Mark Iannotti named starting quarterback after annual Spring Game

04/17/2015 | 12:00:00 | Football

April 17, 2015

By Tom Weber
SIUSalukis.com

CARBONDALE, Ill. - Fifth-year senior Mark Iannotti was pushed by a pair of redshirt freshmen, but he made it through spring ball as Southern Illinois' starting quarterback, head coach Dale Lennon announced after tonight's annual Spring Game.

The Eastern Michigan transfer started 10 games last fall, but lost his starting job toward the end of the season. Tonight, he completed 7-of-16 passes for 94 yards and two touchdowns, shaking off a modest performance in last week's scrimmage in which he did not complete a pass.

"Mark will come out as our No. 1 quarterback," Lennon declared. "Scrimmage stats don't really show what we've been doing during the week with practice and how he's handling things."

The Salukis have installed an up-tempo offense this spring, and Iannotti appears to have the strongest grasp of the concepts. He was challenged, though, by Sam Straub and Matt DeSomer, who both flashed big-play ability. Straub has a powerful arm and completed 13-of-19 passes in the scrimmage for 144 yards and a touchdown. DeSomer is a fleet-footed runner, and he combined for 90 total yards passing and throwing. Neither freshman, though, seemed quite as comfortable as Iannotti in the up-tempo scheme.

"I thought we covered a lot of ground in spring ball, and now it's just a matter of getting ready over the summer and seeing where we're at in August," Lennon said.

The team may have found its starting tailback tonight in junior college transfer Aaron Stanton. Lennon said earlier in camp that the 5-foot-8, 185-pound speedster was a bit overweight at the start of spring ball. He was the star of the Spring Game, though, with 129 yards on only eight carries. He had runs of 57 and 39 yards.

"That's what we saw on film -- that he has that big-play capability," Lennon noted. "It was nice to see him take it all the way to the house on that (57-yard) run."

Other offensive highlights in the game included a 29-yard touchdown pass from Iannotti to Kyle Newquist, who hauled the pass in with one hand, and a 27-yard laser from Straub to Connor Iwema for a touchdown on the last play of the day. Iwema had a pair of touchdown catches.

A scoring system for the game declared the offense the "winner" of the scrimmage by a 69-62 margin, but Lennon said neither side definitively had the upper hand.

"We call it a Spring Game, but it's not, it's practice," he explained. "I thought we did well defensively, I thought we did some things well offensively. Consistency is always going to be the key thing for you offensively and we need to improve upon that, but when you're playing everybody on the team, you're not going to be consistent. That's just the nature of practice."

You could argue that the defense out-played the offense for much of the scrimmage. As a group, they forced the offense into seven 3-and-outs. They also racked up five sacks, including a pair by juco transfer Deondre Barnett, who has emerged as a pass-rushing threat from his outside linebacker position. Defensive back Justin Johnson also made a nice strip of the ball from tailback Jonathan Mixon and recovered the fumble to stop a drive deep in the defense's territory.

With the loss of big-name stars like All-American tight end MyCole Pruitt and tailback Malcolm Agnew, the Salukis used spring ball to develop a new identity.

"That tough-guy, no-name mentality offensively, defensively is definitely going to be who we are," Lennon said. "I think the guys like what they're seeing."

OFFENSE

Passing
Sam Straub - 13/19, 144 yds, 1 TD
Mark Iannotti - 7/16, 94 yds, 2 TD
Matt DeSomer - 10/16, 63 yds

Rushing

Aaron Stanton - 8 att, 129 yds, 1 TD
Jonathan Mixon - 7 att, 46 yds
Mark Iannotti - 8 att, 33 yds
Matt DeSomer - 8 att, 27 yds
Connor Iwema - 1 att, 8 yds
Cameron Walter - 3 att, 3 yds
Tanner Smith - 1 att, 1 yd
TEAM - 1 att, 0 yds
Israel Lamprakes - 1 att, -4 yds
Sam Straub - 8 att, -5 yds

Receiving
Kyle Newquist - 4 rec, 70 yds, 1 TD
Connor Iwema - 3 rec, 54 yds, 2 TDs
Shaq Findlater - 5 rec, 41 yds
Jimmy Jones - 3 rec, 40 yds
John Gardner - 2 rec, 29 yds
Darrell James - 3 rec, 16 yds
Michael Aschemann - 1 rec, 15 yds
Israel Lamprakes - 2 rec, 14 yds
Kennington Easley - 2 rec, 13 yds
Josh Sullivan - 2 rec, 12 yds
Josh Skadeland - 1 rec, 3 yds
Mark Iannotti - 1 rec, -2 yds
Aaron Stanton - 1 rec, -4 yds

DEFENSE

Chris Adkins - 5 Tack (3 Solo, 2 Ast)
Octavion Cooper - 5 Tack (4 Solo, 1 Ast), 1 TFL, 1 Sack
Jermaine Hughes - 5 Tack (2 Solo, 3 Ast), 1 Pass Brk
Brandon Williams - 4 Tack (3 Solo, 1 Ast), 2 TFL, 1 Sack, 2 QBH
Deondre Barnett - 4 Tack (3 Solo, 1 Ast), 2 TFL, 2 Sack, 1 FF
Markese Jackson - 3 Tack (1 Solo, 2 Ast)
Jefferson Vea - 3 Tack (2 Solo, 1 Ast)
Torre Hopson - 3 Tack (2 Solo, 1 Ast), 1 TFL
Darius Merriweather - 3 Tack (2 Solo, 1 Ast)
Kevin Holmes - 3 Tack (2 Solo, 1 Ast)
Tyler Wibbenmeyer - 3 Tack (1 Solo, 2 Ast)
Mathew Briggs - 3 Tack (1 Solo, 2 Ast)
Andrew McCrea - 3 Tack (2 Solo, 1 Ast), 1 Pass Brk
Mike Cotton - 3 Tack (2 Solo, 1 Ast)
Calvin Belts - 3 Tack (2 Solo, 1 Ast)
Tori Millender - 3 Tack (2 Solo, 1 Ast), 1 TFL, 1 Sack, 1 QBH
D.J. Cameron - 3 Tack (2 Solo, 1 Ast), 1 TFL
Leonard Garron - 3 Tack (1 Solo, 2 Ast), 2 QBH
Kyle Patterson - 3 Tack (2 Solo, 1 Ast)
Kenny James - 2 Tack (2 Ast), 1 Pass Brk
Ryan Neal - 2 Tack (1 Solo, 1 Ast), 1 TFL, 1 Pass Brk
Brandon Minor - 2 Tack (1 Solo, 1 Ast)
Jaylon Graham - 2 Tack (2 Ast)
Justin Johnson - 2 Tack (2 Solo), 1 FF, 1 FR
Devon Mathis - 2 Tack (1 Solo, 1 Ast)
Anthony Thompson - 2 Tack (2 Solo)
D'Eddric Williams - 1 Tack (1 Solo), 1 TFL
Kerwin McElvaney - 1 Tack (1 Ast), 1 Pass Brk
Raysean Golden - 1 Tack (1 Ast)
T.J. Beelen - 1 Tack (1 Ast)
Adam Brandt - 1 QBH
Khari Waithe-Alexander - 1 QBH