Northwestern University Athletics
Wildcats Wrap Up Third Week With Another 60-Play Scrimmage
4/14/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
April 14, 2007
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern concluded its third week of spring practice with a spirited 60-play scrimmage, which was preceded and followed by some special teams work.
The Wildcats, who worked out on their outdoor Field Turf practice facility Saturday morning, opened the scrimmage with a flawless scoring drive by their number-one offense. Mike Kafka (Chicago, Ill./St. Rita) led the offense, completing all five passes on the 10-play drive. His fifth pass, a 1-yard completion to Tyrell Sutton (Akron, Ohio/Archbishop Hoban), capped the opening series.
Sutton played just the opening series and finished with a 15-yard run and two receptions for 12 yards, including the 1-yard TD catch.
After the first series, Northwestern's defense tightened, and recorded seven straight three-and-outs with the number one and number two units rotating series. NU defenders broke up several passes on the day and recorded four sacks. Redshirt freshman linebacker Quentin Davie (St. Louis, Mo./Cardinal Ritter) picked off a pass and sophomore cornerback Sherrick McManis (Peoria, Ill./Richwoods) recorded a couple pass breakups.
Kafka finished 13-of-20 for 78 yards and a TD while Joe Mauro (Bedford, Texas/L.C. Bell), directing the second team, was 6-of-15 for 42 yards and an interception.
"We've made some progress this spring," said head coach Pat Fitzgerald. "I'm looking forward to another great week of work as we wind down our spring. Today, we saw some good things from both sides of the ball."
Sophomore Andrew Brewer (Tulsa, Okla./Jenks) led all receivers with 4 catches for 35 yards. Brewer also completed a perfect 36-yard strike to Ross Lane (Ft. Myers, Fla./Bishop Verot), which helped set up the offense's second score of the day, a 1-yard run by Brandon Roberson (Pearland, Texas/Pearland). Roberson led all running backs with 26 yards on 8 carries.
Quarterback C.J. Bachér (Sacramento, Calif./Jesuit), who returned to practice this week, was held out of the scrimmage. Afterwards, NUsports.com talked with Bacher about getting back on the field and playing this spring.
Click Here to watch the interview on NUSports.com All-Access.
Northwestern will practice Tuesday and Thursday before concluding the spring season next Saturday with it annual Spring Game.
PRACTICE NOTES
• Next Saturday's Spring Game will be streamed live on NUsports.com's All-Access. Kickoff is set for noon.
• Wide receiver Tonjua Jones (Southfield, Mich./Southfield-Lathrop) caught four passes for 21 yards in Saturday's scrimmage. Eric Peterman (Springfield, Ill./Sacred Heart-Griffin) had two receptions (12 yards) and three rushes (24 yards).
