Scrimmage One In The Books
HANOVER – (Sept. 3 ) – Before digging into the “Who did what,” and “How did they look,” of Dartmouth’s first scrimmage of the preseason, let’s take care of what is frequently the No. 1 thing a coach brings up, and the No. 1 thing the media usually brings up.
Where the coaches like to begin: how the team came through the scrimmage with regard to injuries. Apart from the trainers rushing out on the field to check into a prominent player who showed no ill effects after getting to his feet, there were no real scares in Wednesday’s action.
“That’s the stuff that keeps you up at night,” said head coach Sammy McCorkle. “So it was good. Yeah, we had a couple of bumps here and there, but nothing serious. There were a couple times guys got tangled up. It's hard to be completely non-hitting and not take guys to the ground. But overall, I thought we came out OK.
“I tell you what. Our guys do a good job of taking care of each other. They've really come a long ways. It's a mature group. They practice like pros. They play fast, but under control.”
And now for what the media always wants to know. How did the quarterbacks look?
On the BGA stat sheet Grayson Saunier – who exploded onto the scene while leading the Big Green to its epic comeback win at Yale in Week 4 last fall and was a factor the rest of the season – completed 20-of-28 passes for 165 yards without an interception. Given that the scrimmage was held on Blackman Practice Fields and the best vantage point for stat keeping was atop the stands at the soccer field, those numbers are, at best, decent approximations of how the QB performed.
That said, McCorkle liked what he saw.
“He was in control,” the coach said. “Did he play a perfect scrimmage? No. But he really was in control out there. He came out and did a nice job.
“He's done a good job of maturing. He doesn't let a bad play affect the next. It's good for the other quarterbacks to see his composure back there. It’s good for the offense to see when things aren’t going right they have a guy back there who's under control. It spreads to the rest of the offense.”
Woods Ray, the junior who started last year’s game at Yale before giving way to Saunier, was an unofficial 5-of-9 for 49 yards while sophomore Noah Trigueros was 5-of-8 for 39 yards.
While Saunier is solidly entrenched as the starting quarterback next fall, the backup role is a little less certain.
“Woods knows the offense and is going a good job, so I think he probably has an edge,” said McCorkle. “He’s started a game, so he has more experience. But I can tell you going back to next spring, Noah is getting better and better each day.
“So there’s still a battle (for the No. 2 QB). But there’s a battle for everything. We have confidence in both of those guys.”
Freshman Charlie Peters unofficially completed 2-of-3 passes for 26 yards and classmate Jaden Cummings 1-of-3 for eight yards.
On the receiving end, a familiar name led the way.
Senior Grayson O’Bara, who had 18 catches for 249 yards a year ago, caught seven balls for 57 yards and looked like Saunier’s security blanket on third down and when the QB was hurried. His diving grab of a last-second 10-yard touchdown pass Saunier threw into a tight window drew arguably the biggest sideline cheer of the morning.
McCorkle likes the chemistry between his junior quarterback and the senior receiver.
“You can just see it,” he said. “(Saunier) was comfortable with him. And (O’Bara is) a guy you’ve got to pay attention to because if you don’t, he definitely can cause you problems and make big plays.”
Sophomore Luke Rives had five catches for 31 yards, freshman wideout Andrew Smart four for 52 yards and All-America tight end Chris Corbo three for 20 yards. McCorkle has been impressed by junior receiver Ian Scott through the early part of the preseason and catching touchdown passes of 17 and 20 yards in the scrimmage did nothing to curb the coach’s enthusiasm for the wideout.
“Ian's a guy that is going to do the right thing,” he said. “He's got a really good feel for the game. He understands the field and spacing. Down in the red zone man, he was the guy we looked for and found.
“He's just such a good competitor who you trust. He brings good energy because he's so positive.”
With no officials and plays being whistled dead, working up stats for the run game was tricky if not impossible. Keeping that in mind, DJ Crowther flashed with four carries for something in the neighborhood of 35 yards and a touchdown. Chris Roper and freshman Manny Johnson showed promise, but the eye-opener was freshman Myles Craddock, who unofficially had seven carries for 48 yards, including an impressive 20-yard touchdown aided by a crushing block from Delby Lemieux.
“He's going to be a good one,” said McCorkle of the 5-10, 200-pound Craddock. “He's built like the good ones. He's got great vision and runs the ball like he's known our offense for two or three years.”
Defensively, there we no interceptions but Cam Lee did a pretty fare impression of Zack Walz, the similarly sized, sinewy 6-5 linebacker from the late 1990s who created a lot of havoc for offenses before going on to play four years with the Arizona Cardinals.
“Cam was a lot more in control and disciplined today,” said McCorkle. “He put a lot of pressure on our quarterbacks. He may not have made the tackle, but that initial contact was always in the backfield on a running back. He's done a good job of knowing what to do, and is learning to stay within his game.
“He and Teddy (Gianaris) play the same position and complement each other really well. Both guys create a lot of chaos, so it’s nice to have both of them, so we can keep them fresh.”
In the back end Jamal Cooper had an instruction-reel pass breakup, Thai Brown had a PBU and Patrick Campbell kept showing up wherever the ball was. Steven Simpkins, No’Koi Maddox and Sean Chester had what would have been clear tackles for loss and Brown deserves a nod for pulling up and avoiding what would have been a crushing hit in a real game.
Showing promise on the rebuilt defensive line was junior defensive end Keoni Perkins, who, as coaches like to say, kept showing up.
McCorkle shared an anecdote that spoke to Perkins’ development off the field, which he thinks has had an impact on it.
“We had a name game last night where we had all the young guys up front and have them get ready to sing the Alma Mater,” the coach said. “I had the defense on one side and offense on the other side. I had the older guys pick someone on the other side that they didn't think could name the the first years. The offense called out Keoni, and he went up there and named them all. It was awesome. He also sang him solo at at the karaoke the other night.
“He's really come out of his shell. I think that's definitely what's helped him come out here and play a lot looser and with more confidence. He really did look good today.”
Special teams weren’t really on display during the scrimmage but working against air, sophomore punter Luke Armistead showed a big leg and the ability to hit inside-the-20 kicks although there were several he’d like to have back.
All in all, McCorkle was pleased with the day’s work.
“I’m very happy,” he said. “It was a controlled scrimmage with a lot of situational stuff, but we got all our snaps in. We hit the mark right on, and were able to put the guys in so many different situations. We're starting to ease our way into it. When we scrimmage the next time, it will be a lot more of a game-type scrimmage.”
THE FINAL ANALYSIS
McCorkle: “I thought the offense came out and moved the ball down the field. That first series, the defense did a hell of a job and had a great fourth-down stop. That got (the offense) back on their heels a little bit, but they didn't panic.
“So I thought defense put a little stand in there, and then it was back and forth. I thought the offense did a good job in the red zone, which was a good bounce back from yesterday's practice. Our red zone wasn't great yesterday and they came out today determined.
“Our quarterbacks did a good job getting out of the pocket and keeping the play alive. We've got to do a better job defensively keeping the quarterback in the pocket.”
LOOKING AHEAD
Midway through camp, McCorkle thinks the Big Green is pretty much where it needs to be, but not where he’d like to see it end up.
“We've got to continue to get better,” he said. “I feel good about our first team guys. They're established. They know what they're doing and are doing a good job. They're jelling on both sides of the ball and special teams.
“But now we've got to get that second group going. It’s about depth. That second group has got to continue to develop, because the whole idea we want is, when we switch out a guy, we don't want to drop off. That's what's got to happen in the next week and a half, two weeks. We’ve got to find out who the next guys are.”
NOTES
The scrimmage was the first of its kind to be held on Blackman in several years. Offensive coordinator Shane Montgomery was stationed at the top of the soccer stands radioing calls down to the field, although sometimes he’d simply shout to the QBs on the sideline who were not that far in front of him.
“They are having orientation in the stadium, so we weren’t able to use it,” McCorkle said. “It was fine. Guys love coming over here and it brings back old memories. We used to play JV games over here. Back in the day, we’d have Middlebury over so it kind of came full circle.” . . .
Given a chance to mention a few more names, McCorkle tossed out several.
“(Linebacker) Nico Schwikal,” he said. “He had a good week and a good day. He’s really come on. We rested Zyion (Freer-Brown) at linebacker and Steve Simkins came in and did a heckuva job. There was no drop-off there.
“I think offensively, Jordan Leslie (two catches for 22 yards) has done a phenomenal job at wide receiver. He's starting to establish himself as being a guy that we feel like, hey, he can get out there on game day and be productive for us.” …
McCorkle admitted that while there were too many flags, there probably shouldn’t have been as many as he signaled playing official from his station behind the offense.
“I threw a couple phantom flags just to keep the drives going,” he said. “We want to make sure guys had a chance to play. It's easy to play three-and-out. We wanted to make sure would go six or eight or 12 plays.
“We did have some holding. You get a little tired, you start to grab guys. But overall, (the penalty situation) wasn’t bad. Pass interference is always hard but DB’s think they never have pass interference. I know,” the onetime defensive back said. “Some of those, we’ll watch on tape and be able to decide and talk about them in our meeting.”
On Tap
The Big Green will have Thursday off and then four consecutive practice days, culminating in the fall Green-White scrimmage. Holding it early next week will give the team extra time to recover and then prepare for the Sept. 20 opener against New Hampshire at Buddy Teevens Stadium.
