The biggest day of college football’s spring season came on Saturday, with defending champions Georgia, SEC champions Alabama, Big Ten Power Ohio State and Mario Cristobal’s Miami Hurricanes among some of the notable teams taking the stage to host their annual spring games .
These spring workouts give teams a great opportunity to get a sense of how coaches view their depth charts and where youngsters fit in mid-offseason. So what were the biggest takeaways from Saturday’s roster, which happened to include some legitimate contenders for the national championship? Let’s have a look.
Alabama
Crimson Tide needs some help up front: The clock seemed to tick faster than actual time in the Alabama spring game, but it was enough time to see that coach Nick Saban’s offensive line needs a lot of help. The first team struggled to give quarterback Bryce Young time in the pocket and failed to consistently open holes for running backs — including Georgia Tech transfer Jahmyr Gibbs. Edge threat Will Anderson was particularly scary when he twice landed Young in the face with two-hand-touch sacks in three games late in the first half.
Let’s get that out of the way: It’s irresponsible to make hasty judgments about a team in the spring. But for Alabama, that may not be the case. Young was forced to flee the pocket in exactly the same way last spring, which translated into the fall when the offensive line finished last in the SEC in tackles for losses. Saban loves having a reason to yell at his players to create a championship-level competitive culture, and his offensive line gave him that ammunition on Saturday.
State of Ohio
The Buckeyes recipe for success: Two of the biggest questions the Buckeyes face are finding outside receivers Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson’s replacements and the defensive renaissance that new defensive coordinator Jim Knowles is trying to orchestrate. Well, they’ll do just fine with wide receivers. Star Jaxon Smith-Njigba caught two passes for 38 yards and a touchdown, but the real story lay behind him where others shone. Emeka Egbuka had four catches for 39 yards, Marvin Harrison Jr. had a hook and seemed comfortable with the first-team offense, and running back Evan Pryor looked like a multidimensional force to be reckoned with.
The defense has had its ups and downs, but there’s no reason to freak out. Yes, it needs to improve on last year’s roster, but Knowles said before the game it would be intentionally vanilla and bring no heat to the quarterback. Offense is the driving force in college football, and Ohio State appears to be on track to continue its dominance. If the defense plays properly, the Buckeyes will be fine.
Georgia
Beware of the tight ends: Tight ends have become a much larger part of college football offenses over the past decade, and Georgia may have the best tight end room in college football history. LSU transfer Arik Gilbert caught two touchdown passes from Stetson Bennett IV after he was off the program in the 2021 season. The 6-foot-5, 248-pound freak athlete had 35 catches for 368 yards and two touchdowns for the Tigers in 2020 and is a matchup nightmare for opposing defense. Fellow tight ends Brock Bowers and Darnell Washington missed the G-Day game but have already proven how dangerous they can be.
When you throw those tight ends into the mix with Georgia’s versatile backfield and wide receiving corps, this offense should be a lot better and more balanced than it was last season. In other words… “get your popcorn ready.”
Miami
Tyler Van Dyke becomes a stud: The Miami signal-caller took over from D’Eriq King at Coral Gables last season and set the tone for what could be a great second season. Van Dyke was 20 of 32 for 172 yards and a touchdown for Jacolby George. It’s a great day when you look at the box score, but it was even better when you watched it on TV. Van Dyke threw three absolute dimes that were dropped by Hurricane wide receivers in the first half, skewing his stats in a negative direction. It got so bad early on that boo birds could be heard at DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Miami is still a work in progress, which is understandable considering it’s Mario Cristobal’s first season as a coach at his alma mater. But the progress the wide receiving corps showed in the spring game alone is encouraging after just 15 training sessions. With Van Dyke in the lead, everything should be fine.
CBS Sports was live throughout the afternoon providing updates, highlights and analysis from Saturday’s spring games, which you can watch below.