Less than a week until the spring game and only a few more practices remain.

Coaching Changes

Rachid Ibrahim – Ibrahim is the new running backs coach, having worked with RBs at Wisconsin and Virginia Tech the past two seasons. He’s from the state of Maryland and went to Pitt for college, so I’d imagine he’s got a good handle on the local recruiting area.

Kyle Edwards – Edwards will coach the tight ends, coming over from Maryland. He overlapped with Reece Udinski in 2021, as he split time working with QBs and TEs.

I’m sure the timing played a role in who was available to hire, but there’s definitely been a push on younger coaching hires the past few years. We now have four coaches under the age of 35, which is especially important at the FCS level. Finding coaches earlier in their careers and letting them develop within the program gives us more options for internal promotions. Both Justin Wood and Winston October were position coaches at the school before they became coordinators, so it’s clear Coach Huesman recognizes the value of having some younger coaches on staff.

Portal Updates

None, but that will likely change. There’s another window from April 15th-April 30th, and with all programs done with spring practice by then there’s bound to be another wave of student athletes. We could see some guys leave after spring but I think most of our updates will be on the “additions” side of things.

Practice Updates

October’s offense – Coach October continues to build off his strong second half of the 2023 season. He hasn’t been shy in expanding the playbook early on, with plenty of wrinkles to personnel groupings, formations, route combos, etc. You can tell he likes the talent of our skill positions and is letting them go make plays. It’s also been great for helping the secondary, as the corners are facing high caliber competition each day. We likely won’t get a good read on the run/pass balance until the fall but he’s making sure this group’s passing attack will be full-go in week 1.

Quarterbacks – My biggest takeaway from the spring has been the staff’s commitment to both guys running the same offense. We all know this wasn’t the case early in 2023, however we’re seeing both Wickersham and Coleman asked to do the same things. With that, Coleman has run the ball more than I’d typically imagine, and Wickersham has made some throws that we mostly saw from Coleman last year. I personally don’t think there’s been much separation, which speaks more to both guy’s high level of play rather than one guy “failing” to pull away.

What they both have going for them is their command of the offense. With October in year 2 as OC, and both guys having started games in 2023, I think we’ll see a lot more freedom at the line of scrimmage. This was a weapon for the Spiders in 2022 but expectedly died down some in 2023 due to newer QBs. Now that both #16 and #14 are established I think we’ll see more tempo and more adjustments at the line of scrimmage (likely not in the spring game, but definitely this fall).

Offensive line – Curious to see how the 2nd team O-line does in the spring game. Feels like the D-line has gotten the better of them so far, although most of the reserve O-linemen are underclassmen. Last year’s spring game featured too much QB pressure so I’m hoping the protection is better this year. Kade Capristo has gotten some run with the 1s, as they’ve been managing reps for Tom Elia, and right now it’s hard to imagine he’s not the starting center in 2025.

4-2-5 – The defense hasn’t used this too often but it’s still something we’ll see in 2024. Bryson Parker continues to slide to the dime spot, with Jabril Hayes and Matthew Traynor at safety. Any transfer additions may affect who plays the safety roles, but Parker is a lock at dime. He’s had a really nice spring.

Spring Game

Absolutely no point in doing a spring game preview because everyone is just going to watch the QBs 🙂 – in all seriousness there isn’t much to preview because it comes down to quarterbacks and cornerbacks. As a spring wrap-up, I’ll review the spring game and where I think each position group stands, however not much has changed (which is a good thing). With 15-ish starters back from a playoff team you shouldn’t have too many questions entering fall camp, and thankfully we don’t.

Next Post

2024 Spring wrap-up (next week)