Five things we want to see from MT in the spring

Football is officially back in full swing. The Blue Raiders will hold 15 total practices over the course of the next month with the annual spring game set for April 14.

The team will be returning 17 starters from last year's squad that went 7-6, including a 35-30 victory over Arkansas State in the Raycome Media Camellia Bowl.

Here are five things we'd like to see from them this spring.

There's no doubt that MT's success offensively runs through Stockstill. During his first two seasons as the starter, the Murfreesboro product threw for 7,238 yards and 61 touchdowns while completing 65.2 percent of his passes.

This past season was a different story. Stockstill only managed to complete 57.7 percent of his passes, and he only threw for 1,672 yards and 16 touchdowns.

The dip in production wasn't related to his on the field play. It was a result of him being forced to miss six games due to a shoulder injury.

The Blue Raiders need to make sure that Stockstill stays healthy throughout the spring and beyond. They were an impressive 5-2 last season with the 6-foot, 215-pound quarterback under center. They only managed a 2-4 record without him.

Part of keeping Stockstill healthy is making sure the offensive line does its job keeping him upright.

The unit did a nice job providing the quarterbacks with adequate time to some degree, but consistency was a major issue.

The end result was 25 surrendered sacks during the 2017 season. With 13 games played, that's 1.92 sacks per game, which was tied for No. 7 in C-USA. It was almost good enough to crack the top 50 (No. 56) in the nation, however.

There's some good news here, too. MT will be returning two offensive linemen who were honorable mention all-conference selections -- Robert Behanan and Chandler Brewer. Both of them will be seniors this upcoming season as well, so their experience will be crucial.

Thomas has already managed to get some full game logs under his belt as a full-time running back. But this will be the first time that he's had an entire offseason to focus solely on making an impact at that position after spending most of his career at linebacker.

He certainly seems up to the task.

Thomas finished last season with five consecutive performances in which he averaged over 4.0 yards per carry. Of his 507 rushing yards, 287 of them were earned over the course of the last two games. He also racked up four rushing touchdowns during that span as well.

With a continued weight-gain -- he's now up to 245 after playing last season at 238 -- combined with an offseason to get more acclimated to the position, Thomas is poised to team up with rising sophomore Brad Anderson to give MT a lethal complementary run game.

The Blue Raiders' defense was successful at applying pressure on opposing quarterbacks. They ranked second in C-USA -- while also checking in at No. 33 in the nation -- in sacks with 32.

The only potential issue is where the pressure actually came from.

Of the 32 total sacks, only nine of them came from the defensive line. Walter Brady led all defensive linemen with only 3.5 sacks.

Some people may say that it doesn't matter where the pressure comes from, as long as it's there. That's true, but the question becomes whether the defense can replicate that level of success for a second consecutive season - especially now that the secondary will be without both of last year's starting cornerbacks.

MT was one of the hottest teams down the stretch last year. After starting the year 3-5, they finished the season with a strong 4-1 record. The four wins included an average victory of 19.3 points, and the team didn't have a single game in which they scored under 35 points.

This team returns a majority of its starters. Ensuring a momentum carryover from last season is an absolute must -- especially if they want a chance at contending with a hyped Florida Atlantic team for a C-USA title.