Spring Ends On High Note With Orange-White Game
4/10/2015 10:12:00 PM | Football
The White team edged the Orange 52-48 in Sam Houston's annual spring game Friday at Elliott T. Bowers using a special scoring system in the offense versus scrimmage.
But, to Bearkat head coach K. C. Keeler, the real story was how much progress his 2015 football team has made during four weeks of spring ball.
“We've improved so much since the end of last season,” Keeler said. “I really feel good about this group and the kids feel good about themselves. Tonight was only the third time we've hit in full pads, so we missed a few tackles, but overall it was a great night.”
Several players shined in the scrimmage on both sides of the ball. Running back De'Chaar Greer carried eight times for 48 yards and Donavan Williams rushed nine times for 35 yards including a three-yard touchdown.
P. J. Hall led a Bearkat defense that was suffering from a man-power shortage with several top players held out of the scrimmage to recover from bangs and bruises.
“Every team is different and, with this group, we didn't need to hit quite so much. We wanted to work on fundamentals and avoid injuries,” Keeler said. “We've got a lot of conditioning work with Coach (Brian) Hess in the weight room to get bigger and stronger. But, if we can play clean and stay healthy, this team is going to win some football games next fall.”
All three quarterbacks saw action during the 80-play scrimmage with transfer Jeremiah Briscoe seeing the most plays. Briscoe completed 10 of 14 passes for 116 yards including a 19-yard scoring pass to Josh Reynolds. Jared Johnson completed 4 of 8 passes for 31 yards and Don King was 6 of 11 for 31 yards in the air.
The biggest play of the scrimmage was a 31-yard Briscoe pass to wide receiver LaDarius Brown.
Several activities surrounded the annual spring game including a dinner players families, a barbeque for former Sam Houston football players and a pre-game kids clinic.
“Our theme for spring ball is past, present and future and that's what really happened tonight,” Keeler said. “We had a great group of former players return who represent the outstanding tradition here at Sam Houston. We had the present with our current players and their families. And we had the future, with each of our signees from this spring and their families visiting campus.
“It was a great spring and everyone is looking forward to the coming season.”
