FightingIllini.com
The Official Home of University of Illinois Athletics
- Men's Sports
- MEN'S SPORTS
- Baseball
- Basketball
- Cheerleading
- Football
- Golf
- WOMEN'S SPORTS
- Basketball
- Cheerleading
- Golf
- Gymnastics
- Soccer
Defense Shines in First Spring Scrimmage
  |
|
Senior fullback Carey Davis scored on an 11-yard pass from Jon Beutjer in the team's first scrimmage of the spring.
|
April 5, 2003
The Illinois defensive unit showed spirit, enthusiasm and effectiveness as they held the offense to only two scores in the 70-play first scrimmage of the spring season, Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium.
It took the first and second offensive units six drives before putting up its first score of the afternoon. The first-team offense, led by quarterback Jon Beutjer, put together an 11-play drive, which had three completions to tight end/receiver Melvin Bryant and culminated in an 11-yard scoring strike to fullback Carey Davis. In the 10th drive, Beutjer again put the offense on the board with a seven-play drive. This time the score came from freshman running back Ibrahim Halsey in the form of a 28-yard run.
The Illinois defense on the day sacked the quarterbacks three times and batted five balls down in addition to eight tackles for loss. The leaders on the day were converted receiver to safety Eric McGoey who had a scrimmage-high six tackles. St. Louis native linebacker registered five solo tackles, which also included a TFL and sack. Fellow linebacker Matt Sinclair made his move to middle linebacker look easy with his five tackles. Sophomore Josh Tischer had the scrimmages first sack as the defense held the offense to three-and-outs on three occasions.
The Illini also worked on situations, including red-zone offense and defense. In the first short offense drive, the defense held the offense with a goal line stop, but then Beutjer hit Jason Davis for a one-yard touchdown in the second.
