August 24, 2002

"VANILLA" DEFENSE YIELDS BIG PLAYS
IN FURMAN'S SATURDAY SCRIMMAGE

GREENVILLE -- Other than believing his team could have played with a little more emotion, Furman head coach Bobby Lamb emerged from Saturday¹s 96-play scrimmage in Paladin Stadium generally pleased with what he saw, even with a "vanilla" defense that yielded five touchdowns.

"You¹ve got to understand we were really vanilla on defense today," said Lamb following the two-hour scrimmage under high heat and humidity. "Bobby Johnson's got a lot of friends still in Greenville, so we didn't want to do a whole lot on defense. They (Vanderbilt...Furman's season opening opponent on Sept. 8) know what we are going to do offensively, but defensively we didn't want to show our entire package, and I think that aided the success of our offense."

Senior quarterback Billy Napier certainly found the first and second team Paladin defensive units to his liking, as he completed 11-of-13 passes for 220 yards and two touchdowns. Napier, a consensus All-Southern Conference selection a year ago, connected with sophomore flanker Brandon Berry on a 39-yard touchdown strike and later found sophomore split end Isaac West behind a defender for a 27-yard scoring toss.

Napier, however, was sacked three times, yielding takedowns to sophomore defensive end Travis Jones, sophomore nose guard Michael Burant, and redshirt freshman nose guard Brant Glover.

Backup quarterback Bo Moore completed 10-of-15 passes for 95 yards but surrendered the only interception of the scrimmage to redshirt freshman cornerback Maurice Duncan. Reserve quarterback Jeremiah Van Dora went 4-for-9 for 61 yards and touchdown, which covered 37 yards to redshirt freshman split end Daric Carter.

Favorite targets for Napier and Moore included West (3 rec., 69 yds.), senior flanker Rinehart (3 rec., 46 yds.), who registered his first action of the preseason, and sophomore flanker Brian Bratton (2 rec., 44 yds.). Junior tailback Lamar Rembert had four receptions for 26 yards.

"We're as deep at receiver as we've ever been," added Lamb. "We were trying to get the ball to Bear and Isaac and get them out of the scrimmage early. I thought Brandon Berry made some nice plays, and Brian Bratton has benefitted from Bear being hurt (strained hamstring). When you get a lot of reps in practice like Brian has, it shows off in a scrimmage like this. He had a great day."

Redshirt freshman Brandon Mays led a group of 12 Paladin ballcarriers with 13 rushes for 85 yards, including a 29-yard sprint off an option pitch from Jeremiah Van Dora. Fullbacks Eric Emerson and Nick Marra accounted for both rushing touchdowns on 12 and 13-yard runs, respectively.

The kicking game was also showcased, with junior All-Southern Conference performer Danny Marshall converting 9-of-10 field goal attempts, including three from 27 yards, one from 32 yards, and four 37-yarders. Marshall also found the mark on 1-of-2 field goal tries from 50 yards.

Senior backup Brian Kovach was almost equally effective, converting 8-of-10 attempts, including a 50-yarder on his final try.

"We feel good about Danny Marshall. He was knocking them right down the middle. His range is about 48-50 yards, but if it's inside that he's been knocking them down.

"We're at a good point right now. We've got a lot of stuff in, and there's a lot going through their heads right now, especially the second and third team guys' heads. Next week we'll start narrowing our focus and getting a lot of reps while trying to keep our legs under us. It was hot today, and these guys have been going twice-a-day all week, so it will be nice for them to get a day off.

"We got a good look at a lot of people in different spaces and places, and hopefully we can learn from the video."