APSU Men’s Football
Clarksville, TN – The offense gained the upper hand in the final Austin Peay State University football scrimmage held Friday afternoon in Governors Stadium.
It was a situational scrimmage where the APSU offense was given the ball with a designated down and distance. Some 27 situations-beginning with a first-and-10 at their own five-yard up to 3rd-and-long-were presented during the afternoon. The scrimmage concluded with the Governors offense beginning at its own 30-yard line and allowed to drive. In total, APSU’s offense scored six times.
On the ensuing series, wide receiver Scott Thomas, who also was forced to serve as backup quarterback this spring because of depth issues, drove the Govs for a score, a large chunk coming from a 36-yard run by sophomore running back Dontavious Brown. Thomas himself carried the ball 15 yards to the two-yard line on a 15-yard run before fullback Cody Tucker concluded the scrimmage plays with a two-yard run.
Early in the scrimmage, senior tailback Ryan White burst 25 yards for a score. Playing more in the final scrimmage that in the previous scrimmages combined, White finished with 53 yards rushing on six carries.
Redshirt freshman tailback Ean Pemberton also had a 25-yard TD run while Kitts, in addition to his 55-yard scoring reception, had a seven-yard run.
“I thought Ryan White showed again today that he’s a pretty good football player,” APSU coach Rick Christophel said. “Seemingly every time he touched the ball he was making a play.
“But I also thought our young running backs did a good job as well-I thought they ran hard. In fact, our running backs and our offensive line had a pretty good day, I thought.”
Starting quarterback Jake Ryan had a couple passes dropped, as did Thomas, and finished 7-of-16 passing for 102 yards.
“I thought Jake was like Phil Mickelson at the Master’s-he left a few plays on the field,” Christophel said. “Still, I thought Jake went to the right places with his passes.”
Defensively, though, Christophel was a little disappointed. In fact, in addition to permitting four plays of 25 yards or more, the defense dropped three potential interceptions.
“When you score like that it immediately makes you think we gave up way too many big plays,” he said. “I will have to wait and see the film to better evaluate it.
“Still I think our people up front played pretty well-the linebackers on back I think played better early in the spring but seemed to level off late. We have to keep working to improve in that area.”
The scrimmage ended with rising junior kicker Stephen Stansell nailing nine straight placekicks, the last three from 47 yards out.
