Scrimmage continues 'process'

May 10, 2008 10:48 pm

— MOULTRIE — Rush Propst put his Colquitt County High football team through its first scrimmage at Tom White Field at Mack Tharpe Stadium on Saturday and while saying he was pleased overall, he continues to insist that the session is still just another part of what he calls the “process" of building the program.
The Packers went at each other for nearly two hours on Saturday morning with the defense clearly getting the better of things early.
The offense, still familiarizing itself with the system that Propst ran so successfully for nine seasons at Hoover (Ala.) High, performed better as the morning wore on.
“For having just four days of practice and this being the first scrimmage, I saw a lot of positives,” the new Packers coach said.
“We’re nowhere near where we need to be, but we’re headed in the right direction.”
Propst said he tried to run the scrimmage in as close to a game-like format as possible, although no special teams play was used.
“At halftime, we had six possession and about 28 plays,” Propst said. “I’d like to have had about 35.”
The Packers will scrimmage at the stadium again at 10 next Saturday morning and will add points after touchdown attempts and field goals.
When the team scrimmages at the stadium at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, May, 20, in the final spring session, some punt coverage also might be included, Propst said.
Propst sounded as it he expects things to get better as the team become more familiar with him, his staff and the new offense and defense.
“In our first scrimmage in 2000, my second year at Hoover, we went 12 straight possessions and didn’t score,” he said. “And we went on and won the state championship that year.
“Hopefully, our defense is ahead of our offense. I’m happy with the defense.”
The first team defense primarily used Tyrell Wright and Cameron Erving at the ends; Patrick Johnson and Robert Fuller at the tackles; Jarrett Sutton, Justin Jones and Clinton Peterson at linebacker; and C.J. Copeland, Heath Lamb, Corzell Ellerson and Jeremy Downs in the secondary.
Copeland had an interception late in the scrimmage.
The first score of the scrimmage was set up on a pair of nice throws by rising sophomore quarterback Tyler Brown.
The first came on a fourth-down play to Hayden Kudela for a first down.
On the next play, Brown connected with Diamonte Ridley to the 1-yard line. Tevin King scored on the next play.
“Tyler did a good job,” Propst said. “We probably should have used him with ones a little more.”
Ridley had several big catches in the scrimmage, including a leaping grab in the end zone of a pass from Brown midway through the second half.
Eric Key scored on a 57-yard run after catching a short pass in the first half.
Quin Roberson quarterbacked the first-team offense during much of the scrimmage. He also had a second-half scoring pass to Travis Harris.
“Quin’s very athletic,” Propst said of Roberson, who played both quarterback and receiver last year and turned in several impressive runs Saturday morning.
John Michael Harrison also took snaps at quarterback.
“John Michael continues to impress me,” Propst said.
Propst said he wants to see the pass protection improve.
“Our running backs have got to block better,” he said. “They’ve got to protect the passer and they’ve got to be able to catch passes.
“Running the football is just a third of what they have to do.”
On Monday, the Packers will watch film taken of Saturday’s scrimmage. The team will be back on the field on Tuesday and Thursday before next Saturday’s scrimmage. Colquitt will also practice on Monday, May 19, before the end-of-spring scrimmage.
“We’ve still got a lot of things to piece together,” Propst said. “It’s going to take time. There are a lot of things we’ve got to improve on. But all this is just part of the process.”