UWF Football: Defense doesn't budge in dominate spring game performance

Students at the University of West Florida will soon take a break from their studies and head off to spring break.

Prior to the one-week vacation filled with rest and relaxation, the UWF football team hit field one last time for its annual Blue-Green game on Thursday.

This was the program's first spring game without Pete Shinnick at the helm. The Argos' first football head coach departed this past winter to take over at Division I Towson. Enter Kaleb Nobles, the Argos starting quarterback during their inaugural 2016 campaign, into the equation.

After Nobles was hired in December, the 28-year-old is in the middle of his first spring as head coach.

"It's been a fast spring. Obviously, we did (our spring game) early so that we could be done before spring break. I think our guys really enjoy that," he said. "It's great to be back and be an Argonaut again. I truly mean that, I take a lot of pride in this place just because it's my alumni and it's a place I worked at for a while. Put in a work in to help this place grow from the ground up."

UWF started spring practice on Feb. 15 and has held a pair of scrimmages since then. However, Thursday night was one of the first chances the public got to see how much the team his grown under this current coaching staff.

Nobles noted that the practices throughout the spring have been competitive from both sides of the ball, but under overcast conditions at Pen Air Field, the defensive unit flexed its muscle.

Behind constant pressure from its front and strong coverage on the back end, the defense earned a 35-10 victory over the offense.

"I never expect one side to dominate the spring game. Obviously, I was hoping for a lot more on offense, but to me, that just shows me that we have a lot more room for improvement," Nobles said. "The defense playing fast kind of slowed things down offensively. ... Tonight was just not a great scrimmage for the offense, but that just means we got a lot of room to improve. Excited about the growth on both sides of the ball and special teams and I think we have a great team coming back."

Under a scoring system where a three-and-out netted three points and a sack was worth another, the defense, listed as the Blue team on the scoreboard, put up the game's first 24 points before Griffin Cerra put the Green team on the board with a 27-yard field goal.

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The tone was set from the opening series, which began with running back Shomari Mason stopped for no gain. Following a sack from Willie Jordan and an Michael Rich Jr. incompletion under pressure, the offense was forced to punt.

Later, pressure from the defensive line led the night's first touchdown. On a third-and-long play, Rich was hit by Mike Police as attempted a long shot down the field. The ball fluttered in the air before dropping into the hands of linebacker Will Breland, who rumbled down the sideline for a interception return score.

It was that kind of night for Rich, along with fellow quarterbacks Brett Nezat and Kevin Quinn. The trio combined to complete just one of their first eight passes.

"I think we did a great job, this was a great start," Breland said. "Like Coach Conner (Defensive coordinator Kavell Conner) said, nothing perfect tonight, and we're fine with that. But tonight was a great first outing for the defense. ... We have most of the guys from last year back, but added some new guys and it was just great to get everyone together for the first time this year."

The offense did not put up points until the last series of the night.

Spearheaded by a 27-yard run from Daryel Garcia, the Green team traveled 65 yards in seven plays, capped by a deep touchdown pass from Nezat to Anthony Ballard.

Here are three takeaways from Thursday's Blue-Green game.

Fast off the ball

The defense often blitzed in third-and-long passing situations. Sending the extra man or two helped accounted for seven sacks on the night.

But the pressure was just as frequent when the Blue team sent just its front four. Whether it was off the edge or up the middle, the defensive line couldn't be slowed down.

Although the team was without its top-two sacks leaders in Justice Williams and Pooda Walker, the Pine Forest alum who transferred to Kennesaw State during the offseason, the defensive line was menacing.

"We were out there getting in the backfield and getting sacks today," said graduate defensive lineman Dante Johnson, who brought down Rich during the night's third series. "We were putting on a lot of pressure to the quarterback and running backs."

Johnson credited the night's success to a different defensive look compared to years past. The team has switch from three defensive lineman to a four-man front under Conner.

"The new scheme emphasizes getting off blocks and getting into the backfield, quick," Johnson said. "We got more support upfront, and then we got more guys in the back being able to read (offenses) a little bit better because they have help on the front line."

Communication

While the defensive line was fast off the ball, the offensive line lack the cohesion to protect their quarterbacks.

Rich, Nezat and Quinn each had very little time to throw on longer-developing plays as the pocket quickly collapsed.

It's an understandable work-in-progress for the big men up front. Redshirt senior Oake Stipe (13) and senior Nymonta Doucoure (five) were the only offensive linemen on the spring game roster to appear in at least five games for the Argos last season.

"For us, it's the little, bitty things are far as protection wise. It's about communication, making sure we're all sliding in the right direction," Nobles said. "It's the little, bitty things that get exposed in a game like this. If you don't have good communication and don't do a good job protect, that stuff gets exposed quickly."

Nobles gave additionally credit to the secondary for coverage sacks. Meanwhile, Nezat took his fair share of the blame for the breakdowns in protection.

"We can grow everywhere. Obviously, it's going to start with us (quarterbacks), just recognizing who is coming where and shifting a protection here or there," he said. "Honestly, the defense played with its ears pinned back and brought pressure every time. So like I said, as quarterbacks, we have to do a better job at recognizing that to get the ball out at time."

'We can be unstoppable'

The Green team didn't move the ball until the midway point of the night.

The quarterbacks found success by getting rid of the ball on quick out routes to the likes of wide receivers Zac Offord and Mystikal McGhee. Yet, the play that was most effective was the read option.

With the defensive geared towards stopping Mason, Garcia and Seth Johnson, the quarterbacks took advantage by keeping the ball for chunks of yardage.

"The running back room is phenomenal. They make our job easy cause we can just hand it to them and they can get the yards that we need," Nezat said. "So then we everybody starts to worry about them, every now and then we can get a couple of yards. With the line and running back room that we have, we can be unstoppable, we just have to get there."

A major threat to run the ball was not in action Thursday night. After starting all 14 games for the UWF last season, senior quarterback Byron Jarrett was out of action as he recovers from offseason surgery.

Patrick Bernadeau is a sports reporter for the Pensacola News Journal. He can be reached at (850) 503-3828, on Twitter @PatBernadeau or via email at pbernadeau@gannett.com.

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This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: UWF Football: Argos defense one step ahead in overwhelming Spring Game effort