As Ball State football held its spring showcase earlier today, many new faces took the field at Scheumann Stadium for the first time. This was also their first opportunity to play in front of the Cardinal fanbase.
Multiple new Cardinals said they came to Ball State because of first-year head coach Mike Uremovich and what he’s done in his career as a college football coach.
“Doing my research on Coach U, every place [he’s been at], he's a winner,” redshirt junior wide receiver Eric Weatherly said.
Weartherly, who was at Bucknell the last two seasons, made some plays at the scrimmage and had two touchdown receptions. During his time with the Bisons, he caught 117 receptions for 1,468 yards and had 15 touchdowns. He said the connection he’s built with Ball State redshirt senior quarterback Kiael Kelly this spring has been important.
“Ever since I got here, [we’ve been] getting mental reps and physical reps and our big goal is trying to stay consistent,” he said. “On the field, we both know what we're getting out of each other.”
Another wide receiver who made some receptions during the event was freshman Elisha Durham. According to him, the coaching staff and veteran players made his adjustment from high school football to Division I much easier.
“When I first came in, it was a little bit of a struggle with learning the plays and transitioning to college football as a receiver,” Durham said. But everyone in the room really helped me because I'm the youngest on the offense. They really helped me with everything."
Outside of the receiver group, some other new members of the Ball State football team had their moments, including redshirt junior quarterback Walter Taylor III. The six-foot-five-inch lefty made multiple throws, including two deep touchdown passes during seven-on-seven play.
On the defensive side, two new Cardinals made their presence known. Senior defensive end Nathan Voorhis gave the offensive line some trouble and sacked Kelly on a pass attempt.
This is Voorhis’ third school — he previously played at UConn and Bryant— and because of being a veteran presence in the locker room, he feels that he needs to be a leader for the unit.
“We have a really young room, so I think it's kind of my responsibility to bring guys along,” he said. “It's hard for just one coach to be able to kind of [help] the guys. It's on the older guys in the room to bring everybody together.”
But Voorhis said it’s not just the defensive group that’s close to each other. To him, the Ball State coaching staff has done a good job of building a family culture.
“I think this is probably one of the closest teams I've been a part of,” he said. “Everybody's trying to play together and everybody wants everybody around them to get better.”
The other new defensive player who made his presence known was redshirt junior defensive back Roman Pearson. During the scrimmage, he had multiple pass breakups and was attached to the hip of the receiver he was covering.
“The guys here are awesome,” Pearson said. “I like the environment, and I think the coaches push the players really hard. That's kind of what brought me here.”
During his two previous seasons at Bucknell, Pearson started 18 games as a cornerback. Last year, he was seventh on the team with 40 tackles (31 solo), snagged two interceptions and had nine pass breakups.
At the end of the scrimmage, multiple players said the same thing when they were asked what they learned about this Ball State roster.
“We got grit,” Pearson said. “...Throughout the spring, we’ve been staying mentally tough and doing what we need to do for every practice.”
Contact Zach Carter via email at zachary.carter@bsu.edu or via X @ZachCarter85.
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