University of Memphis Athletics
Photo by: Joe Murphy
Tigers Suit Up Saturday in First Scrimmage
Apr 02, 2016 | Football
Defense and Darrell Henderson have big days in first scrimmage of the spring.
MEMPHIS – The Tiger football team played its first scrimmage of the spring slate on Saturday, running 115 plays in a practice that saw the defense establish itself early in the morning session.
"The defense, the first group, definitely dominated the day," Head Coach Mike Norvell said after the scrimmage. "That's something we really challenged them with. Throughout the past week of practice, the offense has been able to run the football and they had a lot of explosive plays, so we kind of challenged the defense, and I thought they did a really nice job. They came out and bowed up a little bit and that's what you want to see from your defense."
The defense kept the offense out of the end zone until the fourth series, as each of the three Tiger quarterbacks got a chance to lead a unit and to try to be the first unit to score.
"We put them in a lot of different situations, moved the ball around the field, a lot of close calls on plays, but that's part of the growth," Norvell said.
Freshman running back Darrell Henderson then broke loose for one of his two receiving touchdowns on the day before the defense again held their opposing sideline teammates out of the end zone for the next three series, including an interception from junior college transfer Jonathan Cook.
"For our first scrimmage, you would hope that your defense would come out and be a little bit ahead," Norvell said. "I was really pleased with how they were able to impact the quarterback, how they were able to stop the run, but there was still some dumb penalties that we've got to clean up. That's something that we are going to change here. There's not going to be the personal fouls penalties, the unsportsmanlike, the targeting, that's something that definitely hurt our team last year and it's something that showed up here today and sparked a couple of the positive drives for the offense."
The offense took advantage of a series of defensive penalties and got rolling with touchdown catches for Ross Burcham and a second Henderson catch and run to the end zone before the defense again got stops on the next six series. After a Mechane Slade touchdown catch, the defense got a tackle for loss and got a second sack on the afternoon from Ernest Suttles before forcing a fumble and recovering it in a first and goal situation. Suttles and Genard Avery would each account for two quarterback touches as the Tiger defense was in the backfield nine times over the course of the scrimmage in the quarterback's area.
The offense would score two more times before the scrimmage ended after snap number 115. The scrimmage will give the Tigers plenty of tape to review before stepping back on the field for practice number seven, Tuesday afternoon.
"I've got the whole team coming over to the house today, so we're going to eat lunch together, spend some time together as a family, and then tonight I'll start watching (tape)," Norvell said. "We'll come back Monday with meetings and start correcting a couple of things, and then Tuesday we'll be ready to get back out here and try to make some corrections and continue to try to build off where we are at today."
Memphis will have two practice sessions in town in the coming week, practicing Tuesday and Thursday afternoon before bussing to Nashville Saturday for an out-of-town scrimmage at Father Ryan High School, Saturday, beginning at 3:00. The Memphis Alumni Association will host a pre-scrimmage tailgate beginning at 1:30 p.m. at Father Ryan High School (700 Norwood Drive, Nashville). Hot dogs and sodas will be provided.
"The defense, the first group, definitely dominated the day," Head Coach Mike Norvell said after the scrimmage. "That's something we really challenged them with. Throughout the past week of practice, the offense has been able to run the football and they had a lot of explosive plays, so we kind of challenged the defense, and I thought they did a really nice job. They came out and bowed up a little bit and that's what you want to see from your defense."
The defense kept the offense out of the end zone until the fourth series, as each of the three Tiger quarterbacks got a chance to lead a unit and to try to be the first unit to score.
"We put them in a lot of different situations, moved the ball around the field, a lot of close calls on plays, but that's part of the growth," Norvell said.
Freshman running back Darrell Henderson then broke loose for one of his two receiving touchdowns on the day before the defense again held their opposing sideline teammates out of the end zone for the next three series, including an interception from junior college transfer Jonathan Cook.
"For our first scrimmage, you would hope that your defense would come out and be a little bit ahead," Norvell said. "I was really pleased with how they were able to impact the quarterback, how they were able to stop the run, but there was still some dumb penalties that we've got to clean up. That's something that we are going to change here. There's not going to be the personal fouls penalties, the unsportsmanlike, the targeting, that's something that definitely hurt our team last year and it's something that showed up here today and sparked a couple of the positive drives for the offense."
The offense took advantage of a series of defensive penalties and got rolling with touchdown catches for Ross Burcham and a second Henderson catch and run to the end zone before the defense again got stops on the next six series. After a Mechane Slade touchdown catch, the defense got a tackle for loss and got a second sack on the afternoon from Ernest Suttles before forcing a fumble and recovering it in a first and goal situation. Suttles and Genard Avery would each account for two quarterback touches as the Tiger defense was in the backfield nine times over the course of the scrimmage in the quarterback's area.
The offense would score two more times before the scrimmage ended after snap number 115. The scrimmage will give the Tigers plenty of tape to review before stepping back on the field for practice number seven, Tuesday afternoon.
"I've got the whole team coming over to the house today, so we're going to eat lunch together, spend some time together as a family, and then tonight I'll start watching (tape)," Norvell said. "We'll come back Monday with meetings and start correcting a couple of things, and then Tuesday we'll be ready to get back out here and try to make some corrections and continue to try to build off where we are at today."
Memphis will have two practice sessions in town in the coming week, practicing Tuesday and Thursday afternoon before bussing to Nashville Saturday for an out-of-town scrimmage at Father Ryan High School, Saturday, beginning at 3:00. The Memphis Alumni Association will host a pre-scrimmage tailgate beginning at 1:30 p.m. at Father Ryan High School (700 Norwood Drive, Nashville). Hot dogs and sodas will be provided.
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