The Football CATS had their second spring scrimmage today. Quarterbacks got some playing time and the defense needs some work (everything needs work in the spring). The first team offense played against the first team defense and the second team units against one another. They practiced a while with the Offense taking the ball on the other teams 30yrd line and then ran some short field scenarios at the other end of the field. [URL=”http://lex18.com”]WLEX [/URL]did a great job with a summary of the game, so let’s take a look….
[QUOTE]”The offense started off fast, all three of our quarterbacks did some really good things,” Phillips said. [B]”I’m really pleased with what I’m seeing at wide receiver, catching the ball (by) big, physical guys. [/B]We have to do a better job on the perimeter blocking at wide receiver. We should be better at blocking because of our big bodies because I think we have some really nice backs.
[B]”Defensively, the thing we did not do is get ourselves off the field on third down and a lot of that had to do with our tackling,[/B] especially in the secondary, we have to be better tacklers. Some guys who still continue to progress are Tristian Johnson (defensive end) and Mark Crawford (defensive tackle). I’m really pleased with what Collins Ukwu is doing (at defensive end) and Qua Huzzie (linebacker). Those four guys continue to show up and we still have (linebacker) Danny Trevathan, who shows up a lot, we know he can play. We just have to get more guys around the football and be able to tackle.”[/QUOTE]
It’s great to hear that all the Quarterbacks are doing well. It seems Hartline has been given the early lead and I’m still not sure how I feel about that. I completely understand and agree that he does a tremendous job “managing” the game. I just feel that by managing the game to that degree actually takes his team out of the game.
[QUOTE]Hartline opened the scrimmage by moving the first-team offense to the 17-yard line before the defense stiffened and Ryan Tydlacka converted a 35-yard field goal. The big play on the drive was a 26-yard scramble by Hartline, showing that he has recovered his mobility after missing almost all of the last eight games of the 2009 season because of an injured knee. On his next series, Hartline drove the second team to paydirt with a 27-yard touchdown run by tailback Donald Russell, who also had a 33-yard pass reception during the drive.
Hartline played just three series on the day, none during the short-field portion of the scrimmage.[/QUOTE]Did I catch that right? Did they just say that Hartline ran for 26yrds?! WOW! That’s good to hear. I just hope he can keep it up. We must have a play-maker in the QB Spot (just my opinion 😉 )
[QUOTE]Newton drove the first team to a touchdown on his first action, with the TD coming on a two-yard pass to wide receiver Chris Matthews. Newton had two excellent scrambles on that possession, good for 14 and 17 yards. Newton then drove the second team to a touchdown, capped by his own seven-yard scoring scamper. Two passes to wide receiver Matt Roark covered much of the territory on that series.[/QUOTE]Scramble and Scamper…. Can you really say that a 217lb Sophmore “scampers”.
[QUOTE]”Mike continues to play really well,” Phillips said. “He’s ahead of those guys mainly because of knowledge. He has a lot of seasoning. Morgan got us in the end zone a little more today than the other quarterbacks. I really like what he did in moving himself around. The thing he did today was pull the ball down and run for a lot of yards, make something positive when we were covered downfield. That’s the thing he has to do because he’s the type of guy who can make things happen with his legs.
“He (Mossakowski) seemed comfortable today and he made some good plays, too. He didn’t get us in the end zone as much but he continues to progress. I’m really pleased with all three of them, the way they’re playing. We’ve put a huge emphasis on throwing the football this spring and it’s showing, it is definitely showing, because we’re completing passes.”[/QUOTE]When it comes to Newton and Hartline, this sounds a lot like last season. Morgan Newton is going to get you in the end zone more and it seems like he is definitely successful when it comes to making something out of nothing.
Thats what Newton demonstrated last season. He has a nose for getting the ball in the end zone.!
Man, I’m looking forward to next Saturday. We plan on having an NOB Tailgate, and we would love to have everyone stop by to say hi. We have some pretty exciting stuff happening right now, so stay tuned as we get ready for Football Season. GO CATS!!!
I’ll leave you with this video of Marcus McClinton’s Live performance of the “Believe” song that played before every football game a few years ago. This video is EXTRA Special, because he targets UofL throughout the song (this was filmed before the UofL game in 2007) I get chills every time I listen to it!
[youtube_sc width=430 url=JludjQThzXk]
