Ferguson Pleased With Wolves First Scrimmage

DJ Jackson had over 100 yards rushing and scored on a dive into the end zone.

Photo courtesy: WOU Athletics

WEST LINN, Ore. - Western Oregon's offense took center stage in WOU's first spring game of 2008, played on Saturday afternoon at West Linn High School.

The Wolves ran just over 100 plays in the scrimmage, with the offense scoring five times.

"This time of year, you kind of expect the defense to be ahead of the offense,' said a pleased Wolves head coach Arne Ferguson. "But I think that because of our experience on the offensive side and the very solid play by all three of our quarterbacks, we are a little further ahead than we thought."

Veteran receivers Isaiah Smith (Roseburg), Sean Fullerton (West Linn) and Jake Zeutenhorst (Selah, Wash.) all had TD grabs, as did newcomer Tim McElravy (Monmouth/Central HS). Three quarterbacks all looked sharp, according to Ferguson: Sophomores Brady Lovell (Vale) and AJ Robinson (Redmond), and redshirt freshman Cory Bean (Hillsboro).

"That was a real positive today, I thought that all three of them played very well," Ferguson said. "Our offensive line did a great job protecting them, and DJ Jackson was tough to stop."

Jackson (Portland/Jesuit HS) had over 100 yards rushing and scored on a dive into the end zone.

The Wolves will play the second of their three spring games next Saturday (April 26) at West Salem High School (1:00 p.m.). "With this first game, we wanted to get people comfortable with their assignments," Ferguson explained. "Next week, we are looking for better execution in another realistic game-type atmosphere. Today was really a pretty clean effort, we had very few penalties, we looked sharp and crisp for this time of the year."

While Ferguson was most impressed with the offense, he was pleased with parts of his defense and definitely with his special teams.

"I thought that our cornerbacks played very well and our special teams were solid," he confirmed. "Cory Dickson had two punts over 40 yards and one was pinned down on the two-yard line. Overall, I would say that we are a little bit ahead on offense and with our special teams."

The Wolves will begin week three of the spring practice schedule on Monday. The spring session will wrap up on Friday, May 2 with a evening game against the WOU Alumni.

Source: WOU Athletics

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