The college football season is still months away but spring game season has finally arrived and we are about to get our first glimpse of this year’s rosters. Many programs from the SEC will hold their spring games over the next couple of weeks so we have taken the time to break down one important thing to watch for every single team. Here is a look at the key spring game goals for the SEC West Teams.
Alabama: Finding Henry’s Replacement
The defending national champion Crimson Tide will have a lot of key pieces to replace from last year’s team but the most important thing this spring is to find a replacement for Heisman trophy-winning running back Derrick Henry. Sophomore Damien Harris was one of the nation’s most recruited running backs but Bo Scarborough is already being talked about as a potential Heisman hopeful in some circles and the spring game will provide some insight in to who will have the leg up as the competition to replace Henry continues.
Arkansas: Patching Holes In The Secondary
The Razorbacks made a home run hire when they got former Iowa State head coach Paul Rhoads as their defensive backs coach. He will be tasked with developing a group that wasn’t nearly good enough last season. Arkansas will return a lot of experience including cornerbacks D.J. Dean and Jared Collins as well as safety Josh Liddell and we will get our first look at this group in the spring game.
Auburn: Answers At Quarterback
Jeremy Johnson didn’t come close to living up to the hype at Auburn last season. Now he is going to have to beat out JUCO transfer John Franklin III and prove that he deserves another shot at the starting job. Tigers’ fans won’t care who wins the job as long as their starting quarterback performs at a high level this season and their spring game will give us a closer look at how the quarterback competition is progressing.
LSU: Find Help For Fournette
LSU hit a wall midway through last season when they lost to Alabama and then stumbled down the final stretch of the year. The pressure is on Les Miles and his staff to make sure that doesn’t happen again. Leonard Fournette is an absolute stud at the running back position but Miles and his staff must find more help for him this season. The talent is in place with plenty of weapons on the perimeter but the Tigers would benefit from a more creative offense and that could fall to offensive coordinator Cam Cameron and the rest of his staff beginning with the spring game.
Mississippi: Address Offensive Line Issues
Hugh Freeze’s program appears to be on the cusp of accomplishing big things in the SEC West but they will need their offensive line to hold up this season. Laremy Tunsil has graduated to the NFL where he is destined to be a top pick but the Rebels have one of the top prospects in the nation set to take over at left tackle in Gregory Little. The Rebels need to sort out the rest of their positions and establish some chemistry over the next couple of months and it starts with the spring game.
Mississippi State: Establish Run Game
Nobody will replace Dak Prescott’s production at Mississippi State and that is even more reason why they will need somebody to step up at the running back position. Brandon Holloway, Ashton Shumpert and Aeris Williams make up a formidable running back stable but one of those three will have to step up as the featured back. The Bulldogs can’t rely on Prescott to carry their offense any longer so they will need to find some answers at the running back position.
Texas A&M: Answers At Quarterback
Aggies’ head coach Kevin Sumlin had to deal with the rare situation where both of its top two quarterbacks left in the summer but he appears to have found his net starter in Trevor Knight. The key will be how quickly things come together for him and the spring game will provide us with our first glimpse. Knight has plenty of weapons around him so Texas A&M’s first spring game should provide some answers at the quarterback position.
Want to give your comments about this article? You can either leave them here or you can join us on the Get More Sports Forum and talk about this article and many more! Brag about your favorite team, argue about an athlete’s performance or tell us about a game you saw. Join a new community of sports fans who live and breathe sports and sports entertainment. It’s free! Join now!
