Wildcats looking for consistency as spring football winds down


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OGDEN — All spring, the goal for Weber State football has been to be aggressive and be competitive.

However, as spring football winds down, the goals have changed a little bit as the Wildcats are now searching for consistency.

That may sound like a different mindset, and that may sound like different goals. For Weber State coach Jay Hill, it’s all just another part of the process of improvement.

The Wildcats finished their second scrimmage of the spring Saturday, a scrimmage that saw running back Eric Wilkes run for 36 yards and score two touchdowns.

With just a week left of spring practice, Hill said the team is right where it needs to be.

“There’s been a lot of give-and-take this spring,” he said. “The defense has played super well at times, and then the offense — they finished the scrimmage great. The give-and-take is a good thing, because it means one side of the ball is just not getting their butt kicked.”

Consistency is something the Wildcats are searching for, now that they have players who are more comfortable with the system.


"Confidence is something I see growing in this team, and that leads to consistency as long as they're confident," said Weber coach Jay Hill.

Hill said consistency is the top goal for his team.

“We’ve added a bunch of good young players to the group, and will add more young players in the fall that will even up the level of competition,” he said. “Consistency is very important, especially on offense. Confidence is something I see growing in this team, and that leads to consistency as long as they’re confident.”

One of the biggest storylines of spring camp has been the quarterback battle — a battle that Jadrian Clark has consistently risen to the top in, so far. Hill affirmed Clark is the top thrower to this point, but said other players continue to remain in the hunt.

“Jadrian is out front — he’s getting the majority of the (first-team) reps,” he said. “I will say this — Riley Bradshaw had a nice day today; Billy Green’s had his flashes of being back to his normal self. I think they’re all competent. We can win with those guys, we just need to see consistency.”

Clark completed 11-of-18 passes while throwing for 119 yards and two touchdowns.

Physicality was a theme in the scrimmage, as the Wildcats made several plays on both sides of the neutral zone.

The offensive line has improved over last season, and Wilkes said the line’s improvement is making it easy to run for the ’Cats.

“I have faith in my line,” he said. “If they push one way, I know I’m supposed to cut the other way, so I have faith in them and what they do. I just follow them, and if they’re taking care of everybody up front, I know I’m going to be good back there.”

Wilkes is expected to be an important piece of Weber’s offensive improvement this season, and Hill said the sophomore running back has had an impressive spring.

“He’s had one heck of a spring,” he said. “He’s made a lot of plays in the throw game and in the run game. He’s hard to tackle, and he’s very physical right now. I’ve been super excited about the way he’s played.”

The annual Purple-and-White spring game is Saturday at Stewart Stadium, and there are many things left to be accomplished this spring.

Hill said continuing to build depth is one of his interests.

“We used to have (a first-team and a fourth-team); now we’re to (a first-team and a third-team),” said a smiling Hill. “There’s some good solid players in our backups, whereas last year, I felt like if we had some injuries — like we ended up having — we were going to struggle. This year, if we have some injuries, we will be much better off.”

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Jon Oglesby

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