Saturday, August 11, 2007
Camp Bentley: Day 6
CLINTON, S.C. – The Presbyterian College football team held its first day of two practices on Saturday.
PC’s first practice took place from 9:15 a.m. until around 11:30 a.m.and it focused mainly on special teams
The Blue Hose then held their second practice of the afternoon at Bailey Memorial Stadium, holding a 100-play scrimmage that began at 4 p.m.
Bobby Bentley and the rest of the coaching staff saw some good and bad things in the team’s first scrimmage of the 2007 preseason, but mainly focused on how far the team had to go at the conclusion of the scrimmage.
“I know that all coaches say this and it is a little cliché, but we really do have a long way to go,” noted Bentley just minutes after the Blue Hose scrimmaged for the first time. “We were a little sloppy and we had a lot of penalties and misalignment that we should not have. I am just glad that we have three weeks left before our first game.”
Bentley mostly focused on the defense’s efforts on the field when noting particular players, remarking that “some of the positives that we had were the play of our freshman defensive backs and some of the big hits that our defense made today. We had not seen many interceptions during the first five days of camp, but we began to pick some up today.”
One of three Blue Hose to pick off a pass on the afternoon, Justin Rogers (Conway, S.C.) led the Blue Hose defensively on the afternoon, recording an interception and running down and making a touchdown-saving tackle on a 60-yard reception from Grayson Mullins (Irmo, S.C.) to Justin Durant (Florence, S.C.).
Harped upon by position coach Jeff Scott one day earlier, the PC receiving corps showed on Saturday why they are so highly thought about. In addition to Durant’s 60-yard catch, PC had two players with a 40-yard or higher catch.
PC sophomore wide receiver Larry Thomas (Orangeburg, S.C.) had two catches of that length or longer as he finished his efforts on Saturday with a 43-yard catch and a 49-yard catch. The long ball threat also had two touchdowns on the day.
Brandon Clark (Duluth, Ga.) had a great day receiving as well as he hauled in a 42-yard pass from Tim Webb (Lugoff, S.C.) and another 30-yard pass from Webb.
Grayson Mullins, who has been battling various injuries during the first week of camp, looked fairly comfortable in the new spread offense on Saturday, ending the day on his final series with a six-yard touchdown scamper that saw him elude potential tacklers on the far right side of the field and then change his positioning to run in for a score on the left side.
In the play, Mullins roughly encompassed at least 30 yards for the six-yard score.
The Blue Hose will not practice until 5:10 p.m. on Sunday. PC Football will begin the day by attending church at Clinton First Presbyterian on Sunday morning and then taking team pictures at Bailey Memorial Stadium in early afternoon.
One Note…
DAY-BY-DAY: The Blue Hose will practice 18 more times before beginning their first week of game preparation on Monday, Aug. 27. In total, PC will have 22 more practices before taking the gridiron against Furman at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 1 at Paladin Stadium.