During visits to Alabama and Ohio State this spring, the message from players and coaches was almost verbatim — an 11-2 finish doesn’t cut it. So much so that Ohio State quarterback Kyle McCord, unprompted by any reference to rival Michigan, called the past two seasons “complete failures.”
“You don’t beat the Team Up North, you don’t win a national championship, you don’t achieve any of your goals,” he said. “It definitely speaks volumes that 11-2 at a lot of schools, that’s great, but not here.”
Alabama and Ohio State began this spring with the same lofty aspirations but also more questions than answers, as they’re both looking for a new starting quarterback and working with new offensive coordinators. Spring is one of the best times to be on campuses, when you can learn about the initial progress of teams while there’s less urgency and stress than in summer camps. Everyone is undefeated and naturally more optimistic and coaches tend to be more candid and gracious with their time.
ESPN’s Heather Dinich traveled to Auburn, Alabama, Ohio State and Penn State this spring and worked the phones from USC to LSU to get the latest college football buzz.
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Saban’s challenge | QB scouting reports
Doubling down on defense | Next Jalin Hyatt
FSU-LSU | Marvin Harrison Jr. | Quick hits
Saban’s challenge
For the first time since 2015, Alabama doesn’t have a clear answer at quarterback — at least not yet — and the Tide has a new offensive coordinator. This coincides with a spring in which coach Nick Saban is trying to rebound from a two-loss season without any titles. No pressure.
Saban told ESPN he hired 30-year-old offensive coordinator Tommy Rees because of how effectively Rees used his personnel at Notre Dame, but also because he’s a “really good quarterback coach.”
“I thought that was really important because sometimes you can get a coordinator who’s a good coordinator, but it may not be his expertise to develop quarterbacks,” Saban said. “You don’t always have the luxury of having a quarterback coach and a coordinator.”
Rees’ ability to do both will be critical. Jalen Milroe and Ty Simpson are the lead candidates to replace quarterback Bryce Young, and Milroe has the edge in experience having played in eight games, including one start in a win against Texas A&M last season. Regardless of who earns the nod, Saban is expecting a more balanced offense under Rees.
Alabama averaged 195.5 rushing yards per game last season and 150 yards in 2021. But from 2009 through the 2017 national championship season, the Tide averaged at least 200 rushing yards in all but one season. They haven’t done it since.
“I think what we want to have is balance,” Saban said. “And I don’t think that we ran the ball effectively enough last year. I also think that it’s very possible when you have this guy as talented as Bryce, that you sort of move away from that emphasis a little bit because you’re sort of featuring what he can do. And if you don’t have a player like that, then I think balance becomes even more important.”
New QB scouting reports
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Ohio State’s McCord: “Kyle’s very accurate, very intelligent, understands how defenses are trying to attack them in terms of defensive structure. He understands the offense. This is his third year in the offense. He’s done a good job of really changing his body in the offseason. I think he’s moving around very well. He’s got good strength, strong arm accurate. And he’s competitive and very intelligent.” — Ohio State coach Ryan Day
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Ohio State QB Devin Brown: “Devin has some similar traits, hasn’t had as much time in the offense but has learned quickly. I’ve been very impressed with the amount of information he’s been able to process in a short period of time. Very good athlete, can move and change direction very well. Got some strength to him, strong arm. And again, very competitive.” — Day
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Penn State QB Drew Allar: “He makes some throws that will make you say wow. He’s hard to bring down. You need three arms on him, at least. He can stand in there and he doesn’t need much space. He’s got really good vision. He keeps his eyes downfield incredibly well for a young guy. He’s getting better every day with, you know, pre-snap duties, which are protection, run checks, seeing the defense, trying to unfold the defense, to help give them a key on where to go with the ball and what to anticipate. I’m impressed with his ability right now at the line of scrimmage. He’s far exceeded my expectations from a cerebral standpoint.” — Penn State offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich
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Georgia QBs Carson Beck and Brock Vandagriff: They were both getting reps with the first-team offense this spring. Coach Kirby Smart said Beck has a “really good command of the offense” and “understands it inside and out. He communicates it. He gets things correct.” Smart also had praise for Vandagriff’s ability to make some plays getting out of the pocket, but both quarterbacks have also made some poor decisions. Smart told reporters this spring the No. 1 thing he’s looking for in his starter is decision-making ability. “Can you make consecutive, good decisions over and over that don’t cost our team games? Because we have enough playmakers, and we have enough plays that you will make a play inevitably. Don’t make a bonehead play. That’s what we’re trying to avoid.”
Cleaning up the defense at Ohio State, USC
It’s hard not to wonder what Pac-12 runner-up USC could have accomplished last fall if the defense had been more productive. The same can be said for Ohio State, which saw its defense collapse in the two most meaningful games, the loss to rival Michigan and the loss to Georgia in the College Football Playoff semifinal.
The Trojans were plagued by missed tackles (156 total, ranking No. 120 in the country). USC ranked No. 120 in tackle percentage (81.2%) and ranked No. 106 with 71 broken tackles. At Ohio State, the issue was allowing big plays. The Buckeyes’ defense allowed 16 plays of at least 20 yards in the final two games (six against Michigan, 10 against Georgia) — the most allowed by Ohio State in any two-game span since 2004. Ohio State also allowed 14 offensive touchdowns of at least 20 yards, and half of those came in the final two games (five against Michigan, two against Georgia).
Both defensive coordinators — USC’s Alex Grinch and Ohio State’s Jim Knowles — shouldered the blame this spring but have also pinpointed some areas to change. Grinch said it’s a combination of getting stronger in the weight room to win the one-on-one battles, a talent differential in some cases, and offenses that create an unblocked player in the backfield. Grinch said his goal is to be “the most improved defense in the country.”
“It’s not change the person it’s change the player, which is about development,” Grinch. “And then in other instances we’ve got to upgrade from a talent standpoint. The final piece is the coaching standpoint. What can we do to put the guys in a better position to be successful? Are we teaching them the right things? We’re confident we are, we’ve got to get them to execute.”
Knowles said he blames himself for some matchup issues, and there were times when “we just lost our eyes and we didn’t execute.” When he was hired last year, Knowles told his players that if they have five or fewer explosive plays, they’ll win every game. In an aggressive defense, he said, big plays will happen, but they have to know how to react to it and not let it continue.
“Nobody wants to make the critical mistake,” Knowles said. “Nobody wants to give up the critical play. That’s not how our guys are built. So then I have to look at my teaching, the environment. It can’t be OK to give up a big play against our offense. … I need to be tougher on them in practice. That’s been my emphasis this spring.”
Tennessee coach Josh Heupel pointed out that at this time last year, “nobody was talking about Jalin Hyatt,” who went on to earn the school’s first Biletnikoff Award, given to the sport’s most outstanding pass-catcher. Heupel said the Vols “are continuing to develop that roster spot.”
Keep an eye on Squirrel White, a native of Birmingham, Alabama, who could be a dynamic playmaker for the Vols, along with Ramel Keyton and Bru McCoy. There are also high expectations for Dont’e Thornton, a long, explosive athlete who transferred from Oregon for the start of the spring semester.
Sunday opener implications
The Sept. 3 Sunday season opener will have the spotlight to itself, and it will have playoff implications for two storied programs trying to get back to the national championship game. Florida State beat LSU by one point last fall, but the Seminoles weren’t able to capitalize on the 24-23 win because they lost three straight October games to Wake Forest, NC State and Clemson.
“We weren’t consistent enough,” FSU coach Mike Norvell said. “This is a team that is built on both sides of the ball, that can have production and that can play at a very high level. We just need to do that consistently. Obviously we’re excited to see that growth and if we can continue to improve in all things that we’re doing, I’m very confident in what we’ll be able to accomplish.”
The expectations are much higher this fall and with the ACC scrapping its divisions, it’s possible FSU plays in the ACC championship game with Clemson. If Florida State can beat LSU and at least split with Clemson, it could make a case for the top four as a one-loss team. LSU, though, is ahead of schedule under Brian Kelly, having already won the SEC West in Year 1.
“We had some work to do in our first year and I thought our guys did a great job of really following a plan that we put in place for them and we grinded it out,” Kelly said. “I mean, we weren’t perfect, but we grew a lot and I think we go into Year 2 now with a clear understanding of what the standards are here. And now it’s just about really getting depth and building depth within a program.”
If both LSU and Florida State somehow win their respective conferences, they could finish in the top four together — or, in the case of similar records without a conference title, the head-to-head result in the season opener could ultimately determine who’s in and who’s left out on Selection Day.
Ohio State’s Harrison has strong chemistry with McCord
McCord hasn’t been anointed the starting quarterback, but he already has history with the nation’s top receiver, as McCord and Marvin Harrison Jr. were teammates at St. Joseph’s Prep in Philadelphia. Harrison said they were playing Roman Catholic their senior year when they made a conscious effort to help each other break individual city records — which they did.
“It’s always good to have that one person that you knew for a long time and had a relationship with prior,” Harrison said. “I can talk to him about anything … we throw so much, our timing is pretty good. The repetitions we get outside of practice as well definitely makes our connection better.”
McCord said they had talked about playing in college together since they were sophomores in high school.
“I tell him all the time, watching him run routes, the minute he breaks down I can tell where he’s thinking about going, where he feels the hole in the defense, or how he wants to attack the DB, whatever it is,” McCord said. “I can tell what he’s thinking just because of how many reps we’ve gotten together. When you’re out there on the field, having that kind of chemistry lets you play one step ahead.”
Quick hits
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Arkansas coach Sam Pittman said quarterback KJ Jefferson will continue to run the football, but should become a “much more dynamic midrange thrower.” Expect Jefferson to throw on the move a little bit more.
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Auburn defensive coordinator Ron Roberts said he expects to be a top-20 defense. “If we can get into that top 10 coming out of the gate great,” he said, “but the expectation is we’re Auburn. We need to be in the top 20 in the country in defense every year.”
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Maryland’s improvement has been overshadowed by an inability to beat the top teams in the Big Ten. Fans want more — but coach Mike Locksley said he needs more from the fans and boosters to stay competitive in the era of NIL. “This has not been easy,” he said. “The expectation hasn’t changed. People here want to see us win and they expect it now, and it’s like, well help me. I guess the part that’s frustrating as a coach is everybody now just thinks it’s so easy to do and it’s an expectation. I don’t want to piss off our fans, but when you look and see an empty stadium and we’re battling our butts off, it’s like, come on man, this thing was left for dead. Literally.”
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Washington coach Kalen DeBoer said he was under the assumption that quarterback Michael Penix Jr. would move on to the NFL after last season, but around the end of November, DeBoer said he had a gut feeling Penix Jr. might return. Now the question is if he can deliver a Heisman-worthy encore after leading the nation with 357 passing yards per game last season. “We’re challenging him in every way to take the next step,” DeBoer said. “He chose to stay with the understanding that’s what he needed from us — to push him. … Winning is a big part of it. Statistically, a lot of it was on his shoulders last year. I don’t think he needs to have as good of a season as far as yards per game to be a candidate. He just needs to win some big football games.”
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Kentucky’s offensive line should be better this fall, Mark Stoops said, and he likes the quarterback room with transfer Devin Leary added to it. He said Leary has the physical attributes and leadership qualities former QB Will Levis had. “I think we addressed some areas on the offensive line to help us and then at the receiver position as well, having some guys with some more experience,” Stoops said.
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The Big Ten East race should be fascinating. Ohio State gets the elite, high-caliber recruits, but often loses that talent to the NFL, leaving the Buckeyes seemingly consistently young. Michigan doesn’t have as much flash and dash, but it has developed veteran players who now know what it takes and feels like to win the Big Ten and reach the CFP. The Wolverines’ offense line should again be outstanding — but so should Penn State’s, which also has an extremely gritty defense. Good luck trying to predict this one, but only Michigan has the veteran quarterback in J.J. McCarthy.