APSU Sports: Men’s Football
Clarksville, TN – Ryan White and Jake Ryan showed they are close to being ready for the 2011 football season to start.
Meanwhile, the defense finally got those much-sought turnovers in Austin Peay State University’s Saturday morning 71-play scrimmage.
On just his second carry against the second-team defense, White ran 42 yards for a touchdown. The preseason All-Ohio Valley Conference selection finished with 54 carries on four carries.
Ryan, meanwhile, completed four passes of 10 yards or more, including a 20-yard scoring toss to Tee Howell.
“That’s why I keep saying that Jake Ryan is having a good fall for us. He had two or three drops. All his throws were on his body. He did two of three things back in the pocket, slid around some to make himself available. “
Defensively, Tyreon “Mook” Clark intercepted a pass and returned it 40 yards while the defense also forced a pair of fumbles.
“We got a couple of turnovers, which is big,” Christophel said, “but the thing our first group really did out of the gate was stop the run. We have to be able to do that if we are going to be successful.”
With sophomore back Dontavious Brown out with a leg injury, redshirt freshman running back Ean Pemberton took advantage of his opportunity at running back to end with 52 yards on eight attempts. Brown ended with 19 on six carries, but was injured on a 12-yard cutback run.
Freshman quarterback Landon Curtis accounted for the other touchdown with an eight-yard pass to Terrence Oliver. Curtis finished 3-of-9 passing for 14 yards. Fellow freshman Jacob Sexton was 4-of-8 for 60 yards.
“We cut the scrimmage a little short,” Christophel said. “We had some tired legs out there—you should have that at this time of camp. When you have tired legs, that’s when you get (knee) injuries. Still, overall I was pleased. I think this football team continues to improve. I saw some really good things today from our offensive line and on the other side we are doing the right things.”
