Bulldogs Conclude Spring With Final Scrimmage
"I thought overall we didn't do dumb things today," Croom said following the one-hour scrimmage. "We didn't do the things that beat yourself. I thought we got ourselves lined up pretty well, and I thought the first offense and first defense looked pretty good. I thought the pursuit of the defense was better. I was a little disappointed in the second offensive line, but there have been some injuries involved there. We stayed pretty ?’vanilla' today, we were not nearly as multiple as we will be. We didn't want to show anything."
The first offense scored on its first short-field possession of the scrimmage when halfback Jerious Norwood (Brandon, Miss.) scored from 24 yards out. Quarterback Omarr Conner (Macon, Miss.), who guided the first offense to that initial touchdown responded a series later by rushing once for 9 yards and completing a pair of passes for 22 to set up a Keith Andrews (Bastrop, La.) field goal.
Overall, Conner completed four-of-eight passes for 42 yards, and Norwood led all rushers with seven carries for 27 yards. Second-unit quarterback Aries Nelson (Cleveland, Miss.) fell victim to that second offensive line letdown and completed just one-of-four passes for 30 yards. Jason Husband (Jackson, Miss.) led all receivers with two catches for 38 yards. Ronald Fields (Bogalusa, La.) paced all tacklers with five hits, including four for loss. Adrian Griffin (LaGrange, Ga., 38-yard touchdown return), Marcus Evans (Starkville, Miss.) and Marcus Hunter (Columbus, Miss.) all had pass interceptions.
"I thought we got better as the spring went along," Croom said. "I believe we're going in the right direction."
SCORING
Griffin 38 interception return (Andrews kick)
Norwood 24 run (Andrews kick)
Andrews 28 FG
Wright 37 pass from Wilcutt (Andrews kick)
Nelson 1 run (no PAT attempt)
Reid 3 run (no PAT attempt)
Reid 3 run (no PAT attempt)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING-Norwood 7-27 TD, Reid 2-6 2TD, Mills 3-5, Conner 5-4, Rice 3-4, Rivers 1-(-2), Jude 3-(-3), Team 1-(-3), Wilcutt 2-(-6), Morgan 3-(-24), Nelson 9-(-31) TD.
PASSING- Wilcutt 2-4-1-45 TD, Conner 4-8-1-42, Nelson 1-4-1-30.
RECEIVING-Husband 2-38, Wright 1-37 TD, Milons 1-17, Reid 1-13, Sherrod 1-8, Scott 1-4.
TACKLES- Fields 5, Arant 3, Hannibal 3, M.Heard 3, McDougal 3, Clark 2, Ma.Evans 2, Fuller 2, Hampton 2, Jack 2, Kern 2, Robinson 2, Swain 2, Byrdsong 1, Cooper 1, Horton 1, Je.Johnson 1, Dockery 1, McKinley 1, Tate 1, Upton 1, Williams 1, Yarbrough 1.
SACKS-Arant 3-(-33), M.Heard 3-(-23), Fields 3-(20), Robinson 2-(-15), Swain 1-(-9).
TACKLES FOR LOSS-Fields 4-(-21), Arant 3-(-33), M.Heard 3-(-23), Robinson 2-(-15), Hannibal 2-(-3), Swain 1-(-9), Jack 1-(-4), Hampton 1-(-3), Clark 1-(-2),McDougal 1-(-1).
INTERCEPTIONS-Griffin 1-38 TD, Ma. Evans 1-0, Hunter 1-0.