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Scott Deke tossed 2 TD passes Saturday. |
The action at Scott Stadium on Saturday may only have been an extension of spring practice and not an actual game, but the scrimmage style exhibition proved entertaining for fans of the passing offense. The Cavaliers attempted 70 passes on a day that obviously highlighted quarterbacks, tight ends, and receivers.
Why the pass-happy afternoon? Only three running backs on the roster were available for significant snaps – Rashawn Jackson , Max Milien, and Raynard Horne . That meant Scott Deke , Marc Verica , and Peter Lalich became the focus of the offense. After a closest-to-the-number game of roulette to determine the order for the day (Deke’s choice of No. 27 gave him the right to go first, while Verica edged out Lalich in round two), the quarterbacks combined to complete 42 of 70 passes for 358 yards.
Cavalier coach Al Groh, who stood behind the players on the offensive side, liked what he saw from the QBs for the most part.
“I’m interested in, besides the completion or the result of the throw, whether the quarterback was seeing the picture the way it should unfold on a particular pattern. On many occasions, the quarterbacks did a real good job of seeing it open up the way that it should,” Groh said.
Though the defense did throw in a few wrinkles, those reads for the quarterbacks were not overly complicated (despite the pass-heavy offense, for example, the D did not play its sub nickel and dime packages). With that said, Deke looked comfortable in directing the offense and choosing the open target. He completed 17 of 23 passes for 160 yards and two touchdowns. Verica had similar numbers. He completed 17 of 25 attempts for 110 yards and one touchdown.
Lalich, meanwhile, had a tough afternoon in terms of statistics; he connected on just 6 of 18 attempts for 72 yards with 3 interceptions. The first pick may tell Lalich’s hard-luck story of the day, though. Lalich uncorked a deep pass to Dontrelle Inman on a sideline pattern along the visiting sidelines. The ball hit Inman in stride after traveling 43 yards in the air, but safety Matt Leemhuis closed at the last minute and seemed to snatch the ball out of Inman’s hands. Two of Lalich’s three interceptions were on bobbles by receivers.
“I thought the ball was caught and apparently the people in the stands did too. My only guess on it is that he took the ball right off his hands,” Groh said. “That’s the kind of ball we’d like to come down with for sure. It’s great to see that play made on defense, but looking at it from an offensive standpoint and firepower on offense, that was right on the fringe of being an exciting play and probably should have been for the offense.”
Regardless of numbers and spring scrimmage performances, Groh (who noted that trying to base conclusions on spring game numbers is “fooling yourself”), said the quarterback battle would continue into fall camp with all three players in contention for the starting nod.
“We’re trying to coach all three in order to determine the No. 1,” Groh said. “We probably haven’t had many spring practices where we had three quarterbacks perform to the level collectively that the three did today. At this point, we would access that as being a positive.”
The other half of the equation on a day with 70 passing attempts, of course, is the receiving end. Redshirt freshman Kris Burd hauled in 7 passes for 64 yards, showing off some solid route-running skills and good hands in the process. Redshirt freshman tight end Andrew Devlin had 6 catches for 58 yards and 1 touchdown. Cary Koch rounded out the big number players with 4 receptions for 66 yards.
Kevin Ogletree (3 for 22), Rashawn Jackson (3 for 11), Staton Jobe (3 for 39, 1 TD), Joe Torchia (2 for 17), Jared Green (2 for 18), and Dontrelle Inman (2 for 15) all had multiple catches as well. Maurice Covington , John Phillips (1 TD), Matt Snyder, Max Milien, and Zach Mendez-Zfass each had one reception as well.
Captains & Rock Weir Winners
Prior to the start of the scrimmage action, the 2008 team captains and Rock Weir Award winners were announced. Notably, senior tight end John Phillips made both lists, something he was pleased to learn. Phillips had 17 catches last season for 193 yards and two touchdowns.
“It’s incredible. I feel very honored that my teammates selected me,” Phillips said. “It’s a prestigious honor and I’m grateful that they decided to vote me in.”
“John Phillips had a great spring in every respect,” Groh said. “He had a terrific spring, which was obviously noticed by his teammates too.”
Along with Phillips, the other captains selected by the team were senior running back Cedric Peerman , senior linebacker Clint Sintim , and junior corner Vic Hall. Groh said there is a good mix of vocal and lead-by-example players in the quartet.
Joining Phillips as Rock Weir winners were redshirt freshman tackle Landon Bradley and junior linebacker Denzel Burrell . Bradley logged significant time at left tackle this spring with Eugene Monroe out following shoulder surgery.
“Landon Bradley had a very active spring. … He took an awful lot of snaps over there at left tackle. He made significant process from day one to the end,” Groh said. “With a very positive attitude, he took advantage of the opportunity as opposed to ‘Oh man, this is just wearing me out or I don’t get any break.’ He’s really grasped the opportunity. … Even if it doesn’t show this year, it will clearly give him an advantage as he ascends to a major game-time player.”
Burrell, a 6-4, 230-pound New Jersey product, appeared in all 13 games last season, but he saw limited action other than special teams. He did make an impact on kickoffs where he was fifth on the team with five kickoff coverage tackles and he fumbled a Pittsburgh fumble in that role as well that set up a touchdown. Burrell had a sack against Duke early in the year.
“Last year, Denzel was a try-hard player that it was questionable whether he could do much other than play special teams. He did a nice job from start to finish,” Groh said. “He’s a player that’s clearly gotten a much better sense of how to play the position.”
Stay tuned throughout the week as The Sabre wraps up the spring football season with several storylines from the Spring Football Festival.
