Spring game wrap

The Yale Bowl scoreboard read Blue 28, White 0 at the end of Saturday's spring game but in reality, the scrimmage ended in a tie.

The offense, especially the first unit, completely dominated the first half while the defense rebounded quite nicely in the second half.

The first team offense scored touchdowns on its first four possessions of the first half and would have made it a perfect 5 for 5 if not for a holding call which negated a touchdown pass from Patrick Witt to Chris Smith.

Witt and Smith hooked up for touchdowns of 13 and 30 yards, Jordan Forney caught a 20-yard touchdown reception which I caught on video while Gio Christodoulou had a 91-yard reception to set up Mordecai Cargill's 1-yard touchdown run

The offense had 298 yards on 32 plays in the first half while managing just 51 yards on 17 plays in the second half.

I had Witt going 12 for 17 for 243 yards and three touchdowns and one interception. Christodoulou had two catches for 99 yards, Smith caught four passes for 95 yards and Forney had 43 yards on three receptions.

Yale went mostly with one-back sets today, something that will continue. Alex Thomas (4 carries for 46 yards) and Cargill (8 carries, 24 yards) split time with the first-team offense while Javi Sosa (14 carries, 36 yards) got all the work with the second unit.

Defensively, defensive end Cliff Foreman (four tackles, a fumble recovery and blocked punt) and linebacker Will McHale (six tackles) were the stars. Safety John Powers had an interception while defensive end Allen Davis recovered a fumbled punt by Christodoulou.

Spring games like Yale's when the offense plays against the defense always leads to the "is the glass half full or it is half empty" argument.

Witt looked great throwing the ball and with Yale planning to play Forney, Smith and Christodoulou together, I would expect a more wide-open offense than what I witnessed a year ago. On the other hand, Yale's starting secondary did not distinguish itself as the three receivers got open with relative ease. Bear in mind that the QBs weren't getting hit so it wasn't the same as a regular-season game when Witt would have been rushed more than he was on Saturday but it still was a bit surprising that the Yale secondary, featuring three returning starters, struggled as much as it did when the first team offense and defense squared off.

The other thing of note was that quarterback turned defensive back Bryan Farris was back at quarterback and was the No. 2 QB on Saturday while Dez Duron and Derek Russell got into the game in the second half. If Brook Hart gets taken in the Major League Baseball draft, which could very well happen, and opts to sign the Bulldogs will need to develop another quarterback to serve as insurance behind Witt.

NO NEWS ON MANTE
Just spoke with former Yale punter Tom Mante. He said there is nothing to report but his agent is still in contact with some NFL teams and he is hopeful of getting an invite to an NFL camp.