Maroon handles White 24-10 in spring game

“I thought it was a good day,” coach Mike Elko said. “We made some plays, we didn’t make some plays. A lot of it is mix and match and two units together so it's hard to make a lot of judgments on what happened out there today.”

Still, several defensive linemen, running backs and quarterbacks stood out in a game where A&M was competing against the weather as well as each other.

The White scored first, with Conner Weigman (5-14, 47 yards) hitting on his first pass for 29 yards to new arrival Cyrus Allen. But the drive stalled, leading to a 42-yard field goal by Ethan Moczulski.

But one of the recurring themes of the day made its first appearance — the pass rush and defensive end Nic Scourton in particular. Scourton, a former All-Big Ten selection who transferred in from Purdue in the offseason, was dominant. He was credited with 3.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks for the Maroon team, even though it seemed like he did more damage than that.

Much more.

“He’s a troublemaker,” center Mark Nabou said.

On the other team, veteran Shemar Stewart had 7 tackles, a tackle for loss and a sack for the White. Elko said that, from what he had seen all spring, he has plenty of confidence in his defensive ends.

“When we lined up Nic Scourton on one side and Shemar Stewart on the other side, we have the best defensive end combo we’ve had here in a long time,” he said.

After the first White team drive, the Maroon — who had more of the starting offensive line and starting receivers — began to take charge. Given more time than Weigman and able to scramble, both Jaylen Henderson (8-13, 100 yards, 1 TD) and Marcel Reed (10-14, 84 yards, 1 TD), had their moments to shine.

Reed led the Maroon team on long scoring drives in the second quarter, one of 84 yards and one of 77. He finished the second drive — and the first half — with a 1-yard touchdown pass to Noah Thomas.

Henderson got into the act in the third quarter, rolling out to his left and firing a deep ball to Thomas, who out jumped safety Marcus Ratcliffe to pull in a 43-yard gain. Three plays later, he found a diving Thomas who out-maneuvered double coverage to make a 5-yard touchdown catch in the corner of the end zone. That score put the Maroon team up 21-3 with 10:35 to go in the third quarter.

“There's not a lot of programs across the country that have three kids that can go out there and operate an offense … with the way people are shifting and moving and going all over the place,” Elko said of his quarterbacks. “It's a luxury to have three kids who have had very productive college football games on your roster. “

Thomas, who ended up with 7 catches, 82 yards and the two touchdowns, also drew strong reviews from his coach.

“He has tremendous size, he has a very large catch radius. He’s getting healthy…it’s going to be really important for him to have a strong summer,” Elko said. “He has all the makings of a guy we can use a top target.”

After a pass-happy game the last two seasons under Jimbo Fisher, this Maroon & White Game only included 44 passes between the two teams. Instead, running backs Le’Veon Moss (Maroon team; 13 carries, 70 yards, 1 TD) and Rueben Owens (White team; 4 carries, 77 yards, 1 TD) got most of the work. Moss pounded his way in for the Maroon team’s first score from 5 yards out early in the second quarter, while Owens busted free for a 61-yard touchdown with 5 minutes to go in the game to provide the final score.

“Ruben obviously showed some athleticism on the breakout run and he's done a really good job catching the ball coming out of the backfield,” Elko said. “I think Leveon just has a really good feel for being a running back. He's really a complete back and does a lot of things really well.”

After 15 practices, Elko said the team still has work to do, but he credited his players for righting the ship after Fisher’s firing and a tough Texas Bowl loss against Oklahoma State to allow for a strong spring.

“For the most part, our program is in a good, positive place right now,” he said.