University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss Concludes Second Week of Practice With Scrimmage
8/21/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Southern Miss Concludes Second Week of Practice With Scrimmage HATTIESBURG, Miss.
The scrimmage saw the first, second, and third team offenses, square off against their defensive counterparts. The Golden Eagles also worked in the two-minute offense, goal line situations, and on special teams.
Southern Miss Head Football Coach Jeff Bower wasn?t too pleased with the scrimmage.
"It was okay, but not good enough," Bower said. "I wasn?t as pleased as I wanted to be. I thought we were soft and didn?t have much enthusiasm. We need to be more physical.
"We made too many turnovers, and we made a lot of poor decisions at quarterback throwing the football," Bower continued. "We missed some open guys and didn?t throw the ball well at all. We also had a poor day in the kicking game."
While there were areas that were cause for concern, Bower did see some bright spots.
"We ran the ball well," Bower said. "Our punt coverage also was good."
The running game again had a good day as three runners -- Anthony Harris, Larry Thomas and Cody Hull -- each gained more than 60 yards on the ground. Hull paced all players with 91 yards on 12 carries, while Thomas followed with 80 yards on 16 rushes. Harris gained 65 yards on 13 rushes. Tony Miner added five carries for 23 yards, and Thomas Jackson had two gains for 20 yards. Bobby Weakley picked up 13 yards on four carries, and quarterback Travis Clark added nine yards on three carries and had the lone rushing touchdown of the day.
The passing attack struggled on the day with the four quarterbacks combining for just seven completions on 26 attempts. Dustin Almond completed 2-of-7 passes and also had a 30-yard touchdown to Antwon Courington. Jeremy Young finished 3-of-8 for 70 yards and threw two interceptions. Clark added two completions for 16 yards on eight throws, and Damion Carter had three pass attempts.
Chris Rhoden led all players with two catches for 60 yards, while Courington had a 30-yard touchdown catch. Kelcey Winters and Hull both had one catch for 16 and 10 yards, respectively.
Defensively, Dustin Danzie led the team with four solos and one assist. Trevis Coley added four, while Dillon Cleckler had three solos and an assist. Kevis Coley and Darrell Bennett added three tackles each, while Naton Stewart and Nate Young each had two tackles.
Jasper Faulk, Howard Overby, and James Nelson each had interceptions, with Overby returning his for 23 yards, while Faulk had an 18-yard return. Nelson recorded his interception in the end zone.
Robert Henderson had a sack for three yards, a fumble recovery and a pass breakup.
Trevis Coley and Clecker each had sacks, Coley for seven yards, and Cleckler for five yards. Kevis Coley forced a fumble, while Tom Johnson had a one-yard tackle for a loss.
During the special teams period, Faulk opened up with a 91-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, and Thomas added a 27-yard return. Marvin Young had an 80-yard punt return, and John Eubanks also returned a punt for one yard. Luke Johnson had two punts for a 46-yard average, and Britt Barefoot tallied two kicks for an average of 41.5 yards.
The team has been hampered by injury in the first two weeks of practice, and several players were held out of the scrimmage. Sophomore wide receiver Anthony Perine (bruised shoulder), senior running back Sherron Moore (shoulder), redshirt senior wide receiver DaRon Lawrence (ACL), freshman Gerald McRath (shoulder), sophomore Caleb Hendrix (knee), redshirt freshman Jared Parten (shoulder), and redshirt senior defensive end LeVon Pears (Achilles) all did not participate on Saturday. Bower did say he expected Pears to return to the field on Monday, which also is the first day of classes.
Following the scrimmage, the Golden Eagles and Head Coach Jeff Bower stayed and signed autographs for approximately 3,000 youth football players and parents as part of the annual "Meet the Eagles" day. The youth players from the Mississippi Youth Football Association also were on campus for their league's weigh-in.
