8/20/2005 - Football
Offense Looks Good In Navy's Second Scrimmage

ANNAPOLIS, Md.-The first team offense marched 70 yards for a touchdown the first two times it had the ball, while the second and third team offense scored on long touchdown drives against their counterparts in a Saturday morning scrimmage at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.

"Nobody got hurt so it was a good day," said Navy head football coach Paul Johnson. "There were some good things and some bad things. We had some penalties that were stupid. I thought the first team offense played pretty well. There were some good things on both sides of the ball. I don't get caught up in statistics or any of that. I just want to see who can make plays. We didn't throw the ball as well as I would have liked."

Senior quarterback Lamar Owens was fairly sharp running the offense as he directed the two touchdown drives for the first team offense.

The first drive was a typical Navy death march as the Mids pounded away on a 10-play, 70-yard drive that was capped off by Matt Hall's 17-yard touchdown run up the middle. Hall had a good scrimmage, rushing for 41 yards on six carries.

"Matt Hall is playing much better," said Johnson. "He really ran the ball hard today."
The Mids showcased a three-headed monster at fullback with Hall, Trey Hines and Adam Ballard running the ball with authority. Hines rushed for 22 yards on seven carries, while Ballard carried the ball three times for 14 yards and caught one pass for 27 yards. All told the top three fullbacks rushed for 77 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries.

"Ballard ran the ball hard today," said Johnson. "That's the best I've seen him run the ball."

Ballard also saw some action at slot back as Johnson continues to find ways to get his best players on the field.

"Ballard and Hines are good players and we are trying to find different ways to play them. There will be more than one guy play at fullback but all three of them are good players and there are different ways we can use them. Ballard is good enough to play in space and at 240 pounds he gives us a different presence out there when running the option."

The second touchdown drive showed that the Mids also have big play potential as Marco Nelson took an option pitch from Owens and ran untouched 54 yards down the right sideline for the score. Nelson would come back later in the scrimmage and rip off a 31-yard touchdown run off another pitch from Owens to finish the day with 99 yards and two touchdowns on four carries.

"Marco Nelson made some plays today," said Johnson. "He did some nice things with the ball."

Second team quarterback Brian Hampton led the number two offense on a touchdown drive of its own on his second series, scoring on a two-yard touchdown run. Hampton finished the day with 15 yards rushing on seven carries and one touchdown. He completed six of his 14 pass attempts for 89 yards.

"Hampton is like a pretty girl, he just kind of teases you," said Johnson when asked about Hampton's play."

Freshman Joe Taylor led the third team offense on a touchdown drive on his second series, hitting Garth Davidson with a 12-yard touchdown pass. Taylor finished the day completing four of his 10 pass attempts for 38 yards and a touchdown while rushing for 13 yards on three carries.

"Joe's been doing some good things," said Johnson. "The thing you have to remember is that Joe is a freshman. If he were to play we would try to keep it pretty simple."

Taylor's biggest competition for third string quarterback, freshman Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada, has been switched to wide receiver in an effort to get him on the field this fall. Kaheaku-Enhada will still remain a quarterback for the long-term future, but Johnson didn't want one of Navy's fastest players wasting away on the bench this year.

"He's one of our better athletes, one of the faster players on our team," said Johnson. "We wanted to give him a chance to get on the field this year. He's probably not going to play quarterback this year barring a catastrophe so rather than having him stand over there next to me I wanted to find a way to use him."

Tyler Tidwell led the defense with five tackles, two tackles for a loss and a sack. Joe Cycl recorded five tackles and picked up a fumble and ran 25-yards for a touchdown. It was the defense's third touchdown in the last two scrimmages. Matt Wimsatt added a scrimmage-best seven tackles and a tackle for a loss.