Summary of the Brenham VS Manvel scrimmage... (Green to play LB full time)

[BrenhamFan]

[b]Article from the Banner-Press...[/b]

Senior defensive tackle Malcom Brown didn’t waste any time in setting the tone for the Brenham Cubs’ scrimmage against the Manvel Mavericks Saturday morning.

On the very first play, the Texas Longhorns commit burst through the Mavericks’ offensive line and stuffed the running back well behind the line of scrimmage, slamming him to the Cub Stadium turf and making a statement in the process - these Cubs have been looking forward to the start of football season.

“It kind of woke everybody up at 10 in the morning,” Brenham coach Glen West said. “They tried to single block him on the first play. He was pretty excited about the season and there aren’t a lot of people, when he gets going, who can stop him one on one.

“To me, that was a great way to start the year and it kind of got us revved up for the scrimmage.”

The play marked the beginning of the first of two preseason scrimmages the Cubs will participate in prior to their season opener against Huntsville on Aug. 26. The Cubs saw exceptional performances from several of their returning starters, players like Brown, wide receiver Tre’mund Moore and linebackers Tim Cole, Troy Green and Jesse Baker. They also saw that they have several newcomers to the starting lineup who are ready to step into the limelight.

Perhaps the biggest development to come from the scrimmage came in the form of running back Klardel Claridy’s performance. Senior Troy Green has been the Cubs’ starting running back each of the last two seasons, but Brenham wants the Texas A&M commit to play linebacker full-time while cutting back on the number of snaps he takes in the Cubs’ offensive backfield.

But to do that, the Cubs need someone who can carry the offensive load, a fact West imparted to Claridy prior to the scrimmage.

“We talked earlier in the week and I was saying to him that he needed to do well,” West said. “We were hoping for him to be our tailback but he needed to show he could be the guy who could carry the load.

“This whole thing with Troy Green playing defense, a whole lot of that hinges on us having a tailback we can really rely on. I was interested to see how he would handle that and I thought he handled it very well.”

Claridy demonstrated a willingness to fight for extra yardage with a physical running style. After one play, West turned to assistant coaches Tim Oehrlein and Brian Harris.

“I said, ‘He’s going to be OK,’” West said. “That was a highlight.”

The play of quarterback Dean Haveman was also a bright spot for the Cubs. Ty Schlottmann had been the Cubs’ starting quarterback the previous three seasons.

“He did a nice job, both in the play-action part and in running the team in general,” West said. “I thought he did better as the scrimmage went on.”

Senior wide receiver Tre’mund Moore had a good workout as well. During the first-team offense’s second possession, he eluded two defenders before diving into the end zone.

“He had a terrific scrimmage,” West said. “He made several nice catches, was very dependable and he could do something after the catch.”

Defensively, the Cubs got off to a strong start. West said he thought the Cubs dominated the first 15 plays on defense, but as the workout continued the Mavericks found ways to move the ball.

Manvel quarterback Dexter Foreman proved elusive and made several big plays while scrambling out of the pocket. West said the Cubs will need to work on their outside containment. The Cubs also were slow to line up at times, and on some plays lined up in the wrong spots. While Brenham looked solid throughout much of the scrimmage, it gave up too many big plays to call the day a complete success.

“We’ve got some work to do there,” West said. “We gave up some big plays. One thing of concern to me is I thought for the most part we got after those guys, but you can win the stats and give up big plays and lose games.”

Nonetheless, West said having Green at linebacker was a tremendous asset. Tim Cole was also strong at inside linebacker, and free safety Shea Nutt had a really good scrimmage, as did defensive end Dalton Baird.

All in all, it was a good showing against a Manvel team that returned 14 starters from the squad that advanced to the regional finals before being defeated by eventual state finalist La Marque.

“I told our kids afterwards that this was a starting point and from here, how good we will be will depend on us constantly making improvements,” West said. “We have to do that each and every day, and if we do that we have a chance to be a pretty good squad.”

Brenham scrimmages Round Rock Westwood at 10 a.m. Friday at Cub Stadium before opening its season the following week against Huntsville.