Fall Camp Report 6: Plays Made On Both Sides In First Scrimmage

Final Stats

NORMAL, Ill. – For the first time this fall, the Illinois State football team held an intrasquad scrimmage and there were big plays made on both sides of the football Saturday afternoon at Hancock Stadium.

The offense squared off against the defense in the 90-plus play scrimmage on a beautiful day, a drastic change from the day before that saw the Redbirds practice in a downpour and have to move inside due to storms in the evening. The team wasted little time getting to work and opened the scrimmage with the offense backed up against its own two yard line needed to pick up a first down for some breathing room.  Neither the first or second unit was successful on its initial drive, but quarterback Jake Kolbe led the first-team group to a pair of first downs on the second drive. The second team group had their final attempt thwarted by the first of two interceptions on the day by Luther Kirk.

From there the team drove the field and the two groups traded blows. Kolbe struggled in the early going, but eventually found his rhythm before finishing the day 9-for-21 for 128 yards with a touchdown.  His most impressive drive went for 66 yards and was ignited by a 35-yard diving grab by Christian Gibbs that put the offense in the red zone. Two plays later, Kolbe found Spencer Schnell wide open in the slot on a crossing route for the only passing touchdown of the day.

The offensive attack was extremely balanced, with running backs carrying the ball 49 times and quarterbacks attempting 47 passes.  True freshmen Tristan Smith (5-for-10, 29 yards, 2 INT) and Malachi Broadnax (4-for-8, 77 yards, 1 INT) also got a chance to show the coaches what they could do, and backup Koty Thelen was 3-for-9 for 18 yards as well.

Eight different running backs took turns carrying the football, with true freshman Artiss Henderson having the most success with 40 yards on four carries, including a 33-yard carry and a one-yard touchdown run.  Power back DeMarco Corbin also ran for a touchdown and freshman James Robinson averaged four yards-per-carry. A total of 12 players also caught passes, with Schnell leading the way with four grabs for 46 yards with the score and Gibbs recording a pair of grabs for 42 yards.

The players wearing white jerseys also made their fair share of momentum grabbing plays, as the defense tallied four interceptions, six sacks and 18 tackles for loss during the scrimmage.  Redshirt freshman Decxavier Kelly-Martin led all tacklers with six stops and added two TFLs, and interception and a pass breakup.  Adam Conley added three tackles and two sacks, while teammates Davontae Harris, BJ Bello, Josh Sromovsky and Nathan Iloilo each tallied a pair of TFLs as well.  Kirk returned one of his two interceptions for 29 yards, before being forced out of bounds and defensive tackle Dalton Keene delighted his teammates with an interception he returned 36 yards to midfield.

Kickers Sean Slattery and Zach Breen were also perfect on the day, with each booting a pair of field goals through the uprights.  Slattery connected from 40 and 41 yards, respectively, and Breen made kicks of 41 and 20 yards to round out the scoring on the afternoon. The Redbirds return to the field under the lights Sunday night, for workout set to begin at 7 p.m. For live practice updates, photos and video follow the official Redbirds Football Twitter account @RedbirdFB and log onto GoRedbirds.com for full live coverage throughout the fall camp.      

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