OGDEN -- It might not have been readily visible by the 200 or so fans in attendance, but Jerry Graybeal, at least, says he can see the improvement.
His Weber State football team finished a lowly 3-8 last year and lost its last six games in a row. And while the losses were hard to take, anticipating what was on the horizon made it a little less painful.The Wildcats finished up their spring drills Saturday in Stewart Stadium in a controlled scrimmage that saw the ball move up and down the field while the defense also made plenty of big plays. And making Graybeal feel good about the whole thing was knowing that all the underclassmen he's been nurturing along since he took the WSU job two years ago are now in a position to help the team.
"There's a lot of talent in these young classes," Graybeal said. "That's going to show up out there."
The Wildcats lost a few skilled players from last year but return eight starters on both sides of the ball and figure that experience and taking the redshirts off a lot of players will make a big difference next fall.
"We're going to be much improved athletically," Graybeal said.
In the Purple and White game, the Wildcats let four quarterbacks take turns throwing the ball around, and they combined for 254 yards on 28-48 passing. But while they were able to move the ball, punching it into the end zone proved to still be a challenge. It wasn't until the 12th possession of the scrimmage that the offense was able to hit the end zone when projected starting QB Cole Cooper connected with John Jefferson.
In all, only two touchdowns and a field goal were scored, but Graybeal said he wasn't too worried.
"The defense always has the advantage in the spring," he said. "They know that if we're in a certain formation we're going to do certain things. But for the most part, I was pleased with the passing game."
The defense came up with six turnovers with three interceptions and three fumbles recovered. Of course, with the absence of last year's seniors and most recruits still not on campus, the numbers available for the scrimmage weren't very high. Three injuries to the defensive line left the Wildcats unable to field two full teams worth of players and limited the scope of things. And with some second- or third-strings players forced into duty with the starters, there were some bad spots.
Fumbled handoffs, lack of concentration and a few other snags left Graybeal scratching his head at times, but he still came away pleased.
"It was a good spring for us," Graybeal said. "With as many starters coming back as we do, it wasn't really about seeing how those guys are, it was more about seeing how the second team was. We got out of spring ball what most people want out of spring ball."