PHOTOS: First Scrimmage of Fall for WKU
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Biggest news to start off the day was that quarterback Brandon Doughty was back in the fold and taking reps and participating in the Hilltoppers first scrimmage of fall camp. Doughty got reps with the first team during the entire scrimmage and performed very well, leading the offense to four touchdowns out of the seven drives he participated in. He had touchdown tosses to Taywan Taylor, Joel German, and Nicholas Norris.
Doughty was held out of practice on Monday as precautionary measure due to an aggravation in his knee.
While Doughty was rollin' with the first team, the other quarterbacks spent time rotating with the 2's and 3's. Demarcus Smith started with the 2's, but his day didn't go so well with a couple of fumblitis issues on scramble plays on his initial possessions.
Nelson Fishback and Todd Porter led their respective teams to a couple of early touchdowns. Porter showed off good scrambling skills whenever his receivers were covered - he's not wreckless when he decides to tuck and run - he's always looking downfield, aware of his surroundings, and knows when to slide, which makes the coaches happy.
Freshman receivers Taywan Taylor and Nicholas Norris but in solid efforts - Norris shows good patience on a quick throw and slant routes, waiting on his blocks to develop ahead of him and zig-zaggin' his way for positive yardage. Taylor made some great catches, including a leaping two-handed catch on the sideline where he was able to plant both feet inbounds, maintain his balance and burst down the sideline for about a 12-yard clip.
Another player that stood out was Nick Baisch, did a great job blocking, especially downfield on passing plays. He also had a nice touchdown catch and a couple of other receptions out of the backfield. Was used in Petrino's stacked formation as well.
Freshman kicker Joseph Occhipinti handled the kickoff and field goal duties today exclusively, he's displayed good range and a strong leg all fall camp - even tried a couple of 50-yard attempts but was unsuccessful on both.
Other freshmen that stood out on defense were Demarcus Glover and Marcus Ward. Glover won a lot of matchup with offensive linemen today, his highlight came when he stonewalled Antonio Andrews for no gain early in the scrimmage. Ward is a freshman that had his struggles last week, but is starting to come around - had some nice pass break-ups and made some good tackles in the secondary.
With Leon Allen not present due to an ankle injury - Anthony "Ace" Wales got a lot of reps and made the most of it, showing off his explosive speed when he decided to run to the outside and turned on the jets on a swing pass from Fishback that he took for about a 50-yard score. He is definitely making some noise.
During scrimmage: the first-team offense faced off against the second-team defense and the second-team offense would go against the first-team defense with the third-team offense and defense going at it.
Along the D-line, looks like Gavin Rocker and Ba'ree Boyd will occupy the end positions - still seems to be a tryout among the interior lineman with Devante Terrell, Bryan Shorter, Raphael Cox, and James Hervey getting in on the rotations.
Overall about 25 total drives, a lot of plays (not sure how many), and a lot of film for the coaches to assess.
Also of note, a Baltimore Ravens scout was in the house scoping out the talent.
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