OSU spring football notebook

Published: April 5, 2008

In last week's scrimmage, Alex Cate owned a slight edge in the chase for the backup quarterback job. On Friday, Brandon Weeden had the better day.

Weeden threw touchdown passes to Jeremy Broadway (30 yards), Dez Bryant (25 yards) and William Cole (14 yards).

"We have a good race going on,” said co-offensive coordinator Gunter Brewer. "They're pushing each other. Right now, I don't think there's a clear-cut winner. Each one has made good plays, and each one has had times they could have done a lot better. Overall they're both starting to grasp the offense.”

Said coach Mike Gundy: "Both of them played better today. Both of them handled the offense. We had some procedure penalties that hurt them. We had some young (linemen) in there. We change our cadence so much, when you're a young lineman, it's tough in our system.”

•Forcing turnovers: The defense recorded five turnovers and a safety. Perrish Cox and Adrian Moore had interceptions. Ricky Price forced a fumble that Quinton Moore recovered. Deron Fontenot recovered a fumble. Seb Clements forced a fumble recovered by Jamie Blatnick. Richetti Jones recorded the safety.

•Effective scheme: Safety Lucien Antoine was a starter in a 3-3-5 scheme that was sprinkled in throughout the scrimmage. It's a wrinkle the Cowboys used some last season but was much more effective on Friday.

"You get more speed on the field,” said defensive coordinator Tim Beckman. "We're to the phase now to where we can give more multiple looks. We've worked a little more on the 3-3 stuff this spring.”

•Injury update: Tight end Brandon Pettigrew once again sat out the scrimmage with a splint on his right ring finger.

Senior David Washington, who started at center as a freshman and sophomore before suffering a broken leg against Troy last year, played some guard with the second- and third-team offensive lines.

"He's rusty,” Gundy said. "Don't forget, he started for two years. Once he gets back in shape he'll pick it up pretty fast.”

•Overcoaching? The offense scored on a gadget play during the goal-line drill. Tailback Beau Johnson threw a 4-yard TD pass to quarterback Zac Robinson, who sneaked out of the backfield.

"That's a play we have never practiced,” Gundy said. "It seems those are the ones that always work. It's called over-coaching. Just put it in and run it, tell them what to do and don't coach it.”

•Black shirts: Unlike last week's scrimmage, six defensive players wore black jerseys — linebacker Andre Sexton, safety Ricky Price, cornerback Jacob Lacey and defensive linemen Derek Burton, Jeray Chatham and Ugo Chinasa.

•Missing player: Defensive end Jeremiah Price missed Friday's scrimmage due to an illness in the family. Price returned to Stillwater on Friday but not in time to participate.

•Rotating guards? The only major change on the depth chart was Michael Booker starting at left guard to open the scrimmage. However, Jonathan Rush, the starter in the first two scrimmages, rotated in with the first-team line.

By Mike Baldwin

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