April 8, 2006

OXFORD, Miss. - Defense highlighted Ole Miss' spring football game as the Red first-team defense shut down the Blue first-team offense in a 40-14 Grove Bowl win in front of a crowd of 22,486 at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium/Hollingsworth Field here Saturday afternoon.

The Red first-team defense held the Blue team to only 31-yards rushing and just 1of-10 on third down conversions.

Sophomore defensive lineman Peria Jerry led the Red team with six tackles, including four for loss of 13 yards. He also had two of his team's four sacks for a loss of eight yards.

"I was really pleased with the outcome of the scrimmage today as far as the enthusiasm," head coach Ed Orgeron said. "I thought that the Red first-team defense, played well, holding the Blue team to only 31 yards rushing and just one first down. Guys started to shine and make plays out there. I am pleased with the turnovers that the defense caused. We put them in tough positions and came up with big plays.

"Obviously we have some work to do on offense. We don't have our quarterback here. We'll have some things to fix. I was pleased with the big plays our offense made. Overall I asked our team to give us 15 great days, and I think they gave it."

Redshirt freshman quarterback Billy Tapp completed 8-of-14 passes for 127 yards and three touchdowns in leading the Red team. Junior running back Hiram White had a big day for the Red team, rushing for 90 yards on 20 carries and catching three passes for 56 yards, including two touchdowns.

The Red team got on the board first with 7:19 to go in the first quarter on a 23-yard pass from Tapp to White. They added another touchdown with 36 seconds left in the half when Connor Wise hit Carlos Suggs for a 56-yard TD to make it 13-0.

Seth Adams, who completed 14-of-30 passes for 147 yards, found Burnell Wallace for a 44-yard TD with 9:38 to go in the third quarter, to put the Blue team on the board. Wallace finished the day with three receptions for 61 yards, to go along with his touchdown.

The Red team answered on an 11-play, 95-yard scoring drive, which resulted in a seven-yard pass from Tapp to Keith Houston to push the lead to 21-6. Less than a minute later, Charles Clark recovered a Michael Hicks fumble and ran it back 55 yards for a touchdown.

Trailing 27-6 with less than four minutes remaining in the third quarter, the Blue team got its second and final touchdown on a17-yard pass from Adams to Hicks to pull within 14.

The Red team scored twice more, on a 10-yard pass from Tapp to Jason Hawkins with 9:25 left and a two-yard run by White in an overtime period to end the game.

Redshirt freshman linebacker Rogers Loche led all defensive players with 10 tackles for the Blue team. Sophomores Brandon Thomas and Antonio Turner each had seven for the Blue team.

GROVE BOWL STAT LEADERS
Passing
Red Team
Tapp - 8-14 for 127 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT
Wise - 2-3 for 61 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT
Blue Team
Adams - 14-30 for 147 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT

Receiving
Red Team
White -- 3-56 yards, 1 TD; Lilly -- 2-34 yards, 0 TD
Blue Team
Wallace -- 3-61 yards, 1 TD; Hough -- 3-25 yards

Rushing
Red Team
White - 20-90, 1 TD; Hall - 14-58
Blue Team
Green-Ellis - 11-47; Green - 3-18

Tackles
Red Team Jerry - 6 (6-0); Clark - 5 (4-1); Russell - 5 (2-3); Sacks - Jerry (2/8); Jenkins (1/4); McBride (1/8)
Clark - 55-yard fumble recovery for TD
Blue Team
Loche - 10 (10-0); Thomas - 7 (5-2); Turner - 7 (3-4)