NORMAL, Ill. – Into the third week of it's Fall practice session, the Illinois State football program is gearing up for its first full-team scrimmage this weekend. That will be the first of three team intrasquad scrimmages this fall, as the Redbirds prepare for the beginning of their spring season in February.
Practice Highlights:
• After dealing with cool, dreary and at times wet conditions most of last week, the team was greeted with sunny skies and warmer temperatures Tuesday morning at Hancock Stadium for practice No. 7 of the fall session.
• The 7-on-7 session got things going after the position drills, with a quartet of quarterbacks all getting reps … Bryce Jefferson led the way going 3-for-4 including a 30-plus yard connection to Jabari Khepera … true freshman Jackson Waring also had a 30-plus yard connection to Eric Rogers during the drill and finished 2-for-3 and Kacper Rutkiewicz had a pair of grabs … defensively, Christian Uphoff led the way with a pair of pass breakups and Charles Woods broke one of up his own.
• Redshirt freshman running back Nigel White started things off in the blitz drill with a pair of first down runs and ripped off a 25-yarder at the end of the session … fellow running back Pha'leak Brown added a 20-yard gain of his own, one play after being stopped in the backfield for a TFL by Mike Gardner off a safety pressure … Gardner would later add a sack in the session, as did true freshman linebacker Darius Walker.
• A perimeter period followed and things got off to a rocky start for the offense, as a TFL by Zeke Vandenburgh and an interception by Shanon Reid on back-to-back plays started things off … the offense got back on track shortly, when White once again found some daylight and picked up a 35-yard gain and then Brown broke free for a 50-yard would-be touchdown run to end the period.
• A pick six by Kenton Wilhoit got things started in the second 7-on-7 session, before the quarterbacks settled down … Jefferson finished the drill 5-for-5 with a pair of connections to Khepera and Brady Davis was 4-for-4 including a pair of connections to Austin Nagel … Jack Baltz also got a turn in the rotation and finished 3-for-4 with connections to Brett Spaulding and Charles Kuhle.
• A live team period wrapped things up and it was John Ridgeway who gave the momentum to the defense early when he swallowed up White in the backfield for a TFL … five plays later, White got his revenge as he ripped off a 40-plus yard gain on a carry off tackle and two plays after that he picked up a 20-yard gain on a screen pass from Jefferson … a TFL by Luke McCall tempered the offense once again and the two squads battled back and forth for the remaining three series to end the practice.
• Kickers Aidan Bresnahan, JT Bohlken and Adam Saul took turns booting field goals to wrap things up.
Up Next:
The Redbirds return to the field Thursday at 8:30 a.m. for practice No. 8 of the new fall session. For updates, photos, and video from 2020 Redbird Football Fall Camp, follow the team's official Twitter (@RedbirdFB) and Instagram (isuredbirdfb) accounts and log onto GoRedbirds.com.
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