Bucknell University Athletics
Football Holds Scrimmage as Preseason Camp Continues
8/19/2016 5:37:00 PM | Football
LEWISBURG, Pa. – At the midway point between the first practice and the Sept. 3 season opener at Marist, the Bucknell football team held its only scrimmage of the preseason Friday afternoon at a sunny and hot Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium.
The Bison went through their normal pre-game routine, team members stood on the new home sideline on the east side of the stadium, coaches donned the headsets and game officials were brought in to oversee the scrimmage portion of practice. Typically, the first-string offense was matched up with the first-string defense and the same with the second teams.
“Having the freshmen go through pregame is important since it is different than what they did last year on Friday nights,” commented Bison seventh-year head coach Joe Susan following the session. “We are only going to do one scrimmage. We're not alone in college football. You want to get to the games with the right people healthy.”
The scrimmage was balanced with both the offense and defense having success at different points. Among the highlights for the defense was a fumble return for a near touchdown by Bryan Marine and a couple of hard hits by freshman safety Jon Fox.
Highlights for the offense included a nice move by Alan Butler to evade a defender along the right sideline and continue on for a touchdown, a nice fade pass by R.J. Nitti to Will Carter for a touchdown and a short completion from Matt Muh to Chad Freshnock for a touchdown.
“I thought it was balanced today,” commented Susan. “Offensively, we hit some big plays and that is one of the things that is important for us this year. If we can get a chunk of yardage at a time, that means there are snaps we don't have to take. That is one thing we really have to improve upon from last year. We have the playmaking ability. Obviously, we don't want to give up the big plays, but I think our defense played well today.”
Heading into the preseason, Susan was still uncertain how the running back position and offensive line would look come the first weekend in September.
“If we can keep Omar Garcia and Joey DeFloria healthy at running back, that will really help us,” noted Susan. “Chad Freshnock has shown he is going to have the opportunity to be a big player here.
“The offensive line is a work in progress in terms of getting the right five out there. Chase Watkins has had a nice preseason for us and that enables us to play Griff Barth at right guard. Ned Bent has had one of the better preseasons on the team and has really taken charge of the offensive huddle at center. Devlin Brennan and Julie'n Davenport have played a lot of football for us. They really understand how to play together.”
The Bison have two more days of practice before taking Monday off for the first day of classes at Bucknell.
“The good thing is we don't have classes and then a game that week,” noted Susan. “Trying to practice on the first day of classes is usually a mess, and our guys are used to having Monday off. We will then get ahead on preparation for Marist next week.”
Bucknell opens the 2016 season with back-to-back road games before playing at home for the first time Sept. 17 against Cornell. Kickoff for that contest is 6 p.m. at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium. Tickets can be purchased by calling the Campus Box Office at 570-577-1000 or visiting bucknell.edu/boxoffice beginning Aug. 22.
