OU Holds Open Scrimmage, Fan Appreciation Day

Aug. 11, 2001

Fan Appreciation Day Photo Gallery

Audio

B. Stoops

M. Mangino

M. Stoops

J. White

NORMAN, Okla. - The Oklahoma football team held its second open scrimmage of the summer Saturday evening and approximately 23,000 Sooner fans were in attendance as the squad focused mainly on special teams and game situations. Head coach Bob Stoops was very encouraged by the play of his team and feels he saw solid play on both sides of the ball.

"The guys all went at it pretty well," said Stoops. "Some guys looked really good and it was a solid workout overall. There was solid tackling from the defense and I thought all of our running backs were very impressive. We've got a couple more weeks to get them ready to play."

The battle for the starting quarterback position between Nate Hybl and Jason White continued Saturday, as both were impressive. Hybl completed 20 of his 28 pass attempts for 220 yards and threw an 18-yard touchdown toss to Curtis Fagan and one interception. White was 17-for-26 for 232 yards, with two touchdowns and two interceptions. White connected with Antwone Savage early in the scrimmage on a 44-yard touchdown strike, and later with Damian Mackey on a 41-yard score.

"They were sharper and executed better," said Stoops of his signal callers. "In both scrimmages, we've overthrown some deep routes that we had a shot at, but they also threw a lot of good balls, too. We'll evaluate this scrimmage closely and when we feel the time is right, we'll decide."

Mackey led all receivers with six catches, good for 109 yards and the 41-yard touchdown while tight end Lance Donley had five grabs for 83 yards. In all, four tight ends caught passes and four backs caught passes out of the backfield. Jerad Estus paced the running attack with 46 yards and a 33-yard touchdown on just five carries.

"They were really impressive," said Stoops of his running backs. "Quentin (Griffin) looked really good again and Renaldo (Works) has been impressive in both scrimmages. Jerad (Estus) picked up today, so it's encouraging."

Stoops was also very encouraged by the play of senior kicker Tim Duncan, who connected on field goal attempts of 53 and 56 yards.

"Tim was awesome and that's what we're hoping for," said Stoops. "He's an excellent kicker, he's really strong and I'm very pleased with him. Same thing with Jeff (Ferguson), he's hitting the ball well, too. Our kicking game really needs to help us this year."

The squad began its day by meeting and greeting Sooner fans at Fan Appreciation Day. Players and coaches signed autographs and posed for pictures for more than an hour..

August 11 Scrimmage Stats

Passing Hybl 20-28, 220 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT White 17-26, 232 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT Wall 1-3, 10 yards Rawls 2-3, 14 yards

Rushing Estus 5 carries/46 yards, 1 TD K. Jones 5/23 Works 6/22 Connor 1/6 Griffin 3/4 Hickson 1/4 Rawls 1/-3 Wall 1/-7 White 2/-13 Hybl 4/-16

Receiving Mackey 6 catches/109 yards, 1 TD Donley 5/83 Savage 1/44, 1 TD Estus 5/42 Works 2/36 B. Jones 3/34 Griffin 5/30 Chester 4/30 Fagan 2/29, 1 TD T. Smith 2/16 Moses 1/15 Connor 1/6 Hickson 1/1

Interceptions T. Simms B. Hodges J. Smith

Scoring Savage 44-yard pass from White Fagan 18-yard pass from Hybl Mackey 41-yard pass from White Estus 33-yard run