Offense plays well during BGSU football scrimmage (3-24-13)

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BG’s Travis Greene (13), jumps over a teammate during Saturday’s scrimmage. (Photo: Shane
Hughes/Sentinel-Tribune)

Things went pretty smooth for
the offense during Bowling Green State University’s first football scrimmage of the spring.‘’We ran over 100
plays and we didn’t have one turnover,’’ BG head coach Dave Clawson said about Saturday’s workout at Perry
Field. ‘’I think it’s the cleanest first scrimmage that we’ve had and it should be. This is the most
experienced, most veteran football team that we’ve had.‘’We feel we have a long ways to go. But if you are
measuring by first scrimmages, it was a good first day … it wasn’t a lot of sloppy football.’’The Falcons
put six scores on the board — three touchdowns and three field goals.Andre Givens played well at running
back and scored a touchdown on a 1-yard run. Givens set up his score with an explosive 47-yard run around
the right side followed by a nice catch for a 13-yard gain on a pass play.Travis Greene, a wide receiver
last season, is being used as a running back this spring. He scored on a 4-yard run.‘’We had some offensive
guys make some guys miss,’’ Clawson said. ‘‘I loved the way Givens looked … He made some great cuts; he
made some people miss. Travis Greene made people miss.’’Wide receiver Jared Cohen scored BG’s other
touchdown on a 11-yard jet sweep.Tyler Tate was 3-of-3 on field goals on kicks of 27, 34 and 35 yards. Tate
also kicked one point-after-touchdown and Anthony Farinella kicked two PATs.Clawson was concerned with some
inconsistencies in the offense when it reached the red zone.‘’I don’t like that we get to the red zone and
have procedures (penalties) and go backwards,’’ Clawson said.Givens, Greene and Jordan Hopgood are the top
running backs this spring. Givens was the low man on the depth chart last season. But with Anthon Samuel
leaving school, the graduation of John Pettigrew and injuries to Jamel Martin and Hopgood, Givens has moved
to the top of the depth chart.Givens is being given the most repetitions with the No. 1 offense while Greene
and Jordan Hopgood, who will be a fifth-year senior this fall, are also getting carries.‘‘Now he knows the
offense,’’ Clawson said about Givens. ‘‘He’s had much fewer missed assignments. He’s getting all the reps
with the ones and his confidence is growing.’’In February, the Falcons also signed four running backs to
national letters of intent.‘‘That position is wide open,’’ Clawson said. ‘‘That’s a position where there
will be a lot of competition.‘‘Right now Travis is trying to carve out a role for himself and he certainly
helped himself (Saturday),’’ Clawson continued. ‘‘He caught the ball out of the backfield well; he made
people miss in space. Those are the things we didn’t get a year ago on offense. We did not get a lot of
explosive plays.’’Clawson said he watched all of BG’s long runs from the 2012 season, approximately 28 runs
longer than 15 yards and Givens had three of them with very few carries.‘‘In good offenses, those plays have
to happen,’’ Clawson said about long runs from scrimmage. ‘‘At some point you have to get explosive
plays.’’NOTES: BG’s next scheduled scrimmage is April 5 starting at 6 p.m. at Perry Field … Clay Rolf,
from Eastwood High School, saw time at tight end and also at long snapper … Rolf did make a nice catch for
a 22-yard gain on a pass from Matt Johnson … Wide receiver Gehrig Dieter, a transfer from SMU, also caught
Clawson’s eye during the scrimmage … Dieter is waiting to hear from the NCAA if he will be eligible this
fall.

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