Norfolk State Defense Starts Fast, Offense Finishes Strong

NORFOLK, Virginia -- In a football scrimmage that featured two contrasting halves, the Norfolk State defense flexed its muscle early, only to see the offense score five touchdowns in the second half on Saturday at Dick Price Stadium.

The 80-play scrimmage – the Spartans' first of preseason camp – included a pair of touchdown passes from junior quarterback Greg Hankerson Jr. and two touchdown runs by freshman Quintreil Chung. Saturday's session came eight days into camp and was the first of three intrasquad scrimmages before the Spartans open the season at Rutgers on Sept. 5.

The Spartans' defense – which head coach Latrell Scott described as being slightly ahead of the offense to begin camp – held the Spartan offense off the board for the first half of the scrimmage. Highlights for the defense included an interception by senior cornerback D'Metrius Williams and a two-drive span that included sacks by linebackers Jay Anderson and Raynard Revels and another by nose guard Shawn Fauntleroy Jr.

"We had a lot of penalties early that slowed our offense down. We can't put ourselves in 1st-and-20, 2nd-and-20 situations," Scott said. "Our defense made some big plays early, too, but our offense bounced back nicely."

The offense began to assert itself after Revels' sack forced a change of possession. Hankerson found Sangster for a 10-yard gain on 3rd-and-9. Three plays later, on 3rd-and-short, Hankerson hit senior Isaac White for a 21-yard touchdown pass.

That started a streak of four straight drives which ended in touchdowns. Chung capped the next possession with a 5-yard TD run and sophomore Shakeem Copeland had a 2-yard plunge on the ensuing march.

Hankerson got into the action again when he lofted an 18-yard TD pass to Sangster over the defense. Sangster tip-toed along the sideline and kept possession as he fell to the ground while being closely covered.

Chung capped the scrimmage a short while later with a 1-yard TD run in goal-to-go situations. He led all rushers with 32 yards, while Copeland had 22. Hankerson passed for 150 yards. Sangster caught four passes for 51 yards, while White had three grabs for 45 yards.

The Spartans return to their preseason practice schedule on Monday. Their second scrimmage is slated for a 3 p.m. start next Saturday at Dick Price Stadium.



Matt Michalec, Asst. AD/Communications
COURTESY NORFOLK STATE UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS