What a difference a year and a full spring can make.
Alabama A&M head coach Sam Shade said his Bulldogs are “ahead of where we were last year” after wrapping up spring practice on Saturday.
Shade praised the team’s progress throughout the spring, noting a sharper execution and greater cohesion than the group showed a year ago. “We are further along than where we were last year,” Shade said after it was over. “The bottom line is that we’re always trying to improve and get better. We’ve felt during spring camp that we’ve made some progress.”
While official stats were being kept, reports from the school’s website indicated that the defense had the advantage early on before the offense — led by quarterback Mac Armstrong — hooked up on a touchdown pass to Jarel Williams.
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Receiver Jordan Chambers-Smith provided a spark with touchdown grabs of 18 and 9 yards to highlight the offensive effort.
Absent from Saturday’s action was quarterback Cornelious “Quad” Brown IV, who is expected to start for the Bulldogs this fall. Shade said Brown’s spring workload was limited while awaiting NCAA clearance to play in his eighth season of college football.
“All spring long, we didn’t know if Quad was going to get the waiver,” Shade said. “We wanted to give the other guys a lot of reps and try to find the number one guy coming out of the spring. Then we got some great news on Quad. As we get into the summer, he’ll get a lot more reps, particularly in training camp.”
Overall, the Bulldogs’ progress sounds promising for a team that shockingly went 4-8 overall and a disappointing 1-7 in SWAC play in Shade’s first season in Huntsville.
The Bulldogs could be primed for a bounce-back season with Brown in the fold and Shade now knowing what he has to work with in Year 2 as head coach.
