ABILENE -- The ACU Wildcats wrapped up the first two weeks of spring training with a Thursday night scrimmage at Shotwell Stadium that would best be described as inconsistent.
"We had some bright spots here and there, but overall the whole thing was pretty inconsistent," ACU head coach Chris Thomsen said. "The defense is well ahead of the offense right now. You expect to see that this early, but we need to see a lot of improvement from the offense when we get back."
The Wildcats will take off during the Spring Break holiday before returning to the field on Monday, March 22. ACU's annual Purple-White scrimmage will be played Saturday, March 27, at 10 a.m. at Shotwell Stadium. The Wildcats will then actually practice three more times the next week before wrapping up spring drills with a scaled-down scrimmage on Thursday, April 1, at Shotwell Stadium.
Thomsen wasn't particularly thrilled with any aspect of his offense, calling each area "inconsistent."
"We've got a long way to go in every facet of our offense," he said. "Our quarterbacks are showing improvement, but we still need to see some consistency from them. Our wide receivers are young, but they need to start showing some consistency."
The Wildcats scrimmaged last night without running back Daryl Richardson or offensive lineman Royland Tubbs, both of whom sat out because of minor injuries. Also not going through spring drills are offensive lineman Trevis Turnver and wide receiver Edmund Gates, both of whom only have one semester of eligibility remaining.
"That makes such a huge difference when those guys aren't on the field," Thomsen said. "Those guys – plus some other guys we're missing – give us a different look."
One area where Thomsen was pleased was on the defensive side of the ball, singling out linebacker Courtney Lane and defensive end Aston Whiteside for their work. Lane had a couple of bone-jarring hits on fullback Justin Andrews and receiver V.J. McElroy to highlight his night.
"We've got a lot of veteran guys in both our defensive line and linebacking corps, and those guys have played like it," Thomsen said. "They've been what we thought they would be when we got started a couple of weeks ago."