University of Albany FCS Football Gets Back On Field For Annual Spring Game

The University at Albany football team held its annual spring intrasquad game on Saturday, marking the return to the field for a team that has undergone a major roster transformation since last season. With the graduation of 17 seniors from last season’s team, the Danes used the spring game as an opportunity to test out their new blood in a game situation.

The game featured two teams of Albany players, as evenly distributed as possible by the coaching staff led by coach Bob Ford, who will be entering his 38th year as the leader of the Danes.

In what was a spirited affair, the Gold team defeated the Purple team by a score of 14-7.

Ford liked what he saw during the game and was even happier to come out of the game unscathed.

“The thing I liked was the thing I’ve enjoyed for the past two weeks [in practice],” Ford said. “We’ve got a fiercely competitive group. I think they came to compete and I think they showed it. They played with a lot of enthusiasm. The second thing I was kind of excited about was that we came out of it injury-free.”

Redshirt freshman quarterback Buddy Leathley had a nice game for the Gold team, throwing 19-of-31 for 179 yards with one touchdown, with the highlight of his day being a well-thrown heave under pressure to wide receiver Jason Poore for a 23-yard gain.

That play set up the first touchdown of the day, a 20-yard run by redshirt freshman running back Tramaine Wilson to the left side that saw him break two tackles to get into the end zone with 4:15 left to play in the first half.

Highly touted quarterback and tailback Andrew Smith did not play Saturday due to an infection, a disappointment for Ford, who wanted to see him on the field.

“Well it hurts Andrew very much. We needed to look at him this spring to see exactly where he is. He is a kid that could probably play three to five possessions on our football squad and one of them certainly is quarterback,” Ford said. “But we didn’t see him one snap under pressure this spring, so now we’re going into the fall with that question unanswered a little bit, and that is ‘Should he be our starting quarterback, or should he be our starting tailback?’”

Smith split time between tailback and quarterback last year while also contributing in trick play packages for the Danes.

The game marked the debut for many of the team’s new faces in addition to a familiar one returning from a lengthy absence in outside linebacker Chris Blais, who missed all of last season with hand and wrist injuries.

“It felt great,” said Blais, who made 31 tackles in 12 appearances two seasons ago before breaking his thumb during the preseason. “The tempo, I kind of went with it. After the first week of spring ball it was a little tough, but I finally got back into the groove of things. I felt really good out there. I felt very comfortable.”

The team will have to cope with the loss of huge contributors in all-time UAlbany great tailback David McCarty, wide receiver Tim Bush, and quarterback Vinny Esposito, who is now playing professional football in Italy. In addition, the team lost all four members of its starting linebacker corps, a point of worry for Ford, who is unsure if the replacements have been found yet.

“I’m not sure, to be honest. I would like to look at the films on that. I think Jon Morgan has blossomed in the first two weeks. So he’s moved from an outside candidate to an inside candidate. I think up until the scrimmage he had played very well so I think we just need to look at the films and see how well he did play,” Ford said.

The defense played a strong game, with Ford remarking how he thought there was some vicious hitting from the outset. Safety Rob Cervini, a transfer from Rutgers who played in last year’s Papajohns.com Bowl, and linebacker Said Gaida, a transfer from the now-defunct program at Hofstra, made their on-field debuts for the Danes with both having strong performances. Defensive end Eddie Delaney also had a strong game, sacking the quarterback twice and knocking down a pass at the line of scrimmage.

On offense, Wilson and fellow running back Ben Miseikis both had strong games in the backfield, with both getting into the end zone on the day, toughening up the battle at that position.

“I think we’re just focusing on learning the plays, knowing the plays and knowing exactly what we’re doing and we all need to just help each other to come out and play our best at all times,” Miseikis said.

The Danes open the season on the road against Maine on Thursday, Sept. 2nd, a team that has made five NCAA Football Championship Subdivision tournament appearances.

By Aaron Scholder