Two years ago, the Wildcats lost the majority of their receiving corps. Last year was the end of Sean Goldrich’s four-year run at quarterback. So the concerns for the University of New Hampshire during the last month of spring football practice and looking ahead to next season centered around the offense.
After Saturday’s annual Blue-White spring game, some of those concerns have diminished.
“The offense did really well, a lot better than we have been doing in the past couple of scrimmages that we’ve had on Saturdays,” said Concord’s Andrew Lauderdale, who started at right tackle last season as a junior and is now the starting left tackle. “I think we just had more energy coming into it knowing it’s our last time until fall that we’re hitting each other, so I think we brought it today.”
Coach Sean McDonnell, who has guided the Wildcats to 12 straight FCS playoff appearances, agreed with Lauderdale’s assessment.
“I saw the offense hang on to the football and do a really good job of throwing and catching,” McDonnell said. “I also saw us protect a little better for the first three quarters of the game, which helped our quarterbacks have the opportunity to throw the ball pretty well. The defense was off balance all day and I was surprised. I expected more of them today, but maybe it’s a product of what the offense did keeping them off balance.”
The three quarterbacks who played – junior Adam Riese, redshirt freshman Trevor Knight and true freshman Ivan Niyomugabo, a Merrimack Valley product – went a combined 38-for-61 for 408 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. The Wildcats kept star running back Dalton Crossan and the ground game, expected to be a major factor this season, under wraps for the most part. There were 42 carries in the game for 51 yards and two scores, but no fumbles.
Riese played in 10 games last year, including two starts (he won both of them), and went 54-for-79 for 513 yards, six touchdowns and two interceptions. He said that experience was a boost to his confidence. It also gave him a leg up in the battle for the starting quarterback spot for 2016, and he did nothing to hurt those chances on Saturday.
Riese led the UNH offense to a touchdown on the first possession of the game and he finished 21-for-33 for 263 yards and two touchdowns. Knight was 8-for-17 for 76 yards. Niyomugabo went 9-for-11 for 69 yards and showed good command of the offense considering he spent all of last season learning opponents’ offenses so he could run the scout team.
“I was really pleased with Adam. I thought he did a nice job out there, got us in the end zone a couple times, made some good throws,” McDonnell said. “Trevor had some good scrambles, couple good runs. It’s a work in progress with both those guys. (The starting position) is not settled and it won’t be settled probably until the middle or end of fall camp, but I think we’ve got two quarterbacks who can move the team and I’m excited for them.
“I’m also very pleased with Ivan. He’s getting better all the time. He made some throws and he’s made some steps from when he walked in here last September.”
The ’Cats also seem to have a deep crew of pass catchers. Fifteen different receivers caught passes with junior receiver Kyon Taylor (eight catches, 100 yards), junior tight end Jordan Powell (six catches, 41 yards) and redshirt freshman receiver Kieran Presley (five catches, 63 yards, touchdown) leading the way.
“A lot of guys are going to do big things for us next year, I’m just looking forward to seeing them go out and make me get better,” Riese said. “Makes my life a lot easier when you’ve got so many playmakers. I’m just trying to play within the system and get the ball into the playmakers’ hands.”
Although both McDonnell and Lauderdale were pleased with how the offensive line played on Saturday, the defense did come up with 11 sacks. That number may be exaggerated because there was a no-hit policy in effect for the quarterbacks and any touch led to a sack. Ryan Farrell and Josh Kania had two sacks each for the ’Cats.
McDonnell handed out the annual spring awards on Saturday, highlighted by junior linebacker Kevin McNally receiving the Todd Walker Teammate Award prior to the game. Walker, a Wildcat receiver, was shot and killed in Boulder, Colo., on March 18, 2011, when he stepped in front of a friend to protect her from an armed assailant.
“I couldn’t think of a better kid in our program to get that award,” McDonnell said of McNally. “He’s very unselfish, hard-working and there for his other teammates.”
McDonnell also presented most-improved awards by position: quarterback, Knight; running back, Evan Gray; wide receiver, Garette Craig; tight end, Northwood’s Nick Derocher; offensive line, Jeff Carter; defensive tackle, Rick Holt; defense end, Kania; linebacker, Plymouth’s Jared Kuehl; safety Rick Ellison; cornerback, Isiah Perkins; kicker/punter, Morgan Ellman. And the Bob O’Keefe Strongman Award went to sophomore safety D’Andre Drummond-Mayrie.
(Tim O’Sullivan can be reached at 369-3341 or at tosullivan@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @timosullivan20.)