Arkansas State Scrimmage Story

MeanGreen61 · August 9, 2007

Pep talk helps charge up Tribe

By Kevin Turbeville

Sun staff writer

JONESBORO — Steve Roberts called his players together after about 20 minutes of Arkansas State’s scrimmage Wednesday evening.

The Indians weren’t working with the intensity expected by their head coach, but they picked it up after a short pep talk.

“It was definitely better after that. We showed a little more life,” Roberts said. “Day five, practice five, it’s the first time in full pads. I would have hoped we would have adjusted a little better than we did, but I’m pleased.

“I thought we got a lot of good stuff on film that we can teach off of from this point. We’re still very limited on what we have in. Out of the 57 plays we went, over 30 of them were pass plays, 35 or 36, something like that. It’s because we don’t have much by the way of a running game in yet.”

Various down-and-distance situations were scripted for the scrimmage. While the starting units received some work, the backups were used quite a bit in hopes of developing depth.

Five quarterbacks saw action, with true freshman Chris Lambeth completing 4-of-5 passes for 34 yards. Sophomore tailback Cedric Wilkerson accounted for the longest offensive play of the session, a 24-yard run.

Sophomore tight end J.T. Jordan had two receptions for 26 yards, with both catches gaining first-down yardage, while senior Levi Dejohnette also had two receptions. Dejohnette was one of ASU’s leading receivers last year with 23 catches, but Jordan had only three receptions last season while playing in seven games.

“I thought he showed up,” Roberts said when asked about Jordan. “I’m anxious to go in and watch the film and see how he did on his other stuff. He made a couple of real nice catches.”

Senior safety Tyrell Johnson delivered one of the day’s biggest hits, crashing into senior receiver Chris Miller to break up a pass thrown over the middle.

Roberts smiled when asked about the hit.

“That’s Tyrell,” he said. “Unfortunately he came back the very next play and missed a tackle in the backfield that he had an opportunity to make, but it was a good run by Preston (Brown) on that.”

Senior cornerback Darren Toney accounted for the only touchdown, returning an interception 25 yards down the sideline.

“The D-line got good pressure and that caused the quarterback to hesitate to throw it,” Toney said.

The Indians will practice twice today for the first time in camp. Practices are scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. and 5:45 p.m.

When asked for an assessment of Wednesday’s scrimmage, Roberts classified it as “some good, some bad.”

“I thought we started off lacking the intensity we needed,” Roberts added. “We picked it up a lot at the end, made a few more plays offensively and defensively. Young guys, it’s just so difficult for them to go full speed because they’re second-guessing themselves once the play is called and they get the adjustments at the line of scrimmage.

“Overall I was pleased. We have to bring it when we line up, not wait on something good or exciting to get us juiced up.”

Edited August 9, 2007 by MeanGreen61