April 3, 2004
Columbia, Mo. - Defense ruled the day as the Missouri Tigers took part in their longest scrimmage of the 2004 spring season today at Faurot Field. Head Coach Gary Pinkel put his team through a competitive scrimmage that ran around 150 plays, and it was the defensive side of the ball that made the biggest impression overall.
On a beautiful spring day with a few hundred fans in the stands, the Mizzou defense held the offense to three short scoring runs on the day. The TD runs came from tailbacks Damien Nash (1 yard), Marcus Woods (2 yards) and Beau Viehmann (2 yards). Nash ended the scrimmage with zero net yards rushing on 9 carries, while Woods tallied 27 yards on 13 carries, with Viehmann adding 31 yards on 8 attempts. Lee Ewigman led all rushers with 48 yards on 9 attempts.
The defense had numerous big plays on the day, highlighted by three interceptions, with one each coming by Jason Simpson, James Kinney and Travis Cardoza. Simpson returned his for 25 yards, while Kinney raced 20 yards with his return. Cardoza made his snag in the endzone to snuff out a potential scoring drive by the 3rd-team offense.
Kinney had a big day overall, as he broke up two other passes, and had a sack of 7 yards, in addition to numerous tackles. Also adding sacks on the day were Brian Smith (1 for 3 yards), Marcus Bacon (1 for 8), and Elgin Childress (1 for 8). Xzavie Jackson had a fumble recovery early in the scrimmage.
In the passing game, quarterback Brad Smith was 16-of-34 on the day for 98 yards with one interception, while Brandon Coleman went 13-of-29 for 93 yards and one interception. The top receiver on the day was Arnold Britt, who gathered a team-best 6 receptions for 64 yards. Greg Nutter had 4 catches for 32 yards, while Damien Nash had 5 catches for 14 yards. Clint Matthews (3 catches for 21 yards) and Victor Sesay (3 for 18) also contributed.
After taking Sunday and Monday off, the final week of spring practice will see the Tigers go at it Tuesday and Thursday afternoon. All of that will lead up to the 2004 Black and Gold Spring Game, to be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 10th. The Black and Gold Game is open to all Tiger fans, with the cost being $3 or 3 canned food items, which go toward the Central Missouri Food Bank.
Scrimmage Statistics
Rushing Lee Ewigman 7-48 Beau Viehmann 2-31, 1 TD Scott Houska 4-31 Marcus Woods 13-27, 1 TD Brandon Coleman 5-1 Brett Weeks 2-(-3) Brad Smith 2-(-11)
Passing Brad Smith 16-34-1, 98 yards Brandon Coleman 13-29-1, 93 yards Brett Weeks 4-14-1, 50 yards Scott Houska 8-10-0, 32 yards
Receiving Arnold Britt 6-64 Damien Nash 5-14 Greg Nutter 4-32 Clint Matthews 3-21 Victor Sesay 3-18 Jason Ray 3-13 Josh Barbo 2-22 Thomson Omboga 2-19 Greg Bracey 2-12 Brad Ekwerekwu 2-10 Marcus Woods 2-6 Lee Ewigman 2-5 Jason Gannon 2-3 Sean Coffey 1-12
Place Kicking Alex Pettersen Extra Points - 4-of-4; Field Goals - 5-of-8 Made FGs from 26, 33, 37, 34, 22; Missed FGs from 40, 38, 44
Adam Crossett Extra Points - 3-of-4; Field Goals - 4-of-8 Made FGs from 26, 33, 37, 22; Missed FGs from 40, 38, 44, 34
Pat Velten Extra Points - 4-of-4; Field Goals - 3-of-7 Made FGs from 26, 40, 22; Missed FGs from 37, 38, 44, 34
Defense Brian Smith - 2 TFL, 10 yards; 1 sack, 3 yards Derrick Ming - 2 TFL, 8 yards Jason Simpson - 1 INT, 25 yards C.J. Mosley - 1 TFL, 4 yards Marcus Bacon - 1 sack, 8 yards James Kinney - 1 sack, 7 yards; 2 PBU; 1 INT, 20 yards Xzavie Jackson - 1 recovered fumble Lareno Seymour - 2 PBU Fabian Bean - 1 PBU Shirdonya Mitchell - 1 PBU Marcus King - 2 PBU Zach Ville - 1 TFL, 1 yard Elgin Childress - 2 TFL, 15 yards; 1 sack, 8 yards David Overstreet - 1 TFL, 2 yards Alex Hu - 1 TFL, 1 yard Travis Cardoza - 1 INT, 0 yards Emmett Morris, Jr. - 1 TFL, 2 yards Jamelle Newsome - 1 PBU
Punting Derek Randall - 6 punts, 35.8 avg., long of 42 yards Matt Hoenes - 6 punts, 36.3 avg., long of 52 yards