August 11, 2017

Another Balanced Football Scrimmage

Aug. 12, 2017

Running back Zamore Zigler rushed for two touchdowns, wide receiver Jeremy Kelly caught a touchdown pass for the second week in a row and the defense came up with two pass interceptions and six quarterback sacks in San Jose State University's final preseason football scrimmage.

Zigler scored on runs of 14 and 7 yards on a day when the offense gained 547 yards in a 77-play scrimmage. Junior college transfer DeJon Packer was the Spartans' leading rusher with seven carries for 60 yards and a 2-yard touchdown to wrap up the offense's scoring. In two scrimmages, Packer was the top rusher with 13 carries for 93 yards and a touchdown.

"The depth there is really, really good. We have good ability to make plays. We have some physical runners which is nice," said San Jose State head coach Brent Brennan about the quartet of running backs that had just two carries for minus yardage in the scrimmage.

Kelly showed why the move from safety his first two seasons to wide receiver can pay off. He led all players with four receptions for 140 and a 56-yard scoring pass from Montel Aaron. Kelly also had a 44-yards and two 20-yard catches on the day.

Quarterback Michael Carrillo and wide receiver Justin Holmes accounted for the offense's other touchdown on a 17-yard pass play.

When asked about the quarterback position, Brennan deferred on naming a number-one quarterback or a starter for the August 26 opener against USF (South Florida), preseason ranked #21.

"That is going to take a little more study. I saw what you guys saw. I thought they did good. Josh Love did a nice job moving the team down the field. Montel (Aaron) did some similar stuff that way. It was fun to see the young guy (Terrell Carter) get in there at the end and put a nice drive together. They're battling. They're all just scrapping and scraping and trying to be the guy," said Brennan who was satisfied with the team's energy during the scrimmage.

"That position (quarterback), you earn the right to go out there with the first team in practice, but you earn the right to be the man in games. So, in the next few weeks, we'll figure out who will be the first team guy and we'll see how it goes in games. And, we'll adjust accordingly."

The defense did its share of flying around as defensive coordinator Derrick Odum had expressed in his comments the day before the scrimmage. There were six quarterback sacks and interceptions by returning All-Mountain West cornerback Andre Chachere near the end zone and by freshman linebacker Tysyn Parker off of a deflected Sam Allen pass at the line of scrimmage. Five different defenders had a sack and the sixth sack was a collective group effort.

"I thought they played good. We're a little thin in some places. Guys are flying around and hustling to the football," said the Spartans head coach about the defense. "We're till trying to find or define the standard of how we want play, the effort we want to play with chasing the football and being physical.

"... We've got some real good players on that side of the ball. `Shash' (Andre Chachere) made a beautiful interception early on in the game. I'm excited where we are at. We just have to keep grinding."

"We know it's real now. With the game a couple of weeks away and with the refs out here today, it let us know what we can do. Everybody knew what they were doing today compared to last week. It's a big difference," Chachere said about the defense's performance.

Junior Bryce Crawford converted on a 49-yard field goal try and punter Michael Carrizosa skied a pair of punts into the clear blue horizon for a 43.5-yard average.

San Jose State returns to the practice, Monday afternoon, August 14 with less than two weeks to go for the season opener at home in CEFCU Stadium against preseason #21-USF (South Florida). Kickoff is at 4:30 p.m. in a nationally-televised game by CBS Sports Network.

Tickets for the August 26 opener and all other San Jose State home games are available by visiting www.sjsuspartans.com or by calling the Spartan Athletics Ticket Office at (408) 924-SJTX.

Scoring Summary

Zamore Zigler, 14-yard run (Bryce Crawford PAT)

Jeremy Kelly, 56-yard pass from Montel Aaron (Jake Lanski PAT miss)

Zamore Zigler, 7-yard run (Bryce Crawford PAT)

Justin Holmes, 17-yard pass from Michael Carrillo (Jake Lanski PAT)

DeJon Packer, 2-yard run (Bryce Crawford PAT)

Scrimmage Statistics

Rushing by running backs -- 30 attempts, 161 yards, 3 TDs

DeJon Packer, 7-60, 1TD, Zamore Zigler, 7-36, 2 TDs; Jamar Williams, 8-33, Tyler Nevens, 8-32.

Rushing by quarterbacks - 12 attempts, minus-14 yards

Montel Aaron, 4-9; Michael Carrillo, 2-6; Ryan Johnson, 2-(-14); Terrell Carter, 4-(-15).

Passing -- 20-35-2-400, 2 TDs