ACU wraps up spring drills with solid scrimmage
4/5/2008 5:00:00 AM | Football
ABILENE -- With an established crew of offensive standouts returning in 2008, ACU's spring football workouts were all about grooming young players to take over some key backup roles and finding help for a defense that struggled through the last half of the 2007 season.
And while the first part of that scenario was accomplished, the second part is still a work in progress. And as defensive coordinator Jason Johns told his players after Saturday morning's Purple-White scrimmage at Shotwell Stadium, they've only got "147 days to figure it out."
That's 147 days until the Wildcats open the season (Aug. 30) at Northwest Missouri State, the three-time defending NCAA Division II runner-up.
ACU's defense last year gave up 264 points in the Wildcats' final six games, including 76 in a 76-73 triple-overtime loss at Chadron State (Neb.) in the second round of the playoffs. ACU head coach Chris Thomsen, Johns and the rest of the ACU coaching staff know that the key to the 2008 season will be an improved defense to play alongside one of the nation's top offensive units.
Improving the defense begins with finding players, and Thomsen believes the Wildcats have found some young players this spring who can help ACU's defense improve in 2008.
Thomsen mentioned players such as linebacker George Faber, redshirt freshman defensive tackle Ryan Smith and defensive back Richard Havins as young players who played well throughout the spring.
"We've developed some good depth at linebacker and we've found some guys who can help us at other positions," Thomsen said. "We've got some good players on the defensive line, but we need to add a couple of players there and at the cornerback spot."
The Wildcats are also counting on the return from injury of some key players who were lost early in the 2007 season. Cornerback Quintin Wilson was lost to a torn ACL in summer two-a-days, while linebacker Jody Walker suffered the same injury in a Week 2 win at Texas State. Defensive lineman David Rippey, a transfer last year, was red-shirted with a left knee injury.
On the offensive side of the ball, the Wildcats return the most lethal trio in the nation at quarterback, running back and wide receiver with the return of seniors Billy Malone, Bernard Scott and Johnny Knox, respectively. Malone is the Lone Star Conference's all-time leading passer, Scott was the runner-up for the Harlon Hill Award in 2007 and Knox caught 17 touchdown passes last year.
Of those three only Malone played on Saturday as Scott and Knox watched from the sidelines. Other offensive standouts who missed Saturday's scrimmage were running back Taber Minner, wide receiver Edmund Gates and offensive linemen Joseph Thompson, Sam Collins and Trevis Turner (transfer offensive tackle).
Malone did see considerable time in Saturday's scrimmage, and, as usual, was very crisp. He threw a touchdown pass on a post route to Jonathan Ferguson, a fifth-year senior who had the best spring of his career. Malone enters his senior season with 8.799 career passing yards and should become the first LSC quarterback to throw for more than 10,000 career yards.
"Billy's got a complete grasp of our system and what we want and need from the quarterback position," Thomsen said.
Backup quarterback Zach Stewart threw a pair of touchdown passes in a solid performance, and new emergency quarterback Rodney Freeman also threw for a pair of scores. Freeman will enter summer drills as a starter at wide receiver, but has been at quarterback for much of the spring to get ready in case the Wildcats need him at some point during the season.
The defense did have some moments in the scrimmage with safety Travis Walding making a couple of big hits and Smith coming up with a big play on a run by Patrick Washington. Other highlights were provided by receiver John Nation, who capped a solid spring with a couple of big catches and a long kickoff return in the special teams portion of the scrimmage.
All in all, it was a good way to end three weeks of work in preparation for the 2008 season.
"We saw what we needed to see from some guys who are going to have to step in and fill some holes for us," Thomsen said. "We needed to see some of those young guys grow up this spring, and for the most part we saw that. We'll work hard over the next two or three months to add some transfers to the mix and be ready to go in August."
