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University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Get Physical in Second Spring Scrimmage
4/19/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
The Minnesota defense yielded just one touchdown and produced one of its best efforts of the spring as the Golden Gophers ground through a physical 86-play scrimmage Saturday at the indoor practice facility of the Gibson-Nagurski Football Complex.
In all, the Gopher defense gave up just 16 points on 11 total drives. The unit forced three 3-and-outs, caused and recovered a fumble to put the brakes on another dive and held the offense off the scoreboard on its final three possessions of the afternoon.
“Defensively today I thought we really saw some good things,” said Brewster. “The key thing was points allowed. We did a great job of not giving up touchdowns and we also limited the explosive plays and got off the field on third down. I like the mindset and I like that fact that we’re being very down-and-distance conscious. But overall we are tackling better. We’re running to the football and good things happen when you run to the football.”
Linebacker Rex Sharpe crushed David Pittman on a short pass over the middle and Kyle Theret pounced on the loose ball for the lone turnover of the scrimmage that featured a number of big collisions.
Logan U’u, Derrick Onwuachi and Garrett Brown each had a hand a sack and Tramaine Brock recorded a tackle for loss, for the defense, which also got pass break-ups from Barrett Moen, Michael McKelton and Onwuachi.
Still, the Minnesota offense generated its share of highlights as the Gophers combined for 350 total yards, including 269 yards through the air.
Minnesota used four quarterbacks during the scrimmage, and all four led the Gophers to points.
Adam Weber garnered the brunt of the work under center and guided the unit during six drives, completing 13-of-21 passes for 131 yards. Tony Mortensen connected on 3-of-4 pass attempts for 42 yards on his three drives, while redshirt freshman Clint Brewster was 3-of-4 for 32 yards and senior Mike Maciejowski was 5-of-6 for 64 yards on their lone drives of the afternoon.
“(The quarterbacks) are a heck of a group,” Brewster said. “They’re all competing and playing well. We’re getting good things out of all of them. At the end of the day we’re looking for results and this spring we’ve gotten that.”
The favorite target for Minnesota’s quarterbacks was Tray Herndon, who finished with six receptions for 82 yards, including grabs of 25, 20 and 16 yards. Junior Ben Kuznia also had a strong outing with four receptions for 50 yards, with Pittman adding three catches for 31 yards and Ralph Spry totaling three grabs for 29 yards.
With Minnesota’s running backs corps a little banged up, the Gophers were limited to just two backs for the scrimmage and both played well. Sophomore Duane Bennett led the Minnesota ground attack with 42 yards on 13 carries, while sophomore R.J. Buckner added 34 yards on 11 attempts and scored the lone touchdown on the day on a 3-yard blast behind defensive tackle turned fullback Eric Small, who had been inserted into the offense on the goal line.
Minnesota’s special team’s units also shined during the workout. Place-kicker Joel Monroe connected on 3-of-4 field goals with makes of 34, 42 and 31 yards. Punter Justin Kucek was also rock solid throughout the afternoon and placed one of his now-signature flop punts’ at the 1-yard line from 43 yards out.
The ball was downed by junior Marcus Sherels, who is beginning to make a name for himself on special teams as both a gunner on punt coverage and as a kick return specialist. Sherels had kickoff returns of 35 and 61 yards to go along with a 38-yard punt return by Pittman.
“The attitude and effort is just really good and as we continue with that type of attitude and effort we’re going to continue to make improvements,” Brewster said in reference to the Gophers’ progress this spring. “We’ve made improvements each day and I’m really excited about the progress that we’ve made.”
The scrimmage marked the end of Minnesota’s third week of spring drills. The Gophers will conclude spring practice next week. Minnesota will hold workouts on Tuesday and Thursday, with the annual spring game set to kickoff at 7 p.m. on Friday, April 25, at the Metrodome.
2008 Minnesota Football
Spring Scrimmage 2
Unofficial Statistics
Scoring Summary
Drive 3: Joel Monroe 34-yard field goal
Drive 4: Joel Monroe 42-yard field goal
Drive 6: R.J. Buckner 3-yard run (Joel Monroe kick)
Drive 8: Joel Monroe 31-yard field goal
Team Statistics
Drives........................ 11
Touchdowns.................... 1
Field Goals................... 3-4
First Downs................... 19
Rushes-Yards (NET)............ 36-81
Passing Yards (NET)........... 269
Passes Comp-Att-Int........... 24-35-0
Total Offense Plays-Yards..... 71-350
Fumble Returns-Yards.......... 1-0
Interception Returns-Yards.... 0-0
Fumbles-Lost.................. 3-1
Offensive Penalties........... 3-25
Defensive Penalties........... 3-32
Third-Down Conversions........ 8 of 17
Red-Zone Scores-Chances....... 3-3
Sacks: Number-Yards........... 2-15
RUSHING: Duane Bennett 13-42; R.J. Buckner 11-34; Tony Mortensen 2-9; Clint Brewster 3-5; Mike Maciejowski 2-1; Adam Weber 5-(-10).
PASSING: Adam Weber 13-21-0131; Mike Maciejowski 5-6-064; Tony Mortensen 3-4-042; Clint Brewster 3-4-032.
RECEIVING: Tray Herndon 6-82; Ben Kuznia 4-50; Jimmy Thompson 2-33; David Pittman 3-31; Ralph Spry 3-29; Curtis Hughes 3-17; Damien White 1-17; Duane Bennett 1-5; R.J. Buckner 1-5.
INTERCEPTIONS: None.
FUMBLES: David Pittman 1-1; Mike Maciejowski 1-0; R.J. Buckner 1-0.
FORCED FUMBLES: Rex Sharpe 1.
FUMBLE RECOVERIES: Kyle Theret 1.
PASS BREAK-UPS: Barrett Moen 1; Derrick Onwuachi 1; Michael McKelton 1.
SACKS: Logan U’u 1; Derrick Onwuachi ; Garrett Brown .
