Aug. 17, 2008
LEWISBURG, Pa. -- Bucknell head football coach Tim Landis had never before conducted a full-squad scrimmage so early in preseason camp, but this season he felt it important to get a better sense of which young players could take a step forward during game conditions. So on a picture-perfect Saturday afternoon at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium, on only the 10th practice slot of camp, officials were brought in and the team scrimmaged 11-on-11 for nearly 90 minutes.
Afterward, Landis termed the scrimmage "sloppy," citing a number of penalties, turnovers and missed blocking assignments on the offensive side, yet he also conceded that many good things happened on both sides of the ball, and that there is still plenty of time to iron out the kinks.
To view highlights from the scrimmage and hear Landis' post-game comments, click HERE.
With the ball starting at the 25-yard line coming out, the defense controlled play early. It did not allow a first down until the third series, then made a big stop on 4th-and-4 near midfield.
Soon after, the offense hit its first big play of the day when QB Marcello Trigg and WR Alex Odenback hooked up on a 55-yard pass, setting up a 27-yard Will Carney field goal.
On a later series, LB Josh Gornto made two big hits, one in the backfield, and LB Casey Williams intercepted a pass.
Senior QB Andrew Lair looked sharp during his reps, scoring touchdowns on runs of 75 and 16 yards. All seven Bison quarterbacks saw action in the game.
Some other individual highlights from Saturday's scrimmage: sophomore LB Travis Nissley was everywhere on defense, and twice he made big third-down tackles just shy of the first-down marker ... senior LB Julius Hopson made a nice solo tackle to stop the offense on 4th-and-2 ... senior FB Kevin Mullen broke loose for a 20-yard run early in the scrimmage ... freshman RB Jamil Crews had a tough 8-yard run for a first down ... senior A.J. Pompliano, who has moved back to wide receiver after playing quarterback in spring practice, made the catch of the day, a 12-yarder over the middle in which he held on after taking a big hit from a linebacker ... junior RB Josh Lee had a 15-yard run ... freshman DB Sean Rafferty recorded two interceptions ... freshman LB Tim Bolte intercepted a pass ... sophomore DL John von Paris recorded tackles for loss on consecutive series ... freshman QB David Noshay and freshman WR Nathan Zurisko hooked up on a 13-yard passing connection late in the day ... freshman DL Carson Rohrbaugh also had a pair of TFLs.
The squad finished the day with a few punting and field goal reps. Carney had one of his field goal attempts foiled by a low snap, and on the other he connected from 34 yards out. Freshman K Drew Orth made 1 of 2 from the same distance. Senior P Phil Azarik, who broke the Bucknell single-season punting record last season, launched two of his three attempts over 50 yards.
The Bison squad will be back on the practice field on Monday at 2:30 p.m. One practice may be added to the schedule later next week, as last Thursday's evening session was postponed due to a severe thunderstorm that included plenty of lightning.
