LAKE CHARLES – McNeese Football, under first year head coach Gary Goff, conducted its first live action scrimmage of the spring season on Saturday, putting in roughly 48 plays, with for most part, was about expected for the first outing in a new system.
 
"Overall, I'm pretty pleased," said Goff. "There weren't a ton of mistakes, and what I mean by that, we lined up correctly and we only had one false start in 48 snaps. We only had one turnover. There are some positive things that we hadn't seen so far in practice. We had some quarterbacks take a little bit of leadership. We had some offensive linemen that stepped up and pumped the guys up telling them we have to get it going."
 
Four quarterbacks combined to complete 15 of 29 passes for 170 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. Knox Kadum (5-9, 45 yards, TD) and Walker Wood (4-8, 59 yards, TD) took snaps with the No. 1 offense while Cade Bartlett (4-8, 26, INT) and Devon Tott (2-4, 42, TD) ran with the 2s and 3s.
 
 "I did see some progress today in that area (quarterback)," said Goff "Early on in those first four or five drives, I did not like our reads and I did not like some of our ball placement. But we did end up with a high note and made some good throws. They saw some things down field and got the ball to where it needed to be. There's a bunch of guys getting reps but they just have to relax and play ball. And that's been our message to them this week."
 
The first score came on a 9-yard catch and run from Mason Pierce on a pass from Wood. That play was set up by a 42-yard completion to Jon McCall.
 
Pierce scored the second TD on the day on a 37-yard pass from Tott. Then during the Red Zone portion of the scrimmage, Kadum connected with a wide open Deon Cormier on the first play from 15 yards out.
 
Defensively, the Cowboys recorded three sacks, two by Khylon Chapple and one from Leon Young. Southern Miss cornerback transfer Tyler Barnes intercepted a pass in the end zone and added another pass break up while linebacker Kordell Williams recorded a tackle for a loss.
 
"I gotta say hats, off to those guys," said Goff about the defense. "I mean, the reason we cut back the scrimmage is because we have just two corners right now. Literally a left corner and a right corner. And that's why the tempo, which I hate, is not as fast as we're going to be, but we're having to do that right now for our defense. We run a series, take a two minute break, run a series, take a two minute break. I'm not used to that. If you noticed me on the sideline, I start getting fidgety and can't stand it. But that's being smart right now because of our depth on defense.
 
"I'm not coming out here to game plan our defense against offense or offense against defense. It's still about the fundamentals of the game. It's still about executing the plays and if defense takes away something, we'll learn from those mistakes move ahead. Football is very hard to call a perfect play every time. Again, I'm pretty happy overall. We also ended the day with no injuries."
 
The Cowboys will begin week four of spring practice on Tuesday and will hold their second scrimmage next Saturday at 10 a.m.
 
Passing (15-29, 170, 3 TD, INT)
Walker Wood 4-8, 57, TD; Knox Kadum 5-9, 45, TD; Devon Tott 2-4, 42, TD); Cade Bartlett 4-8, 26, INT.
 
Rushing (14-100)
Marcus McElroy 3-20; Walker Wood 3-9; Carlo Williams 2-20; Deonta McMahon 2-9; Cade Bartlett 1-14; Ivory Roberts 1-13; Devon Tott 1-12; Knox Kadum 1-10.
 
Receiving
Jalen Johnson 3-7; Mason Pierce 2-46, 2 TD; Marcus McElroy 2-21; Jon McCall 1-42; Deon Cormier 1-15, TD; Josh Matthews 1-11; Simeon Jones 1-10; Carlo Williams 1-4; Ivory Roberts 1-4; KJ Brown 1-3; Deonta McMahon 1-2.
 
Sacks
Khylon Chapple 2, Leon Young 1
 
Tackles For Loss
Kordell Williams 1
 
Interceptions
Tyler Barnes 1
 
Pass Break Ups
Tyler Barnes 1, Kordell Williams 1, Thomas Miles 1, Tremayne Evans 1