Aug. 14, 2005
News & Notes:
The Illinois State football team worked through its first of two scrimmages of fall camp on Sunday. The defense had the upper hand most of the day as the Redbirds went head-to-head for 144 plays, again under rain showers, at Hancock Stadium.
The defense held the offense without a first down on nine of the 27 total drives, while the offense was able to score on four. Seven of the drives took place during the two-minute drill, where the offense was held scoreless for all seven.
There were 11 penalties called with seven coming against the offense.
"I thought the defense dominated the scrimmage and I was pleased to see that," head coach Denver Johnson said. "I thought we had a chance to improve and I've seen that over the last couple of days. Things are starting to come together over there and our defensive line puts a lot of pressure on the passer. We are also rallying around the football in the running game."
By the Numbers
Here on the unofficial offensive statistics for Sunday's scrimmage:
RUSHING - C. Rice 13-101, R. Rice 14-43, Thompson 14-41, Brockway 8-19, Drone 22-15, Kummer 2-4, Cirafesi 4-1, Gehrts 4-(-3), Kpandeyenge 4-(-6), McCarty 1-(-8). PASSING - Drone 22-36-0-246, Gerhts 3-8-0-78, Cirafesi 3-5-0-65, Brockway 2-8-0-25, Kummer 1-1-0-11. RECEIVING - Robinson 6-59, Jackson 6-51, Kreger 4-51, Horton 3-44, Borzick 2-62, Thompson 2-13, Rourke 2-13, McCarty 2-13, Hayden 1-53, Whigham 1-23, R. Rice 1-14, Denley 1-13, Bradbury 1-11, Kpandeyenge 1-5.
Finding the Zone
In all, the offense scored four times. Junior tailback Rafael Rice plunged two yards for a touchdown on the fourth drive of the scrimmage, while Brian Thompson punched it in from seven yards out on the 11th drive of the day. The 13th drive proved to be a lucky one as quarterback Luke Drone found Laurènt Robinson in the right corner of the end zone from 26 yards out. Marcus Hayden rounded out the scoring when he went 53 yards with a Nick Gerhts pass on the 15th drive. Drone the Redbirds on two of the four scoring drives, while Wally Cirafesi and Gehrts called the other two.
Full Nelson
True freshman Tom Nelson took the field Sunday for the intrasquad scrimmage as the starting free safety with the first team defense and according to the coaching staff there is no reason why he might not be there for the season opener at Iowa State. "He's fighting for a starting job. He's a good player," Johnson said in regards to Nelson. "We liked him when we recruited him, but he was an option quarterback. We knew he was an athlete, but we were quite sure what he was. Was he a safety? Was he a receiver? Was he maybe a tailback? It looks like he's going to make it at safety and he could probably play corner. He's in the hunt ¬- he's in the hunt for the job."
Not to be Overlooked
True freshman Kashiev Hunter sacked the quarterback five times.
For the second day in a row, senior Ramon Barber blocked a place kick. This time he blocked Bobby Kelsey's 33-yard field goal attempt during the two-minute drill.
Senior Brent Hawkins finished with three sacks and recovered a fumble. The defense totaled 12 quarterback sacks.
Bobby Kelsey and Kevin Mazur were a combined 4-for-4 on PATs.
The offense successfully converted 3-of-4 fourth down attempts.
The Big Gainer
Sunday's big gain went to quarterback Wally Cirafesi and fullback Tristan Borzick. Cirafesi found Borzick on the flat on the right side and scampered 55 yards along the sideline before cutting in back midfield. The play took place on the fourth drive of the scrimmage and led to Rafael Rice's 2-yard touchdown run for the first score of the day.
