The Coug O-line has come a long way since I took this photo at Fall Camp in 2008.
Thursday’s practice was my favorite yet as the Cougs donned full pads and got some extensive scrimmage work in. To put it bluntly, the defense got more than they could handle from an offense that looked sharp.
Read on for the highlights…
The first teams squared off to open the scrimmage and it was no contest, as Jeff Tuel quickly and efficiently led the offense down the field, mixing both the pass and the run effectively. Both Mitz and Tuel rushed the ball for good gains while Tuel also completed passes to Karstetter, Kristoff Williams and Marquess Wilson as he made good use of all the receiving weapons at his disposal. Coach Wulff stopped the drive at the 1 yard line in order to have Andrew Furney attempt a field goal which, as usual, he easily converted.
Lobbestael took over with the #2 offense and it was more of the same as the defense was on its heels, yielding another scoring drive which featured a reception by Kristoff Williams and a field goal conversion by backup placekicker Tyler McNanny. I would also like to note that this drive did include a very nice pass breakup by cornerback Tracy Clark.
Tuel again took the reigns and led yet another scoring drive that featured some nice runs from Ricky Galvin, a Jeff Tuel scramble for a first down and a completion to a tight end, this time Andrei Lintz. Andrew Furney capped off the scoring drive with another field goal from nearly 40 yards out.
It was now redshirt freshman Connor Halladay’s turn to lead the offense which he did without any drop off from the previous drives. The defense stiffened their resolve against the run, stopping freshman running back Marcus Mason for little or no gain, so Halladay went to the air where he found Freshman wideout Dominique Williams who made a Sportscenter Top 10 worthy catch over the blanket coverage of Tracy Clark. The drive was capped off by a TD strike to Bennet Bontemps.
Halladay remained in charge for the next drive which featured a steady diet of good runs from Leon Brooks before Halladay again went to the air finding both Kristoff Williams and Gino Simone for first down gains. There was also another completion to a tight end, this time redshirt freshman Aaron Dunn for a gain of just over 5 yards. The defense again began to assert itself as Chas Sampson broke through on a run play to catch Marcus Mason for a loss, and Brandon Golden made a good play breaking up a pass to freshman wideout Henry Eady. But again, the offense came out on top as Halladay eventually found Bennet Bontemps for another touchdown strike. Bontemps did a great job getting a toe down in the endzone.
Walk-on QB David Gilbertson, son of former Cal and UW head man, Keith Gilbertson, took over the offense and completed a pass to the pride of Pullman High, fullback Jared Byers for a big gainer and a first down. The drive featured another catch by emerging freshman wideout Dominique Williams as well. Also of note, touted freshman defensive lineman Daryl Paulo was lined up for this drive as a defensive end, where he showed he can get some good push and even had a little spin move to get some pressure on Gilbertson.
The final real highlight of the scrimmage was a touchdown pass from Lobbestael to Henry Eady, who showed off his speed, getting behind the defense and catching the perfectly thrown ball in stride for an easy score. It was also fun to see freshman safety Jordan Simone subbed in at the end of the scrimmage where he lined up in coverage on his older brother Gino. You better believe there was a collision, as Jordan jammed his brother at the line of scrimmage. No doubt, this scenario has played out in the Simone backyard hundreds of times over the years.
All in all, it was a very exciting scrimmage and what struck me the most was how the ball was spread around to so many targets. This offense really does have a lot of effective weapons which means defenses wanting to key on one player will have to do so at their own peril. Tuel seems completely comfortable distributing the ball to all his targets and it appears we may be close to having the running game we need to further keep defenses honest. As for the Cougar D, Thursday’s practice had to sting a bit, so it will be interesting to see how they respond. They are definitely a unit that is starting to develop some pride and I am sure their performance did not sit well. They won’t wait long to get back to work, as the first two-a-day of Fall camp is today. I will try to get a report from at least one of those practices.
Until then, GO COUGS!
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