Flames Scrimmage Under the Lights at Stadium
4/2/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Spring Practice Photo Gallery
The recurring theme of weather continued to wreak havoc on the Flames' spring practice season, as Liberty not only battled themselves during some intrasquad scrimmage time, but also fog and steady rain throughout the Thursday evening practice session.
The Flames' fourth practice of the spring slate gave the few who braved the elements up in the stands at Williams Stadium the first peek into Liberty's offense, defense and special teams sets for 2009. The Flames welcomed officials to the field for the first time this spring, running 90-plus scripted plays during the workout.
A slick playing surface and a continual and persistent rain throughout the evening, hampered the sharpness of the squad. The two-hour session saw more than its fair share of dropped passes and missed handoffs. However, head coach Danny Rocco was still pleased with his team's performance.
"I thought it went really well tonight," commented Rocco. "We ran 96 teams plays, mixing one versus one, two versus two and threes versus threes. I thought the guys came out and worked really hard. There was no doubt in my mind that we came out here and got better tonight."
"The weather conditions were such that it was a little hard to be efficient throwing the ball tonight," continued Rocco. "Our efficiencies weren't really good, as we had a lot of dropped passes, because the ball was slippery. But for the most part, I thought I saw good speed and tempo, along with a good contact level. I'm pleased about where we are at, and I hope we can come out here and do even better tomorrow."
All three of Rocco's quarterbacks saw ample time under center this evening, as Mike Brown, Spencer Landis and Tyler Brennan each led the offense at times.
Landis completed the most passes of the trio, as the rising senior was roughly 9-for-15, throwing for 85 yards. Brown followed by completing 8-of-13 pass attempts for 76 yards, while Brennan was 4-of-9 for 36 yards.
Brown was one of the Flames' leading ground-gainers, as the redshirt sophomore scampered nearly 50 yards on 10 carries. Terron Lawrence and Danny Broggin were also active as ball carriers, each rushing just as often as Brown, for 78 and 55 yards, respectively. Lawrence spotlighted the trio, bursting up the middle for a 30-yard gain that could have gone the distance, had not the officials whistled the play dead.
B.J. Hayes did not get nearly as many touches as some running backs did on the evening, but when the sophomore did, he made the most of the opportunity. All of his rushing attempts were for more than 10 yards, including a sweeping play to the outside of the field that would have led to the end zone, if it was not stopped after 25 yards.
Liberty's quarterbacks spread the wealth when it came to the Flames' wide receivers, as nearly 15 different players caught passes on the evening. Due to the nature of the conditions and the intent of the practice, no gains were for more than 15 yards.
Not to be outdone by their white-clad offensive counterparts, Liberty's defense left an impression on Rocco, as well, with numerous standout plays.
The first of the evening was a pass block by Tim Smith, as the redshirt junior swatted down a Brennan pass attempt at the line of scrimmage near the end of the first set of scripted plays.
Mike Connolly posted back-to-back notable performances, beginning with the linebacker picking off a Brown pass attempt to Broggin, as the ball was tipped during flight. On the ensuing play, the redshirt sophomore scurried around the line of scrimmage to get a hand on the quarterback.
Defensive linemen Trey Jacobs and Asa Chapman both had significant stops, as Jacobs sacked Landis and Chapman batted a ball down at the line, out of the hands of Brown.
The later part of the workout session saw two linebackers bring a smile to the face of defensive coordinator and now linebacker coach Tom Clark. Doncel Bolt intercepted a Brown pass with a nice grab inside a pack of players, while Pierre Tinsley nearly joined Bolt in the interception group. The junior leapt high into the air at midfield to halt a pass from Landis, but the ball just slipped out of his reach on the way back down to the new Williams Stadium turf.
The Flames are slated to run similar practice sessions to close out the week, including a return of the officiating crew for Saturday morning's 10:30 a.m. practice.
During tomorrow afternoon's practice report, LibertyFlames.com will hit the highlights of the afternoon workout session, while giving readers some insight from senior defensive end Trey Jacobs. Friday afternoon's practice is set to begin with the players "on the line" at 4:15 p.m.
The recurring theme of weather continued to wreak havoc on the Flames' spring practice season, as Liberty not only battled themselves during some intrasquad scrimmage time, but also fog and steady rain throughout the Thursday evening practice session.
The Flames' fourth practice of the spring slate gave the few who braved the elements up in the stands at Williams Stadium the first peek into Liberty's offense, defense and special teams sets for 2009. The Flames welcomed officials to the field for the first time this spring, running 90-plus scripted plays during the workout.
A slick playing surface and a continual and persistent rain throughout the evening, hampered the sharpness of the squad. The two-hour session saw more than its fair share of dropped passes and missed handoffs. However, head coach Danny Rocco was still pleased with his team's performance.
"I thought it went really well tonight," commented Rocco. "We ran 96 teams plays, mixing one versus one, two versus two and threes versus threes. I thought the guys came out and worked really hard. There was no doubt in my mind that we came out here and got better tonight."
"The weather conditions were such that it was a little hard to be efficient throwing the ball tonight," continued Rocco. "Our efficiencies weren't really good, as we had a lot of dropped passes, because the ball was slippery. But for the most part, I thought I saw good speed and tempo, along with a good contact level. I'm pleased about where we are at, and I hope we can come out here and do even better tomorrow."
All three of Rocco's quarterbacks saw ample time under center this evening, as Mike Brown, Spencer Landis and Tyler Brennan each led the offense at times.
Landis completed the most passes of the trio, as the rising senior was roughly 9-for-15, throwing for 85 yards. Brown followed by completing 8-of-13 pass attempts for 76 yards, while Brennan was 4-of-9 for 36 yards.
Brown was one of the Flames' leading ground-gainers, as the redshirt sophomore scampered nearly 50 yards on 10 carries. Terron Lawrence and Danny Broggin were also active as ball carriers, each rushing just as often as Brown, for 78 and 55 yards, respectively. Lawrence spotlighted the trio, bursting up the middle for a 30-yard gain that could have gone the distance, had not the officials whistled the play dead.
B.J. Hayes did not get nearly as many touches as some running backs did on the evening, but when the sophomore did, he made the most of the opportunity. All of his rushing attempts were for more than 10 yards, including a sweeping play to the outside of the field that would have led to the end zone, if it was not stopped after 25 yards.
Liberty's quarterbacks spread the wealth when it came to the Flames' wide receivers, as nearly 15 different players caught passes on the evening. Due to the nature of the conditions and the intent of the practice, no gains were for more than 15 yards.
Not to be outdone by their white-clad offensive counterparts, Liberty's defense left an impression on Rocco, as well, with numerous standout plays.
The first of the evening was a pass block by Tim Smith, as the redshirt junior swatted down a Brennan pass attempt at the line of scrimmage near the end of the first set of scripted plays.
Mike Connolly posted back-to-back notable performances, beginning with the linebacker picking off a Brown pass attempt to Broggin, as the ball was tipped during flight. On the ensuing play, the redshirt sophomore scurried around the line of scrimmage to get a hand on the quarterback.
Defensive linemen Trey Jacobs and Asa Chapman both had significant stops, as Jacobs sacked Landis and Chapman batted a ball down at the line, out of the hands of Brown.
The later part of the workout session saw two linebackers bring a smile to the face of defensive coordinator and now linebacker coach Tom Clark. Doncel Bolt intercepted a Brown pass with a nice grab inside a pack of players, while Pierre Tinsley nearly joined Bolt in the interception group. The junior leapt high into the air at midfield to halt a pass from Landis, but the ball just slipped out of his reach on the way back down to the new Williams Stadium turf.
The Flames are slated to run similar practice sessions to close out the week, including a return of the officiating crew for Saturday morning's 10:30 a.m. practice.
During tomorrow afternoon's practice report, LibertyFlames.com will hit the highlights of the afternoon workout session, while giving readers some insight from senior defensive end Trey Jacobs. Friday afternoon's practice is set to begin with the players "on the line" at 4:15 p.m.
Wednesday, May 13
Thursday, May 07
Thursday, April 30
Friday, April 24