Practice No. 7 featured the first live scrimmage of training camp

CARBONDALE, Ill. — In the first live scrimmage of training camp, the Southern Illinois defense maintained its upper hand with a strong performance, not allowing a touchdown in 70 live plays.

Defensive backs Clayton Bush and Jakari Patterson both had interceptions, and defensive end Richie Hagarty picked up two of the defense's seven sacks on the day. Others with sacks included Chris Harris Jr., Kameron Bowdry, Nick Okeke, Josh Boatright and Dewey Greene.

"I thought the defense really just dominated the scrimmage," said SIU head coach Nick Hill. "I think they've had a great week. I thought they flew around and attacked the line of scrimmage."

Southern's offense was without a handful of key veterans, including starting wide receivers Avante Cox and Izaiah Hartrup, running backs Javon Williams Jr. and Justin Strong, and starting offensive tackles Beau Branyan and Jake Green. Hill said none of the players are expected to miss significant time, with the exception of Cox, who had surgery on his left hand and could miss the season opener at Incarnate Word.

As expected, quarterback Nic Baker worked with the first-team offense, although every quarterback on the roster had at least one series under center. Pop Jones III and true freshman Lashaun Lester handled the bulk of the carries on offense and both broke several impressive runs.

"It's good for the younger guys to have an opportunity to step up," Hill said. "My message to the team was — they don't give out trophies for the first seven days of training camp. Let's hold ourselves accountable, get back in the film room and get one-day better."

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