Defense shows improvement in final scrimmage

MURFREESBORO - Middle Tennessee held its final scrimmage of preseason camp under the lights Saturday night at Floyd Stadium in what Head Coach Rick Stockstill said capped off a great week.

The Blue Raider defense earned the most praise on a very weather friendly night as the first unit did not allow a touchdown.

"The defense improved a lot from our first scrimmage," said Stockstill. "They were better on third down, did not give up a lot of big plays, and tackled well. I also liked the pressure our guys got up front."

Linebacker Justin Jones led the way with seven tackles, while linebacker Roderic Blunt and safety Robert Hogg added five stops each. DE Omar McLendon and LB Corey Carmichael had four tackles apiece and McLendon led the unit with two TFLs.

Blunt, T.T. Barber, and Jiajuan Fennell all were credited with sacks.

Offensively, the Blue Raiders held out starters Benny Cunningham, Anthony Amos, and Kyle Griswould while letting QB Logan Kilgore and backup Jeff Murphy run only three series each.

"We held some guys out on that side of the ball but I still saw some nice plays," added Stockstill. "The quarterbacks made some nice throws and Shaun White had an impressive performance and extended some plays with his legs. Overall, I thought it was a good scrimmage and ended a week where I thought our football team improved."

White paced the offense by completing 8 of 13 passes for 126 yards and three touchdowns. He had passing scores of 39, 30, and 1-yard. Kilgore finished the night 4-for-7 for 29 yards while Murphy completed 5 of 15 passes for 79 yards.

William Pratcher led a balanced rushing attack with 36 yards on nine carries while Jeremiah Bryson registered 28 yards on five attempts. Aaron Davis added 26 yards and Jordan Parker turned in 18 yards.

Sophomore Marcus Henry had four catches for 45 yards and a touchdown, and Arthur Williams, Vincent Van Horne, and Bryson reeled in three passes each. Williams and Van Horne also had touchdown grabs.

The ongoing battle for the starting place-kicker job was not made any clearer tonight between senior Carlos Lopez and freshman Cody Clark. Both kickers made 6 of 8 field goals with a long of 49 yards.

The Blue Raiders will have off tomorrow before resuming practice on Monday.

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