Memphis wrapped up spring practice with its 15th practice on Saturday at the Billy J. Murphy Complex. The practice was originally set to be open to the public as part of “Spring Fest”, but the fan event was postponed due to the weather.
The Tigers entered the spring with many questions. After bringing in a brand new coaching staff and more than 70 new players, the team entered the spring with position battles at nearly every position.
Huff was happy with what he saw from his team over the last few weeks and even applauded the team’s attitude and approach to each practice.
“Probably the best spring that I’ve been a part of holistically,” Huff said. “And, that doesn’t mean we win every game, but that just means we were able to accomplish the goals we set daily, individually and collectively.”
Quarterback battle
Huff brought in four new quarterbacks this offseason, including three from the transfer portal. While it’s a completely new room, West Florida transfer Markus Stokes and South Carolina transfer Air Noland are the frontrunners for the starting job, and their battle has been one of the main storylines of the spring.
“I thought both of those guys continued to battle,” Huff said. “I thought it was a really good back-and-forth.”
The battle is between a pair of quarterbacks with very different paths. Nolan has seen limited snaps at a pair of Power Four schools, while Stokes was named a finalist for the Harlon Hill Trophy last season.
Huff said he feels comfortable with both quarterbacks, and isn’t ready to name a starter yet. While he doesn’t have a specific date, he said the team needs to know who the starter is at least a week or two before the start of the season.
Offensive line improvements
Huff said that the group that made the most improvements over spring was the offensive line. Like most positions, the offensive line is full of new pieces, and Huff acknowledged that it takes more time for that group to mesh.
“A couple of weeks ago, we couldn’t block anybody,” Huff said. “When I say ‘couldn’t block’, there were three guys do it right, two guys take a bad step. Towards these last two weeks, it’s been more consistent.”
The head coach also talked about how they were shuffling players around and trying different players out at different positions on the offensive line before they settled into roles towards the end of spring. The coaching staff brought in 11 new offensive lineman, including nine from the transfer portal, so it’s understandable that it could take a little longer for that group to figure things out in their first practices as a group.
“I think coach [Andy] Kwon has done a really good job of keeping his thumb on the pace, regardless of ‘we’ve had a good, we’ve had a bad day, we’re going back out to work tomorrow,’ and those guys got better.”
Healthy spring
There are far too many stories of spring football resulting in injuries, but that wasn’t the case for the Tigers. Huff said that the team didn’t suffer any injuries through the 15 practices, and the only injury they’ve sustained since taking over was to a freshman during winter workouts.
Huff praised the training staff for the job they did to keep everyone on the field, but he also praised the players for their approach to keeping not only themselves but their teammates healthy.
While a healthy spring might seem minuscule in the grand scheme, it’s extremely important, especially with so many new pieces on the team. With guys not missing time, it gives the coaching staff a better opportunity to evaluate players and the team as a whole in a limited amount of time.