2009 Spring Game Reviews - WAC

CollegeFootballNews.com
Posted Apr 28, 2009


What happened in the WAC spring games? Check out the reviews of the final scrimmages of the spring season.

Spring Preview 2009

WAC Spring Game Reviews


Spring Game Reviews

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The Spring Games So Far ...

Boise State
April 17 – The White team beat the Blue 14-10 on a trick play. The Blue started off the scoring on a 13-yard touchdown catch from Titus Young, but the White made it interesting on a 26-yard scoring play from Mike Coughlin to Tyler Shoemaker. And then came the gimmick as Austin Pettis took a reverse and threw it to Shoemaker for an 85-yard touchdown with less than four minutes to play for the win. Coughlin ended up completing 7-of-13 passes for 81 yards and a touchdown, while Kellen Moore completed 10-of-16 passes for 106 yards and a score for the Blue. 

Fresno State
April 25 – The good: the offense was unstoppable. The defense: the defense struggled. It wasn’t always this way during the spring, with the defense owning the O earlier in the practices, but this day was about QB Ebahn Feathers, who ran for 126 yards and a thrilling 62-yard score, along with another rushing touchdown. He only completed 2-of-5 passes for 40 yards, but his runs showed a different side to the Bulldog attack. Derek Carr, the brother of David Carr, was the passing star completing 11-of-13 passes for 144 yards and three scores. Ryan Colburn did a little of everything with 59 yards and a touchdown on nine carries, and while he only completed 5-of-11 passes for 109 yards, he connected with Jamel Hamler for a 58-yard score. In all, the offense was sharp with one turnover and several players making big plays.

Hawaii
April 25 – The Makai beat the Mauka team 28-26 in the Warrior Bowl with the offenses dominating the first half and the defenses controlling the second. Bryant Moniz completed 12-of-18 passes for 149 yards with a touchdown, but it was his lateral to Jon Medeiros, who threw a 50-yard touchdown pass to Jovonte Taylor, that was the game-winner. Taylor caught five passes for 135 yards and a score, while Dustin Blount made four grabs for 98 yards and two touchdowns. All four quarterbacks bombed away combining for 681 yards and five scores with starter Greg Alexander hitting on 10-of-15 passes for 152 yards and a score.

Louisiana Tech

April 11 – Former Auburn transfer Steven Emsminger looked like the quarterback the program was hoping he’d be last year as he led his White team to a 21-0 win over the Red team. While he might not have unseated Ross Jenkins who completed 6-of-16 passes for 46 yards and two picks, he made a case to see more time late this summer. Defensively, all-star D’Anthony Smith dominated as he got into the backfield whenever he wanted to, but he took it a bit easy on his teammates.

Nevada
March 25 – With Colin Kaepernick out with an ankle injury, Tyler Lantrip came up with a big performance throwing for 233 yards and three touchdown passes with Virgil Green taking one pass 65 yards for a score. However, he only completed 11-of-25 passes while Luke Collis completed 13-of-26 passes for 141 yards and a score. Malcolm Shepherd caught four passes for 59 yards and two scores, while Green scored twice. James Michael Johnson led the defense with eight stops along with a sack.

Utah State
April 18 – The Aggies weren’t shy about opening things up under new head coach Gary Andersen with the Blue team (the starters) beating the White (the backups) 45-30 highlighted by Omar Sawyer, who caught three passes for 196 yards with touchdowns from 72 and 80 yards out. While the offense came up with big plays, on the down side, the defense gave up a ton of yards. Xavier Bowman’s 71-yard touchdown off a short grab was one of the bigger highlights. QB Diondre Borel sputtered early on before completing 12-of-23 passes for 320 yards and three scores. Safety James Brindley made nine tackles to lead the Blue team.