McKnight & defense pace Griz scrimmage
8/20/2011 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 20, 2011
Second-year University of Montana Grizzly head coach Robin Pflugrad said that he wanted to emphasize special teams and improved play by the defense going into today's second football scrimmage of fall camp, and he definitely got most of what he asked for.
Senior kicker Brody McKnight connected on six (of eight) field goals, while the defense held the offense to just two touchdowns to lead the way in the 93-play, hour-and-10-minute scrum this morning in Washington-Grizzly Stadium.
The offensive numbers tell the story. The offense had 312 total yards, for an average per play of 3.3 yards. The breakdown was 131 yards rushing on 49 carries (2.7-yard average), while passing-wise four quarterbacks were a combined 28-of-48-0 for 181 yards.
McKnight, now in his fourth season as the starter, had field goals from 18, 23, and 21 yards out, a pair from 38, and his last one was a 22-yarder.
"It's fun to get your wish sometimes, then you walk up the (player) tunnel and go, hum, `where was the offense today?', Pflugrad said. "The neatest thing today was how the defense came on in the first series and just shut the offense down. The offense (started) was on the six-yard line, and we ran four different groups, and they shut everyone of them down. That was really neat to see.
"I thought that we had a chance on the very first play to score on the option, but I don't think we executed very well on offense, so we will take a good look at that," Pflugrad said. "If we had scored the first play of the game on offense maybe the whole thing would have been different. We need to emphasize that in our team and individual meetings with our players.
"We went a lot of days without him (McKnight) because of an injury, and I think his timing was a little bit rough," Pflugrad said. "He handled the defensive pressure well though, and I am sure he will be to his old form soon."
Senior defensive end Bobby Alt paced the defense with two sacks, while sophomore linebacker John Kanongata'a also had a pair of sacks. The "D" also had numerous tackles for loss.
"I think that we just came into this game trying to make a statement that the seven touchdowns last scrimmage we took personal, as did coach (defensive coordinator Mike) Breske, and that was really embarrassing to allow those seven TDs," Alt said. "This whole week we were focusing on our assignments and trying to correct mental mistakes, and to play real physical and just dominate the scrimmage.
"We have a lot of depth (on the defensive line), and more importantly we have been playing together for a long time," Alt said. "Me, (Bryan) Waldhauser, `Fether' (Ryan Fetherston), (Josh) Harris, and (Ben) Hughes. We know what each other's going to do in a certain situations. We are really jelling right now and have good chemistry, and are working really well as a unit."
"Coming home (last week) I didn't hear the last of it from Gerald Kemp after they (the offense) scored all of those touchdowns last week," said junior linebacker Jordan Tripp. "Gereld rides home with me sometimes and that was a tough trip last week.
"We had a lot of new stuff in last time and we were thinking a little bit more than we should of," Tripp said. "We made a few mistakes today, but more often than not we made the stops and we didn't let the quarterbacks run all over the place. We kept our assignments, and the D-line just flat got with it up front, and that made it so much easier on the secondary and the linebackers.
"We (the defense) still have a long ways to go, but we've played with each other quite a bit, and I am talking about the ones and the twos," Tripp said. "You saw today that we were effective - both at the ones and at twos at linebacker, and we didn't lose a step. That's going to be nice going into the season because we can stay fresh going into the fourth quarter."
"The defense really showed up today," Pflugrad said. "The quarterbacks held on to the ball longer than they did in previous scrimmage and longer than they did in practice the past few days. Once they do that it really helps the D-line."
Alt also had four tackles and blocked a field goal. Kanongata'a, and linebackers Beau Donaldson and Josh Stuberg had six tackles apiece. Sophomore strong safety Bo Tully and sophomore linebacker Brock Coyle each added five tackles.
Both touchdowns came via the running game. Redshirt freshman Jordan Canada scored on an 18-yard carry, while sophomore halfback Caleb Walden had a one-yard TD run. The key play that led to Walden's score was a 40-yard pass from junior quarterback Nate Montana to junior tight end Jacob Haas.
Passing-wise, Nate Montana was 13-of-18-0 for 95 yards; Kemp was 7-of-13-0 for 24 yards; redshirt freshman Shay Smithwick-Hann was 5-of-10-0 for 44 yards; and frosh Trent McKinney was 3-of-3 for 18 yards.
Junior halfback Dan Moore rushed nine times for 61 yards. Canada had eight totes for 23 yards and a touchdown, while Walden had six carries for 17 yards and a score. Kemp gained 13 yards on nine keepers. Senior C.J. Atkins led the receivers with four catches for 27 yards.
Senior punter Sean Wren averaged 41.1 yards on seven attempts, while freshman Stephen Shaw punted four times for a 37.0-yard average.
"We had way too much penetration when we tried to punt the football," Pflugrad said; "and we had to punt way too many times. You look at that and you say that's an opportunity for our punt team to get better, but I don't know if we got any better because of the amount of penetration. We're trying to find a punter that can come in and be very consistent, and maybe give McKnight a break."
