Ball State Football 2013 Spring Wrap Up

Spring Takeaway

The biggest takeaway from spring practice was the performance of the offensive and defensive lines. The four new starters on the offensive line and Jordan Hansel are playing well and getting adjusted to playing with each other.

On the other side of the ball, the defensive line has received praise from the coaches for their play against the run and their pass rushing skills have also improved across the board.

Potential breakout players 

Steve Bell and Drake Miller are both redshirt freshman who are competing for the starting job at strong tackle and Jordan Williams stepped up when there were injuries to KeVonn Mabon and Connor Ryan at outside wide receiver and played really well in the spring game.

Defensively, I think Jonathan Newsome is poised for a great year and I think Eric Patterson will take the next step forward in his development and become one of the best corners in the MAC.

Position group grades

Ball State WR Jamill Smith

QB: B+   Keith Wenning is one of the best quarterbacks in the MAC but his backups are inexperienced.

RB: A-   Horactio Banks and Jahwan Edwards are both elite backs, but if they go down to injury the only backs left on the depth chart are true freshman Teddy Williamson and walk-ons.

TE: A   Zane Fakes is one of the best in the MAC and Dylan Curry and David Schneider are quality backups, there’s also plenty of depth at the position.

WR: A   Willie Snead’s numbers match up to the numbers put up by top receivers at major conference schools and Jamill Smith is a dangerous playmaker. Connor Ryan is dependable on the outside and there’s some quality depth backing up the starters.

OL: B   This grade will undoubtedly be higher at the end of the season but given the lack of starting experience along the line I don’t feel comfortable going any higher than this right now.

DL: B+   Jonathan Newsome and Nate Ollie are All-MAC players, if they can get some help from Joel Cox and Nick Miles than the defensive line will surprise some people.

LB: B   The coaches love Ben Ingle at middle linebacker and Julian Boyd played well on the weakside in practice, they just need some experience for this grade to be higher.

CB: B   Eric Patterson and Jeffrey Garrett are both very talented and have shown flashes of good play, they just need to be more consistent this season.

S: B   J.C. Wade showed potential last season and I feel good about him starting at free safety. The question is if Brian Jones will be able to hold onto the starting job at strong safety or if he will again lose the job and there will be a revolving door again at the position.

ST: B  Scott Secor has the leg to be a very good kicker, just needs to improve his consistency on his shorter distance attempts. I’ve heard a lot of good things about Kyle Schmidt at punter and you never really hear a lot about long snapper Garrett Mack, which is a good thing for his position.

Are there any “surprises” we can expect?

I think the defense will play better this season and surprise a lot of their critics. This is the third season in defensive coordinator Jay Bateman’s system and there has been continuity on the defensive coaching staff so I think this will be the year players starting making plays within the defense.

I think the team as a whole will also surprise people, anyone who thinks Northern Illinois or Toledo are going to run away with the MAC West title are in for a rude awakening.

Brandon Smith of Ball U Blog provided the information for our Ball State Football 2013 Spring Wrap Up. For more Ball State football information, commentary and analysis, you can follow Brandon on Twitter @Ball_U_Blog.