Three takeaways from the 2017 Spring Game
Following a less than stellar end to the 2016 season, the Central Michigan football team returned to the field at Kelly/Shorts Stadium on Saturday with a clean slate for its 2017 Spring Game.
Team Gold defeated Team Maroon 21-20 in the annual scrimmage after a failed two-point conversion with a minute remaining by Team Maroon.
Here are a few things we noticed during the game:
Poljan Delivers Mixed Bag
Coming into the Spring Game, head coach John Bonamego said sophomore Tony Poljan was leading the battle at quarterback. Poljan got off to a good start for Team Maroon, hitting senior Corey Willis for a 59-yards pass the second play of the game. However, the 6-foot-7 quarterback struggled the rest of the first half, throwing a pair of interceptions and overthrowing a few other passes.
Poljan responded with a touchdown pass the first drive of the second half to Logan Hessbrook before playing sparingly the rest of the contest. Poljan finished the game completing 11-of-20 passes for 153 yards.
With fifth-year Michigan transfer Shane Morris announcing he will join the team in the fall, the quarterback competition should be a two-horse race through most of fall camp.
Defense Makes Plays
The defense is usually ahead of the offense when it comes to spring games, and that appeared to be the case for much of Saturday. CMU’s defense, which returns the bulk of last year’s unit, limited both offenses most of the game and allowed few big plays. The defenses combined to force three interceptions, a fumble recovery and six sacks between the Maroon and Gold teams.
Senior Amari Coleman finished with three tackles, two pass breakups and a forced fumble. Sophomore Sean Bunting had one of the better snags on the day with a tipped interception on a Hail Mary pass before halftime.
The defensive lines were in the backfield constantly and had 11 pass breakups. On one of Poljan’s final series, Team Gold’s defensive line broke up two consecutive passes and sacked him on third down to force a punt.
Junior Zach Oakley lead all players with 10 tackles, followed by junior Malik Fountain and senior Tyjuan Swain with eight each.
Running Backs Impress
The CMU running game was one of the bright spots for the offenses in the Spring Game. Sophomores Jonathon Ward and Berkley Edwards each found their way into the endzone from within the 10-yard line.
Sophomore Kumehnu Gwilly, however, stole the show when he took a hand-off to the house from 66 yards out. Gwilly finished with 101 rushing yards on eight carries. Senior Jay Roberson also scored a touchdown.
New offensive coordinator Chris Ostrowski’s spread offense displayed a variety of running formations on the edges and plenty of speed from his running back group to match. Senior Devon Spalding was limited to only a couple carries on the day, while junior Romello Ross — who missed all of last season due to a torn ACL — did not play.
The rushing unit will be looked upon to take a big leap this season after finishing last in rushing yards in the Mid-American Conference for the past two seasons.
