Football Eagles Enjoy Spirited Scrimmage
Hattiesburg, Miss. - Southern Miss wrapped up the first week of spring football work with a two-hour, 132-play, Sunday afternoon scrimmage that saw all three Golden Eagle quarterbacks complete over 50 percent of their passes and all three threw for over 100 yards.

It was a workout that pleased Head Coach Jeff Bower. "I saw a lot of good things on both sides of the ball," he said. I think all our quarterbacks played well. We didn't protect as well at times as we need to, but we saw some blitzes and the resulting sacks were to be expected for a first scrimmage.

"I thought Michael Boley (r-So., LB), Joe Henley (Sr., LB) and Rod Davis (r-Jr., LB) all played well on defense, and Derrick Nix (r-Sr., RB) ran the ball really well. It was good to see him back. He ran over a defender on one of his touchdown runs, and the defense had trouble getting him down at times. But, we all know he's an outstanding back. Marvin Young (So., WR) made some big plays, and Anthony Harris (r-Fr., RB) looked good as well. We saw a lot of good things, as well as a lot of things to correct. We'll look at the tape and make corrections, but I thought we had an outstanding opening week and capped it off with a solid first scrimmage."

Micky D'Angelo (r-So.) completed 10-of-17 passes for 133 yards, Zac White (r-So.) was 14-of-22 for 165 yards and a pair of touchdowns, and Dustin Almond (r-Fr.) completed 11-of-21 for 101 yards. Fifteen different players caught at least one pass, led by (Marvin) Young with seven catches for 117 yards and a 35-yard scoring pass from White, who also connected with Stuart Floyd (r-So., WR) for a seven-yarder.

Naton Stewart (r-FR., WR) had four catches for 39 yards and LeRoy Handy (r-Sr., WR) had four for 36 yards.

Nix led the rushers with a 14-carry, 80-yard performance that included touchdown runs of one, nine and 12 yards. Harris had the other touchdown on a 3-yard run, and added 63 yards on 14 carries, while James Walley got 27 yards on 10 carries.

The Eagles will work Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday next week and then take a brief Easter holiday break. The annual Black & Gold spring game is set for April 13, and Southern Miss opens the 2002 season Aug. 31, at home, against intrastate rival Jackson State.