Note: This is the second of a three-part series about 2010 MSU Spring Football
Morehead State football’s offense has been efficient and fairly consistent so far this spring. That’s a welcome change for coach Matt Ballard.
Racked by injuries and inconsistencies in 2009, Ballard is pleased that a healthy offensive line and better experience has made the Eagle offense more potent this spring.
Though they’ve had scrimmages, Ballard will get a chance to truly see his renewed offense in action Sunday at 2:00 pm at the annual Spring game.
The offensive improvement has been most notable along the offensive line, where the return of Brad Seger has provided a boost not only to the skill level of the front five, but also the morale. Seger, who suffered a season-ending injury early in the season last year, has not fully recovered physically, but just his presence on the line has made a big difference.
“It’s a night and day difference having Seger back,” Ballard said. “His leadership and take-charge attitude is incredible.”
That’s led to increased confidence by Ballard in his line, who lost just one player to graduation in Jake Nail, but that was a big loss both in talent and from a leadership standpoint. Last year the offensive line became a revolving door as Ballard and offensive coordinator Gary Dunn tried to adjust for a constant stream of injured players. He’s already praised the line play of Seger, Eric Matteson and Josh Ison.
“I’m feeling good about the guard and center spots and it’s great to have an experienced center back,” Ballard said. “We’re gaining confidence and they have to believe in themselves and be aggressive an patient. We are in a place now where we need to work on depth and rotation.”
Ensuring the offensive line is healthy and improved from a year ago becomes even more important with the change to a pocket passer-type quarterback. Rising sophomore Zach Lewis, who earned the starters’ spot at the end of last season, is penciled into that position again. Unlike his position cohorts Evan Sawyer and Jared Phillips, Lewis is not as much of a scrambler.
“Zach has had an outstanding spring,” Ballard said. “It’s almost like he’s trying to do too much because he has great command of the offense. He’s cool hand Luke out there, showing great poise and only making a couple of bad decisions so far.
Sawyer will play the backup role to Lewis, but expect to see both he and Phillips get playing time because of their pure athletic prowess.
“Evan has also been solid. It’s great to have a quarterback in the second slot with playmaking ability,” Ballard said.
Joining the signal callers in the back field are several experienced running backs. Desmond Cox has had a nice spring and Ballard says he’s “more confident and even more explosive in the running game” than he was last year. Ronnie McDermott, who will slide into the halfback role is a player Ballard calls “Mr. Steady.” He’s also a key cog in the MSU passing offense.
“When we need a first down, he’s a guy that we’ve got to get open,” Ballard said.
Drew Morgan, Adam Slupski and Nick Bauer will also figure into the running game. “All three of them bring something to the table,” Ballard said. Morgan is the Eagles’ most experienced big play guy and Slupski and Bauer have been impressive with nice runs and big plays so far.
MSU also gets the services of Cory Jackson back after an injury year. Jackson’s acceleration adds a dimension the Eagles didn’t have last year.
Consistent passing was missing from the 2009 offense, but Ballard believes that has improved immensely this spring.
“We have four rock solid receivers, four starters. They are interchangeable, but all different,” Ballard said.
Kevin Thomas, Andre Williams, Jason Yoshimura and Donte Sawyer all are experienced and have big playmaking ability. Throw into the mix even more depth and experience in players like Lance Murphy and Mychael Sawyer and Ballard has a battery of weapons to use to move the ball downfield.
“I’m really pleased with our blocking, our run game, and we are catching the ball well in traffic,” Ballard said.
Overall, Ballard’s assessment of his offense shows the leaps and bounds it has made and the additional work that needs to be done.
“We had a slow start to our run game, but our passing game is ahead of where I expected and now I’m pleased with the progress in the run game. We need a little better balance in the run game and I’m looking for about a 10 percent increase in our completion percentage,” Ballard said.
“We need to get better. I’m talking about consistency. We can look like a million bucks then look bad. If we can get that consistency then we can be efficient.”
The final part in this series will be an early look at the 2010 Eagle defense.
