Dover, Del. (Apr. 11, 2015) --- Delaware State football coaches saw enough from the offense and defense in the Hornets' Red-White scrimmage at Alumni Stadium today to give them hope for the upcoming season.
The full contact scrimmage consisted of more than 80 plays in various situations, including short-and-long yardage, third down, red zone and goal line.
“I was pleased with the overall performance of the offense and defense,” said DSU first-year head coach Kenny Carter. “Both sides are on schedule are far as understanding their assignments in our new systems. While there were a number of positive plays in the scrimmage, we still have a long way to go in our development as a team.”
First-team quarterback Esayah Obado (r-jr.) appeared to have a good grasp of the new offense. He threw four touchdown passes in the scrimmage and directed two other scoring drives. Obado connected with tight end Nate Ortiz (jr.) on a 28-yard touchdown pass for the first score of the scrimmage. Ortiz had two long receptions in the scrimmage, strengthening his bid to be the team's starting tight end this season. Hornet tight ends have combined for just three catches in the last two years.
Obado threw two touchdowns to wide receiver Aris Scott (jr.) and connected with wideout Marquel Knight (so.) on another. Two other apparent touchdowns throws by Obado were dropped by Hornet receivers.
Obado was DSU's projected starter heading into the 2014 season, but was forced to sit out the year due to a lower back injury. He has not seen game action since 2013, when he completed 21-of-40 passes (52.5%) for 168 yards and two interceptions in four games as a redshirt freshman.
“Considering all he's been through coming back from injury and learning a new offense, Esayah has done a really nice job for us this spring,” Carter said. “He made some good throws and impressed us with most his reads and check downs in the scrimmage. Of course, there are things he needs to improve, but he's on the right track.”
Najee Jackson (sr.), Dae-Hon Cheung (sr.) and Jamaal Jackson (sr.) each had big running plays in the scrimmage.
The Hornet defense was particularly impressive in applying pressure on the quarterback. The officials stopped six plays that would have been ruled sacks for the defense.
The defense also kept the offense out of the end zone with two big stands inside of its five-yard line.
Linemen Tarique Anderson (sr.), Gabe Sherrod (jr.) and Jihad Abdur-Rahman (sr.), along with linebackers Demont Cook (so.), Malik Harris (so.) and Dan Zajac (so.) turned in solid efforts along the front seven.
In the secondary, T.J. Ajibola (so.) was the leading tackler, while J.R. Robinson (sr.) was solid in pass coverage.
The Hornets will wrap up their 2015 spring camp with a 6:30 p.m. practice on Monday at Alumni Stadium.
Coach Carter will begin his first summer camp as DSU head coach in August.
The Hornets open the 2015 season on Sep. 5 at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. The home opener is Sep. 19 against Chowan.
