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D.J. Shafer
Trying something new
Injuries force Bearkats to change spring game format
It’s not going to be the typical Orange and White game Saturday morning at Bowers Stadium. That’s because the injury bug has really bitten the Sam Houston State football team hard this spring.
The Bearkats are down to one quarterback, two running backs and have a handful of other guys wearing street clothes. So instead of playing the typical first team versus the second team, the spring game will be offense versus defense.
Sam Houston State got the news this week that sophomore Jeff Welch, who was competing for the starting quarterback job with junior Bryan Randolph, is going to be out for the year. Welch tore his anterior cruciate ligament in his knee during Sunday afternoon’s scrimmage.
The injury came when Welch tried to plant his foot so he could cut back to midfield during a play. No contact was involved in the injury.
So that leaves the Kats with Randolph as the only scholarship quarterback on the roster along with walk-on Weston Glasser .
“We have just been unfortunate this spring,” SHSU head coach Todd Whitten said Wednesday. “We lost Jeff Welch to an injury. We are down to one quarterback now. We have two freshman coming in, but we will probably add a couple of more guys into the mix between now and the fall. We are down to (James) Aston and Will Clay in the backfield, so we are just really, really thin. We are going to have to be careful with what we do on Saturday.
“We obviously can’t play the spring game the way we normally do because we don’t have enough to split into two teams, so we are going to go offense versus the defense,” the coach added. “We are going to come up with a scoring system Saturday. The defense will get points for turnovers, stops and three-and-outs. The offense will get scoring points and stuff like that. It will be fun.”
Injuries aside, it is kind of fitting that the spring game comes down to a battle between the offense and defense.
The offense picked apart the defense in the first spring scrimmage, as Randolph threw for more than 240 yards and three touchdowns. Aston and Torian Wilkins, who will miss the spring game, combined to rush for 130 yards as the defense was struggling to learn the new schemes brought in by defensive coordinator Scott Stoker.
“I think Bryan Randolph has had a really good spring,” Whitten said. “With Aston and (Chris) Poullard, we are going to be solid in the backfield. The offensive line has really done a good job. I would like to see them continue to do well on Saturday. We have some spots still up for grabs and we want to evaluate the young guys.”
The shoe was on the other foot Sunday. After failing to intercept a pass in the first scrimmage, the Bearkats had two in the second, including one which was returned 32 yards for a touchdown by linebacker Luke McCall.
Stoker’s defense is very aggressive with a ton of different blitz packages and the Kats got to the quarterbacks six times Sunday.
“We have had a real physical spring. It wasn’t perfect, but it was productive,” Whitten said. “We have a new defensive scheme in and I think the guys have responded well to that. It’s going to be fun to watch them get after it.”
The offense 1, the defense 1. Saturday is the rubber match and somebody is going to have all summer to brag about it.
“You always want to beat the defense and it is always fun to have bragging rights over them,” Aston said Wednesday. “It has been back and forth this spring. We win one day, they win the next day. I think if we go out there and execute, I don’t see why we can’t beat them.”
The spring game is scheduled for 11 a.m.
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