Keith Wenning came back to where he left off. No. 10 played great as he threw two touchdown passes on 59 and 60-yards to Willie Snead and Jamill Smith respectfully. Add in a 44-yard throw to Connor Ryan and that is 163 yards on three plays. Say hello to the Arena Football League Ball State.
His receivers stepped up as Snead and Smith emerged as primary options. Something Ball State missed last year.
Smith even worked a trick play playing quarterback as he threw a nice pass to Snead for a first down. Nice to see some gadget plays in the spring game as Eastern Michigan will have another headache to game plan for on August 30.
Four months till the regular season would cause anyone to hit their head. Save it for EMU fellas.
Wenning did throw a pick but that was more on the receiver. There a few drops on the day showing the receiving corps still needs some work.
Kelly Page started off good moving the ball in the first half showing off his scrambling ability when he could. I was really happy for him when he threw a touchdown to Antonio Heard (yeah, I never heard of him either). No one needs a confidence boost more than Kelly Page.
Page did have some bad luck directing the second unit throwing two picks. The first one was more on the receiver really while the latter appeared to be a direct throw to the middle linebacker evoking bad memories of the 2009 season.
The defense only gave up 4 big plays that I mentioned earlier. I was most impressed with some of the pressure they were able to place on the quarterbacks. Then again, maybe the offensive line needs help. Never know with the spring game.
The defense was able to get stops on both the first and second units. Three touchdowns and two field goals were scored which is not bad when quarterbacks have little to fear in their blue jerseys. Wenning directed the first string offense to 20 points and Page, the second string, to 7. Yes, I did not care about the Red vs. White scoring system.
We also have a running back battle. Jahwan Edwards had the most snaps but several backs saw action. Hard to tell how it will shake out before the opener.
There is plenty for Ball State fans to be excited about if Wenning keeps this up. Especially if the receivers grow into threats defenses have to prepare for.
Over an hour after the game former quarterback Joey Lynch and current recruiting coordinator could be seen in the recreation center showing high school recruits the basketball courts. Since me and my buddies were the only ones playing I doubt they were impressed by the athleticism of Ball State students.
I hope I did not scare recruits off by dribbling the ball off my foot.
Filed under: SpringBall |
Over The Pylon 
Little late, but a couple of things. You didn’t mention the long touchdown pass to the red-shirt freshman from Ben Davis. Second, to teams trade films of spring games prior to the season opener ?? I asked on the message board about this last year but never got a good answer.
Not sure about teams trading films of the spring game. I would assume so.