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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Cutcliffe Sends Rebels Through Two Hour Scrimmage
3/23/2002 | Football
March 23, 2002
OXFORD, Miss. - Ole Miss head coach David Cutcliffe sent his Rebels through a two-hour scrimmage here Saturday afternoon at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium/Hollingsworth Field in a session which included almost 150 plays.
"I saw a lot of positive things on both sides of the ball, but we had too many penalities," Cutcliffe said. "We'll take the tape and evaluate individuals at every position. Some of the guys got in 60 to 70 snaps."
Cutcliffe, who missed two days of spring drills earlier in the week due to a stomach virus, said he saw some good things in the secondary.
"Our secondary covered pretty well, especially on the deep ball," he said. "They were around the ball. Also, we were in better position on defense. Getting into the right position is very important. Our pad leverage was pretty good on both sides of the ball."
Quarterback Eli Manning got things going on the opening drive of the scrimmage as his unit marched 75 yards in only five plays. Manning hit back-to-back 25-yard completions to close out the drive, connecting with tight end Doug Zeigler to the 25 and then the final 25 to wide receiver Chris Collins for the touchdown.
Running back Toward Sanford scored on a one yard run, running back Robert Williams had a 15-yard TD scamper, and quarterback Michael Spurlock scored on a seven yard run. Jonathan Nichols had field goals of 32 and 26 yards, plus two PATs, while Lee Rogers had a 23-yard field goal and two extra points.
Manning led the quarterbacks by completing 14 of 25 passes for 182 yards. David Morris was 7-for-11 for 96 yards and Spurlock was 5-of-15 for 63 yards.
Tremain Turner led all rushers with 88 yards on 11 carries. Williams had 55 yards rushing on 12 carries, Vashon Pearson had 51 yards on 16 carries, and junior college transfer Ronald McClendon had 48 yards on 10 carries.
Collins led all receivers with five catches for 77 yards. Taye Biddle caught four passes for 67 yards and Mario Hill had four receptions for 57 yards.
Cody Ridgeway averaged 42.3 yards on three punts and Wesley Bryan averaged 39.4 yards on five punts.
Defensively, Eric Oliver led the way with eight tackles. Kelvin Robinson, Jeremy Ruffin, Matt Grier, and Jesse Mitchell each had six tackles, while Ryan Hamilton and Michael Bozeman had five each. Robinson also recovered two fumbles, Bozeman had two QB sacks, and Mitchell had one QB sack.
Ole Miss will continue spring drills Tuesday and will practice three times during the week before breaking for Easter. The Rebels will complete workouts on Saturday, April 6 at 6:00 p.m. with the annual "Grove Bowl" Red-Blue game.
