Scrimmage Recap
April 01, 2006 04:29 PM | General
April 1, 2006
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University’s first officiated scrimmage of the spring on Saturday afternoon at Milan Puskar Stadium was controlled by the defense. The guys in Blue picked off four passes, recovered three fumbles and produced four sacks during a two-hour scrimmage that took place before several hundred high school coaches.
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| Defensive back Larry Williams leaps to intercept this Pat White pass during West Virginia's first officiated scrimmage of the spring on Saturday, April 1, at Milan Puskar Stadium.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
“I thought the defense reacted very well and I thought the offense reacted very poorly,” said West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez.
Larry Williams, Aaron Meckstroth, Akeem Jackson and Abraham Jones picked off passes, and Leyonne Pryce, Ovid Goulbourne and Scooter Berry recovered fumbles for the defense.
“Some of the turnovers were really good defensive plays but most of them were just horrible offensive mistakes,” Rodriguez said. “Those are unacceptable and our guys will understand to value the ball or they won’t play: that’s always been the case.”
Bobby Hathaway, Berry, Kevin Burke and Quinton Andrews each had sacks. Andrews made a big hit on receiver Dwayne Thompson over the middle and Reed Williams turned in an impressive play on a reverse to Darius Reynaud, tipping the pitch and causing an 11-yard loss.
“The things I saw from standing back there was that the defense did some really good things,” said Rodriguez. “They tackled well, stripped the ball and got some turnovers. The offense was just the opposite. There was no intensity, no emotion, no enthusiasm and no execution. It just wasn’t very good day for the offense.”
All three of the offense’s touchdowns came on drives from the defense’s 25 yard line. Steve Slaton scored on a two-yard touchdown run with the first offense, Tyler Benoit scored on a one-yard run with the second offense and T.J. Mitchell ran six yards for a score with the third group.
“Our defense is giving us certain looks and I don’t say, OK, defense can only run these fronts and I don’t tell the defense that the offense can only do this -- it’s kind of open,” Rodriguez said. “Our defense is such a different look that it’s hard for younger guys to both recognize the scheme and concentrate on the fundamentals.
“Sometimes the mind ties up your feet and that’s what happened with a lot of guys on offense right now,” Rodriguez said.
Pat McAfee was one of two on field goal tries, missing his first from 49 yards before later hitting a 40 yarder. Scott Kozlowski was also one of two, missing from 37 yards and connecting from 27 yards.
Sophomore Pat White was 9 of 18 for 64 yards with two interceptions quarterbacking the first group. Jarrett Brown was 8 of 16 for 59 yards with an interception working with the second offense, while T.J. Mitchell and Markell Harrison were a combined 2 of 9 for 27 yards quarterbacking the third group.
“Our other quarterbacks are both rookies and both Jarrett and T.J. really struggled today,” Rodriguez noted. “And Pat … we’re not tackling him so it’s kind of hard to tell exactly how he’s doing but he made a couple of mistakes today that he’d normally wouldn’t make.”
Redshirt freshman quarterback Nate Sowers was held out of the scrimmage due to a sore shoulder.
“It’s important for him to get back out there pretty quick and it’s important for some of the other receivers that are not practicing to get back out onto the field,” Rodriguez said. “But the trainers and the doctors will determine that.”
Benoit was the leading ball carrier gaining 36 yards on nine carries with the second and third groups, while Slaton finished the scrimmage running 11 times for 30 yards.
Darius Reynaud led all receivers with three catches for 35 yards.
The best play on offense was a 25-yard swing pass to Benoit that was helped by a crushing block by backup wide receiver Tito Gonzales.
The offense was whistled for three penalties for 35 yards and the defense was flagged five times for 33 yards.
“I’m not going to push the panic button but I will be concerned if they don’t respond positively in the next scrimmage which is a week from now,” Rodriguez said.
West Virginia will take Sunday off and resume spring practice on Monday.
“There were a few more things that we wanted to put in (on offense) but I’m not going to let the coaches do that just so we can try and execute what we’ve got a little better,” Rodriguez said.
Briefly: More than 800 coaches took part in this year’s coach’s clinic with sessions taking place both Friday evening and Saturday morning … in past years a typical turnout is about 300 to 400 coaches … the Mountaineers worked on special teams before today’s scrimmage … backup linebacker Mortty Ivy spent most of the scrimmage on the sideline with an ice pack on his knee … working with the first unit along the offensive line were Dan Mozes (center), Jeremy Sheffey and Ryan Stancheck (guards) and Jake Figner and Damien Crissey (tackles) … today’s weather was overcast with temperatures in the mid 50s.
Scoring Summary
Unofficial Individual Statistics
Rushing: Benoit 9-36, Slaton 11-30, Mitchell 7-27, Colson 4-26, White 7-23, Brown 11-22, Schmitt 3-19, Best 8-5, Harrison 2-4, Team 4-minus 29, Total 66-163.
Passing: White 9-18-2-64-0, Brown 8-16-1-59-0, Mitchell 1-6-1-2-0, Harrison 1-3-0-25-0, Total 19-43-4-150-0.
Receiving: Reynaud 3-35, Slaton 3-17, Myles 3-12, Benoit 2-32, Thompson 2-24, McClintic 2-21, Bruce 2-5, Best 1-2, Colson 1-2, Total 19-150.
