April 14, 2001
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State football squad held the first of three spring scrimmages on Saturday morning and drew good reviews from head coach Ted Tollner.
"We left the field a better team today," Tollner said. "We have a lot of things to work on and we need to be more consistent, but we are a much more physical squad than we were a year ago."
"Overall I was pleased," he added. "We were sloppy. Sometimes those three and four-yard runs don't look pretty, but we are physical. We need to be more consistent on the run and stopping the run."
The scrimmage marked the return to full contact for Larry Ned. San Diego State's senior running back saw his first live action since dislocating a shoulder at Brigham Young last season. He carried seven times for 28 yards, including a long of nine yards.
"Larry came out and ran physical and now he knows that he is fine," Tollner said.
San Diego State fans also got their first look at Texas transfer Adam Hall. With quarterback Lon Sheriff sidelined until next week with a thumb injury, Hall was 11-for-20 for 170 yards through the air, including two touchdowns. The scoring strikes covered 40 and 36 yards with J.R. Tolver on the receiving end of both passes.
The two long pass plays marked the only scores by any of the Aztec offensive units.
"The defense came to play and just gave up the two plays, but as we told them, that was exactly what happened against Utah last season," Tollner said.
As expected, the Aztec defense was led by returning all-conference players Will Demps and Jomar Butler. Demps had five stops from the secondary and Butler had five tackles from his outside linebacker position.
Redshirt freshman Blake Lobel, who has made the move to defensive end from linebacker, was credited with an interception, a quarterback sack and a tackle for a loss.
San Diego State will hold its second scrimmage on April 21st at 10 a.m. on the SDSU practice field.
San Diego State Football
Spring Scrimmage I - Statistics
April 13, 2001
SCORING PLAYS
JR Tolver 36-yard pass from Adam Hall (Brian Simnjanovski PAT)
JR Tolver 40-yard pass from Adam Hall (Brian Simnjanovski PAT)
OFFENSIVE STATISTICS
Rushing - Justin Green 14-37, Larry Ned 7-28, Garric Simmons 8-22.
Passing - Adam Hall 11-20-2-0 170, Jon Stoner 1-7-0-1 4, Danny Armstrong 3-5-0-0 24.
Receiving - JR Tolver 6-128, Derrick Lewis 4-44, Thomas Howard 2-15, Jason Dion 1-8, Mike Lynch 1-4.
DEFENSIVE SUPERLATIVES
Tackles - Will Demps 5-0-5, Jomar Butler 5-0-5, Kirk Morrison 4-0-4, Sagan Atuatasi 3-0-3, Marcus Levi 2-0-2, Akbar Gbaja-Biamilia 2-0-2, Beau Trickey 2-1-3, Jerald Watkins 2-0-2, Greg Taylor 2-0-2.
Tackles for Loss - Dylan Robles 1 (-7), Beau Trickey 1 (-4).
Sacks - Jason Perry 2, Jared Ritter 2, Marcus Levi 1, Blake Lobel 1, DeAngelo Nedd 1, Loo Heather 1.
Interceptions - Blake Lobel 1.
PUNTING
Brian Simnjanovski 4-138-38.3.