Offense shows progess in second scrimmage
8/19/2009 8:30:00 PM | Football
Quarterbacks Bryan Randolph and Blake Joseph each directed a touchdown drive and wide receiver Jason Madkins put on a receiving show to highlight offensive action for the Bearkats in the second and final major game condition scrimmage of 2009 Sam Houston preseason football camp at Bowers Stadium Wednesday night.
Madkins caught six passes for 135 yards including gains of 37 and 36 yards. Randolph completed eight of 11 passes for 84 yards including an 18 scoring toss to Madkins. Joseph was six of 10 in the air for 115 yards.
On the opening drive of the scrimmage, Randolph directed the team on a three-play, 75-yard drive highlighted by a 57 yard run by running back James Aston. Randolph hit Madkins for the touchdown from the 18. A key to the rushing success was the return of several members on the offensive line.
"We have had a bunch of people out and we have been getting a lot of them back this week," said Aston, who also had a 3-yard touchdown run. "The offensive linemen are starting to work together and understand each other. They are getting the feel for each other and are opening up holes. We are getting back to where we were in the spring."
With the running game beginning to come around, the Kats looked more balanced on offense Wednesday. Junior quarterback Bryan Randolph capped Aston's long run with an 18-yard touchdown pass to senior Jason Madkins.
Madkins was just beginning to heat up. The 6-foot-5-inch wide receiver had two plays that looked like something out of a video game.
Madkins went up and snagged a ball above the head of cornerback Cameron Jenkins for 37 yards on a first-and-15 situation. Then toward the end of the scrimmage, he reeled in a pass from quarterback Blake Joseph and spun his way breaking tackles for 43 more yards.
"We have been working harder on trying to get the timing routes down and getting comfortable with the quarterbacks," Madkins said. "We just didn't want to get beat by the defense again."
The Bearkats only had one more touchdown drive, which featured a 43-yard pass from Joseph to senior Chris Lucas that set up Aston's 3-yard plunge. But the offense still looked like a different unit than the one that took the field last Thursday.
Sam Houston turned the ball over five times in the first scrimmage, three fumbles and two interceptions. Wednesday night, the Bearkats only had one turnover and that came on a fumble toward the end of the workout.
The offense was also cut down on the number of false start penalties and got a 55-yard field goal from freshman Miquel Antonio.
"We moved the ball pretty good and I thought we played pretty clean. I was pleased with that," Bearkats head coach Todd Whitten said. "I don't think we had a turnover and we had a minimal amount of penalties.
"That is something we have been working on. In our league we are going to play a lot of close games and we can't make mistakes."
Not to take anything away from the offense, but the defense also played well Wednesday. They forced punts on five drives by the first-team offense and also got pressure on the quarterbacks.
Junior Antonio Cobb, senior Luke McCall and sophomore E.J. Nduka would have all recorded sacks if the quarterbacks would have been live.
"We are pressure oriented on defense, but I think the offense is catching up," Whitten said. "We have to get ready for all that pressure coming and it is a process. I think it is going to be good for us in the end.
"I thought we handled the line of scrimmage better today than we did the last time out. But I was pleased with both sides of the ball."
