HANOVER – What’s the opposite of, “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts?”
Whatever it is, it tells the story of Dartmouth’s second scrimmage of the preseason.
There were plenty of highlights in the 125-plus plays from scrimmage Monday, but in the final analysis, Big Green coach Sammy McCorkle wasn't completely satisfied with the whole.
“I’d call it a B-minus,” McCorkle said at the end of the sun-splashed action. “Yeah, a B-minus. We’ve got to clean things up. I know it’s practice four in a row, but that doesn’t matter.
“It’s a long season. We don’t have bye-weeks. You have to get yourself physically and mentally prepared. It’s a marathon. You can’t blame it on the fourth practice in a row in preseason. You’ve got to block that out. You are conditioned right. You’re ready physically, so you’ve got to come out prepared mentally.”
Two interceptions – one for a “pick six” – a blown coverage that led to an easy touchdown, and a handful of dropped passes or missed throws colored McCorkle’s perception of an afternoon that still featured a good number of highlight plays.
With no tackling and arbitrary whistles, running back numbers in scrimmages like this are always skewed heavily in the offense’s favor. As the scrimmage wore on, the whistles took longer and longer to blow plays dead, so the numbers are even more fictitious than usual in a non-tackling affair.
All that said, Chris Roper impressed with his 13 carries for 134 yards. With tailbacks ahead of him on the depth chart sitting out, freshman Jacob Henry did nothing to hurt his cause with 15 carries for 111 yards and late TD runs of 13, 11, and 10 yards. Senior Colin O’Garro, who is having a good camp, ran 10 times for 47 yards.
Aided by a 61-yard TD on a completely blown coverage, starting quarterback Grayson Saunier finished 16-of-29 for 216 yards with a touchdown and an interception while backup Noah Trigueros was 11-of-19 for 139 yards with a TD. Jaden Cummings was 8-of-11 for 103 yards.
Heading up the receiving corps were James Elliott with seven catches for 68 yards, Jonathan Nelson with five for 88, Jason Bish with four for 45, and Nick Lemon with four for 39 yards.
Defensively, Keoni Perkins was a monster up front with at least one confirmed sack, two QB hurries, at least one other tackle for loss, and two other stops. Uche Odimegwu had one clean sack and at least another half sack.
Linebacker Sean Chester had seven tackles, while fellow backers Matt Boydell and JJ Bolz each had five (although all three probably would have been credited with a few half tackles in a real game, raising those numbers. Defensive backs Trey Jones, Colter Vela, and George Duggins each had four stops. No’Koi Maddox had the pick six, and Jackson Cheatham also picked off a pass.
Rounding out special teams, Owen Zalc nailed both of his field goal attempts and all of his extra points on a day with swirling winds, and punter Luke Armistead picked up where he left off last fall, which was a good thing for the Big Green.
Here are more of Sammy McCorkle’s thoughts from the scrimmage.
On shifting the scrimmage from Blackman Field to Buddy Teevens Stadium: “There was still some water at Blackman, and we didn’t want to tear it up. I wanted to be out here at one o’clock with the sun right above us. I think it was 77 (degrees), and that would put the turf at 85 or 87, which is what we wanted.”
On planning to use Blackman for practice on grass before playing on grass in the opener at Lehigh: “We’ll be back over there a bunch. We’ll do a little more situational stuff on the grass. Not a scrimmage, but close to a scrimmage.”
On the trainers thankfully never having to run on the field during the scrimmage: “That’s what keeps you up at night. We got a couple little (bumps and bruises) here and there, but nothing serious. Nothing that tape can’t fix.”
On some things he liked in the scrimmage: “I really like the way our second offense went down there on its first series. It was a combination. The run and pass kept our defense on our heels.
“I thought our first defense did a heckuva job. They were aggressive, flying around and making us offensively have to make quick decisions. Overall, the defense’s energy was good.”
On the offense: “It was up-and-down a little bit, energy-wise. And it showed. The second offense was moving the ball but the first struggled. We’ve got to throw and catch the ball better. There was a lack of focus. I thought it was a good battle between the threes.”
On the defense: “We’ve got to be better. We have to take better angles. We gave up a couple big plays. We had too many missed tackles. It’s tough when you’re doing ‘thud’ pace, but you can’t use that as an excuse. We’ve got to ‘thud’ up.”
On the specialists: “I thought they did a good job. The kickers and protection were good. I thought we punted well. It’s a little different when you don’t have a rush coming at you but overall it was good.”
Sammy McCorkle naming names: “I thought Keoni Perkins played really well, the best scrimmage we’ve seen him play. … Uche (Odimegwu) had a good day, especially at the end. He may not always make the play in the backfield but he makes them have to move. It’s almost like a boxer. You keep coming and coming and then in the late rounds you have a big play, a knockout play. … (Joshua Johnson) is a vet so we just gave him the first series and then let him put his ball cap on. We know what he can do.”
“No’Koi (Maddox) makes plays. He’s in the right spot. He always wants to make plays, and he’s doing a really good job of being disciplined, doing his job, and when he does that, the plays are going to come. … James Elliott had a good day. He knows the offense and where to be. He did a good job catching the ball and had a lot of YAC … I thought (Jason) Bish did a good job, too, especially at the end in the two-minute drill when we made some critical catches on third downs.”
“At running back, Chris Roper has come such a long way. He’s had a great preseason. He’s very patient and does a good job reading his line. He’s got his jump cut and makes a lot of guys miss out there. … (Jacob Henry) continues to show. We’re being safe with (Myles Craddock). We don’t want to bring him back too soon. The good thing is that’s more reps for the other guys because we’re going to need a stable at that position. It’s a physical position, and we want to be able to have fresh legs all the time.”
ON TAP
The Big Green is slated to have Tuesday off before its longest stretch of consecutive practices to date. The “preseason” concludes with practices Wednesday through Saturday, leading into the first official game week practice for Lehigh on Sunday.