March 10, 2005

The TCU football squad went through a 102-play controlled scrimmage on Thursday afternoon on the W.A. "Monty & Tex" Moncrief Field at Amon G. Carter Stadium. The first down chains did not move during the scrimmage, but rather the ball was returned to the 35-yard yard line after each play, limiting the scoring opportunities in the contest.

"I thought this was a very physical practice, especially considering it was just our fourth practice of the spring and only the second day in pads," said TCU head coach Gary Patterson. "Defensively, we had one interception but dropped three others, so we should have had four altogether. I thought we tackled better. We played against the number one tailbacks, which is something we usually don't do in the spring. We also played the pass well despite not having much of a pass rush. We didn't blitz today; we just got back to the basics. You have to be able to play your base defense well before you can do anything else."

"Offensively, I thought we ran the ball well in the second half of the practice," said Patterson. "Our special teams didn't miss a field goal, but we have a long way to go with our punting game to get where we need to be."

The offense rushed 53 times for 189 yards during the scrimmage, led by redshirt freshman Justin Watts. Watts finished the day with eight carries for a game-high 77 yards, including bursts of 37 and 20 yards. Senior Lonta Hobbs was the workhorse in the backfield, toting the pigskin 13 times for 65 yards. Redshirt freshman Detrick James, who has moved back to tailback, carried eight times for 37 yards.

Five quarterbacks saw action for the Horned Frogs, with sophomore Chad Huffman having the best day of the group. Huffman, who will join the TCU baseball team for a three-game series at Rice this weekend, completed 7-of-10 passes for 43 yards. The rest of the signal-callers struggled, as the quintet combined to complete just 17-of-49 passes for 94 yards with one interception.

Junior cornerback Vernon Russell, a transfer from Southeastern Louisiana, recorded the lone turnover of the game as he intercepted a pass from Kyle Kummer. Russell nearly had a second pick but dropped the ball. Junior safety Eric Buchanan also had a pair of near interceptions and had the best hit of the game on tight end Tom Stevens.

The Frogs will take the next 10 days off before returning to the practice fields on Monday, March 21.

RUSHING (Att.-Yds.): Watts 8-77; Hobbs 13-65; James 8-37; Nwuli 4-10; Merrill 3-7; Phillips 2-4; Kummer 3-8; Rodgers 1-4; Ellis 3-2; Ballard 3-1; Draper 1-1; Gunn 1-(-5); Battle 3-(-22). TEAM: 53-189.

PASSING (Comp.-Att.-Int.-Yds.): Huffman 7-10-0-43; Kummer 5-14-1-27; Battle 4-11-0-22; Ballard 1-7-0-2; Gunn 0-7-0-0. TEAM: 17-49-1-94.

RECEIVING (Rec.-Yds.): Dickerson 2-19; Brock 2-16; McDaniel 2-16; Harmon 2-8; Massey 2-3; Andrus 1-11; Grimmett 1-8; Rodgers 1-6; James 1-5; DePriest 1-2; Hobbs 1-0; Watts 1-0. TEAM: 17-94.

-gofrogs.com-