook during the spring game.
Heading into spring practice, we knew that both Alabama and Auburn had needs, and both programs were going to try and fill those needs this spring.
Now that spring training is over, have Alabama and Auburn filled their needs? They’ve probably made progress.
But even if their teams have made progress this spring, the only thing the coaches are going to tell us is, “We have a lot of work to do before the season starts.”
Spring football may generate a lot of discussion among fans, but all we’re doing is going over information we already had.
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