April 1, 2000
The defensive unit prevented the offense from scoring on 18 of21 possessions in the first University of Kentucky spring footballscrimmage, held Saturday afternoon at the Nutter Training Center.
The workout began at 11 a.m. with a one and one-half hourpractice in helmets, jerseys, and shorts. The players returned to thelocker room to put on the pads, warmed up again, then scrimmaged for twohours.
The defense set the tone on the first two possessions of thescrimmage by causing and recovering fumbles. The second fumble wasreturned 35 yards for a touchdown by cornerback Eric Kelly.
The defense also generated 10 quarterback sacks, including threeby defensive end Dennis Johnson and two each by defensive end ChrisDemaree and linebacker Michael Clayborne. In addition, the defense alsoaccounted for three big losses by pouncing on the quarterback when theUK centers made wild snaps in the shotgun formation.
“This was pretty good for the first scrimmage,” Coach Hal Mummesaid. “We looked good in parts but made a lot of mistakes. We hustledhard and played hard. I saw some good things out of some young guys.
“The defense is quicker and stronger than last season and Ithink that showed. The cornerbacks – Eric Kelly, Kenneth Grant, andDerrick Tatum — played well. The safeties and linebackers flew aroundand made a lot of plays. Overall, the defense had a pretty good day.”
The Wildcat offense produced three touchdowns. Running backMartez Johnson scored on a three-yard run. Wide receiver Quentin McCordscored on a 17-yard pass from quarterback Dusty Bonner and wide receiverDerek Abney scored on an 80-yard touchdown pass from quarterback MarkPerry. Three other drives moved into scoring territory, but failed whenfield goal attempts were missed.
Bonner had the better day in the battle for the startingquarterback position. He led the offense to two touchdowns on sevenpossessions, and had two potential scoring drives stymied by missedfield goals. He completed 25 of 37 passes for 352 yards, one touchdown,and no interceptions.
Bonner’s competition, redshirt freshman Jared Lorenzen, did notdirect a scoring drive in eight possessions. Lorenzen completed 10 of24 passes for 126 yards, with no touchdowns or interceptions. Perry,expected to be UK’s third-team quarterback, completed 10 of 19 passesfor 185 yards and one touchdown.
“Dusty has the experience on Jared and it showed today,” Mummesaid. “Dusty makes quicker reads. I was really pleased with his playcalling.
“Jared made some good throws but he also had some things out ofhis control today, such as dropped balls (by receivers).”
When asked how the scrimmage results factored into his decisionon the starting quarterback, Mumme replied, “It’s too early to narrow itdown. We’ll give it another week.”
Eighteen players caught at least one pass during the scrimmage.Wide receiver Jimmy Robinson, making his first appearance after missingthe 1999 season because of a broken arm, caught eight passes for 153yards, including some leaping catches over defenders. Wide receiverDerek Abney caught two passes for 97 yards, including the 80-yardtouchdown. Wide receiver Quentin McCord caught three passes for 57yards and a TD.
The UK tight ends made good showings. Mike Beirne caught fivepasses for 43 yards. Derek Smith, recovering from an illness, caughtfour for 48 yards. Edgar Gantt caught four for 40 and Chase Harpgrabbed three for 35.
“Jimmy Robinson, Derek Smith, Chase Harp, Neal Brown, andQuentin McCord all looked like they had a good day and Derek Abney had abig play,” Mumme said. “The inside guys (tight ends and slot receivers)looked good. We will have to do a better job with the outside receiversand that is something we’ll emphasize this week. The cornerbacks playedvery well and that accounts for some of the problems the wide receivershad.”
The defense stifled the running game, as the offense rushed foronly 27 yards on 18 carries, not including the quarterback sacks.Johnson was the leader with six carries for 10 yards and a touchdown.Kendrick Shanklin had two carries for five yards and Mike Kamphakegained four yards on two carries.
In the kicking game, Brandon Sanders made all four extra pointtries, but missed field goal attempts of 37 and 47 yards. Seth Hansonmissed a 37-yard field goal. Hanson punted four times for a 36.3-yardaverage and Glenn Pakulak punted three times for a 30.3 average.
The Wildcats return to the practice field Monday at 2 p.m.Additional scrimmages are scheduled for April 8 and 15. The Blue/WhiteSpring Game is April 22.
Scoring Summary
Eric Kelly 35 fumble return (Brandon Sanders kick)
Martez Johnson 3 run (Sanders kick)
Quentin McCord 17 pass from Dusty Bonner (Sanders kick)
Derek Abney 80 pass from Mark Perry (Sanders kick)
Passing
Dusty Bonner 25-37-0, 352 yards, 1 TDMark Perry 10-19-0, 185 yards, 1 TDJared Lorenzen 10-24-0, 126 yards, 0 TD
Receiving
Jimmy Robinson 8-153Mike Beirne 5-43Derek Smith 4-48Edgar Gantt 4-40Quentin McCord 3-57, 1 TDChase Harp 3-35Neal Brown 3-33Derek Abney 2-97Kendrick Shanklin 2-34Martez Johnson 2-19Gary Hughes 2-6Corry Doyle 1-21Joel Bryan 1-20Mike Kamphake 1-20Artose Pinner 1-15Bobby Blizzard 1-12Octavius Bond 1-6Jeremy Davis 1-4
Rushing
Martez Johnson 6-10Jared Lorenzen 1-6Kendrick Shanklin 2-5Mike Kamphake 2-4Artose Pinner 5-4Jeremy Davis 2-(-2)
Defensive Highlights
Prevented scores on 18 of 21 offensive possesions
10 quarterback sacks
3 additional big losses following wild snaps from center
3 fumble recoveries, including one return for a touchdown
