April 19, 2008

ATHENS, Ohio-The Ohio football team scrimmaged for roughly one hour Saturday afternoon in the second scrimmage of the spring season.

Junior quarterback Boo Jackson (Gardena, Ca.) led the way offensively, completing five of seven passes for 116 yards and two touchdowns. Classmate Theo Scott (Long Beach, Ca.) completed four of six passes for 51 yards, while junior Brandon Jones (Marietta, Ga.) went 5-10 for 60 yards. Redshirt freshman Brian Sweeney (Beaver Falls, Pa.) completed both of his passes for 52 yards, including a 41-yard touchdown toss to senior fullback Jayson White (Erie, Pa.).

Junior running back L.J. Flintall (Burlington, N.C.) led the Bobcat rushing attack with seven carries for 84 yards, which included a 57-yard touchdown jaunt. Sophomore Vince Davidson (Dayton, N.J.) carried the ball eight times for 20 yards, while junior Chris Garrett (Bristow, Va.) toted the pigskin five times for 14 yards.

Thirteen Ohio receivers caught balls, with the big play of the day coming via senior tight end Andrew Mooney's (Lubbock, Tx.) 72-yard touchdown reception from Jackson. Mooney finished the day with a pair of catches for 99 yards. Sophomore receiver Robert Mercer (Cleveland, Ohio) caught Jackson's first touchdown, an 11-yard reception. Senior tight end David Carter (Waynesboro, Pa.) also caught two passes for 30 yards.

Defensively, sophomore linebacker Clevon Kirkland (Cleveland, Ohio) led the way with six tackles, while senior linebacker Michael Brown (Cincinnati, Ohio) had five, including one sack. The Bobcat defense registered five sacks on the afternoon, including two by sophomore defensive lineman Alex Trouten (Strongsville, Ohio).

Ohio will be back out for practice Monday afternoon at Peden Stadium. The annual Green and White game will be held at Peden Saturday at 2 p.m.

Head Coach Frank Solich

On the scrimmage:

When you go down the line of all our quarterbacks, it seems as though all of them made some plays. We had an awful lot of big plays from the offensive side of the ball. That's what you want from your offense and I think that we will be that type offense that can strike like that. On the other hand, we gave up too many big plays on the defensive side. I liked the physical play on both sides of the ball and the hitting was very crisp. The running backs ran hard and our receivers made some excellent catches.

On the injuries:

We've got a lot of guys that are banged up on the defensive side of the ball. Some of them are playing, but a number of them have been taken out of action altogether. We feel that once we get our unit together and get them a lot of reps, that we'll be a good defensive football team.

On Boo Jackson:

I've had a good mindset about Boo since he's arrived. He's picked things up pretty well, but he's not satisfied and that's probably good. He's somewhat of a perfectionist and he pushes himself to be good. He's done very well for the short amount of time he's been on campus. Overall, I've been very pleased with the quarterback play this spring.

On the running backs:

I feel much better coming off this scrimmage than I did coming off last Saturday's scrimmage. I thought they ran more physically today and showed more quickness. Vince is that type of physical runner who can slash and has good speed. L.J.'s a bit of a glider, but is learning how to hit the hole and make the most out of plays. Chris also has great quickness out there. I think we're capable of having four guys. Whether we're capable of having anybody that can hold up like Kalvin did game after game, I don't know. We do have a number of guys that are capable of stepping on the field and playing really good football for us.

On the mindset heading into the last week of spring practice:

We want to maximize our chance to work on our offense and defense. We want to work hard on our kicking game. These won't be practices that just get us ready for the spring game. These will be "hard-working" practices. We have to get the most out of spring practice that we can and I hope that the spring game will be a good physical game without getting too banged up.

Senior linebacker Michael Brown

On the injuries:

Even going into spring ball, we were really banged up. We knew when people went down it was going to be tough. Like anything, you just have to adjust.

On his move to middle linebacker:

Noah (Keller) got banged up in the winter so even going into the spring, I knew I was going to take some snaps at "Mike". It's a position I always wanted to play. It never hurts to learn the whole defense.

On battling the Ohio offense:

The offense is very talented and they have all their guys out there. Even when we're fully healthy, they're going to be a tough opponent. In the long run, it will help our defense because we're getting the younger guys in there and creating depth. For right now, it is hard because we do have a bunch of guys out there doing a bunch of reps.