Saluki Spring Game features football and family fun

04/16/2022 | 5:04:00 | Football

By: By Tom Weber, SIUSalukis.com

CARBONDALE, Ill. — On a beautiful, spring Saturday, Saluki Football treated its fans to an afternoon of football and family fun at the team's annual spring game.

In addition to a 55-play live scrimmage, fans enjoyed pregame tailgating, games, giveaways and a postgame Easter Egg hunt.

"It was an incredible turnout by our fans," said SIU head coach Nick Hill. "I'm really thankful for the administration putting on a great atmosphere and creating this event for the guys."

One of only five, FCS programs to advance to the round of 16 in the playoffs the last two seasons, Southern Illinois has spent the spring developing its next generation of leaders to replace program icons like ZeVeyon Furcron, Bryce Notree and the rest of last year's departing seniors that helped rebuild the program.

SIU's defense was especially impressive during the first half of today's scrimmage, and Hill praised several of the returning veterans for stepping into leadership roles.

"(Defensive tackle) Keenan Agnew has always been an incredible lead-by-example guy, but he's found his voice and is really speaking up," Hill said. (Linebacker) Makel Calhoun plays with a ton of energy, consistently over time. Branson Combs and Zach Burrola have also stepped in and been leaders at linebacker. The guys on the back end — PJ Jules and D.J. Johnson have been great in the corner room."

On offense, the Salukis return their top, three running backs (Javon Williams Jr., Justin Strong and Romeir Elliott), plus starting quarterback Nic Baker, a junior, who set the school record for passing yardage last season. He completed 7-of-10 passes for 72 yards in today's scrimmage.

"I'm one of the older guys — it's weird to think about — but being a quarterback and a leader is a given," Baker said. "We've had different leaders leave, and I feel like I've had to step up and have a bigger voice now, and people look to me at certain times."

Hill said Baker is poised to take his game to an even higher level next fall.

"When you take the next step at quarterback, it's decision-making at critical moments, it's situational awareness and mastering different situations — when is it the right time to pull the trigger and when to let the game come to you," Hill explained. "We were throwing it for low-60s (completion percentage) last year, and we'd like to push that to 70 percent."

A significant number of players were held out of the scrimmage due to injury, especially at the wide receiver position, where the Salukis expect to return All-Conference wideout Avante Cox in the fall, though he did not play today. The injuries opened the door for several newcomers to perform, and Devin Walton and Mike King both hauled in touchdowns today.

"Devin, who caught the first touchdown for us, was a filmer in the fall," Hill said. "He was so excited just to put on the jersey, and then he catches the touchdown. We have a lot of receivers out and he's gotten a ton of reps."

If you had to pick a winner on one side the ball, the edge probably went to Southern's defense, which brought heavy pressure and limited the offense to 2.3 yards per carry.

"We played physical, we were able to stop the run," said Combs, who had four tackles and a pass breakup. "We gave up a couple deep shots, but other than that, we played well and it's something we can build on."

The Salukis open the regular season at Incarnate Word on Sept. 3 and host SEMO on Sept. 10 in the home opener.

Rushing
TJ Atkins Jr. - 2 rush, 17 yards
Nic Baker - 2 rush, -4 yards
Romeir Elliott - 4 rushes, 7 yards
Jakob Foss - 1 rush, 0 yards
Pop Jones III - 8 rushes, 8 yards
Stone Norton - 2 rushes, 14 yards
Hunter Simmons - 1 rush, -9 yards
Tony Williams - 4 rushes, 18 yards
Zach Zebrowski - 1 rush, 6 yards
Total: 25 rushes, 57 yards

Passing
Nic Baker - 7-of-10 - 72 yards
Jakob Foss, 1-for-1, 25 yards
Stone Norton - 1-for-6, 15 yards
Hunter Simmons - 2-for-8 - 6 yards
Zach Zebrowski - 3-of-6 - 32 yards
Total: 14-of-31, 150 yards

Receiving
Jacob Garrett - 1 catch, 13 yards
Zach Gibson - 1 catch, 6 yards
Javan Hawes - 2 catch, 21 yards
Jathen Jones - 1 catch, 12 yards
Mike King - 1 catch, 25 yards (TD)
Aidan Quinn - 1 catch, 37 yards
Dayton Mitchell - 1 catch, 4 yards
John Volmert - 1 catch, 8 yards
Devin Walton - 1 catch, 18 yards (TD)
Javon Williams Jr. - 3 catches, 12 yards

Defensive Stats
Kameron Bowdry - 2 Assists
Zach Burrola - 2 solo, 4 assist
Clayton Bush - 3 solo, 2 assists
Kaniji Chandler - 1 pass break up
Branson Combs - 3 solo, 1 assist, 1 pass break up
George Douglas - 2 solo
Antonio Fletcher - 1 assist, 1 pass breakup
Richie Hagarty - 1 solo, 3 assist, 1 sack (-9)
Chris Harris Jr. -1 solo, 1 TFL (-5)
DJ Johnson - 2 solo, 1 pass break up
PJ Jules - 1 assist
Raquan Lindsey - 1 solo
Devin Love - 1 assist
David Miller - 2 pass break ups
Dre Newman - 1 assist
Cejai Parson - 1 TFL (-5)
Jakari Patterson - 3 assists, 1 TFL (-7)
Caden Reeves - 1 solo
Nate Thurman - 1 solo
Jay Welch - 1 solo, 3 assists
Louis Wilbert - 1 solo
Easton Wolf - 1 assist

Field Goals
Jake Baumgarte - 3-for-3 (25, 39, 41)

Scoring
25-yard field goal, Jake Baumgarte
39- yard field goal, Jake Baumgarte
19 yard touchdown from Zach Zebrowski to Devin Walton
41 yard field goal, Jake Baumgarte
25 yards touchdown, Jakob Foss to Mike King