After 11 practices and the scrimmage on Saturday, Michigan State University's football team has been able to make strides and learn more about individual players and schemes.
As Michigan State University's football team gears up for its next scrimmage, Coach Jonathan Smith's satisfaction with Saturday's performance reveals a promising yet evolving squad.
After 11 practices and the scrimmage on Saturday, Michigan State University's football team has been able to make strides and learn more about individual players and schemes.
Smith said he is pleased with the work that was done, as the team was able to fit in over 100 snaps of live scrimmage and was able to get all four phases of special teams quality reps.
While Smith says the scrimmage wasn't flawless, he is happy he was able to recognize where the team is at moving forward for its next scrimmage this Saturday.
Tight end coach Brian Wozniak, who has been coaching alongside Smith for the past six seasons, said the coaches would like to see the offense start faster. During the scrimmage, the offense was able to get in the red zone and work effectively.
Wozniak said the offense isn't easy, but is advantageous for the tight end to learn.
"There's probably a little bit over half the NFL running a similar offense," Wozniak said, "It takes a minute, but once you understand what we're trying to do with the system, it gets easier."
Junior tight end Jack Velling from Oregon said this year's team is going to be fun to watch, and the tight ends have a lot of responsibility in the offense this season, which comes with a lot of learning. Velling emphasized keeping the team's head in the playbook and ensuring the players stay aware of their surroundings.
"There's for sure a learning process," Velling said. "I don’t really know how long I would say (it is), but it kind of depends on the person."
Wozniak said Velling is a savvy player who can read a zone defense well and has his explosive athletic quality on his side. Wozniak also said that Velling sets an example for some of the younger players coming in.
"He's a three-year starter, and still taking notes like he's a freshman," Wozniak said.
While the coaches don’t have a player picked for every position, Smith said they have continued to work on the depth chart and are hoping more guys earn the opportunity to see the field.
Earning the starting position is competitive, but Smith said he'd like to host a team that has multiple players going in the game with good depth. Right now, the team's biggest areas of competition for starters are the linebacker and receiver positions.
Smith said some key takeaways from Saturday's scrimmage involved the defense showing resilience and the offense being able to put some longer drives together, but that the team did not finish in the end zone. They had 100 snaps with two turnovers and efficient third-down defense.
"With those kinds of numbers, we want to take the ball away more," Smith said.
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