Football team improves for second scrimmage

By Anne McLaren
Assistant Sports Editor

Saturday's football scrimmage was much more competitive than the first, according to Coach Joe Tiller, who liked what he saw from his young offense.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Brandon Hance threw for 259 yards — on 24-of-47 passing — and three touchdowns, but he also threw three interceptions as the top offense scrimmaged against the top defense.

"I'm still a little concerned about our defense," said Tiller. "I like the way our defense runs, but I'm concerned about our defense running down. Because on those drives, the longer they were on the field, the offense asserted themselves a little bit more. That was positive from the offensive standpoint."

Chris James, who will be a junior in the fall, led all receivers with eight catches for 69 yards and a touchdown.

"Chris James had a good day," said Tiller. "But you've got to remember, Chris went with the (second team, a.k.a 2's) the majority of the day. So because of the matchups today where we didn't have 1's against 2's but 1's against 1's and 2's against 2's, he was going against the 2's too. I don’t want to take anything away from him because I think that's the best he's played since he's been at Purdue. He did good but he also did it against 2's."

Redshirt freshman receiver Taylor Stubblefield had 80 yards on six catches. Senior tight end Tim Stratton had five catches for 31 yards, while sophomore Andre Henderson had four for 63 yards and a touchdown and sophomore John Standeford had three for 35 and one touchdown.

"We had five drops so that was a major improvement over last week's 11," said Tiller. "I didn't think we necessarily threw the ball nor did we run the ball perfectly but I thought that we were a little more consistent in both parts of that."

On the ground, sophomore Brandon Robinson had nine carries for 70 yards and two touchdowns. Junior Montrell Lowe had 10 carries for 49 yards; junior Sedrick Brown had 27 yards on eight carries.

"I thought Lowe picked it up a little bit today," said Tiller. "Our offensive front played better as a unit this week than they did last week, which is typical. The longer you're together, the better you usually get in the offensive front."

Robinson also scored two touchdowns in goal-line situations. At the beginning of the scrimmage, the coaches worked on the goal line.

"Defensively, I liked most things we did defensively except the goal-line defense," said Tiller. "We haven't spent a lot of time on it, but goal line defense was like red zone defense last week — we scored every time we were in it. We scored against our defense when were in it."

Redshirt freshman cornerback Antwaun Rogers had an interception Saturday, giving him three in two scrimmages.

"That guy appears to be a ball hawk because he makes plays," said Tiller. "What I like about him is that when the ball's in the air, he goes from defense to offense. A lot of DBs, as you know, tend to let the guy catch the ball and then they'll break it up. But he's aggressive."

Linebacker Jason Loerzel also had an interception, which he returned 33 yards for a touchdown. Cornerback Ashante Woodyard and safety Stuart Schweigert also had interceptions.

After throwing the interceptions, quarterback Brandon Hance said he has room for improvement.

"I was sloppy with a couple plays, let a couple loose that I probably shouldn't have," said Hance. "I think I'm feeling more and more comfortable with my reads and my checks — reading the coverage and the blitzes."

Tiller said, "I thought that the quarterback threw the ball intermediate and short well. I don't think he threw the ball long well. But I liked the way he threw the ball intermediate and short and I liked the way he ran."

Tiller said there was another change in the scrimmage format that hadn't occurred before.

"We made the quarterback live except on drop backs," said Tiller. "So if he broke the pocket and started scrambling, we figured that all of them needed to learn how to run and avoid the hits. So they were open game today."

Hance said he is getting more comfortable with the offense.

"I feel like the offense is starting to click at times," he said. "I'm trying to rate my performance as the offense goes and not as an individual. But at the same time I feel like, individually, I'm coming along maybe a little slower than I would have liked to. I'm still making mistakes I shouldn't be making."

Hance said he is eager to look at the game tape.

"See what mistakes we had, go in and clear them up Monday and Wednesday practice, do as well as we can in the spring game," he said.

On Saturday Hance had a target he didn't have last Saturday.

A.T. Simpson saw his first scrimmage action after sitting out with a pulled hamstring. Simpson, who will be a senior in the fall, had one catch for nine yards.

"I thought he did a nice job on one (catch)," said Tiller. "He did come off the ground holding his hamstring. But he went back in and played, which is a good sign."

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Sports editor:
Paul Trembacki

Assistant sports editor:
Anne McLaren

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