2018 Training Camp Report: Day 14 -- Scrimmage #2

The defense had the upper hand in Colorado State football's second scrimmage of fall camp on Saturday evening at Canvas Stadium.

After the offense had a strong showing in the first scrimmage one week ago, the defense responded with a good week of practice and showed notable improvement on Saturday.

"I thought it was a really good scrimmage," Bobo told the media post-scrimmage. "Offensively, they've probably got their head down a little bit. The defense has probably got the feel that they dominated it. It was a shorter scrimmage, probably less than a half, but the 'one' defense didn't give up a point, which was awesome to see. I thought they made plays even when they were in the red zone, in situations where they had to make plays."

Bobo continued to go a little more in-depth with his observations from the scrimmage.

"Like I told the offense after the scrimmage, 'you're going to think you played bad, (but) you're going to watch the scrimmage and realize you're kind of close there on a couple of plays," Bobo said. "But I was really proud of the defense. I thought they made plays, there was tight coverage…(freshman cornerback) Rashad Ajayi continues to show up. There's a good competition there at corner between Ajayi, V.J. (Banks) and (Anthony) Hawkins, which I like. The safeties, (Jordan) Fogal did a nice job, Josh Watson showed up…I thought the d-line got a little more pressure this time. I thought (defensive end) Emmanuel Jones in there created some pressure. Overall, it was a good day. A couple penalties here and there that were kind of self-inflicted wounds—some false starts and stuff like that, alignment things offensively that we've got to clean up. But overall, the 'ones' went 32 plays, the 'twos' (also) 32 and the 'threes' (went) 23. So it wasn't a lot of plays, it was kind of in and out, but overall it was a good scrimmage; really good to see the defense rebound and play with a lot of energy, they were really into, it was exciting to see."

Ajayi, a true freshman, was certainly a standout performer on Saturday. He had two critical pass breakups in the end zone to put an end to two separate scoring opportunities for the offense. The second breakup came in a one-on-one play against sophomore Warren Jackson in the back corner of the end zone, winning the series for the defense.

"On the last play, to win the game (in that period), it was a ball to Warren Jackson—really good throw by K.J. (Carta-Samuels)—I think Warren had it, and the freshman Ajayi did what he's been doing all camp, played the hands and stripped the ball out," Bobo explained. "It might have been a catch for a split second and he knocked it out. The defense won the game right there, which was good to see."

Senior linebacker Anthony Giusti led the defense with seven tackles, while junior safeties Braylin Scott and Jamal Hicks had six and five, respectively.

📸PHOTOS📸 from today's scrimmage.

The defense went to work 💪#EDGE pic.twitter.com/IeIDnWTFBZ
— Colorado State Football (@CSUFootball) August 12, 2018

Senior safety Jordan Fogal had the squad's lone interception, which again prevented the offense from scoring any points after reaching field-goal range. It was another example of the top defensive unit looking stout against the 'one' offense.

"The offense drove down and had it in plus territory, and then threw it kind of high on a crossing route and Jordan Fogal got an interception... Another stop when they were kind of backed up in field-goal range," Bobo said. "And then we played a 'plus-10' (from the 10-yard line, going in), had to score and get a 2-point play (and) the offense was able to do nothing there; four plays and out, the defense won. Really, the 'one' defense, even though they gave up a couple plays here and there, were able to bow their neck and get stops, which was really good to see."

The strong play in the secondary showed through several units, with redshirt freshman Ryan Braithwaite posting a team-leading four pass breakups on the night.

Sophomore Emmanuel Jones had one sack, while freshmen Dequan Jackson and Devin Phillips split another sack.

The offense was strong on the ground early in the scrimmage, with junior Marvin Kinsey rushing five times for 47 yards, including a 23-yard scamper. Kinsey would finish as the only Ram with more than 15 yards on the ground.

K.J. Carta-Samuels received the most playing time at quarterback, running the No. 1 offensive unit throughout the evening. The graduate transfer from Washington finished 10-of-22 for 123 yards.

"I thought K.J. did well, he was going to the right spots, missed a few here and there, but was moving well," Bobo said. "He had a deep ball that I thought Preston (Williams) maybe could have caught for a touchdown, and had a couple other passes there that just missed here or there."

Redshirt freshman Justice McCoy was 8-of-17 for 103 yards and a touchdown, and classmate Judd Erickson was 4-for-12 for 45 yards.

"Justice did a nice job," Bobo said. "He had a 10-play drive that resulted in a field goal, and then he came back in one-minute and drove them down and really threw some nice balls. I believe it was either first or second down at the plus-35 and there was a bad snap by the center, he just never got it, it hit his thigh in the shotgun, just was a fumble right there that (the defense) recovered. He had his next drive and went eight plays for a field goal, and in the red zone drill had a touchdown, but just didn't convert the two-point play. He actually hit Trey McBride at the goal line and the defender tackled him right at the goal line. His body, his feet were in, and he knocked him back. I told the staff after the last scrimmage that he's put himself in position that you can trust him to put him in the game and I think he built on that trust this week. I've got to go back and look at the film and see if there were chances to convert those drives into touchdowns, but didn't turn the ball over and did a nice job."

Collin Hill, who did not play in last week's scrimmage, played in one series that started at the offensive 30-yard line and led the offense down the field for a touchdown. He also participated in a pair of red zone series (starting at the defensive 10-yard line), successfully finding the end zone each time. Hill finished 5-of-6 for 84 yards with his three touchdowns.

"It was good to see Collin Hill get some action today," Bobo said. "I thought he threw the ball nice. Delivered the ball well. He didn't go with the 'ones,' he went against the 'twos' and 'threes,' and there's a note to be made that the defense when Collin was in there, we were playing base defense and didn't blitz. But he was out there in 11-on-11 action in scrimmage situations to do some things."

Junior wide receiver Preston Williams was the most prolific receiver on the day with five catches for 56 yards. Fourteen different Rams caught at least one pass, with four players scoring touchdowns -- E.J. Scott, Nikko Hall, Chandler Drachslin and Darius Wise. Only Hall's touchdown, however, came outside of a red zone drill.

CSU will have the day off tomorrow before six consecutive days of practice beginning Monday. Classes start on Aug. 20 and the Rams open their 2018 season at Canvas Stadium against Mountain West foe Hawai'i on Aug. 25 at 5:30 p.m. MT.

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