Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Chris Dieker impressive in Football scrimmage on Saturday
04/10/2010 | 12:00:00 | Football
April 10, 2010
By Tom Weber
www.SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Saluki offense piled up yardage, but the defense yielded few points during the Saluki football team's second scrimmage of the spring season on Saturday at McAndrew Stadium.
Quarterback Chris Dieker put up impressive numbers, completing 23-of-28 passes for 198 yards. However, the defense did not give up a touchdown until late in the scrimmage during the "Red Zone" session. That's when Dieker read an all-out blitz and lofted a 21-yard scoring strike to fullback John Goode.
"Defensively, they were giving up some yards in a couple situations, but they responded by keeping the offense out of the endzone," head coach Dale Lennon said. "Offensively, the good thing was that they made some plays and got into scoring range. The negative is that we want to score more touchdowns."
Dieker spread the ball around to six different receivers, but his favorite targets were Joe Allaria (7 catches, 56 yards) and Matt Guinn (6 catches, 50 yards). Running back Lucien Walker also showed a new dimension to his game, catching three passes out of the backfield for 23 yards.
The Saluki defense was led by an active linebacker corps -- including outside backer Travis Littles, who had a sack and a tackle for loss.
"I've been real happy with our outside linebacker play," Lennon said."You should notice those type of players with the 3-4 defense, and Travis had a good day along with Jason DiManche and Robert Spann, who have been doing well during the course of practice. That's one of the areas we had big concern with was replacing a number of seniors. The guys that are playing right now are starting to make their presence known."
There were numerous attention-grabbing performances on both sides of the ball. On offense, wide receiver David Lewis showed good hands and elusiveness after the catch when he hauled in a 19-yard reception from quarterback Paul McIntosh. Running back Shariff Harris, a transfer from Pitt, displayed power-running ability in the red zone, carrying four-times from the 12 yardline to punch the ball into the endzone. Running back Steve Strother caught a six-yard touchdown pass from Dieker late in the scrimmage, capping an eight-play drive, in which the senior quarterback completed 7-of-8 passes.
Defensively, inside linebacker Stephen Franklin recorded the only turnover of the day, stepping in front of a Dieker pass to thwart a two-minute drill. Nose tackle Kayon Swanson picked up a sack, while Spann and cornerback Nagib Karim each had tackles for loss.
"I think there was give-and-take throughout the scrimmage," Lennon said."Naturally, in the second half, we were more in the red zone and shorter fields to work with, and that's definitely an offensive advantage.When you watch film, everything changes, though. You'll see the positives, you'll see the negatives."
One area Lennon would like to see improvement is in situational awareness.
"We're not game ready, and that's what I told the team at the end of the scrimmage," he said."It still looks like we're out there running plays, and not being necessarily aware of the situations that we're in.That's the challenge next week, to take that final step and get game-ready, so when we're out there playing in game situations, we respond accordingly."
The team will finish spring ball next week when it holds its annual Spring Scrimmage at McAndrew Stadium Saturday at 1 p.m.
