It's hard to believe the Spring Football season is already gone and it's just the first week of March. HCJC had done this early schedule in his time at Coastal but wasn't able to last year with the roster situation. The weather ended up being perfect after it looked like rain all week.
Offensively
A lot of the veteran's like Salter & Cooley didn't play a lot of snaps and the Flames were down 4 WR's that should factor in the rotation in Lee, Jones, Smith & Rogers who came back after entering the portal. Overall, my biggest takeaway is with the QB room. Hampton seems to have taken a real step forward and Burger is a legitimate starting caliber option after coming over from App State. Further, Jayden Bradford gives the Flames the young QB of the future to develop. Bradford's best play of the day was a roll out the left and dropped a dime while going away from his body about 25 yards down field. Miles Mceachin was a Hampton transfer as well that flew under the radar that showed pretty well in the run game. Let's go back to Burger. He showed a surprising burst in the run game and hit several deep balls as well as some nice touch throws. He's also taller than Salt but shorter than Hampton but can see over the line and deliver the ball on time. The Flames have the perfect QB scenario depth wise for the first time ever. Salt at QB1, Burger & Hampton battling it out for backup and both look like they could capably step in for a game or 2 if Salt were to get injured and not crash the ship. Then the young stud Bradford to groom for the future and then an interest project in Mceachin.
The TE and RB room are completely loaded. Without a doubt the QB, RB & TE rooms have the most depth the program has ever seen. Hanshaw and Henderson both sat out which allowed Coastal transfer Jacob Jenkins and RFR Bo Burklow a lot of opportunities along with the freshman. At RB, Caden Williams fit the bill of what we've heard. Nice combination of speed and power. It's going to be hard to keep him off the field. No surprise but Victor Venn looks like the odds on favorite to take the Bedgood role. He's got a burst to the edge but he does go down on contact a bit easier than Bedgood did so far. Cooley & Lucas are known commodities and I still think James Jointer is going to play a role for the Flames.
The WR room remains one of the biggest questions marks on the team. Coastal transfer Tyson Mobley made several nice plays early including a bomb for a TD on the first play of the game on a post. Sibley is back as well. Beyond that, there are a lot of questions to go around in the room. Smith & Jones missed the spring recovering from injury over last Summer. Lee has the size but will need to add weight to be a candidate for WR1 or WR2. Copeland won most improved WR of the year but he's a smaller guy as well. The Flames will add 2 freshman as well but historically WR's don't make much of an impact in their freshman year. Looking back at AGG, Petey, Demario & Summers none had double digit catches in year 1. So all in all their will be 6 WR's that weren't playing Saturday that should be available for Fall Camp to go along with Mobley, Austin, Fortenberry, Copeland and Sibley. Last pre-season we heard Reese Smith was poised to make a big impact so he will likely factor back in as well provided he's healthy.
Kickers
There wasn't much special teams action other that 5 FG attempts and a few XP opportunities. Brown went 1/2, Beck went 2/2 and Karhu 0/1. The kicks were all around 35 to 40 yards. It looks to me that Karhu has the strongest leg but perhaps Beck is the most accurate. We could see a situation where Beck is the kicker for XP's and inside 35 and Karhu is the kickoff specialist and long range guy. I don't want to completely discount Nick Brown but we've seen a lot of inconsistency in 2 years from him and we saw more of it in the scrimmage. The first kick wasn't a good strike at all and was way wide right. His second kick was perhaps the best contact I've seen him make and split the uprights.
Defense
It's hard to really gauge too much on defense since they aren't allowed to tackle the QB. TJ Bush and Christian Bodnar were 2 guys that really flashed to me along with the LB's. One of things we used to hear Coach Freeze talk about quite a bit when he first arrived was adding more length on defense. That was clearly a quest again for the new staff this past year as we played with a lot of heart on Defense and were very opportunistic but we had next to no length in the box. Liked what I saw from Wake Forest transfer Eli Hall. He will factor in for sure. Bodnar really looks long and thick and I would put him at the top of the list along with Bush and Bazile for returners that are going to take the biggest step forward. The LB position looks totally different with the additions of Jahmar Brown, Teylor Jackson & Aidan Vaughan to go along with the returners. LB could actually be a strength again for the Flames. Juco Safety Eldric Griffin is another guy that looks like he will be an immediate impact player in the secondary. Great instincts and pretty good size at 5'11 200. Dominick Hill the Temple transfer was another key addition that wasn't playing that I had looked forward to watching. I'm sure the Flames have him pegged as a key contributor to the 2 deep as well. Dexter Ricks was another guy that flashed a bit as he bad 2 big pass breakups including 1 to deny a TD.
What's left?
There's still a few scholarships open so what will the Flames look to add?
WR - Even with all the guys that will be on the Fall roster that weren't there either for injury or just weren't here yet I would be shocked if a WR 6'2 or taller isn't high on the priority list. Donta Lee was a highly sought after recruit and he's 6'3 but he's a very slender 175. It could take him a year to develop at this level to be a big impact guy. Other than that Fortenberry is the only other WR over 6'1 on the roster and while he does look to have bulked up it would still seem to be a reach to project him making a huge impact in the 2024 season from what we saw Saturday. Portal target #1 IMHO.
DE - Bush & Bazile flashed quite a bit as did Larry Jones. Dozier was out there a good bit but he will just be a RFR so it's hard to count too much on him. Bryson Jennings and Gray Carroll look to be depth pieces and Miyon Conaway is no longer on the roster. Rod Daniels is listed as a DL and he was 1 that i had penciled down to look for but wasn't able to watch. That being said I think the Flames could use another good pash rusher off the edge and would be very surprised if they don't add another.
DB - Overall, the Flames didn't get killed in number in the portal but 2 of the 3 biggest defections were starters at DB that had another year of eligibility in Singleton & Hodge. They have added some guys here and bring back some strong returners such as Amarian Williams but I could still see the Flames looking to add another CB or perhaps Safety if Bodnar ends up at CB. I believe he was announced as a CB by Chadwell. IMHO this position has the best young talent Sophomore and under of any position on the team. How far along are they?
OL - It's the hardest position to evaluate because we don't know exactly what the Offense is trying to accomplish quite a bit and usually simpleton's like us follow the ball around. That being said the Flames lost some strong veteran production and while they did add Flores and Johnson they could look to beef up the 2 deep with 1 more OL. This is another spot that has a lot of good young talent and it will just depend on how far along the staff feels they are and who becomes available.
Overall, it's a completely different Spring period this year. The staff won't need to chase volume like they did last year but instead a few key missing pieces that will fit perfectly into the rotation and locker room. Also, many have asked about the potential bump in recruiting. You will see that bump from the 23 season and the Fiesta bowl come with this next HS class. I think the HS portion of the class will EASILY be the best we've ever had this coming year and could even change how many portal guys we take next year.
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