Football: Saturday Scrimmage Recap
April 08, 2006 02:41 PM | General
April 8, 2006
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Just as it did during last Saturday’s scrimmage, the West Virginia University defense once again got the upper hand during Saturday morning’s 94-play workout held inside the Caperton Indoor Practice Facility due to wet conditions outside.
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| Running back Steve Slaton is pulled down for a short gain during Saturday's scrimmage inside the Caperton Indoor Practice Facility
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
“I’m not happy going inside,” said West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez. “It was another miserable day with some unfortunate weather. We probably could have gone outside early but when we started practice it was raining and cold. The balls were going to be wet and I didn’t want to mess with that.”
Eric Wicks picked off a Pat White pass at midfield and returned it the distance for the only touchdown of the regular portion of the scrimmage. The offense was able to punch a couple of scores in during goal line drills. Freshman linebacker Ovid Goulbourne also collected an interception playing with the second group, and safety Johnny Holmes collected a pair of sacks on consecutive plays with the second defense.
“I thought our defense played pretty physical,” Rodriguez said. “I think our defense is playing pretty well but I’ve got to watch film. They can look better sometimes in the spring simply by who they’re going against. When the majority of the guys you’re going against are freshmen walk-ons who still don’t have the strength and the size to block you or get on you it makes you look better.”
Several key offensive players were either held out or got limited work. Fullback Owen Schmitt took a helmet to the thigh on his second carry and did not return to the scrimmage. Regular wide receivers Darius Reynaud and Brandon Myles did not participate; Myles was excused to take part in a wedding this weekend.
Offensive guard Jeremy Sheffey also did not participate due to the flu. Stepping into his spot at right guard was redshirt freshman Greg Isdaner. Jay Henry and Keilen Dykes did not suit up for the defense.
Quarterbacks Pat White and Nate Sowers wore no-contact gold jerseys.
Tyler Benoit led all ball carriers with 47 yards on 13 carries working with the second and third groups. Colson gained 15 yards on five carries running with all three groups. A total of 10 different players carried the football 56 times for 123 yards.
Freshman Jetavious Best chipped a bone on his wrist earlier this week and will be out for the remainder of the spring.
“I saw some improvement in the run game,” Rodriguez said. “We were limited because Owen got banged up early, we held Steve out and we’re not hitting Pat so it’s really hard to judge how our offense is doing.”
White completed 10 of 16 passes for 61 yards while Brown, working with the second group, hit on 5 of 7 pass attempts for 33 yards. Sowers completed 8 of 15 passes for 57 yards with the third unit.
“We’re not executing well at times offensively,” Rodriguez said. “I think some of our quarterbacks, particularly our young guys, are panicking sometimes and not relaxing. But they’ve got a couple of more days to work on that.”
Brandon Barrett led all receivers with four catches for 28 yards. Tito Gonzales has the longest reception of the scrimmage, covering 21 yards on a slip screen.
“Brandon is coming along,” Rodriguez said. “He’s like the rest of the guys: he’ll make some good plays and then he makes some bad plays. But he’s a pretty good competitor and I was pretty pleased with some of the things Brandon did today.”
The team was able to work on some live special teams at the beginning of the scrimmage.
"I'm not one of those who is interested in who's winning spring ball," Rodriguez said. "I've had awful springs and good seasons and great springs and average seasons."
West Virginia will resume spring drills on Monday.
Unofficial Scrimmage Statistics
Rushing: Benoit 13-47, Morrone 2-16, Slaton 5-16, Colson 5-15, White 7-13, Schmitt 2-11, Barrett 1-4, Brown 16-2, Sowers 2-0, Bruce 3-minus 1, Total 56-123.
Passing: White 10-16-1-61-0, Sowers 8-15-0-57-0, Brown 5-7-1-33-0, Total 23-38-2-151-0.
Receiving: Barrett 4-28, Colson 4-23, Slaton 3-14, Connolly 2-25, Benoit 2-13, Poitier 2-7, McClintic 2-6, Gonzalez 1-21, Jalloh 1-11, Serena 1-2, Thompson 1-1, Total 23-151.
