It was a rough sight to behold. The Javelinas, after just a couple of weeks of practice, had their two-hour long “spring scrimmage,” and only had one real word to describe it: abysmal.
The Hoggies, in front of dozens of on-lookers, played football reflective of every problem they were attempting to fix from the last season.
Right out of the gate, the Javelinas struggled to stay in sync with their own snap count, racking up multiple false start penalties that left Javelina Head Football Coach Daren Wilkinson almost speechless.
The worst part? On the other side of the football, the defense was also at fault standing over the line of scrimmage and drawing offside penalties of their own.
No matter the effort on either side, the Javelinas were playing bad football before the ball was even snapped; which isn’t a promising outlook, considering they were the Lone Star Conference’s third most penalized team in the 2017 season (105), and the worst at giving up yards for every flag per game (98.5).
It was hard to watch, but with an ever-changing rotation of quarterbacks, including Bringham Young University transfer Koy Detmer Jr., it was understandably expected from just a few weeks of practice.
Regardless, the Javelinas still managed to flash some spouts of solid looking offense, but far more promising looks from the defense.
Running backs Jeff Carr, Nick Pelrean and Christian Anderson were able to produce big run gains on a number of occasions, so the running attack has a solid three-headed monster that can do some damage if given the chance when the fall rolls around.
One outstanding effort that could not be ignored,was the size and play of one, wide receiver Ty Chisum, who had three monster 50-plus yard touchdown receptions, two thrown by Cade Dyal and one by Detmer.
Considering every season since 2015 has had one or more receivers in Javelina nation who managed to finish in the top five of nearly all receiving categories in the LSC (Jordan Thomas and Anthony Autry), replacing that production they were able to provide looks to be no problem at all.
However, it did show a glaring weakness that never ceases to give fits to coach Wilkinson’s defensive staff.
Two of the Chisum touchdowns were the result of busted coverages and a defensive back’s inability to keep their opponents in front of them and within swatting distance; one thing that coach Wilkinson was hoping some of the newer blood from recruitment could hopefully provide, forever raving about the size and length of his future defensive backs.
In any case, aside from giving up big plays, the defense did show some improvement highlighted by a botched snap that was scooped and scored by corner back Nick Stiff.
But, depending on who you ask, that was mostly an offensive mistake leading to a defensive triumph, which makes most offensive coordinators angry because the defense needed little effort to cause that play to occur.
And with frustration looming amongst coaches and players alike, halfway through the game, words were exchanged between a few players on the field, which led to a shoving match to take place for fans to witness.
“If this is what you want to do in front of these people, then that’s what we’ll do,” Coach Wilkinson said while his team sprinted from sideline to sideline. “One rule. From the first meeting that’s all I talked about. Shut up and play ball. We get people out here, and you all start acting like idiots […] is it clear what our expectations are? You don’t play football with your mouths. Anybody tell you that, they’re full [of it].”
At the end of the night, coach Wilkinson addressed his team, and had me skeptical about the future of this program. It seemed the driving force of his comments to his team involved a ton of issues regarding the readiness of his athletes when August rolls around; even noting that last season less than 50-percent of his players showed up in Kingsville who couldn’t even pass the team’s running test. And that’s something they simply can’t afford.
I am perplexed at whether this team will have the ability to buckle down and be ready to turn back around into its winning ways, or crumble once again and give coach Wilkinson yet another losing season in his tenure at Texas A&M University-Kingsville. It seems he can only do so much about keeping his athletes in top physical shape and prepared in the system. But if the players can’t produce what the coach is asking them to do, is it a player problem or a coaching problem?
Either way, he summed up the results of the spring game perfectly at its conclusion.
“Discipline,” Coach Wilkinson said to his team at the end of their scrimmage. “Now those [mistakes] will not just get you beat, they’ll get your butt kicked bad. You understand what I’m saying? It’s discipline, man. And what we saw tonight? I’m so disappointed in what we showed out here tonight. Because for 14 practices we were going [up], showing that we were ready to make a jump. We took a step back on all phases today. We took a step back. I don’t understand why.”