March 6, 2004
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State head football coach Tom Craft put his squad through the first major scrimmage of the spring on Saturday with a 90-minute workout at the SDSU practice fields.
The scrimmage was highlighted by three touchdown passes from Aztec quarterbacks. Redshirt freshman Kevin O'Connell had a 60-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Brian Spinks and a 36-yard TD pass to senior Adam Gray-Hayward. Junior Matt Dlugolecki tossed a 33-yard touchdown to tight end Adam Watson.
"We had 10 players sit out with a variety of injuries," said head coach Tom Craft. "But I thought we showed some big-play ability and we know on defense that we are experienced and pretty good."
The offensive line was extremely young during the scrimmage with only Jasper Harvey returning up front as a starter. Senior tackle Mike Kracalik is not participating in contact during the spring while he recovers from a torn labrum.
The young offensive front was able to open up some running room with the longest rush of the day belonging to Reggie Ross. Ross, the freshman who enrolled at SDSU in January, led all runners with 74 yards on three carries. He had a 60-yard touchdown run to highlight the Aztec ground game. Another rookie, Brandon Bornes, carried eight times for 30 yards.
With Kirk Morrison sitting out the spring due to a stress fracture, Matt McCoy was the defensive leader. The Mountain West Conference's leading tackler in 2003 led SDSU with seven stops on Saturday. He also topped SDSU with two quarterback sacks and four tackles for losses.
SDSU will return to the practice field on Monday afternoon. Craft has announced that the team will move Thursday's workout to 6:15 a.m. to allow the team the opportunity to attend the opening baseball game of the Aztec Invitational at PETCO Park that evening.
The final scrimmage of the spring will be Friday afternoon at 3 p.m.
Scrimmage Statistics
Rushing
Ross 3-74 1 TD
Bornes 8-30
Franklin 2-8
Thompson 1-6
Van 2-4
Howard 2(-4)
Passing
Dlugolecki 7-12, 99 yards, 1 TD
O'Connell 4-8-1, 98 yards, 2 TD
Receiving
Spinks 1-60, TD
Watson, 1-34, TD
Williams 1-33
Gray-Hayward 2-28, TD
Franklin 1-12
Swain 1-9
Webb 1-7
Pitts 1-7
Ortiz 1-4
Bornes 1-3
Leading Tacklers
McCoy 7 (two sacks)
Brett Martin 3.5 (sack)
Demps 2.5
Farwell 2
Lealofi 2
Lobel 2
Tackles For Loss
McCoy 4
J. Martin 1
B. Martin 1
Applewhite 1
McCutcheon 1
Pass Break Ups Sturm Osborn
Interceptions
Baker