Recently, when discussing the quality of a teammate’s play, my buddy Mattie — a goalie on Kansas’ club lacrosse team* — introduced a mind-blowing grading system.

*Kansas defeated Missouri Saturday 7-4. The Border (Showdown) Trophy Civil War Sword finally returned to Lawrence. Yes, they don’t play for a drum but, instead, a freaking Samurai sword.

Anyway, he said, and I quote, “On the Buffalo Wild Wings Scale, his shot is Honey BBQ.” My jaw dropped, my eyes grew misty. It was a revelation. And so with the spring football game in the books and the team about to close up shop until training camp, let us employ this beautiful scale in grading spring football.

Two quick caveats: This experiment will absolutely exceed The Morning Brew’s allotted space, so the complete scale will be available on the football blog, Through the Uprights, which can be found here . Second, Buffalo Wild Wings features 14 regular flavors of wing sauce ranging from the mildest, Sweet BBQ, to the hottest, Blazin’. For this scale’s purpose, Blazin’ will be the highest attainable rating, Sweet BBQ the lowest and the various sauces in between will be awarded at my discretion. Without further ado, let’s start the revolution...

BLAZIN’: Junior quarterback Todd Reesing could not miss, completing his first seven passes and finishing the scrimmage with 16 of 22 pass attempts for 221 yards and a touchdown in just one half. His favorite target was sophomore wide receiver Johnathan Wilson, who led Kansas with seven receptions, 133 yards and a touchdown, taking advantage of the increased looks he saw in suspended sophomore Dezmon Briscoe’s absence.

MANGO HABANERO: Billed as “Two sensations, one sauce.” Who better to award this to than junior running back Jake Sharp? Sharp was a factor on the ground and in the receiving game as usual, rushing seven times for 63 yards and a touchdown and converting a shovel pass from Reesing into a 30-yard gain. Honorable mention goes to sophomore running back Rell Lewis, who saw increased time due to junior Jocques Crawford’s suspension. Lewis turned heads on several highlight reel plays but his inability to reach pay dirt while at the goal line suggests his performance is worthy of Caribbean Jerk status: still impressive, just a bit milder.

SPICY GARLIC: Coach Mark Mangino indicated that competitions at linebacker and guard would continue through the offseason. Junior linebacker Jake Schermer continued his strong spring by leading the Blue defense with eight tackles and should be a fixture in the predominately two-linebacker nickel package the Kansas defense has been featuring. At guard, sophomores Carl Wilson and Sal Capra fought their way to the starting lineup Saturday, and their performance was much appreciated by freshman center Jeremiah Hatch as he transitioned from his 2008 slot at left tackle.

“They are a big help because even if they haven’t started much they still have more experience than I do with the offense and I look to them for help quite a bit,” Hatch said.*

*Told you this would be extensive. Remember to visit Through the Uprights for the full study. I leave you with our lowest rating:

SWEET BBQ: Barbecue should always have a little spice, a little kick to it, and this distinction denotes a player who should be one thing but instead disappoints. Nobody who took the field Saturday really did this. But a player who finished among the NCAA’s top receivers (Briscoe) and a player who figured largely into this year’s backfield plans (Crawford) being suspended certainly left an unwelcome taste.

— — Edited by Brandy Entsminger