clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Gunner Kiel And The Offense Shine In Spring Game

In his first public appearance as a Bearcat Gunner Kiel lived up to the expectations going 17 of 22 for 303 yards and running for a score in leading the first team offense.

Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

The caveat to that is that the spring game was not best vs best. The first team offense was matched up with the second team defense. Likewise the first team defense played the second team offense led by Jared Evans. That being said it would be hard to average 13.7 yards per attempt against air. It seems likely that the Bearcats will devote more of the offense to the deep ball than they did in either of the last two seasons. Given the personnel that makes sense, Gunner Kiel is arguably the most physically gifted QB to don the red and black, the only counter argument is Greg Cook. Kiel coupled with the deepest receiving corps in school history and the ingredients for a particularly explosive offense are there if the Bearcats can get more production from the running game than they got in 2013.

The flip side of that is the defense which . In the spring the general rule is that the defense should be ahead of the offense. They certainly had some success against the second team offense limiting Jared Evans to 166 yards and a couple scores on 30 attempts with 17 completions. How much of that came against the first team defense, and how much came against the second? I have no idea, which makes it hard to judge the effectiveness of either.

There was the one drive of best on best, but that was it as far as I can tell, and the sample size is too small to boot. The competition will remain open this summer because that is how Tommy Tuberville rolls. But it is difficult to imagine anyone other than Kiel drawing the start against Toledo. Granted, it was obvious that Brendon Kay was going to be the starter after last spring, and then he wasn't.