It’s tough to judge the quality of a team based on its first scrimmage of camp. And for coach Tom O’Brien, that’s a good thing.
Though some players put up noteworthy statistics, O’Brien said penalties and confusion plagued his team in the contest.
“It was pretty sloppy. I think we had nine offensive penalties, which was no good,” O’Brien said.
In the five man quarterback battle, redshirt junior quarterback Harrison Beck led the way with 111 yards, connecting on 5-6 of his passes. Freshman Mike Glennon received the most snaps of any quarterback in the scrimmage. Glennon did not disappoint, throwing 9-13 for 101 yards and one interception.
O’Brien was not willing to elaborate on whether any quarterback distinguished himself from the rest.
“We have to go back and look. Statistics are statistics, and when you play yourself, you don’t know who’s in there and who’s doing what,” O’Brien said. “We’ve added some credence to it, but it’s not a catch-all-end-all to what they’ve done.”
In the running game, sophomore Curtis Underwood Jr. led all rushers with 57 yards on twelve attempts, edging redshirt junior Jamelle Eugene and senior Andre Brown. Redshirt junior Toney Baker did not compete in the scrimmage, as O’Brien said he will not be hit in practice for “a while” due to his recovering knee. Overall, O’Brien was not impressed with either the running game, or the team’s ability to stop the run.
“Even though we stopped the ball a little better, we still have to run the ball better on offense,” O’Brien said. “We kind of stopped [the run], but we still missed too many tackles, and we’ve got to get that taken care of.”
Luckily for O’Brien and the Pack, the team has time for growth.
“It’s the first effort out of the blocks,” O’Brien said. “We’re still in school. We still have to take exams next Monday and Tuesday. This isn’t like a normal camp — we’re still feeling our way through this thing right now.”
Football Scrimmage Alt Copy
QuarterbacksHarrison Beck 5-6 111 yardsMike Glennon 9-13 101 yards 1 INTJustin Burke 3-6 52 yardsDaniel Evans 4-7 40 yardsRussell Wilson 3-6 20 yards 1 INT
Running BacksCurtis Underwood Jr. 12 attempts 57 yardsAndre Brown 9 attempts 36 yardsJamelle Eugene 8 attempts 22 yards
ReceiversJarvis Williams 5 catches 52 yards Jay Smith 3 catches 40 yardsAndrew Evans 3 catches 36 yards
Field GoalsJosh Czajkowski 4-4 32 yards, 44 yards, 32 yards, 37 yardsBradley Pierson 1-1 36 yards
DefenseRay Michel 6 tackles 1 INTNate Irving 6 tacklesAntoine Holmes 4 tacklesRobbie Leonard 4 tacklesDeAndre Morgan 1 INT
