Passing game impresses, freshmen flash: 25 thoughts, nuggets from UM spring game
Twenty-five notes and thoughts after UM’s spring football game at Cobb Stadium on campus on Saturday morning:
▪ The sense here is this could be UM’s best and deepest wide receiver room in two decades, and nothing that happened Saturday changed my perception.
Even with Malachi Toney held out of 11 on 11 work and Joshua Moore sidelined after getting banged up in 1 on 1 drills earlier in the day, UM receivers consistently demonstrated a combination of speed, skilled route running and soft hands.
“We’re super deep in that room,” quarterback Darian Mensah said. “You see the flashes. We know what Mali can do. He’s an electric part of the offense. We’ve got studs that back him up and all over the field. If he’s not on the field, I try not to let it weigh on me.”
Cooper Barkate displayed his elite chemistry with his former Duke teammate Mensah, catching a TD pass in the corner of the end zone and making multiple other catches. UM people rave about Barkate’s football IQ and ability to find holes in a defense.
Daylyn Upshaw caught a 33-yard TD pass from Mensah and looks all the way back from his late-season injury. “Daylyn is going to have a big year for us this year,” Mensah said Saturday. “He’s taking after Mali. A dude that takes coaching well.”
Vandrevius Jacobs is going to undoubtedly get open on vertical routes this season after averaging 17.1 yards on 32 receptions at South Carolina last year; Mensah overthrow him by a whisker on a bomb Saturday.
“Dre can take the top off,” Mensah said, noting they’ve usually connected on those deep throws this spring. “I know I can count on him as well.”
Talented West Virginia transfer Cam Vaughn, who could be a top three receiver at many FBS programs, will need to fight his tail off simply to stake a claim to a spot in a potential six-man rotation. He caught Mensah’s third TD pass of the day, beating Ryan Mack.
Freshman Milan Parris, an angular target at 6-5, made a handful of catches (most in the 10- to 15-yard range) and has impressed everyone all spring.
“He has a really good feel for the game, and I think he’s adapted to the offense fairly well,” Mario Cristobal said of Parris. “We’ve been working on that body. He’s filling out really, really well. He’s almost 220 pounds. He’s a really good young man. He’s got tremendous upside. He’s limitless but we need to hammer a bunch of things to make him better. He knows that. He can bank on us getting after him all offseason.”
Another ballyhooed freshman receiver, Somourian Wingo, did not participate in 11 on 11 drills, and I didn’t particularly notice freshman Tyran Evans.
But promising freshman slot receiver Vance Spafford finds creases in coverage and caught a TD pass Saturday, along with another nice catch along the sideline. (His fumble was his one negative Saturday.) For now, he’s a poor man’s Braxton Berrios who might eventually become a rich man’s Berrios.
▪ Those who didn’t participate included running backs Marty Brown and Girard Pringle; receivers Moore and Wingo; offensive linemen Samson Okunlola and Joel Ervin and Cannon Pickett; linebacker Mo Toure; defensive linemen Ahmad Moten, Hayden Lowe and Tyson Bacon and cornerback Damari Brown.
Players who had limited involvement, per 247 Sports, include Toney, running back Mark Fletcher, defensive end Marquise Lightfoot, cornerback OJ Frederique, linebacker Chase Smith, safeties Zechariah Poyser and Bryce Fitzgerald and tight ends Elija Lofton and Gavin Mueller.
▪ Mensah was every bit as good as advertised, flashing a strong arm, pinpoint accuracy on three TD passes (and several other throws) and moving nimbly around the pocket. He also throws effectively on the run.
His two TD passes were works of art, both thrown precisely where only the receiver could catch them. Barkate caught the first despite coverage from Ethan O’Connor and Dylan Day. Upshaw caught the second.
▪ Luke Nickel was competent Saturday – neither great nor awful – and remains the front-runner for the No. 2 job, though there wasn’t any big gap between his play and Judd Anderson.
Anderson made arguably the best pass of the day among the backups – a 15-yard pass to Spafford, the only touchdown thrown by someone other than Mensah on Saturday.
Nickel had a one turnover when he fumbled a snap.
▪ Freshman quarterback Dereon Coleman has a live arm and escapability but is still somewhat raw.
He was inaccurate on a sideline pass and a couple others but completed a handful of throws (including two intermediate routes to Parris) and had a nifty sideline completion to Spafford. But he also fumbled after being stripped by freshman Asharri Charles.
Walk-on Tyler Rowe picked off a pass by a non-scholarship quarterback whose identity was not revealed. None of the scholarship quarterbacks threw an interception in the spring game.
▪ Freshman safety JJ Dunnigan, left tackle Jackson Cantwell and Parris have been the freshmen who have generated the most buzz this spring (with Wingo and offensive linemen Ben Congdon and running back Javian Mallory close behind). Dunnigan showed why Saturday, forcing a fumble by Spafford after a short catch.
▪ The one big negative Saturday? Six high snaps from freshman center Rhys Woodrow, including four that sailed over the quarterback’s head.
Though all of that was pretty mortifying, it was not reflective of Woodrow’s work this spring, and Cristobal said he was dealing with a physical issue.
“It’s fixable,” Cristobal said. “He got banged up yesterday and I said you’ve got to push through. Rhys is tough and has taken a gazillion reps. Now comes a valuable lesson, not just getting through it but performing when you’re nicked up. I have all the respect in the world for him. You know how hard we’re going to coach him, and we expect a positive result from that.”
Bottom line: Center Ryan Rodriguez needs to stay healthy. SJ Alofaituli likely would have been the No. 2 center on Saturday had he not been needed to continue filling in for Okunlola at guard.
▪ UM’s running back room is one of the deepest in the country, and it appears that super talented freshman running back Mallory can produce if asked. He had several impressive runs Saturday.
“Dating to [practices before playoff] games, he’s a very physical runner,” Cristobal said. “You expected him to be really good, which is why we recruited him. But when he actually takes people on, the force he generates on contact, and his contact balance is really impressive. Hard worker. The most impressive thing about him is how he functions out there on [pass] protection; he’s spot on.”
▪ UM’s starting offensive line, from left to right: Cantwell, Alofaituli (filling in for Okunlola), Rodriguez, Max Buchanan and Matthew McCoy. The line allowed a few pressures but was generally solid Saturday; McCoy has made a smooth transition from guard to tackle. And the five-star freshman Cantwell had a couple of impressive blocks.
▪ With Moten out this spring (after January’s foot injury), Ohio State transfer Jarquez Carter starting alongside Justin Scott at defensive tackle, with Missouri transfer Damon Wilson and Armando Blount at defensive end. Wilson pressured Mensah on at least one throw Saturday. We’ve heard positive buzz about Carter and Wilson all spring.
▪ With Toure held out, Kamal Bonner and Kellen Wiley each got reps alongside Chase Smith with the starters. Smith played limited snaps; UM has loved his spring performance.
There’s an intense battle for that No. 3 linebacker job among Bonner (who recovered Luke Nickel’s fumble), Wiley, Cam Pruitt and Ezekiel Marcelin, and Cristobal made clear Thursday that he wants more from the linebackers behind Toure and Smith.
Marcelin broke up a pass to Jordan Lyle and stuffed a run by Chris Wheatley-Humphrey in the red zone. Pruitt also made a nice stop on Wheatley-Humphrey for a minimal gain.
▪ The defensive linemen with the second team were ends Booker Pickett and freshman Asharri Charles and tackles Keona Davis (the Nebraska transfer) and freshman Keshawn Stancil.
Cristobal has said that second-year defensive end Lowe is dealing with personal matters.
▪ With Frederique and Brown observing, second-year cornerback Ja’boree Antoine started opposite Xavier Lucas. Ethan O’Connor would have been the No. 3 boundary cornerback if this had been a real game.
▪ UM opened with Poyser and Fitzgerald at safety and Boston College transfer Omar Thornton at nickel. Poyser and Fitzgerald played sparingly.
Thornton and Fitzgerald can each play safety and nickel, but UM has opted to use Thornton mostly at nickel this spring, and he was very sharp and active on Saturday, breaking up a pass from Mensah to Jacobs and stuffing a run by Lyle in the red zone.
▪ Freshman edge player De’Anthony Lafayette stuffed a run on one play and applied quarterback pressure on another. And Charles, the other freshman edge player, did a great job stripping Coleman.
▪ Veteran safety Conrad Hussey, who transferred from Oregon State after an earlier stint at FSU, broke up a pass from Nickel to his brother, tight end Jack Nickel. Hussey is trying to overtake Dunnigan and Day for a backup safety job behind Poyser and Fitzgerald.
▪ With Lofton out Saturday, Luka Gilbert -- all 6-7 of him -- made a couple of catches and Israel Briggs received some first reps and contorted his body effectively to catch a 10-yard pass from Mensah along the sidelines.
Reliable Owen Ruskavich, aka Mr. April, made his usual spring game contribution in the passing game, catching a pass from Nickel. Jackson Carver, a competent in-line blocker, had his first “game” action since a knee injury a year ago.
▪ Departing offense tackle Francis Mauigoa, who’s expected to go in the top half of the first round of Thursday’s NFL Draft, addressed the crowd briefly before the game, as did Cristobal.
▪ Lucas - who has had a great spring, from all accounts - has sharp coverage on a deep pass intended for Upshaw.
▪ A former Canes player who attended Friday night’s alumni event said Jonathan Vilma gave a very good speech. Cristobal, who’s a natural addressing any group, also spoke.
▪ The two freshmen linebackers flashed Saturday. Jordan Campbell broke up a Coleman pass to Carver and limited a Terrell Walden run to no gain. Justin Edwards nearly intercepted a pass by Coleman. A third freshman linebacker, Karsten Busch, arrives in the weeks ahead.
▪ Lyle, coming off a disappointing second season that went off the tracks after an ankle injury in the opener, ran with force Saturday and showed his usual burst on a 15-yard run. He also picked up decent yardage on a couple of check-downs from Mensah.
Wheatley-Humphrey also had a couple of nice runs. Walden, the No. 7 running back, had a touchdown run.
▪ Freshman cornerback Brody Jennings had tight coverage on a Mensah throw to Barkate, forcing an incompletion. O’Connor had excellent coverage to prevent a completion on Mensah’s well-thrown 30-yard sideline pass to Jacobs.
▪ Freshman cornerback Camdin Portis, who had an impressive spring, is working in the nickel and gives UM depth there behind Thornton and Brown (if Brown is healthy). And Fitzgerald, coming off a magnificent six-interception freshman season, can play nickel skillfully if needed.
This story was originally published April 18, 2026 at 3:30 PM.
