College football spring games, takeaways: QB battles in Texas, Oklahoma playmakers stand out

Highlights and analysis from throughout the day on Saturday as some notable spring games took center stage

Saturday's wave of spring football action featured teams from all five power conferences in action and brought some fans their final taste of live action until the regular season kicks off in late August. Though most coaches kept things predictably bland to avoid tipping off opponents about what their schemes may look like this fall, there were still some insights to gather from the action.

While Texas and Texas A&M's games featured some shining moments for the defenses as both teams try and identify new quarterbacks, the afternoon wave of games produced some offensive fireworks. Of course, that should have been expected considering the collective offensive braintrust of Oklahoma's Lincoln Riley, Ole Miss' Lane Kiffin and Tennessee's Josh Heupel that was in action.

Ultimately, Saturday brought college football one step closer to normalcy. After the COVID-19 pandemic ended spring practice sessions for most programs last season, we are entering the rest of the offseason with some tape to evaluate and clues to decipher about what could be ahead.

Here are five takeaways from Saturday's loaded slate of spring football action.

Texas has a tight QB battle

The Texas quarterback battle appears to be a two-man race between junior Casey Thompson and redshirt freshman Hudson Card, and Thompson ran with the first team on Saturday. For much of the first half, he appeared to be in command and a bit more refined than Card.

However, the final drive of the first half and beginning of the second half helped change the narrative a bit. With his orange team driving late in the first half and looking to build on a 9-6 lead, Thompson looked a bit late on his release for an out-and-up route intended for the slot receiver. D'Shawn Jamison jumped the route and ran it back more than 90 yards for a touchdown.

The miscue overshadowed an otherwise mostly clean day for Thompson and flipped the momentum in favor of the White squad. With Card at at quarterback, the White extended its lead to 20-9 early in the third quarter as Card capped the scoring drive with this pretty toss to Marcus Washington.

Though Thompson will presumably exit spring as the frontrunner to win the job, it doesn't look like Card is too far behind. The No. 2 dual-threat quarterback from the class of 2020 looked confident enough in Sarkisian's system to legitimately challenge Thompson for the job.

Haynes King has slight edge for Aggies

The final statistics didn't show much separation between Haynes King and Zach Calzada in the battle to replace Kellen Mond as Texas A&M's quarterback. King's first drive of the game, however, showed why the redshirt freshman has been generating some buzz during spring drills.

King completed 7-of-10 passes for 66 yards on the first series for the Maroon team, including a 25-yard strike to Hezekiah Jones that helped set up a field goal. After performing admirably in his college debut at Alabama last season, the redshirt freshman from Longview, Texas, appears to have a slight edge on Calzada.

He demonstrated a deft touch on Saturday and would have finished with better numbers if not for a few key drops and penalties. Nonetheless, King finished 16-of-31 passing for 211 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Calzada saw action for both teams and finished 19-of-40 for 253 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

Oklahoma's playmakers shine

Good luck to anyone who was trying to follow the scoring in Oklahoma's spring game, which featured an offense vs. defense format and a modified scoring system. The offense technically won 30-29 on the scoreboard, but where the OU offense truly won was in the playmaking department.

Oklahoma has been waiting for third-year receiver Jadon Haselwood to consistently show why he was the nation's No. 4 overall player and No. 1 receiver in the 2019 recruiting class, according to the 247Sports Composite. Haselwood offered a glimpse on Saturday with this one-handed grab on the sideline.

OU's receiving corps is loaded on paper, especially after the addition of Arkansas transfer Mike Woods this week. However, no one surpassed 40 receptions in the Sooner's 11-game season last year. Another highly-touted OU playmaker also looked good on Saturday. Tennessee transfer running back Eric Gray was never touched on this scoring run and made a defender miss in open space on his way to the end zone.

Heupel era arrives in Knoxville

Tennessee's spring game looked like a marketing apparatus for season ticket sales. After three dismal offensive seasons under defensive-minded coach Jeremy Pruitt, the Volunteers have swung hard in the opposite direction with former UCF coach Josh Heupel. The mastermind behind some of the nation's top passing attacks in recent years had a trio of quarterbacks slinging the football downfield early and often Saturday, which should interest a long-suffering fan base.

The Orange and White teams racked up 547 total yards in the first half alone, and that was with a running clock in the second quarter. An obvious drawback to such prolific offensive production in the spring game is that it could also be interpreted as a warning sign about the Volunteers defense.

However, after the miserable brand of football the program employed during a 3-7 season under Pruitt last year, and with the looming uncertainty of potential NCAA sanctions overhead, an interesting offense may be vital to keeping Tennessee somewhat relevant.

Ole Miss offense shines

The Ole Miss defense took some strides in the second half of last season after Alabama torched the Rebels for 63 points in an epic offensive showdown in early October. Saturday's spring game brought a quick reminder of how offense-oriented this squad remains, as junior quarterback Matt Corral hit Braylon Sanders for a 62-yard gain on the first play from scrimmage. 

The Blue team, which featured the Rebels' first-team offense, led 28-0 at halftime behind huge performances from Corral and Sanders, and went on to win 28-6.

There was at least one minor victory for the first-team defense, however. The Red team did force a turnover on downs following the huge gain for Sanders on the first possession. Ultimately, it should be no surprise to see a team coached by Lane Kiffin shining offensively. Given Tennessee's similarly offense-oriented spring game on Saturday, it's worth wondering how many combined points could be scored when the Rebels and Volunteers square off in October.

Check these out ...

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[Apr 24, 2021 at 6:22 pm ET · David Cobb]

If you're following the Oklahoma game and trying to make sense of the scoring, take not that it's a straight up offense vs. defense modified scoring system. The defense started with a 21-0 lead and has opportunities to increase its score without necessarily scoring in the traditional fashion. So basically, if you're trying to figure out what's going on there, good luck.