The first San Jose State University football fall camp scrimmage featured defensive stops, effective kicking and execution of the 2:00 offense.
Head coach Brent Brennan and his staff will have plenty to review from the 65 scrimmage plays, eights punts, three successful field goal attempts and other position drills during the scrimmage/practice session.
"We have a lot to work on. The good news is we got enough plays in live work and got to see a bunch of the quarterbacks mix it up in there and a bunch of young players play. I'm excited to watch the film and see who showed up and who didn't," said Brennan.
"I thought they (the defense) made some great plays. I thought there was more to be had out there, too. I thought we had chances for interceptions we didn't finish. But the way we structured the scrimmage, we weren't able to finish some drives. We rotated players in and out," the Spartans coach added about a non-traditional approach to the scrimmage.
Other than three field goals, two by Chris Wood and one by Matt Mercurio, the defense kept the offense out of the end zone, came up with one fumble recovery, and was credited with three quarterback sacks.
"I think the defense did great today. We took a lot of the coaching in the film room and in our defensive meetings and translated it on to the field. As a group, we're playing better and are more confidence," said linebacker Tysyn Parker. He added that one of the team goals on defense is to be in the top-25 nation in creating turnovers.
"We like to get three turnovers against the offense. We didn't meet that goal today, but we'll take zero touchdowns everyday."
The three field goals concluded drives during the team's practice of its 2:00 minute offense from its own 45 and 35-tyard lines. Wood's field goal, the first of the scrimmage, was into the wind, hit the crossbar and dropped over for three points.
"There's been a huge emphasis on that (2:00 drill) for us. That requires so much practice and timing. It's good for me. It's good for the coaches when we have officials here to put the players in those situations and the coaches in those situations for us to understand the mechanics, timing of it and have those conversations on the headsets," said Brennan.
He also had to be pleased with Alex Galland's punting which had both distance and placement. Each of his four punts were directional outside the hash marks pinning punt returners Brandon Ezell and Sitaleki Nunn towards a sideline. With an assist from a tailwind, Galland averaged 53.5 yards a punt.
All five Spartan quarterbacks saw action and none of them threw an interception. Senior Josh Love was sharpest during his turns in the 2:00 drills and finished completing 10-of-17 passes for 113 yards. Spartan fans got their first looks at community college transfer Jake Simmons and freshman Alec Trujillo.
Wide receiver JaQuan Blackwell had the scrimmage's two longest plays catching passes of 33 yards from Love and a 25-yarder from Nick Nash.
Sophomore Brendan Manigo was the leading rusher with 44 yards on seven carries highlighted by a 24 yard run. Community college transfer Hunter Nye, who joined the team this fall, stated his case for more playing time with four carries for 25 yards.
The Spartans resume practice, Sunday, August 11, at 11:50 a.m., and will not practice the following day. The second and final San Jose State football scrimmage will be Saturday, August 17, 5:30 p.m., on the practice field. A barbeque and movie follow.
Tickets for the San Jose State season opener with Northern Colorado on August 29 and all home games are available at www.sjsuspartans.com/tickets.
| Scoring |
| Chris Wood, 49-yard field goal Matt Mercurio, 27-yard field goal Chris Wood, 24-yard field goal |
| Rushing (27-126-0 TDs) |
| Brendan Manigo, 7-44; Nick Nash, 3-33; Hunter Nye, 4-25; Tyler Nevens, 6-20; Chance La Chapelle, 3-12; Andre Crump, 1-6; Romero Teu, 1-0; Jake Simmons, 2-(-14). |
| Passing (25 completions - 38 attempts - no interceptions – 205 yards) |
| Josh Love, 10-17-0-113; Jake Simmons, 6-8-0-32; Nick Nash, 5-6-0-31; Alec Trujillo, 3-5-0-21; Chance La Chapelle, 1-2-0-8. |
| Receiving (25 receptions, 205 yards, 0 TDs) |
| Tyler Nevens, 5-13; Brendan Manigo, 4-16; JaQuan Blackwell, 2-58; Sitaleki Nunn, 2-27; Andre Crump, 2-17; Austin Liles, 2-9; Isaiah Hamilton, 1-20; Brett Foley, 1-16; Tre Walker, 1-10; Dominick Mazotti, 1-8; Jamar Simpson, 1-4; Malikhi Miller, 1-4; Jackson Burrill, 1-3; Hunter Nye, 1-0. |
| Sacks (3) – Demanuel Talauati, Devon Calloway, 1, each; Cade Hall, Brandon Ezell, 0.5 each. |
| Punting |
| Alex Galland, 4-53.5 avg; Chris Wood, 2-42.0 avg.; Collin Tamas, 2-41.5 avg. |
| Field goal kicking |
| Chris Wood, 2-for-2; Matt Mercurio, 1-for-1. |