Quarterbacks? energy needs to be contagious

Johnny Manziel looked comfortable in his first weekend scrimmage since being named Texas A&M?s starting quarterback, but enough other players looked a little too comfortable Saturday at Kyle Field, enough so to irk first-year head coach Kevin Sumlin.

Manziel opened the intrasquad scrimmage by leading the Aggies on a 14-play, 66-yard drive that ended in a missed 49-yard field goal attempt by fellow redshirt freshman Taylor Bertolet. Manziel completed 3 of 6 passes on the drive for 14 yards and added a nifty 11-yard run up the middle on a possession that started at the offense?s 3-yard line.

?What we?re trying to do there is get two first downs and turn the field over if you?ve got to punt it,? Sumlin said.

The next possession from the 3 led to a quick touchdown thanks to running back Trey Williams? 56-yard run to the 2. Sophomore linebacker Justin Bass caught Williams from behind after Williams cut back to avoid junior defensive back Johntel Franklin.

Williams had three other carries for 15 yards on the drive and ended with 93 yards on nine carries.

Sumlin playfully said he?d give the true freshman grief for getting caught from behind, but he won?t be joking with the players who pulled down the team?s overall performance Saturday.

?I was disappointed with the amount of energy that was out there,? Sumlin said. ?We?re not a good enough team to go out and just play football and go through motions. We have to play with energy. I didn?t see that today like we have been.?

Sumlin said he was anxious to see how his team would handle the scrimmage after eight practices in five days including a couple that lasted almost 2 1/2 hours.

?We?ve got to fight through that,? Sumlin said. ?That?s where you have to be a tough team physically and mentally. That?s the reason we did that, to let them know you can do it. But you?ve got to create your own energy, and our team didn?t do that today and that?s a learning experience. You can?t play this game at a high level without emotion, and we lacked that today.?

The nine penalties also bothered Sumlin, but he said he was pleased with the quarterbacks.

Manziel had a 30-yard pass to senior Uzoma Nwachukwu that led to a 4-yard TD run by Trey Williams. Sophomore Jameill Showers guided a 97-yard drive that ended with a 2-yard touchdown by Brandon Williams, and sophomore Matt Joeckel threw a 44-yard touchdown pass to junior transfer Derel Walker.

Joeckel had the best stats of the quarterbacks ? 5 of 10 for 128 yards. Manziel completed 6 of 10 for 51 yards with an interception.

?They?re competitors,? Sumlin said. ?They understand only one can play, but as you can see they?re all still going to continue to get better because you never know when your chance is going to come.

?We?ve got a couple of positions out there right now that if they were competing at the level the quarterbacks are competing, we?d be all right. We?ve got some guys [who] have accepted their roles, and that?s disappointing.?

The defense forced two turnovers.

Sophomore defensive back Deshazor Everett had a big hit to prevent freshman wide receiver Sabian Holmes from making a catch near the end zone with senior linebacker Jonathan Stewart grabbing the deflected pass for an interception. And redshirt freshman defensive back Sam Moeller knocked the ball from Brandon Williams on fourth-and-goal from the 1 with sophomore defensive back Floyd Raven Sr. recovering the fumble in the end zone.

?[Brandon Willliams] plays so hard. He veered back into a guy, trying to run him over,? Sumlin said. ?He didn?t need to do that. All these are learning situations we try to get guys in.

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Missing players: Senior safety Steven Campbell, senior running back Christine Michael, junior defensive lineman Kirby Ennis, sophomore offensive lineman Cedric Ogbuehi, sophomore running back Tra Carson and true freshman center Mike Matthews did not play among others. Senior wide receiver Ryan Swope saw little action, catching one pass.

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Tough day for some: ?The goal today was to scrimmage the backups, and what you got was backup football,? Sumlin said. ?You don?t know what the hell?s gonna happen. You throw it ... sometimes we catch it, sometimes we don?t. A guy catches it and [he] gets hit. That?s the reason why they?re backups. That?s why we?re trying to develop those guys and see who?s going to come on.?

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NOTES ? Sumlin said he expects to hear from the NCAA this week whether sophomore transfer running back Brandon Williams will be able to play this season or have to sit out. ? Junior walk-on wide receiver Gaston Lamascus from Navasota caught a 50-yard pass from Joeckel. ? A&M will not practice Sunday. ? Former head coach R.C. Slocum and recently retired athletics director Bill Byrne attended the game.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AggieSports/~3/Ppf0OIDcEvA/AS&source=RSS

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