Cincinnati Spring Game | What To Watch For

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Tomorrow is Bearcat Bowl VI. Just for a refresher the start time is 4PM at Nippert Stadium. Not that anyone who has managed to find this blog needs to be refreshed, still custom is custom. Almost all of the talk about spring Football has revolved around the Quarterback position and who will replace Zach Collaros. It has been framed by the coaches and the media as a "competition" between Munchie Leguax, Brendon Kay, and Patrick Coyne. It hasn't actually been a competition since mid March. Barring injury or a meltdown of catastrophic proportions Munchie will be taking the snaps against Pitt to start the season. But that doesn't mean that there aren't position battles to pay attention to in BB6.

The biggest piece from the 2011 offense that has to be replaced isn't Zach Collaros, it's Isaiah Pead. Pead always brought a level of athleticism and big play explosiveness that was hard to match. But as a Senior he learned how to grind out tough yards and that made him a complete back. Right now three guys are vying to replaced iPead, George Winn, Jameel Poteat and Ralph Abernathy IV. No matter what happens in the spring game those three guys will head into the season splitting carries more or less equally.

Receiver will continue to be the strength of the skill position groups with the top three at the end of the year (Anthony McClung, Kenbrell Thompkins and Alex Chisum) all coming back, not to mention two thirds of the rotation at Tight End in Travis Kelce and Blake Annen coming back. There are some guys who can push their way into the mix among the receivers and TE's, Dyjuan Lewis and Chris Moore for example, but that will be decided in the fall camp more so than in this setting.

The place to watch for changes and general chaos is along the offensive line. Regardless of what the media says the Bearcats are returning three starting offensive linemen Sean Hooey, Eric Lefeld and Austen Bujnoch. The only guy who has been 100 per cent all spring long has been Lefeld. Hooey is less than 100 percent after his ankle surgery earlier this year. Bujnoch had off season shoulder surgery as well. The three of them compose the starting Left and Right Tackles (Lefeld and Hooey) and Bujnoch will start at Guard, presumably left.

Where the intrigue lies is at the other guard spot and center where Dan Sprauge, Sam Longo, Andre Cureton, and anyone else capible of playing battle for the two remaining spots*. You can bet that the starting five will include the returning starters and two of those three in some order. The spring game means the most to those guys so pay attention to lineplay.

* My hunch is that Sprauge starts at center, Cureton at right guard. Purely a guess though.

Defensively almost everything is sorted. Coming into the spring four starters had to be replaced. Derek Wolfe and John Hughes at defensive tackle, J.K. Schaffer at Middle Linebacker and Wesley Richardson at Free Safety. Flash forward 14 practices and just one position is still up for grabs.

Camaron Beard and Jordan Stepp have been cemented as the starting tackle duo. Solomon Tentman has come all the way back from a devastating knee injury to be the man in the middle of the defense. That just leaves Free Safety to figure out. A trio of guys are competing for the spot. Malcolm Murray a JUCO transfer last season who tore his ACL and missed the majority of the season. Adrian Witty a converted corner back who is going to try and do his best Ahmad Black impression. Lastly is Pat Lambert who has been exclusively on special teams duty since losing his nickle back job to Chris Williams early in 2010.

For reference here is the spring roster