The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Spring scrimmage
03.06.2004 | Football
AUSTIN, Texas -- The Longhorns completed the opening week of spring practice Saturday at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium and held an aggressive and energized session in front of over 500 fans, with the last third of the practice in a scrimmage format.
"I think the best part of the week is that there's an attitude of trying to take a bigger step to win two more games," head coach Mack Brown said. "We've taken steps over the last two years, and I thought we took one back last year. We're trying to get that step back and move ahead, and we feel like tackling better, stopping the run, continuing to run the ball and executing better play action will help us do those things. That's the mission that we've given them and they're responding to it."
Texas used the last six periods of the practice for the scrimmage, which was highlighted by a 34-yard run by Cedric Benson up the left sideline, and Vince Young and Chance Mock combining to complete 5-of-8 passes for 59 yards.
"I felt like the second practice was even better than the first practice in pads," Brown said. "They guys are being more physical. We went first team on first team entirely yesterday and the same today. We had good really physical live work today and yesterday, and nobody go hurt, and the guys are enjoying it. Our defense is chasing the ball and pursuing the ball better than I've seen them do it on a consistent basis since we've been here, and the offensive line is continuing to be as physical as they were when we left last fall.
"The quarterbacks have done a good job and the young receivers are working hard. It's a work in progress. We're trying to make some smart changes to tweak this and tweak that a little bit. We're learning to tackle better and we're doing it at full speed to do that, because we want to be the best tackling team in the country when we get to August. I feel really good about today and yesterday and where we're headed. We'll come back on Monday and start back."
Today was the last day of open practices for the public this spring until the Spring Jamboree on April 3, when Brown believes the fans will see the team maintain the same energy and enthusiasm.
"I hope they see better tackling, better pass protection, better pass rush, and it's going to be difficult to tell sometimes, because when your working first team against first team, one of your best guys is going to lose, one of your best schemes is going to lose," Brown explained. "It's challenging the offensive coaches with the new defensive schemes, so it's forcing us to do some different things offensively in protection. You get guys like Dick Tomey and Greg Robinson and they sit down with our offensive staff, and the offensive staff says, 'What do you like about this? Does this hurt you? Does that hurt you?' And they say, 'This was really tough on us. That, we don't worry about as much.' We're sharing a lot of ideas with each other, and I think you'll just see growth as a team between now and then."
Scrimmage Stats:
Rushing: Cedric Benson 2-37 (long 34); Erik Hardeman 7-29; Selvin Young 1-17; Anthony Johnson 3-11; Eric Enard 1-10
Passing: Vince Young 3-of-4 for 34 yards; Chance Mock 2-of-5 for 25 yards
Receiving: Brian Carter 1-20; Erik Hardeman 1-15; Dustin Miksch 1-10; Eric Enard 1-8; Cedric Benson 1-6
Tackles for loss: Larry Dibbles (1 for -2); Tarell Brown (1 for -3)
Play-by-Play
Cedric Benson over left guard, 3-yards
Vince Young draw, 3-yard loss (Tarell Brown tackle)
Cedric Benson over left guard, bounce outside, 34-yards
Vince Young incomplete pass
Selvin Young over left tackle, 17-yards
Chance Mock incomplete pass, intended for Josh Graham-Chapman (Larry Dibbles QB pressure)
Chance Mock incomplete pass, intended for Dustin Miksch (Aurmon Satchell QB pressure)
Anthony Johnson over right guard, 4-yards
Erik Hardeman up middle, 2-yards Anthony Johnson up middle, 2-yards
Erik Hardeman over left guard, 3-yards
Erik Hardeman up middle, 2-yard loss (Larry Dibbles TFL)
Vince Young short pass to Cedric Benson, 6-yards
Vince Young draw, 8-yards Eric Enard reverse, breaks tackle in backfield, 10-yards
Vince Young pass complete to Eric Enard, 8 yards
Vince Young pass complete to Brian Carter, 20 yards
Chance Mock pass complete to Erik Hardeman, 15 yards
Hardeman over left guard, 2-yards
Hardeman up middle, 10-yards
Chance Mock incomplete pass, intended for Josh Graham-Chapman
Chance Mock pass complete to Dustin Miksch, 10 yards Anthony Johnson up middle, 5-yards
Erik Hardeman over right guard, 8-yards
Erik Hardeman up middle, 6-yards
