Pouncer the Tiger Unofficial fan site for the University of Memphis and the greatest mascot in college sports.

Tiger Offense Scores in First Scrimmage At The Liberty Bowl 8/19/08

gotigersgo.cstv.com

hallfb.jpegMEMPHIS, TENN. - The Tigers held their first full-scale scrimmage at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Monday. The workout lasted around an hour and a half and the scrimmage of 83 plays also included several field goal attempts.

“I thought we did some good things today,” said head coach Tommy West. “We need to continue to work tempo offensively. I thought we didn’t start with great tempo, but we ended up with good tempo at the end.”

The offense came up with some big plays during the workout, including a 43-yard touchdown from Arkelon Hall to Maurice Jones. Jones led the receiving corps with four receptions for 73 yards and two touchdowns. He also had a 10-yard touchdown grab seven plays prior to his long reception for a score.

Steven Black led the group in receptions with five, totaling 53 yards. He had long receptions of 11 yards and 22 yards tossed by Will Hudgens in the same series. Incoming freshman Marcus Rucker had a strong scrimmage with two catches for 40 yards and a score. He caught a 25-yard touchdown pass from Hudgens on the 68th play of the workout. He showed some strength in hauling in the ball off a jump ball with defender Clay Lee. Rucker’s 15-yard reception was from freshman Tyler Bass who worked the final six plays under center.

“Our wideouts looked awful good catching the ball,” said West. “I thought Marcus Rucker brought something to the table today. He is going to be a really good player. I thought our quarterbacks were okay. Not good enough to win I didn’t think again today, and we still have work to do there to be good enough to help us win. We can’t overthrow balls there in the endzone.”

Hall completed 12 of 20 passes for 130 yards and two touchdowns, while Hudgens completed 9 of 16 attempts for 122 yards and a score. Bass was 3-of-4 for 25 yards. Hudgens, who was working with the twos, had some difficulty during his drives as the snaps were a bit erratic. Several were snapped over his head and resulted in lost yardage.

On the ground, University of Miami transfer Charlie Jones led the charge with three carries for 28 yards, followed by Curtis Steele who had seven carries for 23 yards. Jones had the long run of the day with a 20-yard gain late in the scrimmage.

“I thought our offensive line was better,” West said. “If they will just give our backs a chance, our backs are pretty good. You can see that when Curtis Steele gets a shot, he can be pretty good.”

The scrimmage wasn’t without its defensive highlights as lineman Lester Lawson came up with two tackles for a total loss of 14 yards, including a sack of Hudgens for a five-yard loss. Lawson also broke up a pass attempt by Hall. Greg Terrell and Ricky Holloway both registered sacks, and defensive backs D.A. Griffin, Curtis Echols and Bryan Wright all had pass breakups. Clinton McDonald tallied a TFL for a three-yard loss, and Tommy Walker also had a TFL for minus six yards.

“Defensively, I thought we continued to chase the ball,” said West. “We are starting to play with a little bit more energy. We just need to get some people healthy and get (Michael) Grandberry back and get our people who are going to play in the game.”

Matt Reagan was given the opportunity to kick today and was perfect on all three of his PATs. He missed his first field goal of the day, a 47-yard attempt, but hit all three of his next attempts from 38, 45 and 42. His 42 yarder with the defense taunting him less than five feet away sailed through and ended the scrimmage.

Posted by rakuette | Filed under Football