Saturday, August 18, 2007

FAMU defense and offense look good in first scrimmage

Photo: Earlier photo of Offensive Coordinator Bob Cole conferring with starting senior QB Albert Chester II


By TheFAMURattlers.com

Rattler defense starts off strong, while the FAMU offense finished strong Saturday

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - It was a tale of two halves as the Florida A&M Football team held their first scrimmage of two-a-day practices, Saturday afternoon at the Galimore-Powell Field house.

In the first half of the scrimmage, the FAMU defense tallied nine sacks, while only giving up 33 passing yards on four completions in 12 attempts.

"Defensively, I thought it went really well, was a lot of intensity on the defense. I saw our defender running to the football their making plays, which shows me that we are much improved on defense, said third year Head Football Coach Rubin Carter.

Overall, the Rattler defense finished the scrimmage with 12 sacks, led by Dannel Sheppard with two.

Dannel Shepard (5-9, 180, Cincinnati, Ohio), "understands this is his senior season and he wants to go out on top. We like his level of play; he brings a lot of tenacity to our defense. He has the attitude that you must have, in order to be a great defensive player," said Carter.

"We on defense came out with the mind set that we needed to get it done, today. We need to learn to work together. This is a learning period, we all came together as a team in the first half and jumped on each others' backs," said Shepard.

In the second half of the scrimmage, the Rattler offense begin to shine as they completed eight of 16 passes for 166 yards with four TDs.

"We just had to find our groove. At first, we came out a little slow. Coach Carter and Coach (Bob) Cole were trying to find the right personnel, so that we can gel together as a team. As the scrimmage went on, we cut down on our mistakes and we started to make plays, said Anthony Collins, a 6-3 redshirt sophomore guard from Miami.

The Rattler Offense committed eight penalties in the first half, finishing the scrimmage with 12 penalties total.

"Offensively, our timing was off. I thought for the first part of the scrimmage, we did not make plays. The ball was thrown pretty well at times, when we got the protection up front. We will continue to evaluate the offensive line, so that we put our best offensive lineman on the field," said Carter.

Philip Sylvester, a freshman running back from Marianna, Fla., finished the scrimmage with 91 yards on 19 carries with three TDs.

"Philip Sylvester has done a great job in camp and really has showed his ability as a runner. He has great speed, he find the hole very quickly and accelerates through it. Sylvester has all the tools and the ability, to be a great running back for us here at FAMU."

"Philip Sylvester, is a good running back that hits the holes that we opened up for him. I like him, he is a real tough back and he will be a big play back for us this season," said Collins.

Coach summed up today's scrimmage: "We will continue to improve, this was a good test for a lot of young players. We'll get another chance to evaluate their abilities and see where they fit in," said Carter.

Carter also noted "We have to have our sixty best players ready to go in two weeks. This is the first part of the evaluation process and we will continue to evaluate our player next week, so will know exactly who will be traveling with us to Birmingham," said Carter.

FAMU will continue two-a-day practices on Monday at 8:45 a.m. and will return at 3:45 p.m. The Rattlers will conclude two-a-day practices with a Mock Game on Saturday, August 25 at 2:30 p.m. in Bragg Memorial Stadium.

The Rattler Booster Club will hold their annual Football Kickoff at The Moon on August 25 at 5 p.m. For more information, you can contact Booster Director Mickey Clayton at (850) 224-6093.

FAMU will open their 2007 season in the third annual MEAC-SWAC Challenge against Southern University at Legion Field in Birmingham, Ala., live on ESPN Classic at 3 p.m. EST.

The following week the Rattlers will host Mid-Eastern Conference opponent Delaware State for their home opener in Bragg Memorial Stadium at 6 p.m.

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