April 20, 2007
NORMAL, Ill. -
The Illinois State football team worked out in shells for only 12 periods on Friday to tune-up for Saturday's scrimmage, the only one of spring camp this season.
"We want to come out (on Saturday) and we to do the basic things we do offensively and defensively, and we want to do them efficiently," said head coach Denver Johnson. "We want to get in and out of the huddle, get lined up, put the ball in play and get after it defensively.
"We want to have fun and get after one another. We have had a good spring, especially this week, but we still have some work to do. It will be nice for everyone to come out have a good time and play football on a Saturday afternoon."
Saturday's scrimmage will not be scored, instead it will focus on down and yardage situations.
"We will have a situational scrimmage with first-and-10, goal line, three chances to get a first and we will drive it some too," Johnson said. "Some of it will be scripted, but we will also play as it lies."
On Friday during the 7-on-7 drill, senior quarterback Luke Drone completed 6-of-11 passes, but was intercepted by Chris Garrett. Kevin Brockway was 6-for-10 passing and Preston Earl completed 4-of-8 tries and was picked off by Brent Holtz.
In the team period, Drone opened the drill with a completion to Eyad Salem down the right sideline, in which Salem split two ISU defenders to complete the 50-yard touchdown catch. Drone finished the team period completing all five of his pass attempts, while Earl was 4-for-6, including an over-the-shoulder, touch pass to Jake Rourke. Brockway was 1-for-1 passing.
The Redbirds will start stretching on Saturday at 10:30 a.m., with the scrimmage scheduled to follow some time after that.
NOTES: Wesley Williams returned to practice after missing five sessions with a shoulder injury. Western Michigan transfer Ben Bleck-Owens will be sidelined for the 2007 season after his Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) report revealed a torn Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) and Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL) on his right knee.
