April 21, 2008

Athens, OH (UWIRE) -- The more quarterback Boo Jackson settles into the Bobcat offense, the more his abilities shine through. Rain fell throughout the scrimmage, but that didn't seem to bother Jackson, who finished with 5-of-7 passing for 116 yards and two touchdowns.His second touchdown pass was a 72-yarder to tight end Andrew Mooney, which was the longest play of the day.

"It finally felt like I actually got everything down," Jackson said. "It was definitely good. The past couple of weeks I've been struggling to get down the offense."

Jackson didn't take long to get started. He came into the scrimmage in the middle of a 14-play drive, which he capped off with an 11-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Robert Mercer, who was able to out jump the defender in the end zone.

It was the type of performance that Jackson's teammates and coaches said would come, once he figured out the offense.

"He's really picked things up pretty well," coach Frank Solich said. "Boo, at first, seemed to be down a little bit, when no one else seemed to be down on him because he was really doing well for the short amount of time he's been on campus." Jackson wasn't the only quarterback to do well in Saturday's scrimmage.

Theo Scott was 4-of-6 passing for 51 yards, Brandon Jones was 5-of-10 passing for 60 yards and Brain Sweeney was 2-of-2 for 52 yards and a touchdown.

"As you go down the line of the quarterback, all of them seem to have made some plays," Solich said. "Actually we had a lot of big plays from the offensive side of the scrimmage (Saturday) ... that's what you're looking for from your offense."

There were six plays of 20 yards or more as the offense took advantage of a banged up defense in the 60-play scrimmage.

Mooney was on the receiving end of two of those plays. He had a 27-yard reception from Scott to go along with his 72-yard touchdown reception from Jackson.

Vince Davidson finished with eight carries for 20 yards, while Chris Garrett had five carries for 14 yards and a touchdown. The other running back vying for playing time, Donte Harden, did not play.

The defense, though, was not at 100 percent, as the unit continues to lose players to injuries.

Linebacker Clevon Kirkland led the defense with six tackles. Sophomore Alex Trouten had two sacks and four tackles.

Linebacker Michael Brown, who finished the day with five tackles and a sack, said it is difficult with so many players missing.

"We knew if people went down, it was going to be tough," Brown said. "We have a lot of young guys out there. It's tough breaking those guys in. They're going to have to go through the learning curve."

(C) 2008 The Post via UWIRE