Spring fever reached its high point amongst college football fans this past weekend, as many of the top programs around the country held their annual spring games on Saturday.
The glorified team scrimmages gave fans the chance to get an early look at a very raw 2011 edition of their favorite team.
The few weeks of practice enabled each coaching staff to lay the basic foundation of their system and start formulating a potential depth chart.
But really, that's about all that was accomplished.
There were no position battles won, and there were no stars born. All the talk of spring storylines and spring superstars has a tendency to get blown out of proportion each year. To properly put it in perspective, spring football has very little bearing on the upcoming season; it has about as much meaning as baseball's Sping Training.
I've lost track of the number of times I've heard fans say, "Player X had a huge spring. He's going to be a star this season."
There always seems to be way too many fans who overanalyze every little whisper and action that takes place in the spring. They must be warned that a lot will change over the summer.
Once the incoming freshmen arrive and teams really start to get serious in August, that's when we can all begin to read into things and scrutinize every whiff of news. But right now, it's all just window dressing.
I know it was exciting to break out of that cold winter slumber and finally get a taste of football once again, but don't get too excited or too worried.
Don't worry Tennessee fans, you don't have to start scalping your season tickets just because QB Tyler Bray had an awful spring game.
It happens.
Arkansas fans, I'm pumped about Tyler Wilson and Knile Davis too, but we can't retire their jerseys just yet.
Michigan fans, you don't have to give up hope just because Denard Robinson still has a long way to go before he gets comfortable in the Wolverines' new offense. Give him time.
Remember, most of the favored big-time contenders for the 2011 season had very mild and vanilla springs, which is perfectly fine. Teams like Oklahoma and Alabama know that titles aren't won in April.
All we have to do is look back at last season to realize that.
Coming out of spring 2010, there were absolutely no experts or analysts that were forecasting Auburn to win the National Championship, and they weren't calling for Cam Newton to win the Heisman Trophy either. In all fairness though, no one really could have predicted Newton would do things he did considering he hadn't even officially been named the starter until the summer, and he only threw a total of eight passes in the Auburn spring game.
The point of the spring is to simply give everyone around football programs a taste of things to come. The point isn't to definitively answer any questions or to come up with any final conclusions.
This summer, there are still plenty of opportunities for young up-and-coming players to make names for themselves. There are still plenty of quarterback battles to be won, and there are still plenty of key injuries that will inevitably need to be dealt with.
The spring certainly wetted our appetites, but we can't critique the meal until we get to the main course.
Don't worry, Sept. 3 will be here soon enough.
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