University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Football Concludes Bye Week Practice On Fun Note
11/20/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - The Southern Miss football team took to the game field at M.M. Roberts Stadium for the final practice of the bye week. The team practiced for just over two hours mixing in reps and offense vs. defense contests set up by head coach Todd Monken.
"We surrounded the team work with a little bit of competition," Monken said of the high energy practice. "We had a little fun with it. Coaches got involved. Players got involved. We told them if they went through this today and did a good job, which they did, we would give them Friday off. We went with the pads on today and got some good work in. Our guys will be off tomorrow; off Saturday; and come back on Sunday."
The contests in between team periods consisted of a punting competition, punt catching contest, field goal competition and a catch and pass defense competition.
The first competition of the day pitted the running backs against the linebackers in a punting contest. Daythan Davis started things off for the offense with a punt of approximately 22 yards. Ta'Dren Kennedy earned a point for the defense getting a leg into a 30-yard punt. George Payne followed with a punt of about 25-30 yards to defeat Justin Penn whose kick landed behind him. In the deciding round, Tez Parks boomed a 50-yard punt to defeat Alan Howze and earn a victory for the offense.
"It was like night and day," Monken jokingly said of the punting styles of Penn and Parks. "It is like the North Pole and the South Pole. You had one guy that kicked it minus five and one guy that kicked it 50. Big difference."
The coaches took to the field for the second competition of the day - a punt catching contest. In the first round, all six coaches selected to compete caught the punts with ease. In the sudden death overtime, Monken instructed the coaches that the catch had to be with one hand.
Defensive coordinator David Duggan made the one-handed grab look easy, putting pressure on offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey. The OC matched the efforts of his defensive counterpart continuing the contest. Defensive line coach Derrick LeBlanc failed to make the one-handed grab, opening the door for offensive line coach Luke Meadows. The offensive line coach fielded the ball with his right hand, but shifted the ball to his left hand to maintain the catch. Since he was ruled to have used both hands, play continued. Safeties coach Pete Golding and wide receivers coach John Wozniak both made the catches look easy, forcing another sudden death round.
In the second overtime, defensive graduate assistant Matt Kitchens went head-to-head with his offensive counterpart Grant Garner. Despite laying out for the ball, Kitchens was unable to make the catch and Garner ended the event with a grab.
The defense got on the scoreboard in the field goal kicking competition as wide receivers squared off against defensive backs. The event ended early as Jacorius Cotton and Emmanuel Johnson both connected from 30-yards out, while Markese Triplett and Michael Thomas both were off the mark. James Cox and Urell Johnson, who were both on deck, were not called upon to kick.
The final event of the day had offensive linemen running pass patterns against defensive linemen. Fred Moore made a good double move off of the line of scrimmage, but Adam Williams was there for the pass breakup, giving the defense a point. Michael Smith was called for pass interference against Cameron Tom to even the score at one point apiece. On the play, Meadows gave quarterback Cole Weeks an atomic elbow for seemingly leading the receiver too much.
In the final match-up of the day, Bradley Nugent squared off with Nick Carlis. Nugent cut to the inside before making a double move back to the outside. Nugent made the catch and proceeded to run to the sidelines. The Wisconsin native did a Lambeau Leap onto the stadium wall as teammates all cheered.
"Nugent surprised me," Monken said of his offensive lineman's ball skills. "Coach Duggan surprised me with his ball skills. It was good."
When asked about Nugent's Lambeau Leap, Monken simply stated, "I thought he had no chance."
Southern Miss football returns to practice on Sunday evening in preparation of the season finale against Conference-USA rival UAB. Kickoff between the Golden Eagles and Blazers is slated for 2:30 p.m.
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