Tight ends, offensive line stand out in team scrimmage Saturday
The play of the tight ends and continued solid effort by the offensive line brought a smile to the face of Tennessee Tech head coach Watson Brown following Saturday's 77-play scrimmage in Tucker Stadium.
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Reflecting on his team’s 77-play scrimmage Saturday afternoon, veteran Tennessee Tech football coach Watson Brown found several reasons to smile.
Among those factors are the continued strong play from the offensive line, the clutch play from his tight ends, and the developing confidence throughout the entire squad.
“I’m really starting to see them believe in themselves,” Brown said following the sun-splashed effort that featured 529 yards by the offense with three touchdowns and four field goals, and two interceptions by the defense that would likely have been returned for touchdowns had the plays been whistled dead.
“They need to know that they can beat any team in this league.” Brown said. “They need to believe in themselves, and we’re starting to see that. It’s a team game, but the team is still made up of individuals, and the more poised and comfortable each player becomes in his role, the better the team becomes.”
Three tight ends (Dakota Rushing, Demetris Watson and Cory Malone) combined to grab six passes for 72 yards, four of them gaining first down yardage and a going fifth for a touchdown, a four-yard catch by Watson.
“The tight ends made some huge plays,” Brown said. “How the tight ends have looked has been one of the most pleasant happenings this spring. I’d say tight ends and the offensive line play has been right there among the best things this spring as far as most improved aspects of our team.”
Behind that spark from the offensive line, the Golden Eagle offense was on fire to open the scrimmage behind all three quarterbacks.
Jared Davis marched the team 65 yards on five consecutive pass completions, two to Krys Cates, one to Watson, and two to Brock McCoin, including a 16-yard play that the redshirt freshman took to paydirt.
The second series of the afternoon saw newcomer Colby Brown move the team 65 yards in just two plays for another score. That drive included a 17-yard toss to Tyler Harrell and a 48-yard TD run by Radir Annoor behind a key block from Gage Terry.
Next up in the pocket was redshirt freshman Ty Jobe, and he guided his unit 65 yards in nine plays, overcoming a false start penalty on the second snap of the possession. Ladarius Vanlier found a seam for the final yard and the touchdown.
“It was pretty,” Brown said. “When we get hot, we do look pretty. A lot of that was the first offensive line. They’ve been solid all spring.
Brown said the group includes Charles Mouton at center, Brett Dillard and Jibrin Linge at the guards, and Charles Rutledge and William Chatmon at the tackles. He added that freshman Chandler Nelson is getting “real close to fighting for a starting spot at tackle, and Gage Terry is getting better and better.”
While the tight ends and offensive line got his attention, Brown felt the overall improvement in the team reaches to every position.
“We are getting better. Each group of players, by position, is getting better. I can see that. They are improving,” he said.
The goal during this scrimmage, the team’s first in two weeks due to a weekend break for Easter, is the same for Brown’s staff – evaluate players.
“It’s the same thing this week as we do every spring,” Bown said. “We want to find players. We’re still hunting our first- and second-teams, our special teams. This group (of returning players) is getting the opportunity to show us what they can do. This summer we’ll bring in another 20 or so players, and they’ll have the chance to show us what they can do.”
One position where that opportunity was evident on Saturday was at linebacker, where expected starters Tra’Darius Goff and Jay Rudwall didn’t see any action.
“We’ve got to find another level of linebackers.” Brown said. “There are some guys we already know what they can do, so we’ve pulled them out for the most part to give us a chance to look at others. It’s all about evaluation right now.”
Among the players taking advantage of that opportunity at linebacker, according to Brown, are Trey Thompson, Jonathan Coleman, Lenier Lee, Robert Hill Bronson, and Elliott Normand.
BY THE NUMBERS
The offense ran off 77 plays, accounting for 529 total yards. The passing game was 30-for-41 for 323 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Tech rushed for 206 yards on 36 carries with two touchdowns.
The offense did not fumble the ball, but did turn it over twice on interceptions. Jimmy Laughlin picked off a pass by Brown over the middle at the one-yard line and raced through traffic on a romp that would likely have netted all 99 yards if the return wasn’t whistled dead. The second was an interception by freshman Josh Poplar on a pass from Jobe. Poplar also weaved through traffic for what was a 42-yard touchdown.
Davis was 14-for-21 for 150 yards passing with two touchdowns without an interception. Brown, who completed his first seven passes, went 6-for-7 for 111 yards with one interception. Jobe comleted his first six passes and finished 6-for-7 for 62 yards with one interception on his final attempt.
Annoor was the top ground gainer with 64 yards on just three carries, while Willie Davis added 49 yards on six carries. Vanlier saw limited action, finishing with four carries for 18 yards and a touchdown.
Harrell caught nearly everything thrown his way to lead Tech with five catches for 71 yards, while Cates added five catches for 61 yards. McCoin had five catches for 45 yards including a touchdown, while Watson had four catches for 37 yards and one TD.
John Arnold connected on all three PAT kicks and made all four of his field goals tries. Josh Harris added a PAT but missed a 43-yard field goal that went wide right.
Defensively, Jordan Patrick also saw limited play, flushing the quarterback from the pocket twice. Defensive linemen who registered quarterback sacks were Chris McElderry, Preston Reed, Joe Robertson, and Mike Cain. The sacks by Reed and Cain were instrumental in halting a drive and forcing the long field goal attempt that missed.
The defense also came up big on the final drive of the day, holding when the offense faced first-and-goal from the nine and forcing Arnold to kick his fourth field goal of the afternoon.
The team will be on the field twice next week for practice sessions Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, and wrap up spring drills on Saturday with the annual Purple vs. Gold Spring Scrimmage. The event is free and open to the public, and will begin at 1:30 p.m.
Following the scrimmage, the team will hold its annual Awards Dinner at 5 p.m. to recognize outstanding performers from the 2014 season.
