EMU Spring Game Notes and Observations
With quotes from Chris Creighton and TE Jere Getzinger after Friday's scrimmage.
Rynearson Stadium and soon-to-be-laid Maxx Crosby Field is under construction, so Eastern Michigan’s spring game was held at its indoor practice facility on Friday evening. Which, considering how cold and yucky it was out, the indoor viewing was a welcome change even if it didn’t have the capacity to host the general public’s attendance.
Still, spring football is spring football. For anybody able to attend these scrimmages, it’s a good chance to see the new team with some fresh eyes practice football without all of the hard-hitting.
There are a lot of specific marks that EMU wants to be able to show itself though the past 15 practices, but raw talent and general cohesiveness across new and old teammates is obviously going to be at the forefront this time of year.
The good news is this: the team looked like a team.
And better: I don’t have any injuries to report from the day.
Not everybody participated though. Some handfuls of players weren’t dressed for the spring game. Some out of an abundance of caution, others with minor injuries. Two, remained unnamed by Chris Creighton after the show, have substantial timelines.
“It’s not perfect in terms of health. There’s a couple of guys that are going to have sort of long-term and that part of it you just hate football,” Creighton said. “And overall just how our guys practiced we were very healthy, minus those two, so thankful for that and the guys that are more of a long-term situation both have really bright futures.”
Who didn't participate?
Not an official list, but here’s my list of who I have marked as non-participants on Friday:
TE Cedric Anton
OL Blake Bustard
OL Dodji Dahoue
LB Bryce Eliuk
DE Carter Evans
K Jesus Gomez
DB Tristen Hines
S Barry Manning
OL Chris Mayo
S Josh McCarty
CB Dramarian McNulty
DE Sterling Miles
WR J.B. Mitchell III
DT Peyton Price
LB Amar’e Reed
OL Jack Storey
WR Joseph Walker Jr.
WR Tyler Walton
WR Makhail Wood
The sign of a decent spring is seeing if certain positions can even rotate backups in and out of 11 vs. 11 settings. EMU was able to do that on both sides of the ball, even with injuries and hold-backs.
Then we go through the rest of the checklist. Bodies: check.
Depth? Let’s say potentially check for now.
Eleven starters on both sides of the ball? That’s definitely still a ‘maybe’ for me. Maybe it’s the recency bias, but at first glance, it was easy to like this team’s trajectory for as many new faces coming through as freshmen (3 early enrollees, 23 still on the way) and transfers (18 so far).
“We also had to kind of come together as a team, Creighton said. “I think our team did a great job of welcoming those guys, and the guys that we’ve taken are all Eastern Michigan guys.
“When you got new people you’ve got to come together and become a team. Still got a ways to go before the end of August but really, really pleased with that.”
QBs Thoughts
Finally, some QB talk.
The QBs EMU fans saw, in order, were Cole Snyder (Graduate transfer from Buffalo), Jeremiah Salem (fourth-year walk-on), and Ike Udengwu III (second-year JUCO transfer, QB2 last season) with the first and second-string offenses. It wasn’t until the final handful of drives when Jace Stuckey (true freshman, early enrollee, was able to practice with team during bowl week prep) and finally Drew Viotto (redshirt-freshman transfer from Minnesota) took some snaps for the offense.
Said after the scrimmage by Creighton: “What I can tell you is that we’ve been able to see what we need to see to know that we’re going to be in really good shape. We feel really good about that. Are we ready to play a game right now? No, we’re not. But we get 25 more practice opportunities plus the 2 hours we get during the summer, so we’ll have them ready… They’re made of the right stuff and they’re talented.”
Snyder, who I expect to be the starting QB to go into the season with, looked as smart and capable as he could’ve shown. No, I don’t think he’s a dominant athlete who’s going to take a simple read option run play to the house from 50 yards out, and I don’t think he’s going to win a MAC passing title by throwing bombs downfield. But he’s been around the block enough to know how to keep drives going and keep the pages of the playbook turning. Snyder connected on some throws, but his worst moment was an interception thrown in the end zone to Jaheim Jenkins, who legged out the turnover for a defensive score.
Creighton: “He’s a lot of comfort. He’s a vet. He’s a mature veteran. And Jace is going to be really good. It’s a process of learning and going through it, sort of talking about a last-year guy and a first-year guy. Cole, he’s got a great presence, he’s got a great mind, he’s super serious and he’s a really good fit for our program. Lots of comfort because of that.
Salem was a guy who I was curious about, especially since he stayed on the roster after Cam’Ron McCoy came off. Salem, a walk-on from Germantown, Tenn., had a few nice throws, and wasn’t afraid to throw the ball down he sidelines. He didn’t always connect, but got a touchdown drive on his first series that capped by a goal-line pass to Jamarian Wheeler. He’d later hit Max Reese with an intermediate-to-deep toss down the left sideline.
Udengwu didn’t have to play with the weight of 2023’s season on him, so he was much more loose in this practice environment compared to the last few times EMU fans got to see him. He looked smooth and confident on his first drive, and he’d later scramble for a redzone rushing score. He also had a TD throw to WR Adam Rammouni.
Creighton: “Those are our two vets. Jeremiah’s been here the longest, but Ike has the most experience returning. He was our backup last year and got to play some and he’s made of all the right stuff, and he’s handled three new guys coming in really well and he’s competing. Jeremiah Salem, today, I don’t think he necessarily had a great day but he’s had a great spring. There’s a lot to be said to being somewhere and sticking with it and learning and going through the process and knowing the program and developing relationships, and then all of a sudden the third or fourth (year) that you’re doing it, you know it and you get good at it. The whole time the whole team’s behind Jeremiah.”
Stuckey got to see the field before Viotto, and Stuckey’s younger by a year. Stuckey’s first drive was cut short to a long, TD run up the middle by Deion Brown. On his third drive, he fooled the defense with a read option keeper, and ran the ball the length of the practice field for a score.
Viotto, who might’ve had the hardest throws of the day, came out swinging with a trio of completions on his first drive, but didn’t come away with any scoring drives. His worst moment was a near-interception by Jesse Velasquez. Viotto looked hungry to make plays out there, and who can blame him? Wasn’t an incredible handful-plus worth of plays for him, but the passing ability is something to be happy with. He’s far from polished, but he’s certainly talented enough to be on the field.
Offensive notes
The O-line has a lot of holes that it needs to address. After having guys like Sidy Sow and Brian Dooley have 50+ starts through their careers before their back-to-back graduations, there’s no such luxury for this position group heading into 2024.
First O-line: LT Mack Indestad (class of 2022 signee), LG Mickey Rewolinski (returning starting left tackle from last year), C Brock Roman (returning starting center when healthy), RG Carson Lee (former Colorado transfer, saw starts at center), and RT Everett Small (early enrollee, true freshman).
Second unit: LT Dennis Strey Jr. (walk-on signee for the 2022 class), LG Daniel Warnsman (class of 2021 signee), C Nicholas Gallegos (walk-on signee for the 2022 class), RG Owen Snively (second-year transfer from Colorado State), RT Joshua Anderson (class of 2022 signee).
Creighton: “Experience-wise, we have Mickey who played last year and a little the year before, and then Brock Roman and Carson Lee both have played, neither for the entire season (last year). Brock, by the way, hugged me and said ‘Man, I finally made it through a spring’… So we have very little playing experience coming back, but I’ll tell you coach [Sean] Coughlin, we have some really talented young and some older guys that we’ve brought in, offensive linemen that we’re really excited about... I called the guys that are finishing up their second year ‘The Amoeba’. They were part of a class two years ago and they’ve just all (been together) since day one and just stayed together. Those guys are going to be the soul of our football team as they continue to mature and get older. Blake Bustard didn’t play in the last week and a half, he’s the transfer from Wayne State, he had a really good spring. Super excited about him. Mack Indestad hurt his finger last camp and was out all last year and we think could’ve competed to play last year so he’s healthy and he’s had a really good spring. You didn’t see Chris Mayo today, he’s got an injury that’s not long-term or anything like that; he played some last year. Dodji Dahoue, he wasn’t out there either, today.
Creighton: “Not a ton of experience, but we are in no way feeling as though like we’re not going to have a good offensive line. I think we’re going to have a super athletic, long, tough offensive line.”
No J.B. Mitchell III, which meant zero starting wide receivers from 2023 were on the practice field Friday. Which meant it was a good time for some other guys to have more reps.
Our coaching staff I’m fired up about. Just having a lot of fun, really good people who are really good at what they do, so that’s been good as well.
Defensive notes
I like this D-line. Health, again, is going to be a big challenge for this unit this year. But if this group stays on its feet, I like EMU’s chances of making some plays happen this season.
Because of the deep and active D-line, the spring game featured plenty of touch-tackles for loss and sacks; maybe too many.
On one hand: when the D-line plays lights out in practice, it’s probably because the D-line’s doing really well.
No surprise to see Joey Zelinskey and Justin Jefferson make some plays, but I came away happy to see Jez Janvier’s development. Last year he was very much in transition from OL to DL. Friday his moves seemed quicker out the gate, and would’ve had a sack on Udengwu’s ankles if it weren’t for the practice environment.
There aren’t many loud-hitting moments but here’s one that was good to hear: Redshirt-freshman DE Messiah Blair, the #6 ranked recruit in school history, won his battle against TE Blake Daniels when he tried to come across the line for his block towards the end of the first-and-second teams series.
Sacks and TFLs were also recorded by LB/DE James Djonkam (probably the most TFL action of the day), LB James Doerer, DE Gary Dorsey Jr., DE Luke Fletcher, LB Luke Murphy, and DT Malik Tullis. There are probably more TFLs recorded, but nobody was trying to take people off their feet out there.
Creighton: “Starting with the D-line, we had four guys going for the vast majority of the spring which is tough. A week ago we had a 94-play scrimmage and had four guys taking… a ton of reps. So their development was, again, phenomenal. The more you do it, the better you better get. So that was our younger group and guys who were role players and some guys who didn’t play much at all so it was super helpful for them. Melvin [Swindle] didn’t practice much the last couple of weeks but got to play some today and he’s a good player for us. And then Peyton [Price] we kind of held the last couple of weeks and we think he’s a really good player. And Dylan Shelton, … just told him he had a really good spring. In winter, coming in from University of Indianapolis, I don’t know if he was totally ready for (sports performance director Deonte Mack’s) winter so there were some times where we were like ‘uh, how’s this going to go?’ and then as a football player in the spring he really showed up.
“Our defensive ends room we were so banged up. It was sort of one of the masterpiece jobs coach [Ben] Needham had done moving Justin Jefferson down to a defensive end from a linebacker and obviously Joey [Zelinsky] made it through and Jaden Gaines played some, but now we got some guys who are more healthy and a couple of guys who we’re expecting to join us that are on the team. We just had more guys at defensive end. Messiah Blair, who was phenomenal as a scout team player his freshman year is going to be a force. Carter Evans is going to be coming back and we really have high hopes for Sterling [Miles] to be able to come back as well.
“At linebacker, Kendric Nowling and Bryce Eiluk, who was a freshman last year, the guys were here, and we brought in four guys and we hit on all four of those guys. It’s good. It’s good.”
Jere Getzinger on TE room
With 43 career games played at Eastern, Jere Getzinger’s the longest-tenured player on EMU’s offense. He wasn’t the most versatile player on the team at first, primarily used as a run-first, blocking tight end. After 16 receptions made last year, he’s still not the premier receiving threat, but that’s not necessarily the plan for him either.
But every once in a while, the team needs a guy like Getzinger to get catch when they need it most. Anybody remember how the Akron game ended? I’ll give you a hint in the form of some trivia knowledge. Getzinger’s the last person to record a touchdown on the old gray turf.
“Getting on my body right and really working on my route game. I’ve been primarily a blocking tight end here for the past couple of years, so I’ve been working on my routes and my speed and I think that’s improved a lot this spring so I’m really excited to see where it’s going,” Getzinger said after the scrimmage. “For me, I just want to do the best I can for this team to help put us in scoring position every time we’re out there. If I can be out there and not give a tell to the defense that it’s a run every time, that’s important to me and that’ll be a good asset for our football team.”
When asked about Jonathan Odom, a graduate transfer from Florida, Getzinger said he’s going to help the offense by being another big blocker with some ability to stretch the field as well.
Odom is one of the many, many transfers that has made this year’s experience for Getzinger feel like he’s on a brand-new team.
Said Getzinger: “I think the biggest thing for us as a team is that we lost a lot of seniors and a lot of transfers. So we brought in a big class, I think it was the biggest class we’ve brought in. It kind of felt like we had a whole new team, whole new group of guys. And throughout the mat drills and winter conditioning and all of that, we really came together as a group and I felt like we were super close and we weren’t focused on what happened last year. We sort of put that in back and just stopped looking at it and we’re going towards a new goal.”