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Sports TwitterMiami University Football scrimmage
Injuries allow backups chance to shine
Scherpenberg throws two touchdown passes to Anderson; Belton one of the more than two dozen sidelined.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
OXFORD — Miami University wide receiver Mitchell Anderson said his goal this season is to make the travel squad.
If Anderson's performance during the RedHawks' scrimmage Saturday, April 19, is any indication, he'll be chalking up a lot of miles this fall.
Extras
The future sophomore from Canton caught two touchdown passes, giving head coach Shane Montgomery some much-needed good news on a day on which it seemed half the team was injured and unable to play.
"This week, we had the mentality that we're coming out and throwing the ball around and trying to make plays," said Anderson, who has plenty of experience on the practice field but has yet to catch his first collegiate pass.
"I played on the scout team last year as a walk-on," he said. "It helped a lot, getting a chance to go against the first-string defense. I hope I can make the travel squad and step up and help the team out."
Another bright spot was sophomore quarterback Mike Scherpenberg. The Indian Hill High School graduate threw three touchdown passes while filling in for redshirt freshman Clay Belton, who was held out of the scrimmage with a minor injury to his throwing hand.
"Mike is a smart kid who does really well in school, and it translates well onto the football field," said Montgomery, who is taking nothing for granted despite the presence of last year's starter, junior Daniel Raudabaugh, and Belton.
"We got down to our fifth-string tailback last year, so you never know what's going to happen," Montgomery said. "(Scherpenberg) took advantage of Clay being out, and he did some good things.
"We had somewhere between 25 to 30 players out today," the Miami coach added. "We had five linebackers. I think Alex Kaufman (redshirt freshman linebacker from Lakota West High School) played on almost every single down. We have five or six starters out on defense. It's tough, but I think they competed hard. We've just got to get as many people back as we can so we can have a good spring game Friday night."
Montgomery said he thinks Belton, who is competing for the starting quarterback job with Raudabaugh, will be able to play in the annual spring game at 8 p.m. Friday at Yager Stadium.
Two of Scherpenberg's touchdown passes went to Anderson. The third covered 90-plus yards to junior wideout Brayden Coombs, the former Colerain High School standout who made a sensational one-handed catch on the sideline, then broke a tackle to go the distance.
"Brayden made a play there at the outside position that he's never played," Montgomery said. "He's been an inside guy for us. We had eight receivers today, and when Jamal (Rogers) went down we had seven."
Among the wideouts unable to play Saturday were starters Dustin Woods, who has been out all spring, and Eugene Harris, a more recent addition to the wounded list.
Rogers, a sophomore, joined that list Saturday with an ankle injury. The same thing happened to true freshman tailback Danny Green. Sophomore defensive tackle Sean Redwine also got banged up and was forced to the sideline.
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2197 or pconrad@coxohio.com.
