NCAA Spring Football - Buffalo Bulls

While the focus of the media this week was the change in UB's basketball program the Buffalo Bulls football team quietly started to gear up for spring practices this week. As the Bulls work towards their April 20th spring game they hope find the answers needed to make UB competitive in the MAC again.

Quarterbacks:

The obvious choices are Alex Zordich and Joe Licata. The two each had a chance to start a good portion of last season and as a result UB has two vetted yet distinctly different signal callers.

Zordich is a run first kind of Quarterback who can do some real damage because of the focus some defenses give to Branden Oliver. At times lase year he looked very effective running the read option including against Tennessee. Zordich's throwing has never been particularly impressive but he did most of his work last season against some of the best Defenses UB faced.

Licata is the passer that might make UB a threat through the air. His performance during UB's three game win streak was admittedly helped by the level of competition but still impressive for a freshman. It's been a long time since the Bulls were able to be a threat through the air.

Besides these two Tony Daniel and Collin Micheal will vie for snaps.

Daniel had a great run last spring vaulting him to the third string over former starter Jerry Davis. He handled the place holder duties last year and made a critical play off a batched snap in the Miami game which set up the win for Buffalo.

Michael was a very pursued prep player until he injured himself during his Junior season. A lot of teams lost interest in a quarterback who so damaged his knee that a whole off season was required to get behind center. He has the size and arm strength to turn heads if he is fully recovered from the injury.

Receivers:

Who's number two? That is the question.

Alex Neutz is the number one guy until someone can play better ball, and if that happens UB would have two all conference receivers for the first time since Brett Hamlin and Naaman Roosevelt were on the roster. Until UB gets that second threat Neutz will continue to get double covered.

The Players to watch here are Fred Lee and Devon Hughes. Both were the most consistent receivers outside of Neutz and neither did too much to hurt themselves compared to the other receivers.Of the two Less seems to be very slightly ahead as a long threat but Hughes demonstrated an ability to fins spots underneath coverage and fought well for the ball when he was covered.

It's very likely that whoever does not out ahead as the "#2 guy" will still be the starter Thought Cordeo Dixon will certainly still be in the mix for a starting job. He lended first on the depth chart more often than not but had less than 100 yards receiving on the season.

The other two wide receivers who will try to get noticed are Ron Willoughby and converted Quarterback Rudy Johnson. Both sw field time last year but there gapes in each of their games that kept them from being consistent contributors.

The Line

Losing Gokhan Ozkan and Graham Whinery puts a big stress on the right side of UB's line. The two have been fixtures during the Jeff Quinn era. Their backups last season Jake Silas and Dillon Guy will have to help maintain a line that has propelld Branden Oliver to one of the best backs in UB's History

The Other Line

By far the biggest his on defense was Steven Mean. Beau Bachtelle backed up means last season and will hopefully be able to replicate the pressure Means could put on opposing quarterbacks.

The Schedule