Defense stifles offense in first scrimmage
March 05, 2005Even though the offense produced five touchdowns, most of today's scrimmage was dominated by defense. The defense had three interceptions, recovered three fumbles and recorded eight sacks against the first and second unit offenses.
"Offensively, we were poor pretty much the whole day," Mike Shula said following the two-hour scrimmage at Bryant Denny Stadium. "Up front, whether or not it was pass blocking, run blocking or assignments, we just had a bad day offensively. We need a lot of improvement offensively."
"I thought defensively the first defense looked really good, and they should. Yet there are still some things they'll see that we need to get better at. The second defense did some good things early, but towards the end it wasn't quite as good."
Starting quarterback Brodie Croyle did not participate in any of the scrimmage work. In place of Croyle, backup John Parker Wilson directed the first offense. Wilson came under immediate fire from the first defense, which sacked the freshman quarterback three times in the first eight plays of the scrimmage.
In his first full-fledged scrimmage, Wilson finished 13 of 23 for 138 yards, with two touchdowns and three interceptions. Wilson's touchdown passes came on a 19-yard toss to Zeke Knight, who went up high to get the ball over Ramzee Robinson. Wilson's second touchdown pass was a 36-yard play to Tyrone Prothro on fourth and 11. Wilson suffered picks by middle linebacker Freddie Roach, cornerback Anthony Madison and defensive end Wallace Gilberry. Gilberry's interception came when defensive end Chris Harris batted a Wilson pass into the air and Gilberry hauled it in. Ramzee Robinson would've had a fourth pick off Wilson if not for wide receiver Keith Brown's stripping the ball from Robinson.
"John Parker Wilson really wasn't as good as he had been earlier in practice," Shula said. "We're throwing a lot of stuff at him. We still think he's going to be a really good quarterback. He's going to get better each and every practice. At that position, you need a lot of experience in scrimmages and in games."
Reserve quarterback Marc Guillon looked as comfortable as he has in a while. The junior was 12 of 21 for 186 yards with two touchdowns and an interception against the second defense. Guillon hooked up with Matt Caddell on a 61-yard scoring pass for the first score of the day. Later, Guillon beat the corner blitz of Simeon Castille to find Zeke Knight on 16-yard scoring toss.
"Ezekial Knight was one guy on the offense that stood out," Shula said. "He continues to get better and better every day."
Freshman tailback Rashad Johnson finished as the leading rusher. He carried five times for 41 yards. One of those carries was a 24-yard touchdown scamper. That was the only rushing touchdown in the scrimmage
"We need a lot of work at the position," Shula said of the running backs. "We won't even know who's [going to be] on the field until fall practice [when the freshmen arrive]. These guys that are here now are getting opportunities to show us what they can do. But we feel like we've got some guys coming in that can provide some competition. And we've got two guys [Kenneth Darby and Tim Castille] that are still hurt that we've got to get healthy."
Defensively, tackle Rudy Griffin led with five tackles, including two sacks for a loss of 10 yards and a tackle for a loss of one yard. Defensive end Wallace Gilberry chipped in with four tackles, a sack for a loss of eight yards, an interception and a pass break up. Sophomore outside linebacker Marcel Stamps had five tackles and recovered two fumbles inside the defense's five-yard line.
"When we played our best defense last year we were getting 11 guys to the ball," Shula said. "We saw a lot of that today. The aggressiveness and the guys playing with confidence, you could see out here in the scrimmage."
Not much praise from Kines
Even though his defense stifled the offense, Joe Kines didn't go overboard handing out praise following the scrimmage.
"We did some good things," Kines said. "I thought the effort was good all day long. Kids ran to the ball well early. The most disappointing thing was that our intensity comes up and down. We don't seem to hold our intensity level. We've got to get better at that."
"You brag on somebody right now and say they played well, and then you go back and look at the tape and you see they played like crap all except for one play," Kines said, when asked which individuals stood out.
Connelly not pleased
The first offensive line got off on a bad note when right guard Antoine Caldwell rolled an ankle in individual work prior to the scrimmage. Offensive line coach Bob Connelly said that Caldwell should be able to return to practice next Tuesday.
Connelly is trying to find three new starters up front at left tackle, left guard and right guard. Today, Bama lined up with Chris Capps and Kyle Tatum at the tackle spots, Justin Moon and Mark Sanders at the guards and J.B. Closner at center.
"I was not pleased. I did not think we played very well today," Connelly said. "We [played] too high and weren't finishing blocks. The urgency is not there right now. We've got to play faster. We've got to play more aggressive. We've got to get better."
"I think overall, schematically, they're starting to understand. Once they get full comprehension, we will look better. That is going to come with time and with reps. But we've got a lot of work to do and I am not pleased with the way we performed today."
A pair of freshmen, Drew Davis at right tackle and Cody Davis at left tackle, worked with the second unit today.
"Drew is not really sure what to do, which is to be expected," Connelly said. "We've put a lot of information on him. There's a lot of thinking going on. But Drew is going to be fine. Athletically, he's as good as anybody we've got. There is no doubt he's going to be a real good player for us, but right now he's just thinking way too much.
"Cody Davis is making strides, but he's still making too many mental mistakes, which I'm not pleased with. I think he's competing better, and when he knows what to do, he's looking better. But he's still hampered a little by an ankle [injury]. He and Chris Capps are not near 100%, and that's the frustrating thing. I don't know how good or how bad we are because neither one of them is 100%. Right now we're not looking very good. I'm hoping it's because we're not 100% and not because we're just not very good."
Wilson had some good plays
Freshman quarterback John Parker Wilson had a fairly rough time in his first outing against Bama's top defense. But Wilson wasn't down.
"I didn't do as well as I liked," he said. "I've got a long ways to go."
Even though Wilson struggled at times, he kept battling and made some things happen. Late in the scrimmage, Wilson showed savvy on a fourth-and-11 by stepping away from pressure, rolling right and lobbing the ball perfectly over safety Charlie Peprah's head to Tyrone Prothro. Prothro juked a few defenders and cut across the field to score on the 36-yard play.
"Prothro was talking to me about not getting the ball enough," Wilson said. "I just kind of rolled out and saw him and I dropped it over [Charlie] Peprah. He [Prothro] made a great play making a lot of guys miss. You've got to get the ball to playmakers. When you do, good things happen."
Stats
John Parker Wilson was 13 of 23 for 138 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions. Marc Guillon was 12 of 21 for 186 yards with two touchdowns and an interception.
Matt Caddell had four catches for 88 yards and a touchdown. Tyrone Prothro had four catches for 57 yards and a touchdown. Zeke Knight had three grabs for 41 yards and two touchdowns. D.J. Hall had a catch for 27 yards. Patrick Gordon had a catch for 34 yards. Nick Walker had a catch for 19 yards.
Rashad Johnson led all runners with 41 yards on five carries. Aaron Johns had 11 carries for 29 yards. Le'Ron McClain had four carries for six yards.
Jamie Christensen hit field goals of 37 and 42 yards. Christensen missed a 46-yard try. C.J. Rhody missed attempts of 42 and 47 yards.
Injuries
Tight end Nick Walker left early in the scrimmage with what he called a "bump" on his right leg. Walker said he'll be ready for Tuesday's practice.
As noted earlier, offensive guard Antoine Caldwell turned an ankle in individual work and was held out of the scrimmage. Caldwell is expected to return to practice on Tuesday.
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