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Commodore Black & Gold Scrimmage Saturday 3/25/2005 Coach Johnson To Discuss Plans on Three Stations After completing a 150-minute non-contact session Thursday, the Commodores head into their featured attraction of Spring Practice, the Black & Gold Scrimmage on Saturday morning in the Vanderbilt Stadium. The Black & Gold Scrimmage will start at 10:00 a.m., with stadium gates opening at 9:30 a.m. The scrimmage is free to Commodore followers and represents the final practice this spring open to the public. The session is also scheduled to conclude prior to the Vanderbilt-Alabama baseball game at nearby Hawkins Field. Vanderbilt Head Coach Bobby Johnson is looking forward to putting his squad in front of Commodore fans, allowing visitors to see the squad’s blend of veteran returnees such as quarterback Jay Cutler and linebacker Moses Osemwegie and a bevy of relative newcomers competing for playing roles. “I’m looking forward to seeing a lot of our fans and seeing how our team responds Saturday,” Johnson said. “It’s an important practice for a lot of reasons. For one thing, it’s one of just 15 practices available to us this spring and we need to show improvement with each one. But it’s also a great opportunity for our younger guys because we have some great competition going on at a number of positions. We need to start seeing guys step forward and show coaches and their teammates that they can handle being a starter or key contributor.” Johnson is scheduled to appear live on three Middle Tennessee radio stations Friday afternoon to discuss the team’s progress and the featured scrimmage. The interview schedule follows: ? 3:45 p.m.: FM-106.7 with co-hosts Blake Fulton, Joe Biddle, Pete Weber ? 4:25 p.m.: FM-104.5 The Zone with co-hosts George Plaster, Willy Daunic and Darren McFarland ? 4:45 p.m.: 560 AM with co-hosts Bill King and Bubba Miller Johnson and his staff will hope for better weather than a year ago when a fast-moving thunderstorm forced officials to cancel the Black & Gold Scrimmage after just one series. Commodore fans are likely to get an abbreviated look at the team’s most experienced players. Cutler, a preseason All-SEC candidate at quarterback, is expected to open the scrimmage, but Commodore coaches will use the practice to get a close at signal-calling backups Steven Bright and Chris Nickson. The Commodore offensive backfield is another area for fans to watch. A pair of rising sophomores, Jeff Jennings and Cassen Jackson-Garrison, are competing for the tailback role while two redshirt freshmen, Zach Logan and David Whittington, appear to be the leading candidates at fullback. The coaches also will use the scrimmage to evaluate the progress of both interior line units. On offense, the Commodores must replace tackle Justin Geisinger and guard Brian Kovolisky, while defensive line prospects must step forward to replace end Jovan Haye and tackles Matt Clay and Robert Dinwiddie. Vanderbilt fans will also see changes in the secondary where former safety Andrew Pace has moved to cornerback after the loss of two starters from a year ago. Two key defensive backs from last year, Sean Dixon and Cheron Thompson, are competing with Pace and a pair of redshirt freshmen, Josh Allen and Jared Fagan, for the cornerback openings. Redshirt freshman Reshard Langford and junior Funtaine Hunter are competing for the safety vacancy left by Pace. A pair of former safeties, Marcus Buggs and Darnell Martemus, have impressed coaches earlier this spring following moves to linebacker. The staff will look at several inexperienced wideouts, including George Smith, Bryant Anderson and Sean Walker, to provide depth behind returning wide receivers Erik Davis and Marlon White. |
