Salukis finish fall camp with balanced scrimmage

08/20/2016 | 8:13:00 | Football

By: John Lock, SIUSalukis.com

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CARBONDALE, Ill. – The Southern Illinois football program concluded fall camp with a 57-play scrimmage on Saturday night at Saluki Stadium. The balanced scrimmage featured 30 running plays and 27 passes.

The defense won the early portion of the scrimmage, forcing punts on four of the first five possessions. The scrimmage also ended on a defensive note, stuffing the offense on four-straight runs from the two-yard line.

"The defense played well tonight," head coach Nick Hill said. "They played fast. Going against them, they make you work. They keep you in front of them. They don't give up the big play."

The offense got rolling in the latter part of the scrimmage, scoring on four of five possessions before the last-series goalline stand. Both quarterbacks eyeing the starting position—Sam Straub and Josh Straughan—avoided turnovers and made a number of plays both with their feet and arms. Straub took the first rep of the scrimmage, so how much should fans read into that?

"They flipped a coin, actually, so not much," Hill said. "We had a good quarterback meeting last night. We said they were both going to get reps with the first-team line. It will be good evaluation. Both of them proved why going live (is important). You don't get to see those plays when you blow the whistle dead."

Straub threw two 23-yard touchdown passes, with nice TD catches by Jimmy Jones and Darrell James on the back end. Straughan had one particularly great sequence in leading a 95-yard touchdown drive. After scrambling for two 3^rd-and-longs with his feet, he feigned another QB run and dumped a pass over the top to John Gardner for a 70-yard touchdown.

"I was happy with the offense not turning the ball over," Hill said. "We talk about that all the time. We ran 60 plays; we hope to run a lot more than that in a game. You have to get explosive plays and you can't turn it over."

Matt DeSomer also showed his versatility on the scrimmage's final drive, sandwiching a 21-yard completion between 10- and 12-yard scrambles. The Salukis got to show off some depth during the scrimmage: Nine players had at least one rush attempt and 11 players caught at least one pass.

"You're not going to go through a season with 22 guys. You have to build depth, and I think we've done that."

Hill said the team will take the next two days off before starting afternoon practices on Tuesday. The team opens the season on September 3 at Florida Atlantic, and the season opener is September 10 vs. Southeast Missouri. Tickets are available by calling 877-SALUKIS.

Passing
Sam Straub - 5-for-9, 57 yards, 2 TDs
Josh Straughan - 9-for-12, 92 yards, TD
Matt DeSomer - 4-for-6, 31 yards

Rushing
Daquan Isom - 5 rushes, 5 yards
Jonathan Mixon - 1 rush, 4 yards
Cameron Walter, 3 rushes, -6 yards
Jarvis Leverett, Jr. - 2 rushes, 8 yards
Sam Straub - 5 rushes, 15 yards
Josh Straughan - 4 rushes, 17 yards
Matt DeSomer - 8 rushes, 30 yards
Jaquay Owens - 1 rush, 8 yards
Chris Perkins - 1 rush, 2 yards

Receiving
Connor Iwema - 1 reception, 5 yards
Jonathan Mixon - 2 receptions, 0 yards
Jimmy Jones - 4 receptions, 37 yards, TD
Kyle Newquist - 1 reception, 5 yards
Cameron Walter - 1 reception, 6 yards
Daquan Isom - 1 reception, -1 yards
Deionte Gaines - 3 receptions, 24 yards
Ryan Sousa - 2 receptions, 5 yards
John Gardner - 1 reception, 70 yards, TD
Darrell James - 1 reception, 23 yards, TD
Jarvis Leverett, Jr. - 1 reception, 6 yards