Sacramento State’s spring football season ended Saturday morning with a spring game that offered a mixed bag.

The game, which was run by situations and not as a traditional football game, was played in about 75 degree weather that warmed up quickly as the 1 1/2-hour event went on in front about 200 spectators. There was no scoreboard or running clock, but the defense consistently out played the offense.

Overall, though, the game left as many questions as answers going into camp in August. Here’s a few observations along with coach Marshall Sperbeck’s comments:

No score, but defense won

In game that essentially pitted offense against defense, the Hornets defense looked tighter and more organized. Part of that is the Hornets defenders are more comfortable under defensive coordinator Anthony Parker, who is entering his third season in that role and fifth overall at Sac State. Meanwhile, the offense is trying to learn a new scheme under recently hire offensive coordinator Paul Peterson.

Regardless, the defense allowed three touchdowns, but mostly in short-yardage situations. It consistently put pressure on the quarterbacks, including an early safety, and seemed to anticipate the offense very well.

Sperbeck’s take: “On defense, I liked the way we flew around. I thought we were very aggressive. We got better with our secondary as we progressed through spring as well as our D-line. We had some guys come in — Trevor Kelly comes to mind — who had a good spring for us. I thought he did some good things. Our linebackers were very solid. And D-lineman that was good was Devonte Martin, we moved him over (form offense) late — I thought he did some nice things. Reese Heaslet was another player we moved from offense to defense and he did some good things. So things are positives when you get a kid that moves over to the other side of the ball and you get some productivity out of them. Those guys helped our D-line.”

DBs looked the best

Of all of the units, the defensive backs seemed to make the most improvement from the final game of last season — and that’s without injured star Osagie Odiase, who sat out the spring game.

The DBs seemed hawkish and did a very good job of reading the coverage in a number passing situations, especially over the middle with help from linebackers.

This did not look like the same unit that ranked 66th in the FCS in pass defense last season. Remember, they were torched by excellent quarterbacks from Eastern Washington, Montana, Montana State and Portland State.

Sperbeck’s take: “Ryan McMahon, Cory Armstrong, Cory Vander beek. All of those guys had good springs. They had good consistency.”

That’s your new punter

Justin Weldon, a transfer from Fresno City Junior College looks to be the odds-on favorite as the next Hornets punter. His kicks out drove Smith Heath’s kicks and his hangtime was far better, even on Weldon’s shorter kicks.

Sperbeck’s take: “Smith did a nice job and Justin did too. They both looked good.  There’s another good competition going on there between the two of them.”

He’s still kicking

Jason Diniz, last season’s erratic placekicker, did nothing to hold onto the job during the spring game. He had about a dozen kicks — most from the 45-35-yard area — and made only half of them.

Remember, Diniz’s inconsistency caused the offense to call plays differently on third and fourth downs last season. He will face competition this year from Ed Ruhnke, who will be transferring from Moorpark JC. It’s a good guess that Ruhnke will get a long look unless Diniz increases his reliability quickly after training camp opens in August.

Sperbeck’s take: “(Diniz looked) hot and cold. Consistency, that’s the whole name of the game with the kicker…. Ruhnke is coming in in the fall so we expect him to compete right away.”

And the quarterback winner is …

Just a gut feeling, but sophomore Garrett Safron seems like he will win the quarterback battle over Mason Magleby, the local kid who transferred from Nevada.

Safron seemed to have adapted to Peterson’s offense and doesn’t have the same happy feet that he had last season. Magleby, more of a pocket passer, looked uncomfortable in the spring game, missing most of his receivers high and wide. Safron was more on target, but he was the victim of a number of drops by his receivers.

Safron had the highlight of the Saturday’s game: He threw a 28-yard fade pass to the right side of the end zone to DeAndre Carter.

Sperbeck’s take: “I would say right now it’s a close fight, but Garrett Safron had a good spring and I thought he made a jump. I think Mason is getting better every day. It’s a great competition there as we go into fall camp. ”

When will you name a starter? “I think we’ll look at (spring film) and leave (naming a starter) up to coach Peterson to decide.  He will look at it more closely here in the next couple of weeks. I think we’re very fortunate that we have two guys that could play. We’ve got good competition and those seemed like good things.”

Does Safron seem more comfortable in the pocket?: “I think for Garrett, it’s just getting more comfortable with his reeds and his decision-making. I think that’s something he’s getting better at. … Last year we put more of an emphasis running the ball and I think he’s had to kind of discipline himself to stay with the reads a little longer.”

Are they ready for Colorado?

This team will miss the leadership of graduated quarterback Jeff Fleming and won’t be a surprise to Colorado in the opener. But it does look better than the team that squandered a lot of chances during the last few weeks of the season.

Sperbeck’s take: “Overall, I think our team came into spring and learned from our mistakes each day and got better.”

2011 was a season full of highs and lows that saw the Hornets defeat Oregon State in Corvallis, beat Montana for the first time ever, and win a game without completing a pass.  Along with those highs though, the low points saw the Hornets struggle in the kicking game, miss the playoffs, and lose the Causeway Classic at home.

The Hornets will put that all behind them though as they march into spring football, which is set to open up on Wednesday.  Spring football marks the start of position battles, players getting into playing shape, and for this year’s team, the installation of a new offense.

Along with bringing in more than 20 new recruits, Coach Marshall Sperbeck also added an offensive coordinator to his staff for the 2012 season.  He hired Paul Peterson, who spent the past four seasons with Southern Utah as the team’s passing game coordinator, quarterbacks and receivers coach.

“(Sac State is) real close to getting over the hump,” Peterson said.  “Hopefully I’m going to be a part that’s going to be consistent in competing in the Big Sky and winning championships.”

Sperbeck said that having Peterson in as an offensive coordinator would provide the biggest change for him as far as spring ball is concerned.

“I think the biggest difference is that we do have an offensive coordinator,” Sperbeck said.  “Obviously that will free me up to probably get around and be more involved with some other team responsibilities, so I’m looking forward to that.”

The Hornets will utilize spring football as a time to sort out positional battles, as well as install the new offense that Peterson will bring to the team.  According to Peterson, he and Sperbeck worked together on combining their two playbooks to make the transition as easy as possible for the players.  Even with those efforts to make the transition easier for the Hornets, there is still work to be done to get players to master the new offense.

“You start off with some basic things,” Peterson said.  “We start with formations.  We want each of our student-athletes to understand that going in; they need to know every formation so we don’t need to spend time installing that.”

Once players have the formations mastered, they’ll move on to integrating the basic concepts of the offense, and then adding to it from there.

“As far as signals go, it’s kind of a progression,” the Hornets offensive coordinator said.  “You start out simple and you can build from there.  The basic fundamentals, getting lined up, the cadence, those types of things are where you start, and then you get into the meat of the stuff and the plays.”

Peterson said that by the time spring ball is finished, he wants to have the entire playbook installed.

“Once we get to a point and figure out what we do well, we’ll build off of those plays with certain things,” he said.

The Hornets will not only need to adapt to a whole new playbook, but they’ll have to pick up the concepts of the playbook quickly and know them well as Peterson plans on having the team run a no-huddle offense that will feature more of a spread passing attack than the Hornets have used in years past.

“We’re going to go no huddle, up-tempo offense,” Peterson said.  “We’re going to have a little more emphasis on the pass than we will on the run.”

Despite more of an emphasis on the passing game, Peterson said he will not abandon the Hornets’s rushing attack.

“We’re still going to run the ball,” he said.  “I think they did that fantastic last year.  They put a lot of emphasis on the run game and they were successful at it.  That’s part of the offense that I’m super excited about.”

Something that arises with the installation of a new offense is the question about who will be conducting the Hornets’s new, no huddle attack.

According to Sperbeck, quarterback, along with every other position, is wide open heading into spring workouts.

“Every time you go into spring football, every job’s open, every position is open,” he said.  “We want to encourage our spring ball to be competitive at every position.”

For the Hornets, there are currently three players vying for the opening at quarterback following the departure of last year’s starter, Jeff Fleming.

Garrett Safron is a contender for the position after taking the reins when Fleming went down with an injury.  Safron split time with Tommy Edwards, who transferred to Occidental College, before emerging as the team’s starter.  In 5 games for the Hornets, Safron completed 24 of 57 pass attempts for 394 yards and three touchdowns.  He contributed 53 carries for 286 yards and three touchdowns on the ground.  His 286 rushing yards were good for fourth best on the team.

Another player that is eyeing the starting quarterback spot for the Hornets in 2012 is University of Nevada-Reno transfer, Mason Magleby.  Magleby saw very limited action in his three seasons at UNR.  In 16 games for the Wolfpack Magleby completed 10 of 11 passes for 109 yards and four touchdowns.

Despite his limited playing time, Sperbeck still thinks Magleby can contend for the starting quarterback spot.

“We’re excited to have him as a member of our team,” he said.  “He did some good things up at UNR…We think that he can come here and compete for the starting job.”

Another quarterback on the radar is freshman Nolan Sorensen from Buchanan High School in Clovis.  Sperbeck said that Sorensen “has a chance to develop as a guy for the future.”

Sorensen was also being recruited by Peterson while Peterson was at Southern Utah.

After weeks of meetings, the team and its new coaching staff are ready to get back on the field.  The Hornets will go without pads for their first two practices, and will only wear helmets.  Their third day they will go into full pads.  After that, the team will be practicing four days per week for the next three weeks before the final Spring Game on April 21^st at 9 a.m.

“I can’t wait to see how these guys perform with the football,” Peterson said with a smile on his face.  “We’ve had some team runs where we’re out there running around; I’ve seen them in the weight room and I’m super excited about the caliber of student-athletes that we have.  I’m getting to know each one of them more and more and I’m excited to get out and play some football.”

Sacramento State will hold a Pro Day at Hornet Stadium on Tuesday at 10 a.m., and will be open to the public.  A Pro Day consists of various football related workouts, as well as tests of overall athleticism.  The workouts will feature athletes from Sacramento State, UC Davis and a few other schools.

For the Hornets, the participating athletes will be defensive end Zack Nash, wide receivers Brandyn Reed and Chase Deadder and quarterback Jeff Fleming.

No other schools could be reached for confirmation on which of their athletes would be attending the Pro Day.  Sac State’s Sports Information Director Brian Berger said there will be about 20 NFL scouts in attendance.

One confirmed attendee will be Akiem Hicks, a former Sac City College standout that was forced to finish his college career at the University of Regina in Canada.  Hicks pursued his college career in the Great White North after suspicions of recruiting violations kept him from attending LSU in 2009.  Hicks is the only athlete at the Pro Day that was invited to the NFL Combine. He is ranked as the number 17 defensive end in the draft by nfldraftscout.com, and is projected to be selected in the middle rounds of the NFL Draft.

While no Hornets are currently projected to be taken in the NFL Draft, a good Pro Day could change that.  A Pro Day gives scouts a closer look at specific athletes, and gives athletes a chance to display their skills in a setting more isolated than the NFL Combine, which is attended by hundreds of players.

According to nfldraftscout.com, Nash is the 36^th ranked defensive end, Deadder the 147^th ranked wide receiver and Fleming the 49^th ranked quarterback.  (Reed’s ranking was unavailable because of an error on the website.)

Note: Pro Day on-field workouts will be open to public, workouts in weight room will not be open to public.  In case of rain, on-field workouts will move to The Well at Sac State and would not be open to the public.

To get an idea of what the Hornets women face today, check out these highlights from the January game between Idaho State and NAU, By the way, Sac State upset Idaho State at The Nest just two weeks ago:

In Hornets-related basketball news:

* Here’s the Sac State women’s game story from the Sacramento Bee.

* The Idaho State Journal wrote about the Hornets’ five-game winning streak.

* The Spokane Spokesman-Review also had a blurb on the game.

* In the other opening-round women’s game, the Missoulian reported on Montana State beating Montana.

* Here’s the Sacramento State release on the game.

In Hornets-related sports news:

* Marty James column at the Napa Valley Register led with Jake Croxdale being named to the Big Sky’s all-academic football team.

* Sacramento State previewed its weekend baseball series at UC Riverside.

* UCSD previewed the Sacramento State rowing invitational.

* And the women’s tennis team lost a close one to Long Beach State.

Today’s video comes from the vault a year ago. It’s a conversation last spring with then-Sac High guard Fantasia Hillard with SureWestSports’ Mike Finnerty. She was selected as the Big Sky’s outstanding freshman this week:

In Hornets-related basketball news:

* The Idaho  State Journal previewed today’s two first-round Big Sky women’s tournament games, including Sac State vs. Eastern Washington.

* The State Hornet had a feature on two Sac State freshmen winning big league honors.

* The Salt Lake Tribune reported on how Montana shockingly blew out Weber State for the Big Sky men’s NCAA berth.

* Here’s the Missoulian’s report on the Montana victory.

In Hornets-related sports news:

* The Sac State softball team swept a doubleheader with Nevada.

* The Sac State baseball team knocked off Creighton. Here’s Creighton’s report on the game. BlueandWhite.com had a photo gallery from this game.

* The Aggie previewed this weekend’s gymnastics meet at Sac State.

* The Sacramento Bee reported former Sac State and CFL star quarterback Ricky Ray will be the keynote speaker for the area’s National Football Foundation banquet.

Today’s best read came from the San Jose Mercury-News, which had a feature on SabreCats Coach Darren Arbet. The Sac State grad will be inducted into the Arena Football hall of fame for his successful years at HP Pavilion.

Here is video from his ArenaFootball title in 2004:

In other Hornets-related basketball news:

* Here’s Sacramento State’s preview of the women’s basketball team in the first round of the Big Sky Conference tournament against Eastern Washington.

* Sacramento State announced earlier this week that Fantasia Hilliard was selected as the Big Sky outstanding freshman.

In other Hornets-related sports news:

* The State Hornet did a good job  of going a more in-depth on Sac State’s new marketing contract with Nelligan Sports.

* GolfWeek reported on the Fresno State Classic, where Sac State’s Jake Johnson finished third.

* The State Hornet updated us on Sac State defeating Alaska-Anchorage in gymnastics.

* The State Hornet also had a feature on a trio of Sac State gymnasts.

* The State Hornet reported on Sac State lost in men’s tennis to Nevada.

* New Mexico State announced its football schedule, which includes Sac State.

* Moorpark College had a blurb on its kicker, who signed with Sac State two weeks ago.

* Creighton previewedtoday’s baseball game against Sac State. Here’s Sacramento State’s preview.

* The State Hornet had a feature on Tanner Mendonca, whose dad was a quarterback at Utah.

* The Woodland Daily Democrat reported on Sac State softball player Alyssa Nakken being named the PCSC Coastal Division player of the week.

In honor of Dylan Garrity winning the Big Sky’s freshman award on Thursday, here are highlights of one of his best games against North Dakota:

In Hornets-related basketball news:

* As we said, Dylan Garrity was selected as the men’s basketball freshman of the year in the Big Sky Conference.

* Of course, Damian Lillard was selected the Big Sky player of the year. Will Cherry and Charles Odum were also unanimous all-league picks.

* Rivals.com reported on the schedule for the Big Sky men’s tournament, which will be in Missoula this time.

In other Hornets-related sports news:

* Sac State baseball team heads down to UCLA for a weekend series.

* Creighton University previewed its California road trip, which includes a stop at Sac State on March 7.

* Arizona State previewed its tennis match at Sac State today.

* The Stockton Record previewed the Louisville Slugger softball invitational, which includes Sac State at Pacific.

* The Chico Record reported that Tyler Nichols of the Sac State baseball team will play for the summer ball team Marysville Gold Sox.

* The Bleacher Report suggested that the WAC should steal Big Sky Commissioner Doug Fullerton – and then take a few schools.

In case you missed it, Iota Gamma Pi had a very impressive performance at Sac State’s final home game last Thursday. Take a look:

In Hornets basketball-related news:

* SacStateSports.com’s Bill Bradley wrote about the difference Coach Brian Katz has made this season – and in the future.

* The Sac Bee’s Dave Carpenter’s weekly notebook looked at the key returnees for the Hornets.

* Portland State’s Charles Odum, who scored 38 points against Sac State last Thursday, was named Big Sky player of the week.

* The Pasadena Star-News profiled Pasadena High’s Dave Hamilton, a guard who is being recruited by Sac State.

* FoxSports Arizona reported that former Sac State assistant coach David Grace is a finalist for the NAU men’s basketball coaching job.

* The Sports Xchange’s Big Sky notebook looked at the league’s playoff race.

* And the Great Falls Tribune wrote about Montana’s win over Weber State that gave the Grizzlies the Big Sky men’s title and home court in the Big Sky tourney.

In Hornets sports-related news:

* The State Hornet wrote about how the women’s tennis team remained undefeated.

* The State Hornet featured major-league prospect Clay Cederquist.

* The Sac Bee reported how the women’s softball team improved to 6-5.

John Dickson (No. 32) and the learned the system Coach Brian Katz (right) wants to use to build a winning team at Sacramento State. Photo by Ron Nabity. www.nabityphotos.com

COMMENTARY

By Bill Bradley, SacStateSports.com Editor

It’s not hard to see there was little patience for Hornets men’s basketball Coach Brian Katz this season.

Boosters, fans and students probably expected a bigger improvement from last season’s 7-21 mark. They probably wanted to see a bigger jump from a team that shot 40.1 percent last season. And they probably wanted more than 28 in four seasons under Katz.

Throw out Katz’s first three seasons as Hornets coach; 2011-12 should be considered his first season as Hornets coach. That’s because the just concluded 10-victory season will be known as the real baseline for Katz’s teams.

The 10-18 mark may not seem that impressive, but consider what the Hornets have done this after winning on Jordan Eberhard’s last-second shot at Idaho State:

* They won at least 10 games for the first time since 2006-07 when they won 10 games in Jerome Jenkins’ next-to-last season.

* They had the most road wins (four) since 2005-06.

* They improved their conference victory total (five) for the third consecutive season.

* Their field-goal percentage jumped dramatically, from 40.1 percent last season to 45.1 percent. That has helped them improve from scoring  61.8 points a game to 67 points this season.

* Defensively, they held Damian Lillard and Will Cherry, two of the Big Sky’s top scorers to 21 and 23 points, respectively.

* And they lost five games by five points or less — but they also won the season finale by three points on the road.

“You can see the possibilities for next season,” Katz said last week.  “I really like coaching this group.”

All of those factors show the Hornets now understand Katz’s system. They get what he’s trying to teach. And his demanding style is producing more results than Jenkins, who seemed to subscribe to the Guy Lewis School of basketball – throw the ball on the court and watch the kids play pickup games during practice.

In case you don’t remember, Sac State basketball had hit rock bottom when Jenkins was let go after a 4-24 season. His teams were undisciplined, his rotations were unpredictable and his recruiting was unproductive. The cupboard was so bare that Katz had to fill a 2008-09 roster with junior-college transfers just to win two games.

As Katz, who was a highly successful junior college coach before moving to Hornet Gym, has grown into a Division I coach (he’s not going anywhere thanks to an extension he received last year), the quality of players around the program has improved as well. His practices are as structured as his gameplans. His plays are so detailed that fans this season got to see – more than once – his end-of-the-half full-court play.

Yet the biggest issue Katz has had in finding success at Sac State has been discovering a point guard to run his complicated offense. He found the man to do it this season in freshman Dylan Garrity, whose 6.9 assists a game will likely land him in the national top 10 at season’s end.

Katz likes to say he knew the 6-2 freshman from Huntington Beach could play. Somehow he fell through the recruiting cracks and has found a home at Sac State. For the most part, Garrity and Katz are joined at the hip for the next three seasons. Katz has found a point guard that gets his offense and Garrity has found a coach that will utilize his entire game.

Garrity is not the only building block for the Hornets. Three other returning starters are 1-2-3 in scoring — junior John Dickson (12.4 points a game), junior Joe Eberhard (11.1) and sophomore Jackson Carbajal (11.1) . That fact alone is benefit Sac State hasn’t received in recent memory.

“When you have successful returning players, that’s the difference (for next season),” Katz said. “You look at all four of those guys. They will have had some success – and there certainly other guys as well – but it’s exciting to have four guys back who have experience.

“I think we’re better than our record. If you really want to go down the line and analyze it, we’ve very, very competitive, but we haven’t won enough.”

Yes, all of them could improve: Dickson needs to rebound more for a big guy. Eberhard is not a post player and needs to play more outside than inside. Carbajal needs to shoot more often and Garrity needs to improve his long-range shooting to make defenses even more afraid of him.

Other factors have Katz concerned as well. After leading at halftime in nearly every Big Sky game, Katz is worried he played Garrity and Eberhard too many minutes.

“Are they wearing down down the stretch?” he said. “It’s a possibility. It could be more mental than physical.”

Katz said his recruiting priorities include two post players to replace senior Josh McCarver and departed Walter Jackson. and wants two “slasher/scorers” to fill the four scholarships he has open. He would enjoy it if one of those scorers was a point guard because he wants to get Garrity more rest. Plus, the Hornets should have a healthy Joe Estrada back for his senior season after playing most of this season with a severe foot injury.

Yet Katz has a core group of players that any coach would be happy to have going into next season. They know his system. They know how to win. They know the unique rigors of Big Sky Conference.

It’s a gut feeling. This could be one of the West’s breakout teams next season. We never knew how hard the massive Katz’s rebuilding process was  until season. And this is where the patience with Katz will pay off in the long run.

Bill Bradley is the editor and publisher of SacStateSports.com. He can be reached at billbradley@sacstatesports.com.

Compiled from web reports

POCATELLO, Idaho – Joe Eberhard made sure his first season at Sacramento State would end with a bang.

With 1.3 seconds left, the junior transfer from Irvine Valley JC nailed a three-pointer to give the Hornets a 70-67 victory over the Bengals of Idaho State.

In what was almost a complete opposite of the first meeting between the two teams, the Bengals (9-19, 7-8) led for the entire first half and well into the second.

Back-to-back layups by Eberhard tied the game and then gave the Hornets (10-18, 5-11) their first lead of the night, 59-57, with 4:42 to play.

Idaho State tied the game at 67 with eight seconds to play, but couldn’t stop Dylan Garrity from running the floor after the in-bounds pass.

Garrity pulled up at the top of the arc dished to Eberhard who knocked down the three from the corner to give Sacramento State their first double-digit win total since the 2006-07 season.

The Hornets also finish with the most road wins (4) since 2005-06 and allowed Sacramento State to improve their conference win total for the third straight season.

Eberhard led the Hornets with 16 points. John Dickson finished with 10 points and eight rebounds, while Jackson Carbajal contributed 13 points and two steals.

Senior Heath Hoffman recorded 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting and a career-high nine rebounds in his final game for Sacramento State.

Kenny McGowen had a game-high 30 points on 9-of-15 shooting for Idaho State including 6-of-12 from the three-point line. Andre Hatchett had 13 points, and Abner Moreira added nine points and nine rebounds.

GAME NOTES

*Garrity finished the season with 6.9 assists per game, tying a school single-season record.

*Dickson now has 942 career points and needs just 58 during his senior season to become the 10^th Hornet to amass 1,000 career points.

*Eberhard finished the season shooting 45.8 percent (44-96) from three, which is the second best single-season mark in school history.

Bryan Metcalf is a staff writer for SacStateSports.com. He can be reached at m.bryan.metcalf@gmail.com.