April 3, 2004
Columbia, Mo. -
Defense ruled the day as the Missouri Tigers took part in their longest scrimmage of the 2004 spring season today at Faurot Field. Head Coach Gary Pinkel put his team through a competitive scrimmage that ran around 150 plays, and it was the defensive side of the ball that made the biggest impression overall.
On a beautiful spring day with a few hundred fans in the stands, the Mizzou defense held the offense to three short scoring runs on the day. The TD runs came from tailbacks Damien Nash (1 yard), Marcus Woods (2 yards) and Beau Viehmann (2 yards). Nash ended the scrimmage with zero net yards rushing on 9 carries, while Woods tallied 27 yards on 13 carries, with Viehmann adding 31 yards on 8 attempts. Lee Ewigman led all rushers with 48 yards on 9 attempts.
The defense had numerous big plays on the day, highlighted by three interceptions, with one each coming by Jason Simpson, James Kinney and Travis Cardoza. Simpson returned his for 25 yards, while Kinney raced 20 yards with his return. Cardoza made his snag in the endzone to snuff out a potential scoring drive by the 3rd-team offense.
Kinney had a big day overall, as he broke up two other passes, and had a sack of 7 yards, in addition to numerous tackles. Also adding sacks on the day were Brian Smith (1 for 3 yards), Marcus Bacon (1 for 8), and Elgin Childress (1 for 8). Xzavie Jackson had a fumble recovery early in the scrimmage.
In the passing game, quarterback Brad Smith was 16-of-34 on the day for 98 yards with one interception, while Brandon Coleman went 13-of-29 for 93 yards and one interception. The top receiver on the day was Arnold Britt, who gathered a team-best 6 receptions for 64 yards. Greg Nutter had 4 catches for 32 yards, while Damien Nash had 5 catches for 14 yards. Clint Matthews (3 catches for 21 yards) and Victor Sesay (3 for 18) also contributed.
After taking Sunday and Monday off, the final week of spring practice will see the Tigers go at it Tuesday and Thursday afternoon. All of that will lead up to the 2004 Black and Gold Spring Game, to be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 10th. The Black and Gold Game is open to all Tiger fans, with the cost being $3 or 3 canned food items, which go toward the Central Missouri Food Bank.
Scrimmage Statistics
Rushing
Lee Ewigman 7-48
Beau Viehmann 2-31, 1 TD
Scott Houska 4-31
Marcus Woods 13-27, 1 TD
Brandon Coleman 5-1
Brett Weeks 2-(-3)
Brad Smith 2-(-11)
Passing
Brad Smith 16-34-1, 98 yards
Brandon Coleman 13-29-1, 93 yards
Brett Weeks 4-14-1, 50 yards
Scott Houska 8-10-0, 32 yards
Receiving
Arnold Britt 6-64
Damien Nash 5-14
Greg Nutter 4-32
Clint Matthews 3-21
Victor Sesay 3-18
Jason Ray 3-13
Josh Barbo 2-22
Thomson Omboga 2-19
Greg Bracey 2-12
Brad Ekwerekwu 2-10
Marcus Woods 2-6
Lee Ewigman 2-5
Jason Gannon 2-3
Sean Coffey 1-12
Place Kicking
Alex Pettersen
Extra Points - 4-of-4; Field Goals - 5-of-8
Made FGs from 26, 33, 37, 34, 22; Missed FGs from 40, 38, 44
Adam Crossett
Extra Points - 3-of-4; Field Goals - 4-of-8
Made FGs from 26, 33, 37, 22; Missed FGs from 40, 38, 44, 34
Pat Velten
Extra Points - 4-of-4; Field Goals - 3-of-7
Made FGs from 26, 40, 22; Missed FGs from 37, 38, 44, 34
Defense
Brian Smith - 2 TFL, 10 yards; 1 sack, 3 yards
Derrick Ming - 2 TFL, 8 yards
Jason Simpson - 1 INT, 25 yards
C.J. Mosley - 1 TFL, 4 yards
Marcus Bacon - 1 sack, 8 yards
James Kinney - 1 sack, 7 yards; 2 PBU; 1 INT, 20 yards
Xzavie Jackson - 1 recovered fumble
Lareno Seymour - 2 PBU
Fabian Bean - 1 PBU
Shirdonya Mitchell - 1 PBU
Marcus King - 2 PBU
Zach Ville - 1 TFL, 1 yard
Elgin Childress - 2 TFL, 15 yards; 1 sack, 8 yards
David Overstreet - 1 TFL, 2 yards
Alex Hu - 1 TFL, 1 yard
Travis Cardoza - 1 INT, 0 yards
Emmett Morris, Jr. - 1 TFL, 2 yards
Jamelle Newsome - 1 PBU
Punting
Derek Randall - 6 punts, 35.8 avg., long of 42 yards
Matt Hoenes - 6 punts, 36.3 avg., long of 52 yards
