Seeing is Believing

April 7, 2006 by Steve Hanway

This time of year you hear a lot coming from players, coaches, and the media about how improved everyone is. The young players understand "so much more than a year ago", the game is "slowing down", they are "gaining experience" and "getting stronger", blah blah blah. The older players are "determined to go out on a high note", "working harder than ever", yada yada yada. Sound familiar? That's because we've heard it before. In fact, we've heard it pretty much every Spring since I can remember.

I don't mean to belittle the coaches or players or even the reporters that have to file these stories. They're doing what they are supposed to do. But that doesn't mean we need to eat it up like it's a swiss cheese mushroom Runza (mmm...swiss cheese mushroom Runza). We heard it going into the 1994 national championship season and we heard it going into the 2002 swoon. The only difference is which coach or player spit out which cliche.

Does that mean we should ignore the reports we get? Of course not, but take it with a grain of salt. Here's a quick guide:

Things that matter:

• Injury news (e.g. we learned that Matt Herian has a ways to go and Steve Octavien is already making plays)
• Position switches (e.g. we learned that Craig Roark and Ty Steinkuhler will help shore up the defensive tackle spots and Tierre Green is penciled in to start at safety)
• Statistics (e.g. Zac Taylor has been throwing the ball well and Cody Glenn is running very well)
• Depth chart shuffling (e.g. Josh Mueller is getting reps with the top offense)
• Coaches unsolicited singling out players who did well (e.g. Lance Brandenburgh)

Things that don't:

• How "hard" guys are working
• Bold predictions from the players (e.g. this year's DL will get more sacks than last year's nation-leading total)
• Coach speak about how guys are "progressing"
• Coaches praise of players that is solicited
• And as former coach Frank Solich would say, how " the guys are moving around well" (too much fiber?)

With such a fun and exciting finish to the 2006 season, it's natural to be excited about the coming year. But if you're really looking to get a picture of what's in store. Check out the spring game and see for yourself who can run, who can throw, who can catch, who can protect the ball, who can take away the ball, who can block, and who can tackle. That will tell you a lot more than any spring time puff piece. And while you're there, maybe have a Runza.

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