Apr. 5—VERMILLION, S.D. — With the University of South Dakota football team deep into this year's spring practice, the Coyotes had their first litmus test on Saturday.
For the first time since 2025 practices began, the team went through a scrimmage, the first under new head coach Travis Johansen. For most of the day, USD worked out of specific situations including in the redzone and with the offense backed up near its own goal line.
"I think we got through every field zone, every real (play) calling opportunity for both our coordinators," Johansen said. "Not great pre-snap stuff early on the minus side (of the field), and gave up a couple of explosive plays on defense. I think the back-and-forth was excellent for a while, once we got some things cleaned up offensively. Overall, we saw what we needed to see. We got a lot of great reps on tape to teach from situationally and I'm pleased with it."
The back-and-forth competitiveness stood out to quarterback Aidan Bouman, who said it breeds better players and brings the best out of everybody.
"There's a little bit of back and forth, as there should be," Bouman said. "It's always hard practicing against your own team because offensively, you want to do everything great. But then when the defense does something good, yeah, you get a little upset. But hey, they're your defense, so good for them."
The defense had the upper hand early, forcing multiple punts inside the offense's own five-yard line. While the offense would find success later in the scrimmage — as Johansen mentioned — the defense had the upper hand for most of the day.
New defensive coordinator Billy Kirch said overall he was pleased with how his unit performed.
"The emphasis, besides just overall execution, was watching our guys handle different down-and-distance situations and field zone situations," Kirch said. "We had the offense backed up, focusing on not committing any penalties, not jumping offsides, keeping them (backed up) and really making them punt out of their own endzone, not giving them a first down. And we were able to do that."
More experienced players were absent from most of the scrimmage to keep them rested and healthy. Bouman was part of the scrimmage for a limited amount, but still got some consistent playing time when the first-team offense was on the field. Other marquee players such as Charles Pierre and Shahid Barros didn't see the field often.
The Coyotes are looking for new leaders to step up with a large group of graduated seniors and recent transfer portal departures, with more dropping as practice unfolds. On Saturday, both middle linebacker Gary Bryant and offensive tackle Joe Cotton announced their intention to transfer, opening up two more spots for young players to step into.
"The No. 2 who's now becoming the No. 1 in the building, from an intangible standpoint, that's a new job for them," Johansen said. "It's no different than me. I'm stepping into a new job I didn't do a year ago. Sometimes that could be a position that they don't think about stepping into. They continue to just work on the football end of it.
"Sometimes we need somebody to speak up, lead, pull guys along and hold guys accountable. And that's been done by the guys right now that aren't in the building," Johansen said. "That's my job is to point that out, bring them along and give them confidence to do that."
USD will host its new alternative to the spring game, Coyote Family Fun Day on Saturday, April 12 followed by another scrimmage on Sunday. The Coyotes will have one more week of practice before wrapping the spring period on April 18.
