Todd Golden
The Tribune-Star
TERRE HAUTE —
Progress for the Indiana State football program comes in baby steps.
To wit, Saturday’s Blue-White scrimmage was the first time in Trent Miles’ three seasons that the Sycamores had the manpower to play a first unit versus second unit scrimmage.
The Blue team, representing the lion’s share of the starters, dominated the White team.
The final score was 34-27, but points were added to the White team’s score by Miles during the contest to simulate game situations. The White team scored just once on its own merit.
Miles wasn’t thrilled with the tempo, but he stressed that getting the mindset to get things like tempo right are what scrimmages are for.
“We’re doing this to get the rust off. I was rusty on some things, we need this work,” Miles said. “I’m not disappointed with what I saw, but I saw some things we need to fix. That’s why we’re doing this.”
Transfer quarterback Ronnie Fouch, who came to ISU from Washington, quarterbacked the Blue team and was effective, completing 12 of 20 passes for 199 yards and three touchdown passes. Tight end Alex Jones caught two of Fouch’s touchdown throws, including a 59-yarder in the first quarter where he broke several tackles. Egnut Egberongbe caught the other touchdown pass, a 4-yard connection.
“We wanted to go out and get a tempo going. I was taking what they gave me. I wasn’t trying to force anything and I think that helped to get it in our playmakers’ hands so they could do the work,” Fouch said. “A high completion percentage out of me is the way we’re going to be successful.”
Fouch and Hofstra-transfer Coy Glass found seven different targets on the Blue team as they completed 15 passes between them.
Darrius Gates also ran the ball effectively for the Blue team, rushing for 92 yards and a 60-yard touchdown. On the defensive side for the Blue team, defensive lineman Ben Obsecki had four sacks and linebacker Jacolby Washington had three more sacks and eight tackles, including 4 1/2 for a loss. The Blue team had a whopping 12 sacks overall.
Four quarterbacks took the beating (though all wore a red protective jersey and were tagged rather than tackled) for the White team. Redshirt freshman Marcus Etnier (4 of 5, 39 yards) and Travis Johnson (3 of 4, 58 yards) fared well. True freshman Chris O’Leary (0-for-6) and Matt Seliger (1-for-4) struggled in their turns.
True freshman running back Shakir Bell was one bright spot for the White team. The one-time Parade All-American at Warren Central rushed for 69 yards and scored the lone touchdown for the White team.
Bell looked spectacular at times. On one 19-yard run, he put a juke move on ISU defensive back CJ Ullysse that left Ullysse frozen as Bell scooted past him.
“I had a rough time getting the plays at first, but once I did, I’ve had a whole lot of people helping me out with a lot. The pace is coming along and I think we’re going to have a great season,” Bell said.
Miles left the scrimmage most concerned with his special teams. Punter Seliger averaged just 28.3 yards on nine punts.
ISU’s kickers didn’t fare much better. One of Cory Little’s extra point attempts ricocheted off a helmet at the scrimmage line. Backup Brett Sheldon’s lone field goal attempt was blocked by Obasecki and was recovered by Ullysse for an 82-yard blocked kick return.
“I’m very concerned about the kicking game. I think we’ll be OK with extra points and kicking off, but our punting game is a huge question mark. It’s scary for me,” Miles said.
ISU escaped the scrimmage relatively injury-free. Defensive back Taje High had to be helped off the field with a turned ankle.
ISU has another week of non-game preparation practice before it plays another mock game next Saturday. The season opens on Sept. 4 when the Sycamores host St. Joseph’s.
