Weatherford And Parker Miss Practice- Spring Practice Report: Day 6

FSU Sports Information Excerpts:

The Florida State football team was back in pads and back inside Doak Campbell Stadium on Wednesday. The Seminoles went nine periods on the practice fields before spending 17 periods inside the stadium. There were plenty of highlights despite Drew Weatherford and Preston Parker both sitting out the second scrimmage of the spring.

PRACTICE HIGHLIGHTS

Wednesday began with both field goal kickers having a good session. Graham Gano was 4-for-4 and Zack Hobby was 3-for-4. His lone miss came from 39 yards out with Dionte Allen almost getting to the kick.

The practice then moved to punt, position work and scout team.

The team then moved inside Doak for 3-on-3. Emmanuel Dunbar had a good drill registering two tackles at the first level. Neefy Moffett, Benjamin Lampkin, Paul Griffin and Jamar Jackson also took down the running back right off the bat. Dekoda Watson and Vincent Zann both had multiple tackles. Zann's was one of the biggest hits of the day. Terrance Parks started a big day with two tackles at the third level and Korey Mangum also had a huge hit.

During inside drills Dunbar had two tackles for loss. Everette Brown, Roosevelt Lawson, Craig Yarborough and Rod Roberts also had tackles behind the line. Roberts' came on the biggest hit of the drill. D'Vontrey Richardson had the biggest highlight on a very nice run.

The receivers and defensive backs worked in 2-on-2 during inside. Richardson completed passes to Rod Owens and Richard Goodman. Christian Ponder completed passes to Goodman, Taiwan Easterling and Lewis Givens. Anthony Leon had a pass break up.

During pass rush drills eight different defensive linemen got to the QB. Justin Mincey led the way getting to the QB four times, Brown, Paul Griffin, Dunbar, Budd Thacker, Moffett and Lampkin all had multiple wins. Dumaka Atkins also beat his man. Rodney Hudson was the only offensive lineman to win more than one battle while Brandon Davis, A.J. Ganguzza and Evan Bellamy also got a win.

In skeleton Ponder completed passes to Goodman, Rod Owens and Greg Carr. Richardson hit Easterling three times and also completed a pass to Caz Piurowski. Patrick Robinson had a pass break-up.

The scrimmage started in short yardage. Antone Smith had a nice conversion when he spun out of a tackle for loss and picked up a first. Smith converted another third as did Marcus Sims. The defense had one clear stop and two others were too close to call.

Just like Saturday, the full scrimmage started with all the plays being run from the 30 yard line. The drill got off to a good start for the defense as it started out with Benjamin Lampkin recovering a fumble. Thacker had a great drill with a sack, a QB pressure and an impressive 1-on-1 tackle on Reed in the backfield. Aaron Gresham had a tackle for loss and a big hit as did Atkins.

Christian Ponder had a very impressive drill. Three of his biggest plays came on runs. On one play he put a move on Kendall Smith in the backfield to avoid a sack. He also completed a screen to Bert Reed that turned into a nice gain and found Reed again on a 15 yard completion. Reed also had a big gain on a reverse. Richardson had a big play as he hit Owens deep and also had a nice play on a designed run.

The scrimmage moved up to the 50 yard line but the defense continued to have success. Brown, Kenny Ingram and Yarborough all had sacks. Darius McClure, Kendall Smith and Patrick Robinson broke up passes. Gresham had a QB pressure that led to a bad pass and Kevin McNeil also forced the QB to put up an early throw.

The biggest highlight for the offense came on a 25 yard Richardson to Reed pass.

When the scrimmage moved to the 20, Ponder really had his way with the defense. The redshirt sophomore ran for a TD and threw TD passes to Easterling, Owens and Antone Smith. Easterling also had a TD on a nice run where he broke a tackle to get into the end zone. Richardson did complete a TD pass to Owens from the seven and Sims had a TD run from nine yards out.

The defense recorded three interceptions in red zone. Parks picked off the first one. The second came on a deflection of a pass that Leon grabbed in the back of the endzone. The final INT was the result of Mincey tipping a pass at the line and Griffin coming down with the pick. Other defensive highlights included sacks by McNeil and Josh Johnson.

In goal line Korey Mangum started the defense off on the right foot as he blew up an Antone Smith run in the backfield. Smith did get into the end zone two plays later on a sweep from the three. Ponder scored on the final play on a bootleg from the one yard line.

The second team offense did not get a TD thanks to big defensive plays. Kenny Ingram stopped the first run from the three as he got into the backfield and Vince Williams finished the play with a tackle for loss. Parks continued his big day with a tackle in the backfield on a run/pass option and the last play was another tackle for loss from the one this time it was Leon who made the play.