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Quickie Jersey Scrimmage Report
By John Porentas

In what most would call at least a mild upset, the defense won the jersey scrimmage, and the right to wear the scarlet jerseys at practice, by a score of 68-65.

The-Ozone will have a more detailed report later today and tomorrow, but here are our quick impressions of the scrimmage.

1) The offense ran a very vanilla offense. At times, it almost appeared that the coaching staff was not particularly concerned about putting up points.

2) While the game lacked artistry, at least offensively, there was impressive hitting throughout the game. The game was very spirited and remarkably free of glaring errors.

3) None of the quarterbacks were particularly impressive, but none were horrible either. Some of that has to be put on the game plan (or lack of it) as well as the fact that several key offensive linemen did not participate in the scrimmage. Kirk Barton was held out while he recovers from a minor injury, and Doug Datish has not played at all this spring. That made for some patchwork offensive line groups.

4) At tailback, Maurice Wells, Chris Wells and Eric Haw all saw considerable action, and all three looked good. Chris Wells ran with power and consistently fell forward for yardage. He also showed good speed for a big back. Maurice Wells appears to be an improved back. He is very quick and runs with authority. Eric Haw had the longest run of the day, a 71-yard touchdown scamper that came against the third-team defense.

5) Defensively, there were several standouts. Alex Barrow made a number of plays from his defensive end position, but the offensive line, as noted above, was not exactly intact. Larry Grant made some big hits, particularly in goal-line situations. Curtis Terry was very impressive and made plays all day. The player who seemed to make the most big plays was defensive back Anderson Russell, who just seems to have the knack of being where the action is and making a play. Andre Amos also looked very solid. At linebacker, Ross Holman also stood out as a playmaker and recorded an interception in the game.

6) The most impressive passing play of the game was a touchdown pass from Troy Smith to Anthony Gonzalez. ON the play, however, Gonzalez was hit in the endzone and suffered a concussion. Gonzalez did not return to the scrimmage and said after the game that he did not remember the play nor most of the scrimmage prior to that play.

7) The big hit of the day was made by corner Mike Roberts who just leveled freshman wide receiver Brian Harline.

8) The closest thing to a negative that came out of the scrimmage was that Chris Wells put the ball on the ground about three times and lost one fumble.

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