RUSTON, La. – Louisiana Tech held its first scrimmage of the fall Saturday as the team marked its halfway point through fall camp. The Bulldogs ran approximately 130 plays as the scrimmage marked the beginning of a day’s worth of activities.
Several hundred fans were on hand as Coach Holtz made Saturday’s scrimmage the first open practice session since the first week.
“We scrimmaged today and had a great turnout,” head coach Skip Holtz said. “I am really excited to see all the people that came out to see the team today. Plus it is great for them to have the opportunity to play in front of so many of their family and friends. As far as the scrimmage on the field, it looked like day 15 to me. They are heavy legged, they are tired right now, they are sore right now, there were times where there were some good things and I thought they looked sharp and then there were times when it looked really sloppy with some things we have to get cleaned up.”
The coaches kept the scrimmage playbook fairly simple in an effort to evaluate all of the players on the field.
“I don’t think this one was about offense versus defense, it wasn’t a very complicated scheme on either side of the ball,” Holtz said. “It was an opportunity to see these guys come out and get a personnel evaluation so we can determine our depth chart.”
No one player stood out in any position battle with Ryan Higgins making several plays with his feet as he vies for the starting quarterback job with Scotty Young. However it was Paul Harris who threw the first touchdown pass of the day, a 10-yard pass to Conner Smith in the back corner of the end zone.
Young had one of the few highlight plays of the day on the next drive, quickly striking with a 45-yard pass down the sideline to Richie Casey for a touchdown.
Higgins found a receiver in the end zone later in the scrimmage with a six-yard touchdown pass to Sterling Griffin but not before Marlon Seets scored from eight yards out in a play that was set up by a 51-yard run by Boston Scott.
Young’s day wasn’t over with after the “halftime” break as D.J. Banks caught a pass while falling backwards out of bounds, but Banks tapped his foot on the turf in-bounds for the score.
Following that play, Blake Martin – who had several good runs on the day – scored on a run from four-yards out.
Just as he began the day with a touchdown catch, so Smith ended it with the last touchdown of the day. Smith’s catch came from Ryan Higgins on an 11-yard pass for the score.
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QUOTES
Head Coach Skip Holtz
“We scrimmaged today and had a great turnout. I am really excited to see all the people that came out to see the team today. Plus it is great for them to have the opportunity to play in front of so many of their family and friends. As far as the scrimmage on the field, it looked like day 15 to me. They are heavy legged, they are tired right now, they are sore right now, there were times where there were some good things and I thought they looked sharp and then there were times when it looked really sloppy with some things we have to get cleaned up.”
“I don’t think this one was about offense versus defense, it wasn’t a very complicated scheme on either side of the ball. It was an opportunity to see these guys come out and get a personnel evaluation so we can determine our depth chart.”
“I thought they played hard. We got a lot of plays – about 140 plays today in the scrimmage. So we got a lot of work. We went long series trying to get them in game shape where they are going 10 play series. Overall I am pleased with the effort, the attitude and the way they are running around out here. We just have to get better as a football team, clean some things up, start to develop the depth chart and start to hone in what we are going to do and who we are going to do it with when we get to NC State.”
On who stood out:
“There were a couple of good plays. I thought Richie Casey’s touchdown in the corner was a nice catch. Like I continue to say, every nice play I see I also say that was our corner. I don’t think we just had one guy stand out.”
