A friend of mine often says, "spring ball is for the fans".  That is true, but sometimes a few things can be gleaned from what's happening in those 15 practices.

Off the top of my head, here's what I can glean reading various practice reports and combining them with my own observations of the players (where applicable) in their performances from last year:

• Mildly touted sophomore Cody Glenn may be Nebraska's lead back.  He's in a battle with highly touted sophomores Marlon Lucky and Leon Jackson for starter's reps at the position, but it sounds like he's been making the most plays and is the most consistent runner among the trio.  It's surprising for me to say this since I'm usually a proponent of letting talent play, but it might be that Lucky's either a bit overrated or he's in some kind of hibernation.  Sometimes star players take a while to get going and people wonder where that talented kid they recruited went.  It's weird, but once in a while talented guys get that way and don't always snap out of it.  I Hope that's not the case for Lucky, but either way Glenn's a legit runner and does some fun things out there.
• After two years of a frustrating running back by committee approach, it appears Thomas Brown has distanced himself from fellow Georgia juniors Kregg Lumpkin and Danny Ware.  This should really help Georgia if Brown (or anyone) can run away with the job once and for all.  And call me crazy but I've never seen the talent Lumpkin was supposed to have.  He's a quality back but he's never wowed me with anything he's done on the field or even in most of his recruiting videos.  If this holds, Brown should have a fine season.  He's a guy who continues to improve and might just take off if given that chance the way Kenny Irons did at Auburn last year.
• Florida State's hyping its newest paired backfield, starring sophomore Antone Smith and senior Lorenzo Booker.  I'm a huge fan of Booker's and feel he's more or less been misused and abused in Tallahassee relative to his talents.  However, it looks like Smith might just run away with Booker's carries the way he's been making plays at Florida State's spring practices.  My guess is the Florida State coaches will do the political thing and find ways for them to have relatively equal carries this year, but Smith has a great amount of running talent and has been making it a habit to embarrass the Seminoles defense with long runs more than a handful of times this spring.  He's ready.

And then there's the exciting goings-on at Clemson.  Senior quarterback Will Proctor has been getting a lot of praise and great things are expected of him this year.  Thing is, he might just have a little help from a few new offensive features.

Bruce Feldman's been all over the excitement around diminuitive speedster Jacoby Ford, who will play receiver.  Also, the Clemson offensive coaches have created a new position for Rodrick Taylor: the J-Back.

Every program seems to have its own positional name for some hybrid role and Clemson O-coordinator Rob Spence has a good one for ubiquitous Rendrick Taylor: J-Back, which according to The State, is a blend of any of the receiver positions, tight end, halfback and fullback.

The goal is to create confusion and mismatches for defenses, and the Tigers' coaching staff expects him to take advantage of his ability to run after the catch. Despite being limited by a broken wrist for much of last season, Taylor, a 6-2, 225-pounder with 4.5 speed and a 40-inch vertical, was second on the team in yards after catch (6.9 per reception).

"I like the J-Back a whole lot. They thought it would be a great position for me, and I was down for it," Taylor said. "I'm excited about it. I'm out there working hard at it, and it's a way for me to get the ball and get on the field more."

Excitement at Clemson may reach fever pitch if super-recruit C.J. Spiller makes a name for himself when he arrives on campus this fall.  Theirs is definitely an offense to keep an eye on with the influx of talent and optimism about Proctor.