Scrimmage Recap
April 12, 2008 04:11 PM | General
April 12, 2008
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – There was a time here when good scrimmages were almost always based solely on how many touchdowns the offense scored. Make a lot of offensive miscues and turnovers and the head ball coach was usually in a bad mood.
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| Bradley Starks is congratulated by his teammates after catching a 49-yard touchdown pass during Saturday's scrimmage at Milan Puskar Stadium.
Brian Persinger photo |
Today that is not necessarily the case. The offense managed to score just one touchdown during non-goal line scrimmaging, had a handful of illegal motion and delay-of-game penalties, committed three critical red zone turnovers and Bill Stewart spent his time afterward singing the praises of his defense.
“Wow, how about those blue shirts? There were some heat-seeking missiles out there today,” said Stewart. “I was very pleased with the defensive effort. That was some flying around. Balls were getting knocked loose, jarred loose, picked loose and we had two great interceptions.”
The play of the scrimmage was linebacker Archie Sims’ one-handed pick out in the flat that he could have returned for a long touchdown. With a convoy of blockers in front of him Stewart chose to have the officials blow the whistle and not risk getting backup quarterback Jarrett Brown hit on the play.
“We ran a little naked bootleg and Jarrett just floated it a little bit and old Archie went up there with one hand. He may have taken that one to the house because it looked like he had a couple of blockers in front of him,” Stewart said.
Linebacker Mortty Ivy also had a nice interception off of a deflection that he possibly could have taken the distance.
“Mortty Ivy’s pick was very impressive,” Stewart said. “He may have scored on that one. Those (interceptions) were two big, big plays.
“In the red zone we’re trying to keep the offense from getting a touchdown,” Stewart explained. “We’d love to hold them to three. They not only kept them from getting a field goal - they took the ball and were going to score the other way which was very impressive. That made my whole weekend.”
The defense also produced a safety when defensive end Larry Ford broke free and stripped the ball from Pat White in the end zone, where White had to fall on it.
Boogie Allen forced a Jock Sanders fumble that was recovered by Anthony Leonard and JT Thomas and Chris Neild were both credited with sacks.
Despite the penalties and miscues, the offense did manage to move the football. Noel Devine escaped a certain safety in the end zone and broke loose for a 34-yard run.
“That was a great effort – a great play,” Stewart said.
On third and short, backup running back Mike Poitier got past the line for a 37-yard run – the longest run of the two spring scrimmages.
“The first thing I learned a long time ago is it’s never as good or as bad as it seems,” Offensive Coordinator Jeff Mullen said. “Yesterday we had a really good day in practice and I looked at the tape and there were a lot of mistakes. Today it feels really bad and I know there were a lot of mistakes that we have to correct and we’ve just got to coach them a little better.”
Third-team quarterback Bradley Starks made an impression at wide receiver when he got behind the defense for a sliding 49-yard touchdown reception from Jarrett Brown. Earlier Starks also had a pretty 19-yard reception and run over the middle and finished the scrimmage with three catches for 69 yards.
“There are a number of people that we’ve had to look at at multiple positions and Bradley Starks is one of them,” Mullen said. “He’s done a nice job this spring at wideout.”
The plan next week is to give Starks more work at wide receiver now that he’s comfortable with the plays at quarterback.
West Virginia’s three quarterbacks White, Brown and Starks combined to complete 22 of 33 passes for 184 yards and a touchdown. However, some of those yards were offset by penalties.
“We’ve been trying to mix our cadence up and I don’t think that’s something that has been done here for a long time,” Mullen said. “We’ve got to keep working. It is spring ball and you try and work the things that need worked, evaluate at the end what’s good for next fall and we’re going to have to keep working that and seeing if we can handle an on-two count.”
Poitier led all rushers with 79 yards on 15 carries while Devine added 60 yards on eight totes. The offense ran 76 plays before goal line drills, accumulating 395 total yards.
“I’m pleased with the way we’re flying around, I’m pleased with the intensity and I’m pleased with the camaraderie. What I am also pleased about … when 31 (Pat Lazear), and 44 (Ivy) and 30 (Thomas) hit them they go backwards,” Stewart said. “That’s Mountaineer football.”
Mountaineer football resumes on Monday afternoon.
Unofficial Statistics
Rushing: Poitier 15-79, Devine 8-60, Brown 5-31, Starks 3-17, Sanders 4-8, Hogan 2-7, Johnson 1-5, White 4-2, Matthews 1-2, Total 43-211
Passing: White 12-20-1-75-0, Brown 8-11-1-97-1, Starks 2-2-0-12-0, Total 22-33-2-184-1
Receiving: Hogan 4-21, Starks 3-69, Devine 3-13, Poitier 3-8, Sanders 2-22, Gonzales 2-13, Crow 2-4, Johnson 1-19, Rader 1-12, Washington 1-0
Scoring Summary
Blue – Safety (Ford sacks White in end zone)
White – Starks 49 pass from Brown
White - Brown 5 run
White – Starks 5 run
White – McAfee 25 FG
White – Glenn 25 FG
White – Glenn 27 FG
