Defying the saying that defense is generally ahead of offense early in the spring, the Bobcats churned out 600 yards and eight touchdowns on 62 scrimmage plays in the first live scrimmage of the spring. The 9.7 yards-per-play came against a defense hampered by a thin defensive line, but with quarterbacks not protected from full contact it was enough to catch first-year head coach Brent Vigen's attention.
"I thought generally speaking (the quarterbacks) handled that well," he said. "I thought we completed the ball fairly well, especially as the scrimmage went along, and I thought we had the opportunity to make some plays as it went along. So I thought they played better as (the scrimmage progressed). Matt (McKay)had the biggest share of the (quarterback) reps, and it's apparent he can make plays with his athleticism. That showed up. But I felt walking off the field like he made some plays with his arm, as well."
A junior transfer from North Carolina State, McKay completed 10 of his 14 passes for 132 yards and a 34-yard touchdown pass to senior Lance McCutcheon that closed the day's work. Mckay also carried eight times for 30 yards. The other quarterbacks proved adept at moving the ball, as well. Sophomore Casey Bauman finished three-for-four passing for 71 yards with a touchdown, and Tucker Rovig was four-for-five for 43 yards and a touchdown. Freshman Blake Thelen completed three of his four passes for 57 yards and a touchdown, and while Tommy Mellott didn't complete either of his two passes he rushed for 16 yards on two carries.
"It was the opportunity for them to be live," Vigen said of his quarterbacks. "We won't do that often, but it's important that they can function within the confines of not being protected. I thought they handled it well."
The first opportunity to evaluate the running game also proved positive. "I thought the running backs ran hard and broke tackles," he said. "Isaiah (Ifanse) and Jaharie (Martin) in particular (broke tackles). Isaiah is that proven commodity but myself and Coach Housewright hadn't seen that with our own eyes. To see how low he can play to the ground and have a better understanding for how hard he is to bring down, that was apparent on a couple runs today. Elijah Elliott has some open field ability that showed up today."
Ifanse ran for 30 yards on seven carries, while Martin gained 68 on six attempts. McKay galloped for 30 yards, Lane Sumner for 19 (four carries), and Elliott gained 23 yards on six carries. Freshman Minaya Olivo gained 77 yards on three carries, including a 62 yard touchdown, Garrett Coon carried four times for 14 yards, and Col Oster carried once for seven yards.
Vigen said the offense's success begins up front. "Obviously credit has to go to the offensive line," he said. "That takes a little more film dissection to see who stood out there, but it's apparent they must've been doing some things right."
While the defense didn't score or take the ball away from the offense, it did provide highlights. Kyle Rygg logged a sack, while Daniel Hardy, Callahan O'Reilly and Nolan Askelson also made tackles on plays behind the line of scrimmage. James Campbell, who has converted from receiver to cornerback, registered a pass breakup.
"I think the guys competed well, it was relatively clean," he said. "From an offensive perspective they didn't turn the ball over, the defense certainly got some stops, we got our situational work in whether that was third down or red zone, goal line. Special teams-wise our specialists stepped it up with their opportunity. It certainly gives us a baseline nine practices in, and it will be interesting to see how much better, how improved we are, next Saturday. But this is that initial benchmark of playing 11-on-11 football for the better part of a practice."
Each of the offensive units showed positive signs on Saturday. McKay moved the first offense to the 37-yard line going in on the first possession, but a tackle-for-loss by O'Reilly set up a third-and-15 situation. After McKay found Coy Steel for 13 yards to set up fourth-and-two, the defense forced an incompletion to turn the ball over. On the next offensive possession, Bauman fired across his body on the run and found grad transfer receiver Nate Stewart for a 32-yard touchdown.
After the defense forced a punt in a series divided between McKay and Bauman, Tucker Rovig threw and eight-yard touchdown pass to Treyton Pickering. Later in the day, Ifanse rambled 15 yards for a touchdown, emphatically breaking a tackle, while Martin scored on an impressive 19-yard run on series later. Elijah Elliott scored a touchdown on a third-and-goal from the one, and then Thelen found Logan Kleinhans behind the defense for a 53-yard score. On the day's final possession, McKay threw a 34-yard scoring strike to Lance McCutcheon.
With schemes installed on both sides of the line of scrimmage, Vigen said the focus during his team's second-to-last week of spring drills moves to cleaning up execution and playing fast. "Learning new schemes is mostly in the rear view now," he said. "By no means do we have everything down, but you hope that guys are going out every day and playing faster where they're not having to think. They've been in situations, they've had certain calls, whether it be offense, defense, special teams, and it'll be interesting to see what the film looks like, how many guys were held back because they were thinking too much or because they didn't communicate well enough. That's always (something) that in the first scrimmage that might reveal itself a little bit, so you hope you continue to clean up the assignments, the communication."
In evaluating play from Saturday's scrimmage and pointing toward next weekend's second live session, Vigen said making plays becomes a central theme. "From a technical perspective we won't tackle hardly at all through the course of the week but then we'll come out (and play live) again on Saturday. When plays are there to be made, whether that's a running back on a linebacker or a receiver versus a DB on a ball up in the air, the quarterbacks making those throws, who's going to emerge as playmakers? That's what we need to continue to learn about this outfit on both sides of the football."
The Bobcats return to the practice field Tuesday and Thursday this week, before scrimmaging on Saturday. Spring drills end with the Sonny Holland Classic on April 24.
STATISTICS
RUSHING: Jaharie Martin 6-68-1, Isaiah Ifanse 7-30-1, Matt McKay 8-30, Lane Sumner 4-19, Casey Bauman 2-10, Elijah Elliott 6-23-1, Garrett Coon 4-14, Minaya Olivo 3-77-1, Cole Oster 1-7, Tommy Mellott 2-16, Blake Thelen 1-3. TOTAL – 33-297-4.
PASSING: Matt McKay 10-14-0, 132, 1; Casey Bauman 3-4-0, 71, 1; Tucker Rovig 4-5-0, 43, 1; Blake Thelen 3-4-0, 57, 1; Tommy Mellott 0-2-0. TOTAL – 20-29-0, 303, 4.
RECEIVING: Lance McCutcheon 3-51-1, Nate Stewart 3-65-1, Elijah Elliott 2-30, Derryk Snell 2-24, Logan Kleinhans 1-53-1, Coy Steel 1-13, Jaharie Martin 1-5, Willie Patterson 1-9, Jamahd Monroe 1-29, Treyton Pickering 1-8-1, Lane Sumner 1-8, Ryan Lonergan 1-4, Cole Oster 1-2, Tyrone Marshall 1-2.
DEFENSIVE HIGHLIGHTS: Sacks – Kyle Rygg 1 for -11. Other Tackles-for-loss – Calahan O'Reilly 1 for -5, Nolan Askelson 1 for -2, Daniel Hardy 1 for -6. Pass Breakups – James Campbell 1.
KICKING: PATs – Luke Pawlak 1-1, Blake Glessner 1-1. FIELD GOALS – Luke Pawlak 1-1, 37 yards; Blake Glessner 1-1, 37 yards. PUNTING – Bryce Leighton 2-81, 40.5 avg.
PENALTIES: Offense – 2 for 10 yards. Defense – 1 for 5 yards.
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