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Red-zone Situations Focus of Friday Work 8/20/2004
Red-zone Situations Focus of Friday Work On Campus in Nashville — The Commodores closed a Friday morning practice with a brief full-contact session focused on first-and-goal situations. The Commodores, who also went through a limited contact, full-pad session Thursday afternoon, practiced through two heavy rainstorms Friday morning. The final segment was a live situational scrimmage, with the offense starting possession in the red zone. Head Coach Bobby Johnson liked what he saw from his squad, who are expected to return to the John Rich Practice Facility again Friday night. “All things considered, it was a pretty good practice. For the amount of rain we received, I thought our guys practiced with good concentration, focus and tempo,” Johnson said. Johnson is scheduled to stage a scrimmage Saturday morning. The scrimmage is expected to take place in Vanderbilt Stadium, marking the team’s first appearance on the Dudley Field surface this year. The scrimmage is closed to the general public. Osemwegie Named to Butkus Award Watch List Junior linebacker Moses Osemwegie became the fourth Commodore this preseason named to a watch list for a prestigious collegiate award. On Thursday, Osemwegie was named as a candidate for the Butkus Award?, given annually by the Downtown Athletic Club of Orlando to the nation’s best collegiate linebacker has announced the preliminary list of 65 candidates for this year’s award. The Butkus Award? will be presented December 10 by the award’s namesake, former University of Illinois and Chicago Bear NFL Hall of Fame member Dick Butkus. Osemwegie, a resident of Nashville, Tenn., joins three Commodore teammates – senior offensive tackle Justin Geisinger, junior defensive end Jovan Haye and junior quarterback Jay Cutler – on watch lists for postseason awards. Haye has been named to the Lombardi Trophy, Nagurski Award and Ted Hendricks Award lists, while Geisinger has been included for consideration for the Outland and Lombardi trophies. Cutler is among the nominees for the O’Brien Award as the nation’s top quarterback. In 2003, Osemwegie was one of the Southeastern Conference’s top tacklers. He averaged 10.5 total tackles per game, ranking second in the SEC during the regular season. Osemwegie’s average of 6.5 solo tackles a game was second best in the conference. He also ranked among the top two Commodores in nearly every team defensive category. Upcoming Schedule After the scrimmage Saturday, the Commodores will take their first day off from preseason camp in Sunday. The team will conduct one additional two-a-day practice early next week. |
