UTC FOOTBALL TEAM HOLDS BRIEF SCRIMMAGE SATURDAY
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- Lironnie Davis and Muhammad Ahmad Abdus-Salaam each scored rushing touchdowns for the UTC football team at a brief scrimmage Saturday, but the Mocs’ defense clamped down on the offense after the first two scores and controlled the remainder of the scrimmage.
Head Coach Rodney Allison put the Mocs through a 40- to 50-play scrimmage at Scrappy Moore Field in front of the Chattanooga Mocs Club, players’ parents and other interested onlookers. The temperature at Scrappy Moore Field at the time of the scrimmage was 97 degrees.
Davis, a sophomore from Macon, Ga., scored from 12 yards out on the first series, and Abdus-Salaam, a sophomore from Atlanta, Ga., reached the end zone from nine yards away. The pair of runners is battling senior Eugene Cousart and junior college transfer Eldra Buckley for the starting role at tailback.
First-string quarterback Antonio Miller, a sophomore from Charlotte, N.C., led the offense to its only two scores. Junior signal caller Matt Lopez directed the second-string offense with Cousart and Buckley at tailback.
After allowing the two early touchdowns, UTC’s defense permitted the offense to reach beyond midfield just once.
Sophomore cornerback Quintez Smith forced an incomplete pass by drilling Buckley after a reception. Sophomore linebackers Wilford Blowe and Jeff Phillips each recorded tackles behind the line, and senior lineman Renaldo Jackson and sophomore nose Brian Lomax combined to sack Miller.
The squad went bowling as a team Friday evening. Saturday, the Mocs attended the annual BBQ hosted by the Mocs Club in the afternoon before suiting up for the evening’s scripted scrimmage.
The team will take Sunday off. Classes at UTC begin Monday, and the team returns to practice Monday afternoon. The season opener is Sept. 3 at 6 p.m. against Tennessee Tech at Chattanooga’s Finley Stadium.
Palmer Hauls in Two Touchdown Passes In Bulldogs’ First Scrimmage
CHARLESTON, SC ? Penn State transfer Kinta Palmer hauled in two touchdown passes from different quarterbacks and Nuru Goodrum recorded the most yards rushing in The Citadel’s first scrimmage under new coach Kevin Higgins.
The nearly two-hour scrimmage was held at Johnson Hagood Stadium under a blazing sun and with temperatures reaching well over 90 degrees.
Palmer, a 6-4, 200-pound receiver and a Berkeley High School graduate who played three seasons for coach Joe Paterno at Penn State, scored touchdowns on two passes inside the 15-yard line. The first pass came from starting quarterback Duran Lawson and the other from backup Steve Tumbleston, a freshman from James Island.
Tumbleston is vying for the backup quarterback position with fellow redshirt freshman Justin Knox of Union.
“The offense was consistent but there’s still a long way to go,” said Higgins. “Duran (Lawson) has to improve his consistency and he needs more reps. We also had some good runs by Goodrum and (Chris) Gibbs, but we’re way behind where we should be at this time, and that is a concern.”
Goodrum is a junior from Fayetteville, NC and ran for 144 yards on 36 carries in his brief career. Gibbs, a senior from Beaufort, missed all of 2004 due to injury yet has 158 career yards on 45 carries. Both are expected to be the team’s top rushing threats this fall.
Higgins was pleased with Palmer’s performance, citing that it was intended to get the ball in his hands during the scrimmage to see what he could do. The first year Bulldogs coach, who spent the last four years with the Detroit Lions, stated that Palmer “did a good job of execution,” but also indicated that he was not yet in playing shape.
Regarding the offensive line, Higgins pointed that center Dusty Bennefield, a senior from Cumming, GA, had been out of action for five days due to a virus, yet still played hard. Higgins also stated that twin tackles Cliff and Cale Conant of Rock Hill have stepped up their play and are doing a good job.
Higgins got a good look at the Bulldogs’ kicking game as freshman Mark Kaspar of College Station, TX, is having a good fall outing. Long snapper Nick Fender was also impressive, according to Higgins, who also liked what he saw from returning place kicker Blake Vandiver of Gainesville, GA. Gary Domanski, a junior from Neshanic Station, NJ, is poised to be the kick returner.
The defense also played well, with safeties Avery Dingle of Newport News, VA, and Kendrick Lyles of Union leading the way with multiple tackles.
The Citadel will not have practice Sunday and will return to the field on Monday. The Bulldogs are scheduled to have one more scrimmage, and that is set for next Saturday afternoon. The season begins September 3 when Charleston Southern visits Johnson Hagood Stadium for a 7 p.m. kickoff.
Eagle Football Holds Second Scrimmage
Preparation intensifies with season-opener in two weeks at Northeastern
STATESBORO, Ga. ? During Georgia Southern football’s second scrimmage, the defense set the tone over the last half of the Saturday morning session at Paulson Stadium. Of the six fumbles during the scrimmage, five were recovered by the defense.
Senior strong safety Tariq Muhammad recovered one of those fumbles near the goal line and ran it in from three yards out for a touchdown. Fullback Drew Glenn broke through on a run but lost the ball near the goal line and freshman linebacker Fred Bussey recovered. Dedrick Bynam, Dusty Reddick and Larry Long also picked up a fumble recovery.
Muhammad had a sack and five tackles to go with his touchdown. Junior linebacker John Mohring also registered a sack and led the defense making nine tackles. Matt Wise (one sack), Larry Long and Jeremy Russell (one sack) finished with six stops each.
According to head coach Mike Sewak, “I know we are a better team than we displayed today, I’ve seen it. We did have some spurts that were exciting... I would like to see more people around the football.”
The coaching staff also cranked up the music at Paulson Stadium to simulate crowd noise. “We wanted our guys to concentrate in the huddle, concentrate on the game and work on our communication,” said Sewak.
The offense, led by quarterback Jayson Foster, started strong by opening with a six-play, 65-yard scoring drive. Jermaine Austin capped the drive with a 10-yard TD run up the middle. Foster had runs of 19 and 22 yards during the drive as well. However, his most impressive run came a little later. The play was whistled dead just before he got into the endzone, but the sophomore quarterback eluded half the defense during a 29-yard run that brought a standing ovation from those in attendance.
Freshman quarterback Chris Griffin accounted for two scores ? one on a 3-yard run and another when he connected with Richard Murphey on a 21-yard touchdown pass. Griffin nearly had another TD pass, however Chris Dickerson landed just out of the back endzone after making a great leaping catch.
Foster finished with 112 rushing yards on 16 carries, including five carries that went for at least 10 yards. Austin had 71 yards on 11 carries while Darius Smiley also had 11 carries totaling 43 yards. Lance Turner recorded 38 yards on seven carries, and also broke through on a 27 yard run that was called back after a penalty flag.
Griffin tallied 47 yards on 11 carries. Freshman slotback Lionel McGriff broke through on another long run for the second straight scrimmage, this time going for 34 yards to set up Griffin’s rushing touchdown.
Sewak, getting ready to start his fourth season as head coach, also noted the play of defensive lineman Charrod Taylor.
“Charrod had a super summer and has been great in camp. He has gotten great penetration through the line and been disrupting the offensive scheme. If Charrod played like he is now at the start of last year he would have been in the starting line-up,” said Sewak.
The Eagles will hold their final scrimmage next Friday (Aug. 26) at 3:30 p.m. at Paulson Stadium. The third-annual Eagles Ladies Locker Room will be held in conjunction with the scrimmage. For more information on the Ladies Locker Room contact the Southern Boosters at (912) 681-5520.
NOTES: Raja Andrews (shoulder) did not play... Jonathan Dudley missed a 47 yard attempt. He also missed from 41 yards out but that was negated on a penalty flag... Bolen finished 1-for-2 while Galvin was 1-for-3... The offense committed nine penalties, including an offsides call on 4th-and-1 by the third-string offensive line... Seventeen different players had a rush while 12 different Eagles caught a pass.
SCORING DRIVES:
Austin 10 run.
Foster 29 run.
Galvin 42-yard FG.
Muhammad 3-yard fumble return.
Griffin 3 run.
Murphey 21 pass from Griffin.
Bolen 36-yard FG.
RUSHING TOTALS: Foster 16-112; Austin 11-71; Griffin 11-47; Smiley 11-43; L. Turner 7-38; McGriff 1-34; Paschall 4-23; Glenn 3-23; Greer 3-19; B. Andrews 2-13; Camp 1-10; Johnson 3-8; Wiggins 1-4; Maynard 1-3; Craft 1-2; Davis 3-1; Steele 1-(-)2.
PASSING TOTALS: Smiley 7-9 74 yards; Griffin 3-7 39 yards; Foster 3-9 28 yards; Davis 4-4 24 yards.
RECEIVING TOTALS: Murphey 3-51 1 TD; W. Turner 2-27; Adamson 1-17; Miller 2-17; Craft 1-12; Steele 1-10; Kelly 1-9; Lake 1-8; Maynard 1-8; McCutcheon 1-8; B. Andrews 2-3; Paschall 1-(-)5.
DEFENSIVE LEADERS: Mohring 9; Long 6; Russell 6; Wise 6; Bynam 5; Muhammad 5; Beard 5; Benefield 4; Middleton 4; Collier 4; Callaway 4; Brownlee 4; Kranz 3; Taylor 3; Brown 3; Suggs 3; Sullivan 3; Shun Williams 3; Rutledge 3; J. Turner 3; Montford 3.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE:
Friday (Aug. 26) ? 3:30 p.m. (scrimmage/Eagle Ladies Locker Room at Paulson Stadium) Saturday, September 3 ? Season opener at Northeastern, 2 p.m.
Saturday, September 10 ? Home opener versus McNeese State, 6 p.m.
WCU FB Has Second Preseason Scrimmage
Coach Briggs Says “Overall It Was Very Productive”
Cullowhee, N.C. ? The Western Carolina football team had its second scrimmage of the 2005 preseason Saturday morning with both the offense and defense having their share of highlights during the two-hour session on Waters Field.
The scrimmage had two series of regular situations, starting once from the opposite 40 and then starting once from just 40 yards out. After that, the remainder of the workout dealt with the offense starting on its own one, red zone situations, a two-minute drill and goal line situations.
“Overall, I thought this was a very productive scrimmage on both sides of the ball,” said fourth-year WCU head coach Kent Briggs. “We came out with good intensity, competed and challenged each other which is good after two tough weeks of practices. We still have a lot of things to work on in terms of execution, especially on offense which is typical for this stage of the preseason.”
The offense ran the ball 27 times for 144 yards (5.3 yards per carry), highlighted by a 48-yarder by Darius Fudge, and completed 14-of-25 passes for 103 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. In addition to coming away with two interceptions, the defense tallied four sacks, four tackles for losses and a pass breakup. However, the key defensive play was a safety recorded by Lamar Barnes when the offense was backed up on its own one yard line.
On the first series, the ones versus the ones, saw the offense move the ball early only to have Primus Glover pick off a pass to end the drive. On the second series, the twos versus the twos, freshman Michael McQueeney led the offense on an impressive drive, picking up four first downs and capping the drive with a 16-yard touchdown strike to fellow freshman Kyle Garland. The first unit kept the momentum when, on second and short, Fudge broke a 48-yard run on a draw play to the three. The defense pulled together and Barnes recorded a sack on third down to force a 32-yard field goal, which was converted by freshman Jonathan Parsons. The Summerville, S.C., native would go on to make all his field goal attempts, including kicks of 41 and 20 yards later in the scrimmage.
After a tackle for loss by Dieza Blue and a key dropped pass forced a three and out by the twos, the first unit took the ball from 40 yards out versus the second defense. Justin Clark hit Jacob Hannah on a third down conversion then hit a wide open John Bush down the left sideline for a 15-yard touchdown. The number one defense then set the stage for three straight three and outs. Rico Reese backed up the offense with a sack and the offense could not recover, despite a nice 15-yard run by Mike Malone.
The scrimmage then moved to the one yard line. After Barnes recorded his safety, McQueeney and Malone each had nice runs to reach their goal of getting a first down. The first team offense then got their first down on back-to-back runs by Nicholas Wishart.
Next up was the red zone situation. The defense forced field goals on both series, thanks to sacks by Jacob Wilson and Jeff Bradley, on respective series. Parsons made his 41 yard field goal, but Stephen Brown’s 41 yarder sailed wide left.
The two minute drill saw Clark pick up one first down, only to have the drive end after a pass breakup by Darrell Gray and an interception by Jeremy Louis. The second offense came up short as well as the first team forced a three and out.
As usual, the scrimmage ended on the three yard line working on goal line situations. Despite a big tackle by Glover and Shelton Gaffney on second down to keep the offense out of the endzone, Wishart found a small crease on third down to score. On the second series, Isaac Green registered a TFL, setting up Parsons’ 20-yard field goal to wrap up the session.
Scrimmage Stats:
RUSHING: John Bush 3-6; Darius Fudge 5-62, Michael McQueeney 2-16; Russell Richter 1-6; Nicholas Wishart 10-23, 1 TD; Mike Malone 7-31.
PASSING: Justin Clark 6-13, 41 yds, 1 TD, 2 INT; Michael McQueeney 7-11, 57 yds, 1 TD; Brad Robbins 1-1, 5 yds
RECEIVING: Jomo Fagan 4-26; Nicholas Wishart 2-13; Kyle Garland 3-26, 1 TD; Jacob Hannah 1-18; John Bush 2-15, 1 TD; L.J. Davis 1-5.
PUNTING: Tim Mayse 5-208 (41.6 avg.); Stephen Brown 4-125* (31.3 avg.) ? Note: two of Brown’s punt were designed pooch punts, which were both downed inside the 15.
Injured Receivers Limiting Furman Practice Plans ; Justin Stepp Latest Paladin Receiver To Be Sidelined
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Injuries to several returning veterans, especially in receiving corps, continue to limit Furman's preseason practice plans according to head coach Bobby Lamb, whose squad worked out twice Saturday following Friday's day off.
"We've got a lot of people with nagging injuries, especially in the receiving corps, so we've got to be real careful the next few days
and try to get those people back to full speed," said Lamb following Saturday' afternoon practice.
The Paladins' top three receivers -- flanker Justin Stepp, split end Brian Stone, and tight end John Rust -- are all injured. Stepp is the latest to be forced to the sideline after he sustained a strained groin in a blocking drill in Saturday morning's practice. Stone is out with a bruised quadricep, and Rust has missed several days with a hamstring strain. In addition, Patrick Sprague (hamstring) and freshman R.J. Webb (ankle) are unavailable.
"It's almost impossible to work on your passing game when so many of your receivers are out," added Lamb. "We cut down the schedule a tad today because it was so hot and a lot of players were cramping up."
Furman's main emphasis of the day was the option game and screens.
Lamb also said Saturday that redshirt freshman Paul White is currently the frontrunner to secure the starting job at the open defensive end position, and that true freshman Gaines Burnett has moved up No. 2.
"Paul continues to do some good things for us at defensive end, and Gaines Burnett has worked really hard in the preseason and looks like he will play for us this year."
Evaluation continues, according to Lamb, to determine which other true freshmen will earn spots on the travel squad. Among those vying to play this year are linebacker Hunter Twitty and safety Thomas Twitty.
"The Twittys can help us on special teams and in other roles. We'll just have to see."
Along the defensive line, it appears Ricky Jones has emerged among the squad's four newcomers as the top contender for backup duty at defensive tackle, with Justin Brown also in the mix, according to Lamb.
Furman practices at 3:30 p.m. Sunday.