Football Southern Conference

SoCon Football Practice Reports, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2003

Western Carolina

Cullowhee, N.C. - Western Carolina held its final scrimmage of the 2003 preseason Tuesday night at Whitmire Stadium/Waters Field. After a 45-minute rain delay, the scrimmage got underway and saw the defense hold the upper hand for most of the workout, keeping the offense out of the endzone for all but one series.

Sophomore Rico Reese (Austell, Ga.) led the way for Catamount defense. The 6-2, defensive end had a sack in the first series, forcing the offense to a three-and-out situation. Later in the scrimmage, Reese picked off a pass and a few plays later recorded his second sack. The offense managed to get into field goal position with senior kicker Chris Vought converting a 49-yard field goal.

The defense forced three-an-outs on five of the first seven series in the scrimmage. The lone exceptions were when the offense got a first down on the first play of the series, then had a three and out. The other, was Reese's interception.

"Sometimes is takes a big play to spark things and tonight we did not get that offensively," said WCU head football coach Kent Briggs. "Some of that had to do with darkness, since we can only turn half our lights on right now. We also had several people hurt who could not scrimmage. We used this scrimmage to look at our freshmen, especially the defensive line and wide receivers."

Before the field goal, freshman quarterback Russell Hemby and freshman receiver Michael Hines teamed up to help the Cats score their lone touchdown of the scrimmage. Despite being held on its first drive without a first down, the offense remained on the field and got in scoring position thanks to a 57-yard Hemby to Hines pass. Several plays later, Hemby hit Hines on an impressive grab on a fade route for an eight yard score.

The offense was able to put together a drive on the eighth series, ending in a 51-yard Vought field goal. Afterwards, the offense starting moving the ball again, only to have the drive end when defensive back Bruce Lee picked off a pass.

Punter Stanton Horne ended the scrimmage with six punts, averaging 39.3 yards. He was also asked to kick a pair of field goals when the team worked on red zone situations, missing a 31-yarder and connecting from 33 yards to end the scrimmage.

Besides Reese and Lee, defensive standouts include Rod Dunlap (two pass breakups), Shelton Gaffney (sack), James Conklin (sack), Jacob Hannah (sack), Phillip Young (sack) and Dwain Johnson (two pass breakups).

Offensively, senior quarterback Brian Gaither was 5-of-8 for 55 yards with no interceptions. Hemby was 3-of-5 for 75 yards with a touchdown. Sophomore Justin Clark was 5-of-7 for 36 yards and an interception, while Josh Lee was 2-of-7 for 17 yards and an interception. On the receiving end, Hines caught two passes for 65 yards and a TD. Other with two receptions included T. Alford (2-28), Xavier Godard (2-27), J.C. Brown (2-9) and Craig Younce (2-8).

On the ground, Manny DeShauteurs had six rushes for 11 yards, Sam Brown had three rushes for nine yards and Nicholas Wishart had one rush for four yards.

After three-weeks of preseason workouts, Western Carolina will now turn their attention towards 14th-ranked North Carolina State Wolfpack. The Catamounts will open the 2003 season on Aug. 30 in Raleigh with kickoff set for 6 pm at Carter-Finley Stadium.

Chattanooga

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.---With two-a-day football practices now over, the
Chattanooga Mocs have begun their regular-season practice routine as they
prepare for the season opener with Samford Aug. 28.

Two areas concern head coach Rodney Allison as opening day grows closer,
the secondary and the tight ends.

"I am concerned about the secondary," he said at Tuesday's practice. "We
have some quality there, and we have some numbers there. Our young guys
are going to have to play. By mid-season, we might be alright in that
area. We lost Greg Knight, and Ryan Andrews hasn't been out here. It
looks like we might get William High back.

"At tight end, Barrett Brightwell has been hurt, and we have moved some
other guys over from other places. Our tight ends have to be able to catch
the ball and run block. They can't play if they can't do both."

The secondary has seven first-year players slated on the two-deep in the
eight spots. Senior Greg Knight, a two-year starter, is still in the
process of trying to gain a year of eligibility and has not worked out with
the team this preseason. Sophomore Ryan Andrews, who played in eight games
as a true freshman last season, just returned to practice Monday after
missing weeks with a knee injury. William High was listed on the two-deep
after the spring but was unable to join the squad until Monday.

Brightwell, a junior, is the only tight end with experience. He caught 18
balls last year but has missed some preseason time because of a shoulder
injury. Red shirt freshman Michael Saporito is a converted quarterback,
freshman Craig Gilbeaux was moved from linebacker and freshman Lerin Pruitt
made the switch from defensive end.

The Mocs return to practice Wednesday at 3:45 p.m. at Scrappy Moore Field
and are scheduled to hold a full-scale scrimmage Thursday evening at Finley
Stadium. The Mocs open up the 2003 season Thursday, Aug. 28 against
Samford in Finley Stadium at 8 p.m.

Wofford

The Wofford football team will close the preseason portion of its 2003
camp with a 12 noon scrimmage tomorrow that will center on the Aug. 30
season opener at Air Force.

"We're trying to focus on Air Force at this point," Terrier coach Mike
Ayers said. "We started preseason camp working on fundamentals and
introducing the scheme, and now we're really trying to concentrate on
Air Force.

"To a certain extent, we've been practicing for Air Force since last
spring because our offense and their offense is very similar.
Defensively, we're also very similar. There will be a lot of carryover.
We just have to make sure we're as healthy as possible, in great shape,
and play sound, fundamental football."

Following the scrimmage, the Terriers will enter game week preparation.
Wofford will fly to Air Force next Wednesday and have three days of
practice in Colorado Springs before the Aug. 30 contest.

The trip to Air Force represents the farthest west a Wofford football
team has ever traveled in addition to being the Terriers' first game
against a Mountain West Conference opponent. It will also be Wofford's
eighth Division I-A opponent in the last six seasons.