Lamar sports information

BEAUMONT — After being forced indoors due to lightning Friday evening, the Lamar football team was ready to hit the turf Saturday morning for the first of two scrimmages at Provost Umphrey Stadium. The scrimmage was broken down into three parts – offense vs. defense, special teams and red zone work.

The offense had the upper hand in the scrimmage breaking several big plays, while the defense flipped the script during special teams work.

“I thought there were some highs and lows on both sides of the ball,” said LU head coach Mike Schultz. “We had some big plays on offense, which was good to see, but we need to be more consistent. We’re getting ready to head back in and breakdown the film, and when that happens I’m sure we will see some alignment mistakes that we will need to get corrected.

“Defensively, you have to look at the fact that we gave up too many big plays today. They would have a couple of good plays, but then give up a big play so we really need to become more consistent,” added Schultz.

The LU signal callers showed the ability to get the job done both with their arms and feet. Senior and returning starter, Darrel Colbert Jr., completed 4 of 7 passes for 95 yards, and carried the ball eight times for 88 yards. Transfer Jordan Hoy was 3 of 6 for 67 yards, and had five carries for 35 yards, while local product Adam Morse completed 3 of 6 passes for 36 yards. He also had two carries for seven yards. As a group, the LU quarterbacks averaged nearly nine yards per career (8.7 ypc).

Newcomer A.J. Walker showed an ability to record tough yards in traffic. He finished the day with two carries for 36 yards (18.0 ypc) and continued to push the pile forward when the play appeared to be stopped.

It wasn’t just the signal callers getting the job done on the ground. The Cardinals finished the day with 26 carries for 258 yards (9.9 ypc) and two touchdowns. Colbert’s 88-yard performance topped the day, while junior Cole Starnes tacked on four carries for 49 yards. He also rattled off the longest run of the day – 49 yards.

That rush was just one of nine by the Cardinals of at least nine yards, including four of 30 yards or more.

LU also finished the day with four pass plays of at least 20 yards, including a 41-yard strike from Colbert to junior Case Robinson to set up a touchdown. Two plays later, Colbert finished off the drive with a 2-yard run for the score.

The defense flipped things around on the offense during the red zone drills. The offense was kept out of the end zone on its first five attempts.

Redshirt freshman QB Jack Dallas appeared to have the Cardinals set up for their first score with his pass in the front corner of the end zone was, but it was batted away at the last second by his numerical counterpart Garrison Mitchell. (Both wear No. 3.)

The offense finally scored on its sixth attempt led by Morse, who capped off the drive with a 4-yard run for the score. The offense backed that up with a score from Walker on the next series.

The Cardinals will take Sunday off before returning to the practice field Monday afternoon.