I didnt take a whole lot from the spring game yesterday as many offensive starters were either out or limited, other than our defensive front 7 is NASTY and there is a lot of depth there and it showed on both groups. Hard to really evaluate the back end D but I really like the freshman TPride and #1 Mukaba is as good as advertised. As much as I loved Skalski and Spector, our 2022 LBs are far more athletic than either and that group, including Carter and Simpson may be the most complete group in CF by the end of next season.
Offensively - ????? - hard to judge the OL when they are divided and several of the best players are out. I think they will be a whole lot better than 2021 just because of experience, time in the weight room and getting reps against the best Front 7 in college football. Now, all that depends on staying healthy right. RBs - Mufah is the real deal. Good speed, size and hands. He is a starter for a whole lot of other teams. Rest of the reps were walkons and none did anything to stand out which makes sense given that they are walkons and the defense that they were going against is so good. WRs - still disappointing to me, maybe because of the injuries, so many walkons played and they looked like walkons. Ngata has a chance to be really good but has to stay on the field and has to make the easy catches. Nobody out there appears to have the "dog" in him that is necessary to match up with the physical secondary (remember the UGA game). I will say the TE Bringstool (sp) looks like he has something special. Not saying he is Brock Bowers but he needs to play come the fall.
Lastly, the elephant in the room - QB. DJ looked better, physically, but, honestly, nothing he did was remarkable, saw some good sideline passes but a continued reluctance to use the middle of the field other than a couple of dump offs to Mafah. Could have been the DL pressure of course and that could have also been the reason for some significant misses on swing and sideline passes. Regardless, it appears that he is who is, workable but limited in terms of what he can do which limits what the offense can do. Would be great if he has some great, playnmaking WRs but dont see any of those on the current roster. The good thing is that Cade showed some great athleticism and wasnt afraid to throw down the field. He will give us a pocket threat that doesnt exist with DJ and that will help keep the defenses more honest, open up the running and the passing game. Is he ready for the big time yet? Probably not, needs to add bulk and get more reps and experience but his upside vs DJ appears to be evident.
Also and I think that this is important - Cade's persona seems more the alpha leader, probably based on being the biggest dog in the biggest HS league in TX and perhaps his family background. It just looks like this is what he is meant to be and he knows that. DW4 had that, Trevor had that as well, destined to be the best. The only thing that holds Cade back right now is his size or lack of and lack of college reps. Both should come and with his work ethic and attitude, it will probably be sooner rather than later. Question is - will it come before Labor day or sometime later?
Couldn't have asked for a better opening 3 game stretch.
Ga Tech benefitted from an odd game flow last year (bad weather, 2 hr lightning delay) and, sure, they could give us fits again but we'd have some depth at QB if worst case happens.
That said, the thought here is CK2 should see plenty of playing time in this 3-game stretch.
Wake Forest or NC State (end of September and start of October) we will start to see what's up with the offense in regards to facing stiffer competition.
If DJU is still looking like what we saw last year, the above 2 games are where I expect to see the switch.