Murray State University Athletics
Offense looks much improved in final scrimmage of pre-season
8/27/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Approximately 125 fans saw the Murray State Racer offense show vast improvement today in the final scrimmage, gaining a total of about 160 yards on 42 plays, just eight days after the defense had dominated in the first scrimmage of the spring.
Sophomore Ryne Salyer went 7-for-14 for 55 yards passing today for the Racers, while first-string quarterback Ken Topps went 2-for-8 for 35 yards, but had several balls dropped by receivers. Freshman Chris Hirschfield went 0-for-2 with one interception thrown, while freshman Brad Frost also played but did not attempt a pass.
In the Racer running game, Topps led the way with 33 yards on only three rush attempts, avoiding several sacks to make a significant gain, including one 25-yard gain. Sophomore Maurice Marchman gained 25 yards on one rush (a reverse), while no other Racers gained more than 10 yards (Dante Woods 9, Chad Cook 7, Ryan Robinson 3, Ryne Salyer 6).
Sophomore Rod Harper was the only Racer to catch more than one ball, catching two passes for eight yards. Other Racers who caught one pass were Jonathan Eiland (20 yards), DeAngelo Nelson (15), Danny Rumley (15), Akeem Lofton (15), Chad Cook (4) and Trey Graham (3).
Freshman Will Werner led the way for the defense with four tackles and one pass broken up, while Barry thomas recorded a sack, Fabian Bean batted down a ball at the line of scrimmage, and Dione Davis secured an interception. Gerald Goldberg, Michael Sturgis, Jay Burgett, Dominic Spinks and Vincent Coley also all recorded tackles for the Racer defense.
"Today, for the scrimmage, we had five referees line up, and we let the kids wear the new game jerseys to get them used to how they feel, because they need to get used to real-life game situations," Racer head coach Joe Pannunzio said. "Our main focus was to get through the scrimmage healthy, which we did."
CAMP NOTES: After the scrimmage, dozens of kids enjoyed the free clinic held afterwards by the players and coaches. The kids merged into seven groups according to age, and went to seven different stations, where a new activity hosted by a group of players awaited.
The activities included were kicking a field goal, finding a hidden ball under a stack of pads, running with the ball, hurdling through pads and spiking the ball and doing a celebration dance, taking a handoff and hurdling through pads while making a move at the end to spin off a tackle, blocking and pushing against a very heavy set of tackling dummies, throwing a ball through a hole on a metal sign, and running through an obstacle course of helmets and tackling a dummy at the end of the drill.
At the end of the clinic, the kids and players gathered around while Pannunzio handed out reading sheets to the kids. If the kids read five books, write down the title and author on the paper, then get it signed by their teacher, they can take it to the MSU ticket office and redeem it for a free ticket to a home game this season. The clinic ended with the kids receiving a free MSU football poster with the players featured on it (Tony Ryan, Rick Schultz, Nick Turner, Rumley) signing the poster for the kids.
The jerseys the players wore today for the scrimmage are brand new. The offense wore the white jerseys, with "Murray State" written right above the numbers, while the defense wore the navy jerseys, with "Racers" engraved right above the numbers.
