Scrimmage Recap
August 15, 2009 06:25 PM | General
August 15, 2009
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Bill Stewart was pleased with the way his defense performed during Saturday’s first officiated scrimmage of fall camp.
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| Jarrett Brown hooked up with Alric Arnett for a 30-yard score late in Saturday's scrimmage at Milan Puskar Stadium.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
The blue shirts kept the offense out of the end zone until late in the scrimmage when Jarrett Brown hooked up with Alric Arnett on a pretty 30-yard touchdown pass. Freshman Tyler Bitancurt made field goals of 46 and 41 yards, while senior Josh Lider punched one in from 22 yards.
“I saw the defense get after the offense,” said Stewart. “I thought the blue-shirted guys played Mountaineer football for three quarters. The fourth quarter, the offense saw an opening and whacked them good and could not be stopped down in what we call the gold zone - inside the 9-yard line.”
The offense scored all six times it had the football during the goal line portion of the scrimmage.
Three of the six scores came from the No. 1 offense, with Brown accounting for all three of those TDs with his arm. The first one went to Wes Lyons for 8 yards, the second was a well-place throw low and away to a sliding Carmen Connolly in the back of the end zone, and the third was a pretty broken field play when Brown eluded the rush before flipping the ball over the defender and into the arms of tight end Tyler Urban.
Freshman Tavon Austin got into the end zone on a flanker reverse with the second group, while the third team got touchdown runs from Shawne Alston and Coley White.
“We're trying to get the young players in there to get as many reps as they can - get the kind of experience in a game situation, and it worked out pretty well, and I'm looking forward to the next scrimmage and practices coming up,” said Stewart.
Freshman Gino Smith took all of the snaps with the second offense and finished the scrimmage 8 of 14 for 94 yards. Smith made a pretty pass to tight end Will Johnson on a deep out for 48 yards, and also hooked up with J.D. Woods and Logan Heastie for first-down completions when the offense was backed up on its own 2.
“I saw the kid throw some pretty nice balls,” said Stewart.
Brown completed 7 of 11 passes for 72 yards with a touchdown and an interception. The pick was made by cornerback Kent Richardson – a pretty one-handed grab in the back of the end zone.
“I did not see great enthusiasm or great leadership on the offensive side of the ball today and I'm very disappointed in that,” said Stewart. “Sometimes when those blue shirts are whacking you and attacking you like our guys came after them - that has a lot to do with it.”
Junior nose tackle Chris Neild saw plenty of things the defense needs to clean up before next week’s scrimmage.
“To be honest with you I wasn't really pleased with our first- and third-down conversions,” he said. “We didn't really do that good of a job at that, at least in my opinion. We're trying to get the young players in there to get as many reps as they can - get the kind of experience in a game situation, and it worked out pretty well.”
On several occasions the second group had difficulty with the center-quarterback exchange, although there were no fumble recoveries credited to the defense. There were also only five penalties accepted during the 70-plus play scrimmage on an extremely hot afternoon.
“I was very pleased with what I saw from our defense, disguising, blitzing, creating turmoil out there,” said Stewart.
Live punting was conducted at the beginning of the scrimmage with Scott Kozlowski consistently punting the football 60 yards in the air.
Briefly:
Smith wore a yellow (non-contact) jersey instead of the green jersey (limited) he had been wearing for most of camp.
“He has flashes, but I'll tell what, he's got No. 9 (Jock Sanders) and No. 4 (Wes Lyons) out there ahead of him,” said Stewart. “He's a freshman and we'll bring him along. I hope we'll see big things out of him as the season progresses.”
