The UMass football team’s first intrasquad spring game in two years will pit its offense against its defense. Rather than dividing the team into “maroon” and “white” halves and letting them go, head coach Walt Bell and his staff have built more of a structure around Saturday’s proceedings at McGuirk Alumni Stadium.
The spring game, which was canceled last year due to COVID-19, kicks off at 11 a.m.
Some of that is due to bumps and bruises in some position groups that are preventing an equitable split. None of those injuries will keep players out of summer workouts or cause them to miss reps in fall camp, Bell said.
The plan is to run roughly 10 possessions in the open field before transitioning to a red zone period. There will be between 14 and 16 possessions, Bell said, and approximately 100 plays.
“It’ll play completely as a regular game. The only difference is we already know where the possessions will start,” Bell said. “It’ll play as regular football.”
UMass’ starting offense will face its starting defense, and the second string will oppose players at similar spots on the depth chart. The offense will score normally, while Bell and his staff developed a scoring system for the defense so they can compete on relatively even footing.
“When you go O vs. D, the D can’t score for itself unless something bad happens to the offense,” Bell said.
The play calls will likely be basic since Bell doesn’t want to unveil the entire scheme in an open practice setting. All possessions will be live, and players will tackle to the ground outside of the quarterbacks.
“It adds a little bit more competition to what would normally be a scrimmage setting. For us, the work’s not done,” Bell said. “We want to make sure we maximize all 25 of these (spring practice) days.”
QUARTERBACK SHUFFLE – Bell hasn’t decided on a starting quarterback and said the spring game likely won’t solidify anyone in that position. As has been the case for most of the spring, three signal callers are competing for the nod: Colorado transfer Tyler Lytle, Garrett Dzuro and Zamar Wise.
“Tyler Lytle, he’s a bigger, taller kid, can distribute the ball really well, has done a nice job learning the offense. Has done a great job taking care of the football,” Bell said. “Garrett Dzuro, he’s a worker. He’s a guy that’s going to maximize every bit of athletic potential he has. He’s incredibly invested, he’s a tough guy, can run and throw — kind of a jack of all trades physically. Zamar Wise is a guy who’s learning and growing as a quarterback and as a passer, one of the best athletes on the team. Any time he’s got the ball in his hands in open space, it’s a good time.”
Regardless of who tops the depth chart entering the summer, Bell has maintained that incoming freshman Brady Olson will have a chance to joining the competition and potentially earn the job. He likes to repeat an axiom that the No. 1 rule in decision making is to use all allotted time.
Meanwhile, the quarterbacks in spring practice will focus on shoring up some of their weaknesses before games approach and they can turn to building on their strengths.
“In practice, if you look at their skills as a toolbox, the ones that are really sharp, we’ve got to keep them there, and the ones that are dull, we’ve got to sharpen them. It’s really two mindsets of what you’re working on,” Bell said. “What time of the year is it? Is it a developmental time of the year, or is it time to go win games? Right now we’re in developmental time. We’re trying to sharpen the tools that aren’t the sharpest.”
THE OTHER SPRING BALL – Massachusetts high school football wrapped up its spring season over the weekend. Bell didn’t have much time or ability to watch some of the games due to his own practice schedule and limitations on recruiting and travel. He saw Olson and fellow commit Dom Schofield play on YouTube and viewed other game tapes, as well.
“I am so ecstatic for the players that they had a chance to play football. Especially for those seniors knowing how special the game of high school football is to so many communities and families,” he said. “In terms of the football, I’m a big proponent of the football here. I think it’s really well coached. I think people are invested in the game. Even though it may be in a different way than where I’m from (Tennessee), the guys that re-invested are incredibly invested and incredibly proud of the state of Massachusetts and the quality of football in this state. It’s been awesome to see those guys have a chance to play.”
HOCKEY RIPPLE EFFECTS – The UMass hockey team winning its first national championship had an impact on the football program, as well.
“We’re like, ‘yeah man, we’ve got to go win something. Everybody around us is winning. We’ve got to go out there and win something,’” junior defensive back Noah Boykin said. “Looking at other teams and how competitive we are defensively, I know we use that as motivation to come out this year in the fall and be great.”
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.