Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
COLUMN: Blue Raiders ready to “just let the ball talk” in Blue & White Spring Game
4/7/2024 6:44:00 PM | Football
A quick look at the Blue and White teams that will take the field on Saturday for Derek Mason’s first spring game as head coach at MTSU
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — If the videos from the locker room or the pictures from the 'War Room' in the football office on Friday didn't tell you, the wide grins from Blue Raider football's players after practice on Saturday certainly showed how excited everyone around the program is for the Blue & White Spring Game, the headlining event of this coming Saturday's Blue Raider Saturday Showcase in Murfreesboro.
"I can't wait to show MT how fun it is to play for MT," defensive lineman Damonte Smith said a week out from the Spring Game this past weekend.
Some of that excitement came from the newness of the spring game, of course, which had been a casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic and not truly been contested as a true scrimmage in many years at MTSU. And while open practices in front of family and friends, as well as future recruits, certainly gave the end of spring ball a different feel than any other practice in those years, there's nothing quite like a scrimmage in front of fans.
More exciting to me, however, was the format for the Spring Game that Head Coach Derek Mason announced last week, with a school-yard pick 'em of the teams by guest head coaches and former Blue Raider football lettermen Robert Frazier (Blue Team) and Brent Bush (White Team).
"Once we got to the locker room, you saw the trash talking," Mason said. "You saw it get a little emotional, a little combative, and I like it.... I'm just going to let the ball itself talk."
Draft day ✅
— Middle Tennessee Football (@MT_FB) April 5, 2024
Up next: Blue & White spring game!#BoroBuiltMiddleMade pic.twitter.com/7U5PDVAGnq
The spring games I've watched in recent years at other programs often featured offense vs. defense scoring formats, with unusual rules that create a facsimile of a score, or more commonly just splitting the team down the line of first team offense and second team defense on one side, first team defense and second team offense on the other, which to me just felt like a normal practice with a bit more hoopla thrown in.
I think the drafted teams are much more engaging format for all involved, from fans to players to coaches. As Mason pointed out, there's a true sense of competition when the teams are picked and you're not just going 1s and 2s like you've been all camp. That gets the competitive fire burning in the players, while also forcing them to adapt on the field in preparation.
"You're going to have different guys playing with each other, I think that's the important thing," Mason said. "You must line up with somebody that maybe you haven't communicated a lot with. But you've got to trust him."
Mason described the Blue & White rosters, which you can see in full here, as "balanced right down the middle", something he credits to the attention of Bush and Frazier ahead of Friday's draft. I'm not inclined to disagree with the new head coach either. There is a good mixture of experience and youth on each team and no one position group looks to be stacked compared to their counterparts on the other side.
That being said, there are a few interesting storylines I see forming ahead of Saturday's 1 p.m. CT kickoff in Floyd Stadium.
A Split Quarterback Room
It was no surprise to see the MT Equipment account tweet out who the first two players drafted were on Friday morning. And it was even less surprising that when wide receiver Gamarion Carter (White Team) and tight end Holden Willis (Blue Team) were asked about what they liked about their rosters, they immediately went to quarterbacks.
"I've got to say Nick," Willis said of first overall pick Nicholas Vattiato when asked what excited him most about being on the Blue Team. "Me and Nick have a good connection, me and him are on the same page on a lot of stuff."
"We've got Luther and Roman at quarterback," the Vanderbilt transfer Carter said of Luther Richesson and Roman Gagliano. "Two new guys, I like that for sure, I like what they've been doing so far in spring."
First 2 off the board for Spring Game 2024. #Equipped pic.twitter.com/AAC3RaOPmx
— MT Equipment (@MTSU_Equipment) April 5, 2024
With DJ Riles (White Team) getting plenty of reps at "athlete" this spring (essentially, Bodie Reeder and Luke Paschall finding myriad ways to the ball in the speedy quarterback's hands while not having Riles under center), the trio of Vattiato, Richesson and Gagliano, along with redshirt sophomore Kyle Lowe (Blue Team) have all had plenty of chances to shine in the spring ball so far, making the split fairly even across the two teams talent wise.
But this writer does find it slightly ironic that the two scholarship newbies at QB ended up on the opposite team of two of the returning scholarship arms in the QB room.
An even battle in the trenches
With both a young defensive line room and a new look offensive line room, it's no surprise that the trenches between the two teams ended up fairly even, with both sides getting returning players with starting experience (Julius Pierce and Damonte Smith for White, Ethan Ellis and Brandon Buckner for Blue, among others for both teams) to build from as a base.
"I'm really excited about our offensive line," Willis said of his Blue Team. "Some 1s, some 2s, a mix of 3s in there, I think we'll be good on offense."
With Mason's emphasis on physicality and toughness at the top of his P.T.I. slogan, a lot of Blue Raider eyes will be at the line of scrimmage come Saturday to see the progress made. From Buckner's perspective, it should be a good battle.
"We've got some dawgs," Buckner said of the Blue Team. "Both the White and Blue Teams have some dawgs, but I think the Blue Team, we're going to show out."
DB Depth will be tested
One reason a lot of programs might put together a less straightforward spring game as described above is due to depth concerns in a specific position group that might be thin until new recruits arrive in the summer. Thankfully, that's not a problem for the Blue Raiders this spring, with enough players at every position to be able to field a team on each sideline come Saturday.
But that doesn't mean some areas of depth might be more tested than others. I'll be keeping a close eye on the defensive backs for both the White and Blue teams on Saturday, where each will have just seven players in the defensive backfield, five corners and just two safeties.
The Blue Team is highlighted by its safety duo of Brendon Harris and Marvae Myers, who both bring a wealth of starting experience along with cornerback Tyrell Raby. Comparatively, the White team is greener, though Deonte Stanley has been a consistent presence on the outside for MTSU for a while and De'Arre McDonald and Chris Johnson have been plug and play options at all five DB spots for multiple years.
That versatility could prove the difference against an offense that is starting to open up the passing playbook a bit more in the later weeks of spring as the team has learned more of Offensive Coordinator Bodie Reeder's system. Both Reeder and Defensive coordinator Brian Stewart will have their hands full calling plays for both teams on Saturday.
