Wofford
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Wofford College football team continued preparations for the 2013 season with two practices, including a scrimmage, on Saturday. Highlights of the scrimmage included a touchdown pass caught by Will Gay and an interception by Coleton Robinson.
The morning began with a practice that lasted an hour and 45 minutes on the lower practice fields. The scrimmage at Gibbs Stadium was composed of six segments of ten plays each for a total of sixty plays. Between each segment the team focused on special teams.
In the opening series, the first string offense and first string defense were matched up against each other. After a 20-yard run by Will Gay, James Lawson completed passes to Jeff Ashley and Will Irwin. Donovan Johnson added two carries before the series ended short of the endzone.
The second series featured the second team offense and second string defense. Michael Weimer had a six-yard run and Octavius Harden ran for a first down. Ray Smith had two runs for seven yards each.
The third team opened with a six-yard run by Hunter Windham. Zach Muller had two short receptions from Brandon Goodson. Jesse Williams came up with a forced fumble for the defense. Coleton Robinson picked off a tipped pass, while Brandon Curtis had a tackle for loss on a reverse to end the series.
The first team offense and defense were back on the field for the fourth series. Jeff Ashley caught a 25-yard pass from Evan Jacks. Jacks then found Will Gay for a 40-yard touchdown reception, however the defense claimed a sack on the play. Chris Armfield had a tackle for loss in the series.
Each of the three kickers in camp then made field goal attempts from 22-yards, 32-yards, and 37-yards. Paul Inclan hit all three field goals, while Kasey Redfern and David Marvin both made two field goals.
In the fifth series, Taylor Bragg worked with the second team offense. Bragg completed a pass to Wade Francis and Zach Muller had a pair of catches. For the final series of the day, Will Irwin made a 22-yard reception from Brad Butler. Logan Christian and Chris Martin both had catches for first downs, while Butler added a run for a first down.
“We got sixty good reps and there is a lot to teach from,” said head coach Mike Ayers. “We covered it all in the kicking game. I think overall the effort was great. This was our second practice today with a full practice this morning and then we came out and had a good night. I like the work ethic that the kids have and they will compete. We just have to continue to get better physically. The young guys have to get up to speed on understanding the concepts that we are trying to teach, but overall it was a very productive week and a very productive day.”
Western Carolina
CULLOWHEE, N.C. – With its 11th practice session of the 2013 preseason, Western Carolina held its first official scrimmage on Saturday afternoon at E.J. Whitmire Stadium / Bob Waters Field. The squad ran through a combined 23 series with varying starting points during the head-to-head scrimmage which encompassed nearly 150 combined snaps, and also incorporated live special teams scenarios.
WCU’s offense capped eight drives with scoring plays including five touchdowns – three through the air and two rushing – while adding three field goals. The defensive unit combined for 15 stops with four takeaways, three fumbles and an interception.
“It’s always good to get the coaches off the field and you have the Southern Conference officials here and just see what our players know and what they don’t know. Today, we got an opportunity to see just where our football team is,” said WCU second year head coach Mark Speir. “I thought the energy was good with guys flying around the football – I was very excited about that.”
Speir added, “I thought our defensive played exceptionally well today. They created four turnovers and I thought they tackled real well. Offensively, we had a little bit of a self destruction at times. A lot of times just one guy not getting the job done. We’ve just got to go in and correct those mistakes and understand that they are one heartbeat – if one guy fails, we all fail. And they’ve got to do a better job of taking care of the football.”
WCU dodged inclement weather most of the afternoon, only missing pre-practice walk-through sessions because of a passing rain shower, moving inside the Ramsey Center. Otherwise the team worked under mostly cloudy skies with the sun occasionally popping through to keep the late summer temperatures up.
Unofficially on the afternoon, the Catamount offense racked up 348 yards of passing and just over 150 yards on the ground. Exact cumulative rushing totals are not available because the quarterback position was protected.
Three quarterbacks split rotations with redshirt junior Eddie Sullivan and sophomore Troy Mitchell seeing the bulk of the reps. Mitchell held a slight edge statistically, completing 16-of-27 passes (59.3%) for 176 yards and a pair of touchdowns while Sullivan was 15-of-28 (53.6%) for 172 yards, tossing both a touchdown and an interception.
A combined 12 different wide receivers hauled in passes led by junior Karnorris Benson, who recorded 10 catches for 134 yards and two TDs, both coming from Mitchell. True freshman Terryon Robinson hauled in four passes for 45 yards, while Gary Richardson tallied the third receiving score on a nine-yard strike from Sullivan.
Four running backs carried the load on Saturday afternoon with sophomore Darius Ramsey rushing 21 times for 63 yards. Converted tailback David Giron rushed 13 times for 41 yards and a score and junior Shawn Warren also scored on one of his five rushing attempts, tallying 23 rushing yards. Freshman Garry Lewis also carried the football, as did junior wideout Willie Police who also rushed twice for eight yards on a sweep.
Three players recorded seven tackles apiece to lead the defense during the two-hour scrimmage on Saturday afternoon with a total of eight Catamounts posting five-or-more tackles. The defensive unit was also credited for a combined 17 tackles for loss including eight quarterback sacks, with seven pass breakups.
Defensive lineman John McBeth and linebackers Christon Gill and Courtland Carson each paced the squad with seven total hits. Gill was credited with two tackles for loss while McBeth had a pass break-up. Freshman defensive lineman Tahjai Watt finished with six tackles including a sack and a quarterback hurry. Defensive backs Jaleel Lorquet, Brandon Grady and Ben Watkins each had five tackles apiece with Lorquet forcing and recovering a fumble, while he and Watkins both deflected a pass.
Freshman Trey Morgan came up with an interception for the defense while senior defensive end Brian Johnson finished with five tackles including two sacks and a hurry.
Western Carolina’s specialists were perfect on the day, connecting on all three field goal attempts and the five PATs. Junior Richard Sigmon hit field goals from 34 and 21 yards out while preseason All-SoCon punter Clark Sechrest punched in a 29 yard attempt. Sechrest and redshirt freshman Blake Metcalf both recorded two PAT’s with Sigmon tallying one.
Georgia Southern
STATESBORO, Ga. – The sights and sounds of progress at Paulson Stadium were the backdrop for Saturday morning’s scrimmage as construction crews worked on the expansion and operations building as the Georgia Southern Football team went to work on the field. The Eagles ran 71 plays during a scrimmage that featured good plays for offense, defense and special teams and exposed some areas that still need improvement. Georgia Southern plays host to Savannah State at Paulson Stadium for the season opener three weeks from today.
“I was really looking for effort and to see how hard guys were playing, if we were playing physical,” said Georgia Southern Head Coach Jeff Monken. “I thought our guys did a pretty good job, there were some guys who did a really good job and others who need to do better. We certainly need to get better as a football team, we are not where we want to be yet.”
Monken and the coaching staff reviewed the film from this morning’s scrimmage and planned on using film from this afternoon’s practice as a teaching tool for the Eagles tonight. This morning’s scrimmage was held on a shortened field due to elements of the construction on the perimeter, but the Eagle quarterbacks moved the ball well downfield. Senior running back William Banks scored the first two touchdowns, the first a 20-plus yard rush and the second, on a short gain. Sophomore Nardo Govan headed due west, and straight up the middle, for his touchdown run.
Newcomer, graduate running back Torrance Hunt, a transfer from East Carolina, and redshirt freshman Kevin Ellison both had touchdown runs later in the scrimmage. Ellison and the Eagle offense persisted on that drive, with the TD coming on fourth down. Additional scoring came from freshman Matt Flynn, who joined the Eagles late this week, as he hit a 47-yard field goal. Brandan Thomas, who eluded several tacklers on his punt return, was stopped short of a touchdown by punter Ryan Nowicki.
The highlight plays weren’t limited to the offense. Cornerback Valdon Cooper picked off a pass and senior linebacker Kyle Oehlback had a tackle for loss as the defense went to work. Coaches on both sides of the ball gave instructions to their squads on the field and provided individual instruction as needed throughout the scrimmage.
“In practice situations, there will be coaches in the drills and coaches behind every play to help the guys go where they need to go,” Monken said. “In a scrimmage, I try to get the coaches to back off, give the signals, watch what is going on and coach from the sideline more like a game-like situation. That really allows us to find out who knows their assignments and who is going to play hard without someone chasing them down the field.”
Appalachian State
BOONE, N.C. — Appalachian State University football held what will likely be its longest scrimmage of the season with a 136-play intrasquad duel on Saturday afternoon. The scrimmage began at Kidd Brewer Stadium but concluded in the Sofield Indoor Practice Facility after lightning was detected in the vicinity about midway through the two-and-a-half hour workout.
The scrimmage featured highlights on both sides of the ball. Appalachian State’s offense amassed 488 yards of offense over 134 snaps, with 338 coming through the air. However, the defense allowed only 3.6 yards per play, including just 2.4 yards per rush, and forced five turnovers. Of the offense’s 134 snaps, the defense surrendered only three plays of more than 15 yards.
Senior quarterback Jamal Londry-Jackson completed 27-of-36 passes without an interception for 200 yards. He tossed two touchdown passes — an 11-yarder to redshirt freshman tight end Barrett Burns and a 14-yarder to sophomore running back Ricky Fergerson.
Backup signal-caller Kameron Bryant completed his first seven passes of the afternoon but struggled a bit down the stretch, finishing 11-for-23 with two interceptions for 76 yards. Bryant threw a five-yard touchdown pass to redshirt freshman tight end Jacob McCann.
Fourteen different Mountaineers caught passes, led by Sean Price’s team-high nine receptions (for 44 yards) and Tony Washington’s team-best 54 receiving yards, which included a 34-yard catch that accounted for the offense’s longest gain of the afternoon. Burns finished with four catches for 40 yards and two touchdowns — the 11-yarder from Bryant and a nine-yarder from Logan Hallock.
Redshirt freshman Paul Magloire led the Mountaineers with 13 carries and 64 rushing yards. He scored on runs from seven and one yards out. Walk-on true freshman Chris Simpson played in just one series but accounted for all 35 yards (23 rushing, 12 receiving) on the scoring drive, which he capped with a nine-yard touchdown run. True freshman Marcus Cox continued to impress with 41 all-purpose yards (32 rushing, nine receiving).
Redshirt freshman tight ends accounted for four touchdowns in all, as in addition to the touchdown catches by Burns and McCann, Michael Moll recovered a fumble in the end zone for a score.
Defensively, freshmen defensive backs Anthony Covington and T.J. Watkins and junior linebacker Austin Chambers intercepted passes. Chambers also stopped an offensive drive with a forced fumble, as did sophomore defensive back Aaron Krah and Chambers.
Other defensive headliners included senior inside linebacker Karl Anderson, who had two-and-a-half tackles for loss and a sack in the first four series of the afternoon, redshirt freshman defensive end Olawale Dada, who had one-and-a-half sacks and two-and-a-half tackles for loss in the early stages of the scrimmage, and true freshman outside linebacker Kennan Gilchrist, who created havoc in the offensive backfield all afternoon and scooped up a fumble that would have been returned 99 yards for a touchdown had the Mountaineers not been in the confines of the 85-yard long Sofield Facility.
On special teams, Appalachian converted its only field-goal attempts on a 19-yarder by senior Drew Stewart and 31-yarder by sophomore Zach Matics.