Spirited Scrimmage Marks Halfway Point
April 01, 2000 | Football
April 1, 2000
LUBBOCK, Texas - The Texas Tech football team moved past the halfway point of spring drills Saturday with a spirited practice which lasted almost three hours at the grass practice fields just Southeast of Jones Stadium.
First-year Red Raider coach Mike Leach and his staff came away from the workout, which featured nearly two hours of scrimmaging, pleased with the effort and enthusiasm of their team.
"I thought it was a good scrimmage, we did some good things," Leach said. "We started slow and tentative, but picked it up at the end. The first offense and first defense both had good last drives."
The scrimmage, which got underway following about an hour of special teams and individual group work, featured three defensive touchdowns and a pair of touchdown passes from quarterback Kliff Kingsbury.
Redshirt freshman linebacker Jason Wesley kicked off the defensive scoring parade with a 5-yard interception return for a score on the fourth series of the scrimmage. Backup safety Ryan Aycock and reserve linebacker Charlie Robinson also recorded interceptions for touchdowns.
"We got better on defense today," defensive coordinator Greg McMackin said. "We are starting to get some interceptions, three for scores, and that's what we want to do. We are a lot better than we were at this time last week and the kids can feel it."
The defense intercepted six total passes during the scrimmage, with cornerback Derrick Briggs, safety David Moody and linebacker Dorian Pitts each picking off a pass. Linebacker Lawrence Flugence, along with defensive ends Devin Lemons and Aaron Hunt pressured quarterbacks all day.
Offensive touchdowns came on a 4-yard pass from Kingsbury to tight end Cole Roberts and a 12-yard strike from Kingsbury to receiver Tim Baker on the last possession by the first offense.
Kingsbury finished the day 17 for 30 for 170 yards. He was intercepted once. Backup B.J. Symons completed 14 of 26 attempts for 97 yards. Nathan Chandler was six of eight for 31 yards working with the third team offense against the third team defense.
Tim Baker led all receivers with 95 yards on six receptions. Carlos Francis caught five passes for 33 yards and Mickey Peters four for 46. Running back Rickey Hunter carried seven times for 64 yards.