The Emporia State football team wraps up spring practices on Friday with the annual spring game.
Here are the five biggest stories coming out of spring ball and what to watch for on Friday.
1. Zach Rampy
Andre Sloan El is sitting out spring ball to be eligible to play his senior season in the fall. Sloan El’s absence has left Zach Rampy in charge of the Hornet offense and gives the redshirt freshman a leg up in the quarterback race in the fall.
Visit practice this spring, and there’s no question that Rampy is in charge of the offense. When he’s not under center, he’s directing his backups, giving advice and even giving signals.
“He’s just an extension of what we want,” ESU coach Garin Higgins said. “That’s what Zach is. That’s the type of player he is. He’s a coach’s son. He’s very smart with what we want. He can put us in situations. His reads are quicker. He understands totally what we’re doing offensively and I think he’s just comfortable, and anytime kids are playing at a comfortable level, I think it makes them better.”
On paper, Rampy was the backup last season; however, he was more like the bullpen quarterback. It didn’t always take a Sloan El injury or poor play to get Rampy in the game. He often came in to change things up.
Rampy, who threw for 243 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 93 yards and one touchdown, was the team’s best quarterback at executing the zone read, a big play in Higgins’ spread offense. If he had a weakness, it was his performance in the pocket. Sometimes he took too long to make a throw, and other times he was hesitant to throw and too reliant on his scrambling ability. According to ESU linebacker Katrel Larkins, that has been an area in which Rampy has improved.
“He’s picked it up a lot. He’s making the right decisions on his passes,” Larkins said.
In the battle to be the No. 3 guy for next season, Tyler Eckenrode has the early advantage over fellow freshman Sheldon Smith. Eckenrode redshirted last season. He has a strong arm and would rather pass out of the pocket than run the ball.
Smith did not redshirt last year and threw for 115 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 37 yards. He would prefer to run the ball and is at his best in the open field. Both quarterbacks have been given the chance to show their abilities with Sloan El out.
“I think all quarterbacks need reps,” Higgins said. “That’s a never-ending process with quarterbacks. It does hurt us that (Sloan El) can’t be out for spring ball, but also at the same time it gives us a chance for Zach to get more reps, Tyler Eckenrode has gotten more reps and Sheldon Smith has gotten more reps. It’s a good opportunity for us to see some of those kids get their opportunity when the pads start popping to see how they respond in different situations.”
Rampy would not give every sportswriter their favorite football battle — a quarterback controversy — but he would concede that he relishes the No. 1 role in spring.
“As the quarterback, you like being the guy,” he said. “It’s nice to be able to get in there and work with those guys.”
As for Sloan El...
“He was the starter last year, and the guys have chemistry with him too, just like they have a chemistry with me,” Rampy said. “We’ll just see what happens in the fall, and that will determine how it goes.”
2. Position changes
Spring is often the time that coaches start experimenting, and Higgins and his staff are no different.
The most notable change has been moving Matt Rosenhamer from defensive end to middle linebacker. Rosenhamer started at D-end as a redshirt freshman last season and had 20 tackles and 1 1/2 sacks.
With his open-field speed, the coaches decided to move him to linebacker.
“I think he’s gotten better from day one until now,” Higgins said. “I tell you what, he can run. He’s probably one of, if not our fastest linebacker as far as straight-line speed, and he’s 225, 230.”
Rosenhamer’s size has been a welcome addition to the linebacking corps.
“He’s perfect,” Larkins said. “I don’t have to worry about going in there and hitting on those big, old linemen. He can do that. He likes that.”
On offense, Tracy Hageman has moved from receiver to H-back, and freshman Shjaun Richardson has moved from defensive back to receiver.
Hageman caught 21 passes and two touchdowns last year and is no stranger to a position change. He came to Emporia State as a quarterback. As the H-back, he will play a hybrid between a fullback and tight end.
“I think it fits him because he’s probably got the best hands on the team,” Higgins said. “He’s not going to pull away from anybody with his speed, so I think he’s made a great adjustment there.”
Richardson redshirted last season, and Higgins expects him to be a contributor right away at receiver.
“Very, very talented freshman,” he said. “Lot of skill to him.”
3. Competition means progress
At media day last fall, Sean Partridge called out several teammates from the year before and said he believed the 2008 team would be different.
“Once we lost, it seemed like there was a lot of pointing fingers and stuff like that, not necessarily stuff you want going on in your locker room,” Partridge said at media day. “I think we’ve got all that changed around and that’s why I think we can have a good season.”
Cornerback Travis Lee added, “I would say we’ve got a lot of people who want to be here and that’s going to result in us winning more games.”
The Hornets did win more games — well, one more — going 4-7 in 2008. With the number of redshirt freshmen and true freshmen who played, the record was not all that surprising.
But in 2009, Higgins will be in his third season, and expectations should start to grow. The team’s mentality certainly took a shift in the right direction last season, and Larkins — sounding eerily similar to Partridge — expects the team’s approach to keep changing.
“Our players’ mentality, you can tell that they want to win,” he said. “Last year, there were certain people on the team, they wanted to win, but they didn’t know how, and they didn’t know how to play for it. But everybody on our team wants to win, and they’re going to do whatever it takes to win.”
Higgins tempered that statement, but said he does see changes.
“I think our kids were committed last year,” he said. “The thing that I see is the attitude and the competitiveness and the athletic ability that we’re getting is basically what’s changing. And our younger kids are continuing to get better. ... I will tell you this much, as far as all the springs that I’ve been here, this is the most competitive spring. Our guys are competing each and every play. I see a lot of battles going on for a lot of positions out there.”
4. Untapped talent
Receiver is one of the thinnest positions for the Hornets this spring, but that has not tempered expectations from Higgins.
Because of injuries, the unit is down to four players, meaning lots of reps and plenty of chances for the coaches to break them down.
“There’s two things I’ll tell you about our receivers,” Higgins said. “They’ve got the chance to be the most talented group on our football team as far as skillwise, athletic-wise. But when I talk about consistency, that’s a group that I’ve seen the inconsistency with as far as an individual group with dropping the ball. They make the catch that they can make, but I haven’t seen anybody make a play on a consistent basis.”
With leading receiver and team leader Partridge gone, Danny McEvoy and transfer Chris Woods will be expected to lead the group. McEvoy is a big target at 6-foot-4, and he is the leading receiver out of the returners, with 25 catches for 326 yards and a team-best six touchdowns in 2008.
Woods transferred from New Mexico State and has practiced this spring but will sit out the spring game because of injury.
“He’s got a different gear as far as burst and athletic ability,” Higgins said. “He’s going to definitely help us.”
Rampy, like Higgins, has noticed an upgrade in talent at the receiver position this spring.
“All of our receivers can run,” Rampy said. “That’s a big difference. All of them can run and make plays happen all over the field.”
5. Defense vs. offense
The spring game will not be a traditional football game. Because of depth, the Hornets will not split into two separate teams.
The game is going to be a matchup between the offense and defense with a modified scoring system that will pit the two units against each other.
The competition between the two units has already been ongoing during the spring practices.
“Usually when we go against our offense, they’ll have days where they’ll demolish us,” Larkins said. “But we’ve been going back and forth most of the time. Defense gets to offense and have them doing up-downs, because we win the little competition we’ve got. I think we’re going to balance out this year. I think we’ll have a better defense this year than last year.”
If the spring game is anything like practice has been, Friday’s score should be close.
“I know we’re inconsistent sometimes in practice, because in spring ball, it’s hard for both sides of the ball to do good in a day,” Higgins said. “Somebody’s going to get the best of one another, and it’s been back and forth like that. One day the offense will do really well and the defense will do poorly. So that’s what I talk about inconsistencies, but naturally that will happen. That’s just how spring ball is set up.”
Along with Sloan El, defensive lineman Angelo Webb, cornerback Travis Lee, tight end Dominic Mirocke and tight end Tim Chandler have sat out of spring practice. Linebacker Blake Rangwall is also expected to miss Friday’s spring game. Ringwall has practiced this spring but is currently injured.