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Auburn wraps up last scrimmage
Posted: Thursday April 20, 2000 06:21 PM
By Alex Rainey Auburn, Alabama (U-WIRE) -- Auburn completed its final scrimmage of the spring before A-Day last Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium. The two-hour practice left Coach Tommy Tuberville pleased with progress on both sides of the ball. "We had a lot better scrimmage today than we did last week," Tuberville said. "We got a lot accomplished." The practice also raised some concerns when freshman All-American Ronney Daniels went down with a knee injury. The initial diagnosis was a sprained knee, but Daniels has likely seen his last duty during spring. Daniels is expected to be ready for summer practice. "That (the injury) should do him in for the spring," Tuberville said. "I have seen enough of Ronney Daniels, we need to work these younger guys." The 150-play scrimmage was originally designed to go for 120 plays, but Tuberville extended it when the team got to the 120 mark and seemed to be fresh. Overall, the day was one to evaluate younger players. Senior quarterback Ben Leard saw limited action in order to allow the staff to evaluate the backups. Leard finished the day 7-for-10 with 84 yards and one touchdown. With Leard firmly in place as the starter at quarterback, sophomore Jeff Klein shined during extensive duty in the scrimmage. Klein ended the day with 250 yards passing, while completing 15-of-24 passes, including two touchdowns. Tuberville said Klein was impressive, but stopped short of naming him the No. 2 quarterback. "I think Jeff made headway today, but we'll have to look at the film," Tuberville said. "Sometimes you can complete a lot of passes in a scrimmage, but you threw it to the wrong guy. We evaluate quarterbacks, during the spring, on how they ran the offense and if they got us in the right play." Tuberville praised his offensive line after the scrimmage, noting that it picked up the blitz and protected the quarterback better. The running game also looked better on Saturday. The ground attack was led by junior Heath Evans' 79 yards on 12 carries, including a 54-yard run. Newcomer Rudi Johnson ended the day with 64 yards on 26 carries. Defensivly, Tuberville said he was pleased with the overall effort. "We had a good scrimmage overall, we gave up some plays at times, but the intensity was good." Tuberville said the play of junior middle linebacker James Callier has improved this spring.
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