Aug. 9, 2014
San José State University's first preseason football scrimmage gave everyone a sense of accomplishment.
The offense ran the ball effectively in the first half. The defense unleashed its pass rush and came up with six quarterback sacks after halftime. And, kicker Austin Lopezconnected on his two field goals attempts of 34 and 25 yards with plenty of distance to spare.
"It was a good first scrimmage. There's nothing like a scrimmage when things happen spur-of-the-moment and you're not scripting them. That's what I like most about scrimmages. Guys are on the sideline and all of a sudden they have to be ready and run on to the field. I thought we had a multitude of situations that were good," said head coach Ron Caragherabout the 74-play scrimmage. "We added two-minute and red zone drills at the end.
"The offense moved the ball right out of the gate and came away with a field goal. Interestingly enough in the second half when the offense had better field position, the defense did a good job stopping the offense. I was encouraged.
"I'm never perfectly happy, because you look at both sides. It will be good film to coach up our guys and get better."
Six running backs combined for 83 yards on 17 carries in the first half. With the defense tightening down in the second half, the running backs finished with 114 yards not counting quarterback sacks and runs for the scrimmage.
All five quarterbacks saw action with Blake Jurich opening the scrimmage. The fifth-year senior was 8-of-18 for 118 yards and completed the day's longest gain, a 40-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Hansell Wilsonin the second half.
Joe Graywas 6-of-10 for 69 yards and led the offense to its first score, Lopez's 34-yard field goal.
"This is like a mini game with game pressures. Blake looked comfortable. He made some pretty good decisions, a couple of missed opportunities, but I thought he made good decisions with the football. Joe (Gray), I think had a couple of missed opportunities. One was a misunderstanding on a fourth-down play. He could have run, but he pitched the ball to the back who turned up to block and that was the end of the two-minute drill. But, Joe was solid," said the San José State head coach. The offense did not lose the ball either by fumble or interception.
Malik Watson also led the offense to a touchdown. Watson's final pass of the first half was an 8-yard scoring strike to freshman Justin Holmes.
Senior Alvin Jelks was the leading rusher with seven carries for 37 yards. Tyler Winston and tight end Andrew Vollerteach caught three passes.
Defensive end Sean Baconled the pass rush with three quarterback sacks.
The Spartans get their first day off on Sunday, August 10. The second full week of preseason practice consists of the only two-a-day practices on August 11 and 13 and concludes with the final scrimmage, Saturday, August 16, in Spartan Stadium starting at 4:30 p.m. as the start of the team's annual FanFest.
| Scoring Summary |
| Austin Lopez, 34-yard field goal |
| Justin Holmes, 8-yard pass from Malik Watson |
| Hansell Wilson, 40-yard pass from Blake Jurich |
| Austin Lopez, 25-yard field goal |
| Rushing by running backs |
| Alvin Jelks, 7-37; Ray Lomas IV, 7-25; Jarrod Lawson, 4-20; Osirius Burke, 4-17; Thomas Tucker, 4-10; Steven Rogers, 1-3; Darrion Hancock, 2-1. |
| Passing |
| Blake Jurich, 8-18-0-118, 1 TD; Joe Gray, 6-10-0-69; Malik Watson, 4-6-0-37, 1 TD; Mitch Ravizza, 1-1-0-2; Ian Fieber, 0-1-0-0. |
| Receiving |
| Tyler Winston, 3-41; Andrew Vollert, 3-26; Hansell Wilson, 2-48, 1 TD; Ray Lomas IV, 2-20, K.C. Pearce, 2-18; Justin Holmes, 2-16, 1 TD; Tim Crawley, 1-23; Shane Smith, 1-5; Tyler Ervin, 1-2; Jabari Carr, 1-2. |
| Field Goals |
| Austin Lopez, 34, good; 25, good. Michael Carrizosa, 60, no good. |
| Quarterback Sacks |
| Sean Bacon, 3; Travis Miller, 1; Team, 2. |