Spring Football Notebook No. 15
April 17, 2010 | Football
April 17, 2010
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GREENVILLE, N.C - A swarming defense and a big-play offense helped first-year head coach Ruffin McNeill close his initial spring practice period Saturday afternoon during the Pirates' Purple-Gold Game at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.
Although played on a short field with one-directional possessions because of on-going seat expansion construction in the east end of the facility, the contest still highlighted McNeill's newly-installed schemes on both sides of the ball.
ECU's passing attack produced a 40-of-71, 354-yard and three touchdown performance from quarterbacks Brad Wornick, Rio Johnson and Josh Jordan, while a surging and blitzing defense was credited with 11 sacks and forced two turnovers
In all, the Pirate offense accounted for four touchdowns - 16 and 10-yard receptions by sophomore Andrew Bodenheimer, a 48-yard catch by senior Javon Brumsey and an 11-yard run by redshirt freshman Michael Dobson.
"Today was the first time that we were able to play in front of a crowd and that was special," McNeill said. "I saw some execution today and the defense did some special things. It was nice to see the offense put the ball in the endzone. I think our guys really continue to make plays but I also saw some of the kids try too hard today.
"After 15 days of practice, I am pleased with the overall body of work and the progress we have made," McNeill continued. "I am looking forward to seeing what the summer brings and how we get better on all three sides of the ball heading into the fall. We have a majority of the offensive packages in place but still need to work on installing some defensive things. Special teams are coming along nicely as well. The offense is ahead of schedule when you compare it to 10 years ago at Texas Tech when we installed it there."
Wornick, who in addition to connecting with Brumsey on a scoring toss, also hit Bodenheimer on a 38-yarder and senior T.J. Terrell on a 43-yard strike. The sophomore completed 18-of-33 passes for a game-high 226 and a pair of touchdowns and was picked off once. He led the Pirates to 11 first downs and to two scores on nine possessions.
Johnson, a redshirt freshman, led East Carolina on two touchdown drives behind an 18-of-27, 105-yard passing effort. A 70-yard march on his second possession of the afternoon was capped by Dobson's run before closing out the scrimmage with a 10-yard throw to Bodenheimer. He opened and closed the contest in rhythms that allowed completions on six of eight passes on both ends of the action.
Jordan turned in a 4-of-11, 23-yard performance in five possessions that also included an interception.
"Our quarterback rotation will continue to develop over the summer months and into the fall," McNeill explained. "We have had some guys really step up and do some good things this spring. We will also have a few people with us in the fall that will battle for the job as well. Wornick has been very consistent thus far and that is why he has gotten most of the reps."
After surrendering two early scores, the Pirate defense stiffened by keeping the offense out of the endzone on 15 consecutive three-down possessions. In addition to interceptions by junior safety Bradley Jacobs and senior Travis Simmons, the defense made stops on 16-of-26 third down conversion opportunities to force a new series.
Senior linebacker Melvin Patterson topped all tacklers with seven stops while sophomore cornerback Jacobi Jenkins and junior linebacker Steve Spence added six each. Sophomore hybrid end Marke Powell (three), junior tackle Antonio Allison (two), junior end Michael Byrd (two) and true freshman end Derrell Johnson (two) combined to tally nine of ECU's 11 sacks, which were credited by quick officials' whistles to protect non-contact quarterbacks.
"Blitzing is part of our defensive scheme and we will continue to work on some packages for that," McNeill said. "I feel we have the athletes to do that. That will, in turn, make our offense better since they will have seen these things in practice every day."
In addition to a pair of touchdowns, Bodenheimer also led all receivers with 83 yards on six catches. Brumsey enjoyed his finest outing of the spring with 80 yards on six receptions, while Terrell contributed 68 yards on just three grabs.
On the strength of an explosive 18-yard second-half carry, senior running back Jonathan Williams rushed for a game-high 45 yards on five attempts and added six receptions out of the backfield for 11 yards. Dobson added 36 yards on six carries, while Owah picked up 31 yards on five attempts.
"In general, I am pleased with the spring and how everything went," McNeill closed. "Like I said, we still have some things to introduce and work on, especially defensively, but I am certain we will continue to make progress from here. Our kids had big eyes and big ears and showed us that they wanted to learn by taking in everything that we taught them."
STATISTICS
RUSHING: Jonathan Williams (5-45), Michael Dobson (6-36, 1 TD), Alex Owah (5-31), Dwayne Harris (1-16), Josh Jordan (4-<-17>), Rio Johnson (4-<-23>), Brad Wornick (4-<-30>). Totals -- 29-58 (2.0 ypr), 1 TD.
PASSING: Brad Wornick (33-18-1, 226 yards, 2 TD), Rio Johnson (27-18-0, 105 yards, 1 TD), Josh Jordan (11-4-1, 23 yards). Totals -- 71-40-2, 354 yards, 3 TD (56.3%).
RECEIVING: Andrew Bodenheimer (6-83, 2 TD), Javon Brumsey (6-80, 1 TD), T.J. Terrell (3-68), Michael Bowman (6-43), Jeremy Davis (2-15), Reese Wiggins (3-14), Dayon Arrington (2-12), Joe Womack (1-12), Jonathan Williams (6-11), Dwayne Harris (1-11), Zico Pasut (1-6), Michael Dobson (2-0), Alex Owah (1-<-1>). Totals -- 40-354, 3 TD
TACKLES: Melvin Patterson 7 (TFL), Jacobi Jenkins 6 (TFL, PB), Steve Spence 6 (sack/-6 yards, PB), Wes Pittman 5 (sack/-6 yards), Devon Wallace 5, Derek Blacknall 4, James Craig 4, Jeremy Grove 4, Antonio Allison 3 (2 sacks/-12 yards), Dustin Lineback 3, Leonard Paulk 3, Marke Powell 3 (3 sacks/-20 yards), Josh Smith 3 (PB), Justin Venable 3 (TFL), Bill Wallace 3, Michael Byrd 2 (sack/-4 yards), Bradley Jacobs 2 (INT, PB), Derrell Johnson 2 (2 sacks/-16 yards), Kyle Tudor 2, Emanuel Davis 1, Maurice Falls 1 (sack/-8 yards), Korey Reynolds 1, Matt Milner (PB), Travis Simmons (INT, PB)
TOTAL OFFENSE/TOTAL DEFENSE: 100-412 (4.1 ypp)
FUMBLES/LOST: 0/0
INTERCEPTIONS/RETURN YARDAGE: 2/32 (32/Bradley Jacobs, 0/Travis Simmons)
THIRD DOWN CONVERSIONS: 10-26 (38.5%) - Wornick (6-11), Johnson (3-10), Jordan (1-5)
FOURTH DOWN CONVERSIONS (when attempted): 1-3 (33.3%) - Johnson (1-1), Wornick (0-1)
PENALTIES: 11 (5/OFFENSE - 3 false start, 1 holding, 1 pass interference; 6/DEFENSE - 3 offside, 2 facemask, 1 pass interference)
QUARTERBACK FIRST DOWN/SCORING CHART (DRIVES)
Brad Wornick - 11 first downs, 2 TD (punt, TD, downs, downs, interception, downs, downs, downs, TD)
Rio Johnson - 10 first downs, 2 TD (downs, TD, downs, downs, downs, downs, downs, TD)
Josh Jordan - 2 first downs, 0 TD (punt, punt, interception, downs, downs)
SCORING:
TDs - 4
Andrew Bodenheimer 16-yard pass from Brad Wornick
Michael Dobson 11-yard run
Javon Brumsey 48-yard pass from Brad Wornick
Andrew Bodenheimer 10-yard pass from Rio Johnson
PATs - 4-4
Ben Ryan (2-2)
Matt Millisor (2-2)
ATTENDANCE: 7,125
