The 2014 North Dakota State University football Spring Game saw the Gold defeat Green by a score of 29-22. The score, however, means little in the end. It is how the individuals performed that counts.
The story of these games usually does not come from the names you are accustom to hearing. Instead, it comes from the names of those trying to impress the coaches one last time before the players break for the summer.
Not participating for the Bison were the likes of Travis Beck, Carlton Littlejohn and CJ Smith. All players will most likely start for the Bison defense when the regular season kicks off on August 30 down in Ames, Iowa.
Because of those players being out, other players had an opportunity to make some noise. MJ Stumpf, a sophomore linebacker from Harvey, N.D., did just that with a five tackles and half a sack.
You also saw sophomore linebacker Pierre Gee-Tucker come up with a big hit on sophomore running back Chase Morlock. Gee-Tucker ended up with six tackles.
Running backs Darius Anderson and Morlock received a majority of the carries as well since senior John Crockett sat out the Spring Game.
Morlock, a Moorhead native, had a nice 34-yard carry on a counter play, setting up his blockers perfectly, allowing them to break him for the long gain. He ended the game with 54 yards on nine carriers
Anderson, the junior who transferred in from Valley City State University, was strong running the ball, going for 89 yards on 14 carries. He also had a nice run after catching a check down pass from junior quarterback Carson Wentz, showing off his quick lateral movements and leaving Green defenders grasping at air.
Wentz, the player slated to take over for Brock Jensen at quarterback next year, was off on a handful of throws during the game, missing by overthrowing the receiver on deep routes.
One of those overthrows proved very costly when he was intercepted by redshirt freshman safety Chris Board.
One of his better throws was when he hit senior Zach Vraa on a deep crossing route that went for 33 yards. A connection many Bison fans will be hoping to see throughout the 2014 season.
Wentz also had a nice connection to redshirt freshman Jeff Illies for 59 yards and a score. Wentz would end up with 165 yards on 11-20 passing and one touchdown.
While some of these performances does not mean that anybody should be concerned about their jobs next fall, it does help give fans the idea of what is waiting in the wings at certain positions.