University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Golden Eagle Scrimmage Pleases Bower
3/30/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
Golden Eagle Scrimmage Pleases Bower
HATTIESBURG, Miss. ? Southern Miss moved past the halfway point of spring football workouts with a 136-play, two-hour-plus Sunday scrimmage that left Head Coach Jeff Bower in a much better frame of mind than previous spring scrimmages.
"We got in a lot of snaps today, and we're anxious to evaluate and critique the tape to see where we are," Bower said. "We probably had a good day defensively today, especially with the first unit. We've got to get better with the second unit though. Offensively, we've put in a lot, in only eight days, and while we had some mental mistakes, we also made some big plays.
"We're thin at some positions and have some guys who need to be practicing, but as long as we keep coming out and working hard, we'll be all right."
Bower announced that senior defensive end Seante Williams had an emergency appendectomy Saturday and will miss the remainder of the spring. In addition, senior wide receiver Kenny Johnson is scheduled for ACL knee surgery Monday, to repair an injury he suffered in a midweek workout. Several other players, including wide receiver Marvin Young, missed Sunday's workout. That workout also was the eighth of 15 allowed in the spring as the Eagles work toward an April 12, spring game.
Sunday's scrimmage sent the No. 1 offense against the No. 1 defense and the No. 2 offense against the No. 2 defense most of the day, and there were bright spots on both sides. As Bower noted, the defense had at least 14 sacks, including three by Akeem Lockett and a pair by All-American Rod Davis. Greg Brooks came up with the only interception of the day, off a Micky D'Angelo pass.
D'Angelo, working primarily with the No. 1 offense, completed 11-of-20 passes for 90 yards and threw sone touchdown, a 30-yarder to Rocky Harrison. Dustin Almond hit on 8-of-26, but those were good for 144 yards and a pair of touchdowns, a 60-yarder to Pedi Causey, and a 40-yarder to DaRon Lawrence. Causey finished with five catches for 92 yards. James Walley and Adam Hurst had three catches each.
Ryan Earnest led all rushers with 10 carries for 70 yards. Walley added 48 yards on 20 carries, and Steel Adams had another 23 yards on five carries.
The Eagles resume workouts Wednesday and will work Friday, Saturday and Sunday, leaving just two practices remaining the following week, prior to the 1 p.m., Black and Gold Spring Game in Roberts Stadium.
