8/15/2001 - Football
Practice Report for Wednesday, August 15

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Posted by: Scott Strasemeier

DEFENSE CONTROLS SECOND SCRIMMAGE

ANNAPOLIS, Md.-The Navy offense could never get things going this morning in

the Mids second scrimmage of the fall. The offense was stifled by the Navy

defense and compounded things by committing untimely penalties dropped

passes and busted assignments.

"The defense has caught up with what we are doing offensively a little

bit," said Navy head coach Charlie Weatherbie. "You play against anything

for two weeks you can pretty much hone in on what the offense is doing.

There was a couple of big plays offensively, but overall the defense handled

them today and the defense has played well the whole preseason."

Sophomore safety Ben Michael and junior linebacker Justin Simmons came

up with fumble recoveries; Simmons on the one-yard line as Rashad Jamal was

stripped at the goal line.

The defense held the offense to 273 yards on 69 plays (4.0 yards per

play), but the numbers were inflated by a couple of big plays as Pat Haines

had a 41-yard run, while J.P. Blecksmith caught a 39-yard pass from Brian

Madden and Gene Reese caught a 31-yard pass from Craig Candeto.

"This is an offensive system that will continue to develop and improve

every day," said Weatherbie. "We have two weeks before our first game and

we need to continue to improve on both sides of the ball."

The offense did show some positives as Craig Candeto played well again

in limited action, rushing for 32 yards on seven carries. Candeto completed

just two of his seven passes for 37 yards, but was hurt by several drops.

Raheem Lambert also looked sharp in his brief appearance in the scrimmage,

rushing for 23 yards on four carries. Candeto and Lambert will be keys in

Navy's new flexbone offense.

PRACTICES CLOSED

Today's scrimmage was the last day that practice was open to the general

public. Starting tomorrow all practices are closed.