BOWLING GREEN — Football people are fond of “the grind” as a byword for the sport’s laborious churn.
Nowhere is that churn more pronounced than in fall camp, as the sweltering August days seem to bleed into one another.
Bowling Green’s grind, like every team’s, is beginning to inch toward a close. The season opener at UCLA looms just over two weeks away. And several Falcons have begun to assert themselves in practice, separating themselves from the rest of the flock at a critical juncture in the run-up to Sept. 3.
“The first guy I gotta mention is Blaine Spires,” outside linebackers coach Sammy Lawanson said last week. “He’s really taken his game to the next level.”
Spires is a junior from Youngstown entering his third year with Bowling Green. As a freshman in 2020, he recorded 11 total tackles in five games; in 2021 he bumped that total up to 30 total tackles in 10 games.
Along with defensive lineman Karl Brooks, Spires was involved in one of the most critical defensive stops of the 2021 season. Early in the fourth quarter against Ohio, the two players stacked up Bobcats quarterback Armani Rogers in the end zone for a safety. The points proved essential in a 21-10 Falcons win.
“He’s just an all-around complete player who has really studied to get better this offseason,” Lawanson said. “He’s put a lot of good work in the weight room, and it’s really showing on the field.”
Senior safety Chris Bacon, meanwhile, singled out a newcomer for praise.
“I like the freshman that came in at cornerback, Jalen Huskey,” Bacon said. “He’s doing real well, he’s learning the playbook real well, he’s progressing, he’s made a lot of plays.”
Huskey, a Gaithersburg, Md. native, brings a championship pedigree to Bowling Green. In his high school’s 2019 state championship victory, he took a pass 65 yards to the house and intercepted two passes. Two years later, playing in the state championship for a different high school, he delivered a clutch interception in the closing minutes.
On offense, both Lawanson and Bacon cited as success stories a pair of transfer wide receivers who may soon be known collectively to Bowling Green fans as “CJ and OJ.”
CJ is CJ Lewis, a graduate transfer who heads west after four years with Boston College. He recorded six touchdowns in 55 games with the Eagles, five of which he grabbed in 2020.
OJ, on the other hand, is Odieu Hilaire, a three-year contributor at Alabama A&M. He tallied nine touchdowns last season, catching 71 passes and gaining 918 yards. On a per-game basis, his yardage trailed only teammate Ibrahim Abdul-Fatai among SWAC receivers, and he helped the Bulldogs to a solid 7-3 season and third-place finish in the West Division.
Bacon called the duo “dominant” while Lawanson praised the tools they bring to the Falcons’ offense.
“CJ at wide receiver, he’s made some really nice plays. OJ, of course, he’s got just phenomenal hands, phenomenal route-running ability,” Lawanson said. “Those guys, those new guys on offense, they’ve really stood out.”
First Published August 17, 2022, 12:57 p.m.
