The Western Michigan football team held its first scrimmage of the spring on Thursday morning. The Broncos ran around 100 plays in 90 minutes for their eighth practice of the spring.
BIG TIME THREAT
The focus this offseason around the Broncos program has been how will the offense go about replacing Daniel Braverman who left for the NFL. Braverman finished second in the country in receptions with 108 and was top 10 in yards (1,377) and receiving TDs (8). Coach Fleck has said the purpose of the program is to reload at all positions to be ready for big-time talents like Braverman to go pro.
One of the receivers that's made a name for himself this spring is Carrington Thompson. The 6-2 receiver from outside Houston is looking to have a big senior year and has impressed thus far. Thursday he caught two highlight touchdowns. The first came near the back of the end zone as he reached out in traffic and was able to secure the grab. The second was towards the end of the scrimmage as he caught a deep ball down the left sideline and got his right foot in bounds for the score.
“Carrington Thompson is maturing a lot,” Fleck said. “I think Coach Simon and Coach Ciarrocca have done an outstanding job of getting him to mature at the right time. Nothing like being a senior and finally maturing.”
MOVING UP THE DEPTH CHART
A redshirt freshman that has forced the coaches to increase his playing time is cornerback Obbie Jackson. Jackson came to Kalamazoo last year ranked among the top-50 players according to the Detroit Free Press and is showing why this spring as he is teaming alongside Darius Phillips to man the corner position.
“Obbie Jackson was going to be in our dime package,” Fleck said. “Now he's moved up and is one of our corners. He's fast and he's tough. One thing about Obbie Jackson is he is a tough, tough player. He's not the biggest player but he plays big and you're starting to see that out here.”
JIMMY WILLIAMS EFFECT
The new defensive line coach Jimmy Williams wreaked havoc on defenses as a player when he was an All-American at Nebraska and now is coaching his players along the d-line to do the same. During Thursday's scrimmage Keion Adams was able to time his jump perfectly to force a sack on third down while Eric Assuoa and Andre Turner also were able to get in there for multiple sacks on the day.
“We call it the Jimmy Williams effect,” Fleck said. “Our d-line is playing so much better. We have a lot of young players on the line who are going to continue to grow and we've grown exponentially in the last two months just by having Jimmy Williams in this program. I'm very proud of those guys.”
UP NEXT
The Broncos will return to the field on Friday for Nekton Neon Night at 8 p.m. Gates open at 7 p.m. and there will be free food from Noodles Co., Buffalo Wild Wings, Aubree's Pizza and Insomnia Cookies along with opportunities for photos with players and coaches.
