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OGDEN — Three weeks down, two weeks to go.
That’s the message for Weber State football as the Wildcats have just six practices left in the spring before taking a hiatus for the summer. With all the time spent already in the books, Weber State has seen some notable improvements and seen some areas that still need development.
One of the areas that has seen the most development is the defense, which is hoping to improve on its last-place finish in the Big Sky Conference last season.
Weber State coach Jay Hill said the defense played well in the Wildcats’ first scrimmage of the spring.
“I really liked the way the defense played,” Hill said. “They had some key plays, caused some turnovers and really made the offense work. There were several guys that really stepped up and made some big plays on defense.”
The offense also had some highlight plays, with sophomore quarterback Austin Chipoletti throwing for 53 yards and Jadrian Clark throwing for 76 yards. Clark also threw a 70-yard touchdown pass to Jalen Fields at the end of the scrimmage.
Running back Bo Bolen had eight carries for 52 yards, including a 10-yard touchdown. New Wildcat running back De’Saan Hardwick rushed for 31 yards. Also, receiver Shaydon Kehano had three receptions for 25 yards.
With Bolen’s performance in mind, defensive coordinator Justin Ena said Weber’s run defense will have to improve in order for the Wildcats to be successful.
“We’ve got to stop the run,” he said. “Any great defense has got to stop the run first. And if you don’t stop the run, it’ll be a long day on a Saturday in the fall. We can’t have that happen.”
Still, Hill wasn’t as pleased with the offense as he was with the defense.
“On the offensive side, we had too many penalties and mistakes” Hill said. “We need to eliminate the mistakes and take care of the ball. That’s their No. 1 job on offense, but they didn’t handle that today and need to get that fixed.”
Despite some of the errors, several Wildcats said the offense has improved in a variety of areas, including the offensive line. Ena said the maturity of the offensive line is evident.
“(Coach Brent Myer) on the offensive line; he’s done a great job,” he said. “That offensive line is as good as I’ve been around in the Big Sky. At SUU, we never had that many good players at one time, and (Weber’s) got it right now with players that are young.”
Now that spring football has just two weeks left, the Wildcats have a variety of goals, but improvement is at the top. Ena said that he will miss spring football after it is over.
“It does get sad a little bit, because you want to get these guys to keep progressing,” he said. “By NCAA mandate alone, you can only have 15 practices, but you wish you could carry it longer. But that’s when you have those player-run practices as well, when you hope that the kids will keep evolving and get better.”
