8/10/2002 - Football
Navy Football Practice Report Day 5, Practice 1
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Navy head football coach Paul Johnson put his team through its first full scrimmage of the fall and, on the whole, he was not pleased with what he saw.
"I thought we took a step backwards today as far as intensity goes. Our guys need to learn how to play hard and we have to quit making mistakes. We are not a good enough football team, I don?t know if anybody is, but we certainly are not, to commit penalties and turn the football over and still win the game.
"I thought the defense did some good things early," continued Johnson. "But we have a ways to go as a football team."
The offense ran 108 plays on the day and gained 382 yards (3.5 yards per play). The offense ran the ball 86 times for 294 yards (3.4 per carry) and attempted 23 passes, completing 10, for 178 yards (7.7 yards per attempt).
The two most impressive players on the offensive side were sophomore fullback Kyle Eckel and freshman quarterback Lamar Owens. Eckel had eight carries for 37 yards and caught a 27-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Craig Candeto. Eckel had a long touchdown run called back because of a chop block.
"Eckel has tons of ability," said Johnson. "He is pushing hard to be the starter. He has good size and real good speed. He?s a good athlete, all he needs to do is cut down on his mental mistakes."
Owens was equally impressive, picking up yardage several times after being hit in the backfield. Owens carried the ball 15 times for 31 yards and completed two of his three pass attempts for 27 yards and a touchdown. The final statistics, though, do not do justice to his performance.
"It is real conceivable that Lamar will be our starting quarterback against SMU," said Johnson. "The position is wide open. I wanted to see Polanco play today, but he got hurt the other day in practice and we weren?t able to play him. I?ll tell you what, if you don?t have a real big upside, can run a 4.4 40-yard dash or have a cannon arm, then I?m going to play the guy that can make the most plays. Candeto can do the job, there isn?t a doubt in my mind, but he needs to cut back on his mental errors."
The defense played well for most of the day, coming up with five turnovers. Shalimar Brazier made a sensational interception of a Craig Candeto pass along the sideline, while Kevin Schwind, Andy Sinitiere, Josh Smith and Eli Sanders all recovered fumbles. Eddie Carthan, Sean McElhannon, Brazier, Sina Ekundayo, Vaughn Kelley and Paul Clarkson broke up one pass apiece, while Justin Golson, Brazier, Lane Montgomery, Jeremy Chase, Pierre Moss and Dustin Elliott came up with one sack apiece.
"I am going to be honest, I?m not going to tell these guys what they want to hear. If they want that, then they have the wrong cat coaching them," said Johnson. "It?s not like we have a bunch of zeros out here. We have enough talent to be a good football team, but they need to learn how to play. They need to play better and we need to coach better."
The Mids will practice again this afternoon from 4-6 p.m. on the practice fields at the Naval Academy.
Rushing: Bryce McDonald, 9-46; Kyle Eckel, 8-37; Craig Candeto, 12-43, 1 TD; Lamar Owens, 15-31; Tony Lane, 5-38; Eric Roberts, 3-27; Cee Harris, 2-2; Ryan Moody, 4-2; Michael Brimage, 6-14; Brad Tepper, 5-22; Ryan Barry, 3-11; Jason Monts, 4-1; Evan Beard, 2-11; Andy Michalowicz, 4-(-5); Donnie Fricks, 1-5; Dominic Bailey, 1-5; Scott Lieng, 2-4.
Passing: Craig Candeto, 4-8, 93 yards, 1 INT, 1 TD; Lamar Owens, 2-3, 27 yards, 1 TD; Jason Monts, 0-1; Ryan Moody, 2-5, 24 yards; Andy Michalowicz, 2-5, 34 yards
Receiving: Amir Jenkins, 1-11; Brandon Rampani, 1-12; Corey Dryden, 1-13; Tony Lane, 1-29; Brad Tepper, 1-15, 1 TD; Mike McIlravy, 1-13; Eric Roberts, 2-36; Kyle Eckel, 1-27, 1 TD; Brian Yarbrough, 1-22
