San Jose State Football 2014 Spring Wrap Up

Strengths & Question Marks

There aren’t any obvious strengths for the Spartans and I don’t necessarily say that as a knock on the team. I think they can be pretty good, but there just aren’t any huge strengths — outside of perhaps junior kicker Austin Lopez — that you can point to.

They have some nice offensive weapons, but their receiving corps isn’t as deep as it was last year and they need to identify a new quarterback. It’s possible the offensive drop off from last year — a unit that ranked 15th in the nation by averaging 493.3 yards per game — will be minimal, but when you lose an outstanding quarterback in David Fales, several receivers and three starting offensive lineman, some drop off is expected.  

That leads into the biggest question mark, the quarterback. Senior Blake Jurich, the backup the past two years, is competing with junior Joe Gray and Gray appears to be the favorite. Outside of that position, the only major remaining offensive battle is at right guard.

On defense, the question is whether or not simply returning to the 4-3 defense will pay major dividends. The Spartans tried out the 3-4 under defensive coordinator Kenwick Thompson last year and it was a colossal failure to the point that coach Ron Caragher acknowledged on the first day of spring that “a year ago, I would say being new I didn’t know our personnel as well.”

Thompson left to become the outside linebackers coach at Vanderbilt and that worked into SJSU’s favor when it hired veteran Greg Robinson, who spent last year at Texas. The starting defensive rotation is mostly set, so the question will be about how well the Spartans adjust to being in the defense most of the players are more familiar with.

Breakout Players

Running back Thomas Tucker emerged a little midway through the 2013 season when SJSU — four games into the season — converted the then-true freshman from wide receiver to running back and pulled his redshirt to have him play against Hawaii. He averaged 5.1 yards per carry while gaining 338 yards on the ground and proved to be a good weapon out of the backfield with 23 catches. He exited spring as the co-starter at running back along with fellow sophomore Jarrod Lawson, who combined for 1,000 yards rushing and receiving last year. Lawson is a good, hard runner, but Tucker is explosive and looked phenomenal all spring, particularly in both scrimmages. He could be posed for a big season. 

Gray is another one to watch out for as he could serve as a pretty good replacement to two-time 4,000-yard passer Fales. He probably has a stronger arm that Fales and more mobility. The areas in which he needs to prove himself are decision-making and accuracy. The accuracy part was a positive this spring and he completed 17 of 20 passes in the spring game, mostly through an array of short, quick passes. But his strong arm allows him to sprinkle in some deep balls. It’ll be tough to gauge his true decision-making skills until there’s a live opponent, but the potential seems to be there. 

Finally, cornerback Jimmy Pruitt seems poised to take over as the team’s best defensive backfield playmaker, fulfilling the role of likely NFL Draft pick Bené Benwikere. Pruitt was a solid corner as a true freshman in 2012, but SJSU made the curious decision to convert him to safety last year. He’s back at corner this year, taking over Benwikere’s left cornerback spot and the Spartans need him to be the same type of shutdown player Benwikere was.

Position Grades

QB: C+   This group could prove to be better than this if Gray lives up to his potential. But with quarterbacks, it’s impossible to know how good they’ll be until they see their first real game action, so for now it would have to be considered just about an average unit. Jurich has two years experience as the backup, but that was behind a quarterback who never got hurt so he didn’t play much. Junior college transfer Malik Watson is the No. 3 with the hope that he’s able to redshirt. 

RB: B   Tucker and Lawson are a nice duo that helped the Spartans discover a running game midway through last year. In addition to Tucker’s 5.1 yards per carry, Lawson averaged 4.8. SJSU will probably still be a pass-first team (Caragher and offensive coordinator Jimmie Dougherty are both former QBs), but the thunder (Lawson) and lightning (Tucker) combo create hope for the Spartans to have their best running attack in several years. Throw in redshirt freshman Brandon Monroe, who brings some size and power running to the attack, and there’s good potential. 

WR: B+   Most of this grade comes courtesy of sophomore Tyler Winston, who took the Mountain West by storm last year after being inserted into the starting lineup in the fifth game of the season. He finished the year with 58 catches for 858 yards and five touchdowns and averaged over 100 receiving yards per start. He’s got great size, great hands and deceptive speed thanks to a long stride and should be one of the best receivers in the Mountain West. Senior Jabari Carr has to shake off a tough 2013. After catching 62 balls in 2012, Carr had 23 catches in the first four games last year before being derailed by a shoulder injury that limited his duty. He was a top threat before and can be one again. Tim Crawley and converted running back Tyler Ervin bring speed to the slot receiver position and tight end Billy Freeman is fresh off a strong freshman season and could be a top receiving option. But depth is a concern as the rest of the roster is filled with players with little to no significant game experience. Don’t be surprised if true freshman Justin Holmes quick asserts himself into the lineup. 

OL: C+   The two returning players are good, especially center David Peterson. He solidified the line when he entered the lineup in the third game in 2013. Wes Schweitzer had a solid first year starting at left tackle. But three new starters make this unit a question mark. Sophomore Evan Sarver appears to have right tackle locked down and is a player the coaching staff has been excited about for a while. Jeremiah Kolone, a redshirt freshman, is the leading candidate at left guard. He’ll be three years removed from high school this fall after a gray shirt and redshirt season, so he has a mature body for a freshman. Right guard is up in the air. Senior Keith Bendixen was slated for the job, but had to have a second surgery on his right knee midway through spring. That injury dates back to 2012 when he was expected to be the valuable sixth man on the OL but missed the whole season. If he can’t get back to full health, raw but sizable redshirt freshman A.J. Samataua likely gets the nod. 

DL: B-   Senior Travis Raciti anchors a line that should be happy to be back in the 4-3 alignment after getting gashed as a three-down front last year. He’ll play defensive tackle alongside Nate Falo, although the Spartans plan to rotate about eight players throughout the four line spots. They technically have six returning starters among their defensive line players, with several former outside linebackers now moving to defensive end. But Raciti will be the player to watch and there’s a lot of excitement about the fall arrival of JC transfer Victor Vernon, a powerfully built defensive end. 

LB: B+   Some of the best news for SJSU revolves around the return of Vince Buhagiar, a three-year starter who missed all of last season with a shoulder injury. If he had played last year and then graduated, this unit would be scary thin on depth and experience. But he’s a team leader and minimizes the loss of Keith Smith, who led the nation in tackles last season. Christian Tago had some good flashes as a freshman last year and should be better this season in the 4-3 attack that will allow the d-line to keep blockers off the linebackers and let him fly around and make plays. Hawaii transfer Jared Leaf should help round out the unit. 

SEC: C   This unit needs to be better and needs to get better despite losing their best player in Benwikere, who had 12 interceptions the past two years. Pruitt’s return to corner should help and the Spartans recruited well in the secondary. Whether any of those players can contribute as true freshman remains to be seen, but Maurice McKnight enrolled early and got some experience in spring. They also added Arizona transfer Vincente Miles Jr. and Washington transfer Cleveland Wallace. Miles didn’t play last year, so he’s already eligible, and the team is applying to the NCAA for a hardship waiver for Wallace to try to get him on the field this year. If that happens, he could end up as one of the team’s starting corners.  

ST: B+   Austin Lopez gives SJSU stability at kicker. He was a perfect 17 for 17 as a freshman in 2012 and nailed 22 of 27 last year, including a pair from 50-plus yards. He’s 13 of 15 in his career on kicks from 40-plus yards. The punter position is unsettled with a redshirt freshman, true freshman and JC transfer trying to earn the job. Tyler Ervin is an explosive kick returner who returns after missing nearly all of last season with an ankle injury. He returned two kicks for touchdowns when healthy in 2012 and his three career return TDs is a school record. 

2014 Expectations 

I think the Spartans will end up fairly similarly this season. They went 6-6 last year and I think they can get back there. If they do, it would be a pretty good accomplishment in my opinion. The schedule is tougher with only five home games and eight contests against 2013 bowl teams. The key will be for the offense to still be a good unit (it’s impossible to expect it to be as good as last year) and then get significantly improved play defensively. The last time SJSU ran a 4-3, it had the No. 24 defense in the country during an 11-2 season in 2012. The cast has changed a lot (only three starters remain), but as long as the defense is decent this year they could win a couple extra games. An even mediocre defense in 2013 probably means an 8-4 record and bowl berth. 

The other reason 6-6 would be an accomplishment this year (more so than last) is it stands a better chance that SJSU would get to a bowl even with that record. They were passed up last year because the Mountain West had seven eligible teams for six spots, the most the league’s ever had. But with UNLV experiencing a bowl ban this year, the odds of that happening again are reduced. And with four new bowl games increasing the total of postseason berths to 78, it’s getting harder to envision eligible teams being left home.

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Jimmy Durkin of the San Jose Mercury News provided the information for our San Jose State football spring update.  For more San Jose State football information, commentary and analysis, you can follow Jimmy on Twitter @Jimmy_Durkin.

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