April 2, 2006
NORMAL, Ill. -
Already without the services of returning starter Luke Drone, the quarterback position became a one-man show for Illinois State and Kevin Brockway on Sunday, as the Crystal Lake, Ill., native took every snap during both the 7-on-7 and team drills, after Wally Cirafesi tweaked his throwing arm earlier in practice and Anthony Kummer was sidelined with a hip flexor.
The Redbirds closed out the first third of spring camp under threatening skies for a productive 24, five-minute period workout in full pads.
On the day, Brockway ended up with 48 combined pass attempts during the 7-on-7 and team drills, but that was not a concern for head coach Denver Johnson.
"He's a big, strong, strapping kid," Johnson said. "He can handle it and he did a real good job with it."
The sophomore quarterback completed 20 of 30 pass attempts during the 7-on-7 drill, and followed that performance up with a 7-for-18 effort in the team period, including an 80-yard touchdown strike to Pierre Jackson. Another Pierre, Pierre Rembert, also had a big day. Rembert had seven carries for approximately 76 yards during the team period, but three of his rushing attempts were whistled dead by the coaching staff with an unprotected end zone ahead of him.
"Offensively, I was pretty happy with the day until near the end of practice," Johnson said. "I thought we got a little tired, got sloppy, had some missed snaps and jumped offsides a few times. So, I was disappointed with that."
On the second play during the team scrimmage, senior Ronnie Tate broke through the offensive line, disrupted the hand-off with a forced fumble and returned the ball 10 yards for a touchdown. Kye Stewart and Chance Smith each added a pass break up to lead the ISU defensive effort.
"Defensively I'm seeing some great things," Johnson said. "We are flying around and have a lot of guys swarming to the football. We are getting closer to where we want to be (defensively) from a teaching standpoint, but I don't think we are there yet."
During the 18th period there was a steady rain shower, but it was short-lived and allowed the Redbirds to complete all 24 scheduled periods of practice.
"I pulled the weather report on the internet before we went out and I felt pretty comfortable that there wasn't anything major," Johnson said. "We watched (the weather) closely and we felt pretty confident that we could get (practice) in today. In the event that the weather does change drastically on us, we can always alter practice and re-order the periods."
After an off-day, the Redbirds will return for their sixth practice of spring camp on Tuesday. The workout is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m.
