Over The Pylon

On last week’s OTPCast, I had said one of the two things I would be watching with interest on Saturday for the Ball State spring game was the crowd. I believed that the size of the crowd would indicate several things, most notably whether or not the work of the current staff had made a difference in spiking the interest and attention from Ball State students and local residents. Turns out, the crowd was the most newsworthy thing about Saturday. It wasn’t the size that captured folks’ interest, though, it was the reappearance of two folks within it as current Michigan head coach Brady Hoke and former Ball State QB Nate Davis were spotted in Scheumann Stadium taking in the first Pete Lembo spring game live and in person.

Brady Hoke and Nate Davis take in the BSU spring game (Photo credit: Greg Fallon, The Star Press)

Brady was certainly in incognito mode with his Navy Seal ballcap pulled low and wrap around shades on, probably for a whole host of reasons. Hoke’s nephew Kyle still plays for Ball State, but I can’t imagine that and that alone brought him back to Muncie. The Star Press caught up with Brady and got the usual coachspeak about why he left, the successful wishes he has for the new staff, and an inability to comment on why the former staff was as unsuccessful as they were. It’s nice to see Brady still somewhat positive about the BSU program despite the shortcomings he had to deal with on the field when he started and success was hard to come by and the shortcomings he was forced to deal with off the field when the success was piling up toward the end of his run here. Lembo asked alums to show up for this spring game, and I’d say those two are two he never expected.

Filed under: Ball State, SpringBall |