Eagles End Spring Football Practice

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Eagles End Spring Football Practice

Hattiesburg, Miss. - The Southern Miss football Golden Eagles put the finishing touches on spring work Wednesday with a

two-hour scrimmage that saw the defense play a dominant role.

It also was a workout that left Head Coach Jeff Bower in a positive frame of mind as he and his staff prepare to enjoy some

well-deserved time away from the practice field. "We didn't practice well defensively Tuesday," he said. "We had a good day

offensively Tuesday, and it was good to see the defense come out and play with a lot of enthusiasm today. It was good to see

some of our younger players step up and play well."

During the scrimmage, that defense came up with one interception, by defensive back Pierre Hutchins, and a total of 14

sacks, including two by linebacker Skylor Magee. The defense also limited the offense to just one touchdown during the

scrimmage, a 45-yard pass from Zac White to Kenneth Johnson, who finished the afternoon with a pair of catches for 58

yards. White completed 10-of-18 passes for 96 yards.

His running mate at quarterback, Micky D'Angelo, completed 10 of 23 for 74 yards and threw the interception. "I think that

because of Jeff Kelly's injury, we got both our quarterbacks more quality work this week," said Bower. "I thought both of

them had solid springs, and that Micky really made a lot of progress during our last couple of workouts."

In the running game, Dawayne Woods led the way with 76 yards on 13 carries and Derrick Nix added 38 yards on 11 carries

and caught three passes to add to his yardage total. Eleven receivers caught at least one pass Wednesday. In addition to

Johnson's two, Greg James caught three for 23 yards.

"Nix ran the ball well," said Bower. "I don't think he's quite back to where he was, but I know he'll work hard over

the summer and come back in here in great shape. He ran the ball well throughout the spring, in some ways as well

as I've seen him run.

"We also got a lot of quality work done in the kicking game this spring. We found out a lot about our personnel

there, a lot we normally don't find out until the fall, so that's a positive."

Bower says the spring was an unqualified success. "I think sometimes you can scrimmage too much and not teach

fundamentals," he said. "We tried to do a lot of both this spring, primarily because of our youth. We just felt like it

was important that we put a lot of these guys in positions where they'll have to play, and because of that, we

scrimmaged more than we have in recent springs."

The Eagles now put the pads away until August when fall workouts, and preparation for the 2001 season get under

way. Southern Miss is scheduled to open the season Sept. 1, at home, against Oklahoma State, the first of five

home games for Bower and company.

on the upper levels. Ten Dollar tickets are available in the high rows of the

University of Southern Mississippi Athletics