BALTIMORE, Maryland -- The Morgan State Bears conducted a 90-minute scrimmage Thursday night at Hughes Stadium.
Morgan State approached the scrimmage like a dress rehearsal for the season opener against Army, including an evening kickoff and going through pre-game warm-ups.
Since his team will open the season at night at Army, Morgan State coach Donald-Hill-Eley wanted his team's final scrimmage to be under the lights.
"It was a controlled scrimmage, so you really couldn't get the tempo of the game," said Hill.
"What we tried to do is show what they (Army) do in different field zones as far as down and distance – and getting them used to what their going to see next week. For the most part I thought it was good and we were able to simulate what they do and we'll be able to look at it. We're not going to be able to gauge the speed that they're going to run things, but at least we'll have an idea and be familiar with what they're doing."
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Hill got exactly the conditions and energy level from the team that he was hoping for and talked about his team's identity.
"Defensively, we're going to have multiple attacks," Hill said. "We're doing a great job with our coverage and a real good job with our run defense."
"As far as our team's identity it still has yet to truly be established. We 're going against each other everyday in practice, so you get used to what the offense is running and what the defense is running –- so within the first three games of the season we should have developed some kind of identity as a team."
Hill spoke about the play of his quarterbacks.
"I thought the quarterback play was good. This offense requires them to run a lot more than what they've had to in the past, and they've accepted their roles and are doing a good job at it."
Morgan State's coaches got what they expected from their starting units, as well, with those groups mostly having their way against the backups in traditional series and situational scenarios.
As for statistics, there were a number of plays that stood out during the night.
Redshirt-freshman running back Lamont Brown III led the Bears ground attack with runs of 30, 32 and 35 yards
Redshirt-junior quarterback Robert Council broke off a 55-yard run, the longest play of the night
Redshirt-freshman quarterback Moses Skillon scored on a 20-yard keeper
Senior wideout Tubotein Taylor recorded a 45-yard kickoff return
Senior cornerback Joe Rankin blocked a punt
Junior linebacker Cody Acker forced a fumble
Freshman running back Orlando Brown had runs of 32 and 20 yards
Junior quarterback Seth Higgins completed a 25-yard pass to wideout junior Andrew King, and tossed a 45-yard pass to sophomore wideout Grayling Harrison
Freshman quarterback Ricky Fisk completed a 40-yard touchdown pass to freshman wideout Landen Malbrough
Morgan State kicks off the 2013 campaign on Friday, Aug. 30 at 7 p.m. when it takes on Army live on the CBS Sports Network, the 24-hour cable home of CBS Sports. Morgn State season tickets are available online at www.morganstatebears.com/tickets or by calling the MSU Ticket Office at 443-885-1522.
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