Lamar sports information

BEAUMONT – The Lamar football team participated in a small scrimmage at the end of Thursday’s practice, a workout that was moved from Friday due to the threat of rain. The Cardinals managed to get in approximately 40 plays in at Provost Umphrey Stadium.

“We had good energy and intensity on both sides of the ball,” said LU head coach Ray Woodard. “It is very difficult to be good on both sides when going against each other – something has to give. Obviously, we have a lot of work to do but I liked a lot of what I saw.”

The Red and White saw several big plays from its youthful defense. By the end of the night it had recorded nine tackles for losses — including five sacks — three quarterback hurries, two pass breakups and an interception in the end zone. The defense was led by senior Omar Tebo who finished the night with three tackles, including a sack. Sophomore Marcus Odell had two sacks, while senior Xavier Bethany recorded two stops and a pass breakup.

The lone turnover of the game was provided by Davon Jernigan who picked off the pass in the end zone and returned the ball out beyond the 30-yard line.

“We have good team speed on defense,” said Woodard. “We were rally flying to the ball tonight. For the most part we didn’t give up many big plays, but we have to tackle better. We haven’t put people on the ground much to this point in camp so some of that is to be expected.”

The Cardinals carried the ball 20 times for 106 yards led by transfer Clayton Turner’s four carries for 48 yards. Even more impressive about Big Red’s ground attack is that it came without the services of 2015 All-American Kade Harrington.

Turner was one of four signal callers who got an opportunity behind center. As a group, the LU quarterbacks finished the night 12-of-25 (.480) for 160 yards and a touchdown. Senior Carson Earp showed no remnants of the injury that slowed his junior season. He finished the scrimmage completing 4-of-10 passes for 47 yards, while sophomore Brett Cox was 3-of-4 for 71 yards and a touchdown. The Sachse native put his strong arm on display completing a 41-yard pass to Trenton Swinton prior to putting a nice touch on a pass to Kaleb Sparks in the corner of the end zone for a score.

The LU signal callers finished the night with six runs of at least eight yards, including a 27-yard scamper by Turner. All four quarterbacks proved they could move the ball through air or on the ground.

“When he is healthy Carson is a good quarterback and he is healthy and playing well,” said Woodard. “He has some good competition though. I thought Brett Cox had a good series tonight, so we have some depth that we’ve not had in the past. They’re all good athletes and we’re going to count on them in our running game as well. We hope to see more of that as we go along.”

LU returns to the practice field Tuesday evening with a 7 p.m. workout at Provost Umphrey Stadium. The next scrimmage for the team is slated for Friday, April 8, at 4:30 p.m.