The
Nevada football team saw some high points during its first scrimmage of the spring session on Saturday at Mackay Stadium.
Senior running back Luke Lippincott (two carries, 38 yards, 1 touchdown) played briefly but appeared the be in mid-season form, as did senior Marko Mitchell (three catches, 72 yards, one touchdown).
And the Wolf Pack defense rebounded after giving up some big plays early to give a spirited performance under first-year coordinator Nigel Burton.
“There was a lot of good hitting and overall it was a good scrimmage,” Nevada coach Chris Ault said. “We’ll have a lot of stuff to go over the in the film room.”
Lippincott, the WAC’s leading rusher a year ago, reeled off a 36-yard run to the 2-yard line early in the scrimmage. He punched in the score from there on the next play.
Mitchell hauled in a 52-yard pass from freshman Luke Collis, who saw a good amount of playing time on Saturday.
The offense’s only other score was a 62-yard run by freshman running back Lampford Mark, who showed his speed down the left side of the field.
But the defense clamped down other than the handful of big plays. Brett Roy, Adam Liranzo and Mark Stuckey were among defensive players who had sacks while the defense had nine other tackles for loss on the day.
“We threw the ball well early and then the defense got better as it went on,” Ault said. “But they still gave up too many of those big plays.”
The Wolf Pack will return to practice on Tuesday and will hold another scrimmage next Saturday.
SCRIMMAGE STATISTICS
Passing: Collis 4-of-13 for 79 yards, 1 TD, 0 Int.; Murdaca 3-of-11 for 28 yards, 0 TDs, 0 Int.; Kaepernick 2-of-9 for 26 yards, 0 TDs, 0 Int.
Rushing: Mark 5-70; Lippincott 2-38; Taua 8-27; Kaepernick 3-20; Fragger 5-11; Sanders 3-11; Baldwin 3-2; Randall 4-1; Collis 1-0; McCoy 4-(-5).
Receiving: Mitchell 3-72; King, Jr. 1-15; Wimberly 2-15; Bene 1-13; Puloka 1-10; Sanders 1-8.
