Aug. 14, 2008
NORMAL, Ill. -
"Aggressive" was the word of the night in regards to the Illinois State football team's practice Thursday at Hancock Stadium. From the rabbit hunt of the red fox, which has had multiple visits to the Redbirds' practice during training camp, to the play calling and execution of the ISU offense during the team period, practice was aggressive in nature.
Facing first-and-10, Kevin Brockway opened up the team scrimmage with a pitch to Parrish Fisher for a halfback pass, in which Fisher completed a would-be touchdown pass to a wide-open Kelvin Chandler. The big gains didn't stop there as the offense continued to air it out. Brockway completed a pair of 50-yard passes to Eyad Salem and both would have likely gone for touchdowns if the plays had not been whistled dead. Brockway tossed another big gain with a 45-yard strike to Kedric Meredith.
Geno Blow, Clifton Gordon and Walter Mendenhall each added runs of 10 yards-plus, while Preston Earl tossed a 25-yard pass to Warren McCarty. The defense did disrupt the offense a little bit with quarterback sacks by Mario Bailey, Keenan Wimbley and Antonio Adams.
"It is a first-and-10 period, so the offense has somewhat of an advantage in that they have the whole array of their play selection," said head coach Denver Johnson. "We have to be efficient (offensively), not get behind the chains, and have the opportunity to hit the big play whether it's on first, second or third down. It was encouraging to see the offensive come back and execute better than it did (Wednesday)."
Brockway and Salem started to heat up during the 7-on-7 drill, as the two teamed up for a 60-yard touchdown pass in which Brockway's pass was in the air for 58 yards. Salem led all receivers with five catches in the drill and Brockway finished completing 6-of-8 passes. Earl and Kiel were each 4-for-8, but Earl threw an interception when his pass was bobbled by James Hoyt and picked off by Kyle Siskowic.
During the one-on-one drill between the ISU wide receivers and defensive backs, senior safety Tom Nelson opened up the drill by intercepting Kiel's first pass attempt. Kiel finished completing 7-of-11 pass attempts, while Earl was 4-for-5. Brockway spent the first half of the drill working with the rest of the Redbird offense in another team drill that focused on the running game.
Brockway joined the drill and completed 3-of-5 passes. Kevett Mickle, Matt Mose and Drew Kempe were the leading receivers with four catches apiece.
With the Illinois State students continuing to relocate to campus, spectator attendance at practice was increased, but Johnson was pleased with his team's focus.
"I have been around town and obviously the traffic pattern has changed drastically," said Johnson. "There are 20,000 kids getting into town and the jazz level around campus has really picked up. But I thought our kids have done a good job of being right here, right now and being focused with the task at hand."
The team will return to practice Friday night, before the annual Passages Scrimmage Saturday.
NOTABLE:
Bert Whigham and Austin Davis were the only two active players out of the entire practice with injuries.
Senior linebacker Andrew Paschal left the football team Thursday morning.
Assistant coach Holmon Wiggins attempted to match the NFL's Adam "Pac Man" Jones' feat from this season's Hard Knock series on HBO. In the show, Jones caught and held six-straight balls that were punted to him. Thursday night, Wiggins held onto five footballs before dropping the sixth, prior to the start of practice.
Senior running back Parrish Fisher topped Drew Kiel in the "championship draw" of the grip drill, in which two players each put one hand on the end of a football, before mimicking a tug-of-war with the pigskin. However, Fisher's victory was protested as he was accused of performing an illegal twist move.
