Aug. 16, 2001

MEXICO, Mo.- Over 200 fans and media were in attendance for the Missouri football scrimmage on Thursday morning at the Missouri Military Academy in Mexico, Mo. The Tigers were on the field for more than three hours as they covered nearly every facet of the offense, defense and special teams.

Coach Gary Pinkel said after the scrimmage that his Tigers "have a lot of work to do" before the season opener in two weeks against Bowling Green University at Faurot Field. Both the offense and defense looked good at times while both areas struggled at different points during the scrimmage.

Two offensive players had everyone talking following the scrimmage. Junior wide receiver Justin Gage and sophomore running back Zack Abron both were outstanding on Thursday morning. Gage caught seven passes during the scrimmage, five of them during one drive headed by junior quarterback Darius Outlaw. On that drive, Outlaw completed all but one pass he threw, and finished the drive with a lob pass into the corner of the end zone that Gage pulled in for the score.

Earlier in the scrimmage, Outlaw completed a 27-yard TD pass to wide receiver Shirdonya Mitchell. With the exception of one bad interception, Outlaw performed well in the scrimmage.

The other story of the morning was the running of Abron. The sophomore running back broke off runs of over 10 yards on five different occasions, bowling his way through would-be tacklers. Several of Abron's rushes drew applause from the fans in attendance.

All four quarterbacks looked good on Thursday. Jim Dougherty and Sonny Riccio both directed long offensive drives while Brad Smith continued to show his unbelievable poise and quarterback smarts for a freshman.

Defensively, the Tigers made several standout plays. The defense forced two turnovers on the day. The first came when Marcus Caldwell forced a fumble that was recovered by linebacker Sean Doyle. Doyle, who recorded five total fumbles last season (forced and recovered), was ranked among the nation's best in that category. The other turnover was an interception by freshman Justin Scott on a pass up the middle by Outlaw. Just two plays before, Scott made a break on an Outlaw pass and nearly intercepted it.

Defensive tackle Keith Wright and defensive end Antwaun Bynum both made several key plays behind the line scrimmage. Wright, who's quickness has been noted during the week, made a quick move to get into the offensive backfield and tackled running back Zain Gilmore for a significant loss in yardage. Senior linebacker Duke Revard also made a great play in the backfield on running back T.J. Leon.

Redshirt freshman linebacker Henry Sweat provided the hit of the day, forcing wide receiver Darren Baldwin to drop a pass up the middle. Freshman "Doc" Gooden also made several hard hits for the Tigers defense.

On special teams, kicker Brad Hammerich continues to kick the ball with consistency. Hammerich made every one of his PAT attempts and was two-for-two in field goal tries.