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University of Minnesota Athletics
FB: Offense Shines At 2005 Spring Football Game
4/16/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Russell started the game with a 57-yard touchdown scamper on the third offensive play. He later tacked on 19-yard scoring run. He ended with 106 yards on 10 carries. Pinnix had touchdowns runs of one and 44 yards while running for 112 yards on 10 carries. Sophomore fullback Jeremy Faue scored the other touchdown on an 18-yard run up the middle that capped the day’s scoring. The Gopher rushing attack racked up 315 yards on 37 carries.
Freshman kicker Joel Monroe showed some leg strength, drilling field goals of 48 and 43 yards. Another highlight of the game came when Jakari Wallace blocked a punt and Dominique Barber scooped it up and ran 27 yards for a touchdown.
Minnesota played five quarterbacks that combined to go 13-of-23 for 182 yards. Junior Bryan Cupito was the most efficient of the bunch, completing 6-of-8 for 74 yards. Mark Jundt was the game's top receiver with 51 yards on three receptions. Jared Ellerson snagged three balls for 46 yards while Justin Valentine had four catches for 35 yards.
Leland Jones had a game-high four tackles while Todd Meisel, Pat McCarthy and John Pawielski had three stops apiece. Meisel also added a fumble recovery.
Minnesota opens the 2005 season at Tulsa on Thursday, Sept. 1.
SPRING GAME QUOTES
Glen Mason:
“I always say that, when you’ve had a good spring practice, from my perspective, if you can get through today without any major injuries you are successful. We played a lot of guys. I thought the offensive play was much better than the defense; let’s face it. I was a little disappointed in the defense today because they’ve been playing better this spring. I still fully believe that we have a good football team and a bunch of good hard-working guys, and we’ll be okay.”
On the play of the running backs:
“There has been a lot of attention given to the running backs, probably because Maroney has been injured, not seriously, and Barber decided to leave early. I thought that both Gary Russell and Amir Pinnix had pretty good springs, and they played better today. When it was time to finish off strong, they looked pretty good”
On the quarterback play:
“I think they did a pretty good job. If you look from one year to the next, we are in a lot better shape at quarterback than we were last year. I think (Bryan) Cupito really had a good spring. I thought that Mike Maciejowski was kind of the surprise of the spring. He’s a really intelligent young guy, and he can perform pretty well. At times Tony Mortenson performed very well. He was a little inconsistent today, but overall I’m pleased.”
On the play of the defense:
“You have to watch out in any sport or business, you tend to have knee-jerk reactions that you’re only as good as your last outing. I’d rather have what I felt was a good spring defensively and a spring game that left some to be desired, than the other way having a good spring game and not as many good practices.”
On the experiments and changes he’s made this spring:
“Some are subtle and some are not so subtle. Some are personnel and some of it is what you do from a technical standpoint. You saw today, we did a little bit more from the shotgun. We’re trying to get the balls to the backs a little bit more. From that standpoint I think it’s been very positive. Defensively, our experiment has been that we’ve tried to simplify things, and go back to a lot more basics, and I still think that it is the right direction to go.”
On the kicking game:
“It was a big, big question because Rhys Lloyd is gone. All during spring (Justin) Kucek has done a very good job punting the ball, and you saw him punt the ball well today. We have more than one place kicker, and they did a good job. They’ve done well going live as well. Typically in spring we haven’t gone live in the kicking game.”
On defensive personnel moves:
“Brandon Owens has had a good spring. He got his shoulder banged up today and we held him out. I still think that we are very much improved at the linebacker corps. John Shevlin and Mike Sherels, really didn’t play very much until the Alabama game, our bowl game, and they played well. We moved (Kyle) McKenzie back to drop linebacker. He has a lot of experience; he’s played a lot around here. So, I feel pretty good about it.”
On Justin Valentine’s versatility:
“We’re doing a lot with Valentine. You look at him, he’s playing fullback, he’s playing tight end, he’s playing H-back, he even played running back for a couple of downs there. He’s a good athlete. He’s a big strong guy. He really gives us some hidden depth at the tailback position.”
Junior Quarterback Bryan Cupito:
“It felt good to get back out there in the Metrodome. The last time we played here we lost, so it was good to get back to work. I thought our offense played really well, maybe a little better than I expected for a scrimmage. The defense has played well all spring, and didn’t come out that way today, but I’m pleased with where the offense is.”
“We ended on a bad note here at the end of the season against Iowa so I’m looking forward to the season, and getting ready to go. We have the talent to be successful this year, and I was excited to get our and play today.”
On the running backs:
“Amir (Pinnix) and Gary Russell are great running backs. It’s tough being behind Laurence (Maroney); he’s one of the best running backs in the nation. If he needs a break or gets hurt, they can come in and do the job. This team, Laurence is going to take us as far as we’re going to go, He’s the man; we just have to help him out and go from there.”
On the receiving corps:
“Today was the first day Jared Ellerson has been back and going. He hasn’t really played that much in spring because of an injury. He was out there and was good. Ernie (Wheelwright) dropped the ball, which is the stuff we have to get away from. Jakari’s consistent; he’s always consistent. He’s so small a lot of people don’t recognize him, but he does all the dirty work. He blocks and when he goes out on a route he makes plays. Spring practice went real well passing the ball; we had a couple of drops, a couple of miscommunications, but we have all summer to clean that up.”
Sophomore running back Amir Pinnix:
“Gary (Russell) and I studied film Thursday and we found out that a lot of times we had to finish our runs. We weren’t staying low; we didn’t have our pad level low enough to where we could break through to the other side. We had to stay low today, and I think we did that and ran hard and accomplished our goals.”
“You can take away from this game, the love for the game period. God blessed me with the talent to come out here and play, and I thank God for that. Whenever you get an opportunity to do something like this, you have to be blessed and stay humble. A lot of people don’t get a chance to come out here and play Big Ten football. So just to get the opportunity to come out and play is a blessing.”
“It felt pretty good to break out on some runs, but if it weren’t for the offensive line I would have never got through there. I’m so grateful for the offensive line”
Senior safety John Pawielski:
“You play a little less as a starter because you’re not fighting for a spot as much. The coaches aren’t trying to see what you can do. The spring is more of a time for the young guys to see what they can do, but it was nice to get a couple hits in.”
“That’s a high-powered offense; they have a lot of weapons. We didn’t play too well. We had a really good spring defensively and made a lot of strides. Today we didn’t come out and show that. Now we are looking forward to next year. This leaves a sour taste in our mouths for the next few months. We didn’t perform as well as we wanted to, so I guess that’s some motivation.
Running back Gary Russell
“I do like breaking long runs, but I’d rather run over someone. So I like running power, and when Laurence comes out it’ll give me more reps and a chance for others to see what I could do during a game.”
Linebacker John Shevlin
“You can’t bank on one practice. It’s about progressing through 15 days. We’re doing more pursuit drills in practice and hitting a lot more than we ever have, so we’re addressing the tackling issue. But starting next week we have to get on the weights and on the sleds and not become complacent.”
Click Here For 2005 Spring Stats
