Stanford wrapped up its spring practice schedule Saturday with a roster wracked by injuries and that forced the coaches to hold a modified practice in place of a spring game. Highlights were few and far between, but that has been the case most of the 15 spring practices that focused on individual development over full-contact team sessions.

Even in the best of circumstances coaches will tell you that spring practices are not when competitions are won or lost. Stanford is a long way from the best of circumstances.

The Cardinal only had five offensive linemen available for the entire spring and guard/center Dylan Powell was only cleared for full contact in the final eight practices. (Stanford splits its spring into two sessions and the first seven practices are held before a three week break for finals and spring vacation.)

Stanford also only had five defensive backs available for most of the second session -- including Saturday -- and four scholarship receivers suited up Saturday. The offense was without expected starters Walker Little (left tackle), Cameron Scarlett (running back) and Devery Hamilton (guard/tackle).

There's no question that injuries were a major story of the spring. It affected everything the team did, but it wasn't the only thing that happened.

There was only one cornerback spot open to competition because of Paulson Adebo's ascension to status as one of the best in the country. His redshirt freshman season earned him All-American recognition and he showed off Saturday.

Adebo was beaten a couple times in one-on-one and 7-on-7, but when the scrimmage started during the second hour of practice he took over his side of the field. He intercepted KJ Costello once when he stepped in front of Simi Fehoko when Costello fired off a pass a second too soon because of pressure.

He should have intercepted Costello a second time when he pounced on a wheel route run by Jay Symonds out of the backfield on a play-action. Adebo's greatest weakness from last season was tackling (he wasn't alone; more on that later) but he took down Houston Heimuli in the flat and did a good job aggressively filling a gap to make a tackle in run support.

Obi Eboh played more last year as the season progressed in part due to injuries. He did well and carried that momentum into this offseason. He consistently earned praise this spring and also had a good showing Saturday. He dropped a "pick six" and was good in coverage.

Eboh and Adebo are both about 6-0/6-1 and they have the physical skill set to be well-rounded corners.

Sure, it's possible something changes when more players get healthy before camp, and the five freshmen defensive backs arrive, but it seems more likely that the coaches can write in pen that Eboh and Adebo will start versus Northwestern.

The question now is who will play safety and nickel? Malik Antoine appears to be a lock to start at one safety spot. Until all the injured players are able to participate in camp and the freshmen arrive it's a mystery how the other two spots will work out.

Players should always take ownership of a team's success and now there is greater urgency than normal for the Cardinal to improve on their own away from the direction of coaches. Costello addressed the challenge Saturday of applying all the one-on-one and 7-on-7 work the offense was often limited to in practice to the full team sessions in August.

"I think it's going to start with just doing it. We're going to hold a lot of team player run practices twice a week. We're going to take the film that we did out here, we're going to watch the ... parts that are part of growing in this offense. What that looks like is team practices twice a week and probably now taking more reps in team than 7-on-7 or one-on-ones, because we've done so much of that. We're going to slowly ramp that up into training camp."

Costello admitted what would be obvious without anyone saying it: "Definitely we're rusty in team."

There's a simple rule about football: You get better at playing football by playing football. The Cardinal face an unprecedented unknown in the David Shaw era that they will start training camp in August with little formal training as 11-man units up to that point.

This is the great to-be-determined factor from the spring. The Cardinal didn't teach much of their scheme during the 15 spring practices. Instead, rep after rep focused on the small details of technique that Shaw wants the team to perfect.

Shaw made it clear from the start of spring that Stanford's defense needed to take a leap forward as tacklers. According to PFF grades, Stanford was the 10th best tackling defense in the Pac-12 last season and the Cardinal have plummeted in that regard since their last conference title in 2015.

The top two teams in the conference last season (Washington and Utah) were also the top two PFF rated tackling defenses. That is just one important stat to determine a great defense; but the gap that existed last season between Stanford and the top of the conference has to be closed this year.

Stanford implemented more one-on-one tackling drills than ever before under Shaw. The coaches put the defenders in tough situations that required great technique and were called out for leaving their feet to try to make a tackle. During one scrimmage in a previous open practice Adebo attempted such a tackle near the sideline and Shaw immediately jogged over to correct his star defensive back.

For players such as inside linebackers Ricky Miezan the attention to small details was probably hugely beneficial.

"I'd say we've put a lot of work into our tackling, our tackling in space, and our footwork when we tackle. I think today (Saturday) the work we put into those drills manifested. The tackling was pretty solid from the defense in general."