For the first time in training camp, the Towson football team worked extensively on red-zone situations Tuesday afternoon, and coach Rob Ambrose came away with mixed feelings.
The offense scored five touchdowns on 12 possessions inside the defense's 20-yard line. Redshirt junior quarterback Heath Dahlgren threw scoring passes of nine and 13 yards to senior wide receivers Christian Summers and Andre Dessenberg, respectively, redshirt sophomore Morgan Mahalak tossed touchdowns of eight and 17 yards to Summers, and freshman running back Deshaun Wethington scored on a 3-yard run up the middle.
The 41.7 conversion rate is much lower than the 65.8 percentage last year's offense enjoyed, but Ambrose chose to see the silver lining.
"If we had converted one, I would have been happy," he said after practice at Johnny Unitas Stadium. "After basically one full week, this is coach-speak, but every defense should be ahead of the offense, and the offense should be incrementally catching up to the defense. So offensively, I'm kind of pleased."
The defense produced five three-and-outs and stopped redshirt sophomore fullback Grayson Boyce on fourth-and-goal from the 2-yard line. The unit's 58.3 success rate is significantly higher than last year's 33.3 percentage, but Ambrose said the limited number of reps in the red zone was evident in the defense's hesitation on some plays.
"This is the first time we were in the red zone," he said. "Everybody was like, 'OK, we're in the red zone. What's my assignment?' Then you go play and you go, 'Oh [expletive], I'm supposed to go really fast.' We're not there yet. If you have to think, you're not going to run. Until we don't have to think because we just know, we're not going to be as good as we can be."
Other notes and observations:
**Knudson, who took the first snaps with the first-team offense, and Mahalak each got reps with the first unit during the red-zone exercises. Both passers demonstrated a nice touch on corner routes in the back of the end zone, but Ambrose couldn't say whether one player had taken the lead in the race to start Sept. 3 at South Florida. "I'm interested to see how they graded out," he said. "I thought Ellis was better, and I thought Morgan was pretty good from what I had seen. I'll have to go watch the tape."
**As offensive line coach John Donatelli promised last week, the first-team offensive line featured several new faces. Senior left tackle Samuel Edmondson, redshirt junior center Brady Stup, and redshirt sophomore right tackle Matt Kauffman joined senior left guard Sam Evans (Loyola Blakefield) and redshirt junior right guard Amos Campbell on the first unit. The first defense's line also had a new look with redshirt junior Clifton Jones joining senior nose tackle Max Tejada and junior defensive end Zain Harps Upshur. Jones was in there because …
**The defensive line was short one player because redshirt junior defensive end D'Sean Cummings was kicked out of practice for throwing a punch at a teammate. Ambrose said the ejection mirrors the punishment for instigating an altercation in a game in the regular season or playoffs. "So you're gone, and we make it a point to say that you can't help your players anymore because there's one less guy in the rotation because of your selfishness, because you let your emotions get the best of you," Ambrose said. "He's got a helmet on and you're going to punch somebody? That might be in the top five dumbest things you can do. Why don't you just go slam your first into a brick wall for no reason whatsoever? It's a great teaching tool. So these guys had to go through the rest of practice one man down because of one mistake."
**Speaking of Jones, the 6-foot-2, 268-pound end was the hero of practice. Ambrose promised the players he would end practice after 90 minutes at 5 p.m. if Jones could catch a punt without muffing it. Senior Jake Ryder launched a high one, and Jones caught the ball and fell to the turf in the fetal position to ensure that he did not drop the ball. Jones was mobbed by several of his teammates, who were clearly ecstatic about an early end in hazy, humid conditions. "I thought Clifton was scared to death because he didn't want to let his teammates down, but I'm proud of him," Ambrose said. "He's got a little athleticism to him, and I think we squeezed every ounce of it out of him right there."