NC Central will hold its spring football game on Saturday. Here’s what to look for.

North Carolina Central will hold its Maroon vs. Gray spring football game at 4 p.m. on Saturday at O’Kelly-Riddick Stadium.

Standard scoring will apply for the offense, plus one point for consecutive first downs, an explosive run of 12 yards or more, or an explosive pass of 15 yards or more. The defense will tally four points for a turnover, six points for a touchdown, three points for a sack, and one point for a three-and-out, a tackle for loss, a blocked kick, or when the offense starts at the defensive 25-yard line or deeper and does not score a touchdown. Defense is allowed a maximum of six points on any one play.

First-year interim head coach Granville Eastman inherits a team that welcomes nine starters back on offense, but just three on defense. Eastman’s main focus this spring has to been to improve team discipline and “move the needle” each practice.

The Eagles welcome back sophomore quarterback Chauncey Caldwell, as well as All-Rookie team running back Isaiah Totten on offense, but have a lot of new faces in new roles on defense.

Here’s what to look for on Saturday:

Best competition is on the offensive line:

All five starters from last season are back in 2018, its fair to assume Eastman can just pencil them in as starters, right? Wrong. Eastman said the starters for the offensive line aren’t set in stone after an intense battle this spring.

“It was wide open,” Eastman said. “I feel that is the area were we have made some big gains. It’s safe to say that three or four younger players have come on and shown some great improvement over the course of these last 14 practices and now they are in a position where they are vying for valuable playing time or starting time. We knew there was going to be some growth there, but we didn’t know it would be this much this quick.”

The best player from the group, junior left tackle Nick Leverett (6-4, 300), missed spring drills as he recovered from a shoulder injury suffered last season.

Chauncey Caldwell in the lead to hold down starting QB spot

Eastman has five quality quarterbacks to choose from. Sophomore Chauncey Caldwell (6-2, 225) took over three games into the season and never looked back. Junior Micah Zanders (6-2, 200) started the first two games of the season before injuring his shoulder, opening the door for Caldwell. Junior Naiil Ramadan (6-0, 190) has been a reliable backup his first two years. Two new faces - Marvin Zanders (6-1, 185) and Dominique Shoffner (6-0, 205) - have also been in the mix.

Marvin, Micha’s older brother, played at Missouri, and originally planned to enroll as a graduate transfer at Virginia, before joining his younger brother in Durham. Shoffner, from Apex, redshirted last season. Eastman, though, said he wouldn’t bet against Caldwell, who threw for 1,411 yards and 10 scores as a true freshman.

“All of those guys have come along quite nicely, they’ve all developed,” Eastman said. “But based on what I’ve seen the last two or three practices, I think the young man who started majority of the games last season (Caldwell) has emerged as the guy with the skills and ability to be No. 1.”

Eastman wasn’t ready to pencil Caldwell in yet, saying that would be careless, but said Caldwell’s tools have kept him ahead of everyone else.

Who replaces Reggie Hunter?

Hunter, a two-time All-MEAC performer at linebacker, not only was a tackling machine (245 career tackles), but emerged as a vocal leader for the defense. Hunter has now graduated and leaves a huge void in the middle of the Eagles’ defense. NCCU’s second leading tackler, Tank O’Neal, is also gone, so Eastman will have to find some new talent to call the shots.

One player who has stood out during spring drills is sophomore Branden Bailey (6-0, 235).

“His future here is bright,” Eastman said. “He’s had a tremendous spring. He has come on and he’s really embraced (being) that next leader. He can run, he can hit, he’s got great size.”

Bailey played in 11 games last season, mostly on special teams.

Redshirt freshman Jerome Foster (6-0, 210), Patrick Conner (6-0, 240), William Lulu (5-11, 225) and senior King Kiaku (5-10, 240) will also battle for the two linebacker spots on the Eagles’ defense. Conner, Eastman said, along with Bailey, have flashed the most during spring drills.

“They are so young, but they are only going to get better,” Eastman said.

Veterans on the sidelines

Leverett, who has started 23 games in two years, won’t be the only veteran in street clothes on Saturday. Junior defensive end Kawuan Cox (6-2, 230), who started all 11 games a year ago, had off season surgery and has missed the entire spring. The two most experienced players on the defense - senior safeties Davanta Reynolds (5-10, 200) and Alden McClellon (5-11, 190) - will also watch from the sideline.

Reynolds, an All-American in 2017, missed the spring with an injury, while McClellon sat out spring drills to focus on academics. The duo have a combined 44 starts between them. Because they’ve seen so many snaps, Eastman said he wasn’t worried about them missing time .

“We’re not overly concerned about what they can do,” Eastman said. “They are not the question marks. If either of those two are on the field we know what to expect.”

Can we expect a breakout from Tavon Lofties?

Junior defensive end Tavon Lofties one of the first players to catch your eye on the field. He is physically imposing (6-5, 250), built like you want a player to look at that position. However, he has been stuck behind some All-Conference caliber players since he arrived in Durham from Baltimore, Md. two years ago.

As a freshman he sat behind Antonio Brown and Freddy Henry-Ajuda. Brown being around for his senior season in 2017, plus the emergence of Cox, made it hard for Lofties to crack the lineup. With Brown lost to graduation and Cox out this spring, the table is set for Lofties to show what he is capable of.

“Tavon had to sit behind some productive MEAC football players,” Eastman said. “But he’s had a lot of spring practice. We don’t know where his ceiling is yet because he has not had the same type of opportunities. But we are expecting some big things from him now. He’s one of those guys; he’s going to have to be the guy because there is nobody else.”

This story was originally published April 20, 2018 at 1:39 PM with the headline "NC Central will hold its spring football game on Saturday. Here’s what to look for.."