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Balance Shows at Spring Football Scrimmage
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Illinois linebacker Ty Myers had a pick returned for a touchdown in the second spring scrimmage.
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April 12, 2003
University of Illinois safety Eric McGoey is fighting for a starting job on defense, but shined for the offense with two touchdown receptions in Saturday's scrimmage at Memorial Stadium.
"I saw some good things today," head coach Ron Turner said. "I like the way we are playing right now. If we continue to play with emotion, together as a team, we will be fine because the other stuff is correctable. Offensively, we aren't getting as many big plays as we would like, but that just means we have to be solid in our execution. The defense is flying around and taking advantage of mistakes the offense makes. We still have a lot to work on, but both sides are improving and making strides every practice."
The defense stopped the offense in the first three series with Cyrus Garrett getting a hard hit in on E.B. Halsey to force a fumble, which was recovered by Sharriff Gillon on the second drive. The offensive scoring began in the fourth drive where redshirt-freshman quarterback Tim Brasic drove the team down the field in 12 plays, connecting with senior McGoey for the 10-yard strike. During that series, he hit receiver Franklin Payne for 14 yards, tight end Brett Boyter for 10 yards and running back Morris Virgil for 12 yards.
One series later, senior QB Jon Beutjer put together an 11-play drive culminating in a 25-yard touchdown to McGoey, for his second of the day. The score was set up by back-to-back passes to Halsey for 20 and 8 yards, apiece. The defense picked up the scoring when senior linebacker Ty Myers picked off a pass at the 25 yardline, returning it for a touchdown. Working on redzone offense, placekicker John Gockman hit 24 and 32 yard field goals.
Defensively, junior linebacker Matt Sinclair led the team with nine tackles, two passes broken up and an interception. Not to be outdone by the other linebackers, senior Joe Bevis tallied six tackles and two sacks for a loss of 11 yards. Senior cornerback Christian Morton added the team's third interception and senior defensive tackle Aaron Hodges had two tackles for loss on the day.
The team will resume with the final week of practice on Monday at 3:30 p.m. The 2003 spring game will be Sat., April 19 at 2 p.m. at Memorial Stadium.
Scoring Summary
4th Drive: Eric McGoey 10-yard reception from Tim Brasic (John Gockman Kick Good)
5th Drive: McGoey 25-yard reception from Jon Beutjer (Gockman Kick Good)
6th Drive: Ty Myers 25-yard interception
Passing (comp-att.-Yds-TD-INT)
Jon Beutjer (18-28-168-1-2)
Tim Brasic (7-9-70-1-0)
Chris Pazan (1-4-8-0-1)
Rushing (att-yards-td)
Morris Virgil (6-17-0)
Jason Davis (2-12-0)
Ibrahim Halsey (9-9-0)
Carey Davis (2-5)
Receiving (catches-yards-TD)
Eric McGoey (3-48-2)
Ibrahim Halsey (3-36-0)
Ade Adeyemo (3-19-0)
Jason Davis (3-14-0)
Kendrick Jones (2-30-0)
Melvin Bryant (2-24-0)
Mark Kornfeld (2-19-0)
Morris Virgil (2-16-0)
Carey Davis (2-1-0)
Franklin Payne (1-14-0)
John Young (1-12-0)
Brett Boyter (1-10-0)
Jamaal Clark (1-3-0)
Athlete - tackles (solo-assist), Misc.
Matt Sinclair 9 (7-2), 2 PBU, INT
Travis Williams 7 (6-1)
Joe Bevis 6 (5-1), 2 sacks (-11)
Winston Taylor 6 (4-2)
Cyrus Garrett 3 (1-2), forced fumble
Kyle Kleckner 4 (4-0)
Antonio Mason 4 (1-3)
Eric McGoey 3 (2-1)
Christian Morton 3 (3-0), INT
Sharriff Gillon 2 (2-0), fumble recovery
Aaron Hodges 2 (2-0) 2 TFL (-4), Sack (-3)
Taman Jordan 2 (2-0)
Jeff Ruffin 2 (2-0), PBU
Andrew Burk 1 (1-0)
Zach Gray 1 (1-0)
Marc Jackson 1 (1-0)
Anthony Longe 1 (0-1), PBU
Ty Myers 1, INT returned 25 yards for a touchdown
Scott Moss 1 (1-0)
Jay Ramshaw 1 (1-0), TFL (-9)
Lee Sicinski 1 (1-0)
