Spurlock ends spring on high note
By By Will Bardwell/staff writer
April 18, 2004
OXFORD Micheal Spurlock can sleep a little easier now.
The junior tallied 183 yards and a touchdown in his first appearance as Ole Miss' No. 1 quarterback, leading the blue team to a 31-6 win in the Red and Blue spring game on Saturday.
Spurlock completed 11-of-18 passes against the Red team, which actually wore white jerseys during the intra-squad scrimmage that signaled the end of spring practice.
Though Spurlock showed flashes of promise, he also made his fair share of mistakes. A fumble deep inside enemy territory cost his team a shot at a first-quarter touchdown, and he also overthrew receivers on deep routes several times.
But Spurlock also displayed the maturity of a veteran at times, settling for short dump-off passes instead of firing downfield into coverage. A short toss to fullback Rick Razzano in the first quarter resulted in a 13-yard gain, and another pass to Vashon Pearson set up the sophomore halfback's one-yard touchdown run two minutes into the second quarter.
That touchdown, which followed Johnathan Nichols' 37-yard field goal on the blue team's opening drive, put Spurlock's team up 10-0 at halftime. Pearson finished with a game-high 71 rushing yards on 13 carries.
Spurlock finally nailed a long pass midway through the third quarter, rolling out before stopping and hitting Taye Biddle for a 64-yard touchdown reception.
And while Spurlock's performance left Cutcliffe far from disappointed, the Rebels' head coach was most pleased with the dominance shown by the Blue team's offensive line. Doug Buckles, Tre' Stallings, Chris Spencer, Bobby Harris and Marcus Johnson constantly knocked the Red team's defenders off the ball and opened giant holes for Pearson.
But Driesbach and Cutcliffe were both encouraged by the defensive backs, who helped blow the game wide open for the Blue team early in the second half. Kelvin Robinson stole a pass by Robert Lane on the Red team's first drive of the third quarter and ran it back for a touchdown, and Charles Clark did the same to Ethan Flatt less than a minute later. The two touchdowns gave the Blue team a commanding 24-0 lead.
The Red team's only score came on a 23-yard touchdown pass from sophomore Ethan Flatt to Webb Lewis with less than a minute left in the game. Flatt finished the game 11-of-21 with two interceptions. The Red team's other quarterback, redshirt freshman Robert Lane, completed just 1-of-4 passes for seven yards and an interception.
