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| Cayden Cochran (Ed Hooper | The Valdosta Daily Times) |
Cochran completed 12 of 19 passes for 195 yards with three touchdowns. He also added 30 yards on the ground with two rushing scores.
Altogether, the starting Blazer offense was 3 for 3 in the red zone portion of Saturday’s scrimmage and managed several lengthy touchdown drives.
“I’m glad we came out here and executed,” Cochran said. “That is a test to the coaches, the wide receivers, the offensive line – the whole group. They did a good job today and we are excited. I think we did good, and obviously performed well. Without the O-line and wide receivers, it was nothing.”
Saturday’s scrimmage featured several different game situations. For the first part of the scrimmage, the starting offense rotated every series with the No. 2 offense in the red zone. The starters were 3 for 3 with three touchdowns, while the backups were 0-3, all of which were three-and-outs.
“I saw a lot of bright spots,” Valdosta State head coach David Dean said. “Our No. 1 offense went three-for-three in the red zone, which is great. That is where we have struggled. We put a great emphasis on that — to be better in the red zone. And for us to come out, and our No. 1’s go three-for-three, that is a very big positive.”
On the first red zone possession, Cochran dropped back and found Gerald Ford wide-open in the end zone on an 18-yard pass. The drive took just three plays.
On Cochran’s second drive, redshirt freshman Austin Scott found the end zone after just two plays on a 15-yard run. The starter’s next drive, Scott was in the end zone again, this time coming on an 11-yard run.
Scott, who ran with the No. 1 offense the entire day, finished the scrimmage with 10 carries for 61 yards and his two touchdowns.
“It was nice,” Scott said. “I had a year to get bigger, faster, stronger. So I made sure I grabbed the concept and it helped a lot. I worked hard as I could in practice when we had shells and full pads, and I just made a couple of runs.”
Following the red zone portion of the scrimmage, the No. 1 offense took over possession at their own 25-yard line. Cochran led a masterful drive down the field, using a 35-yard connection with Quin Roberson to move down the field. The drive was capped off with a touchdown run by Cochran.
After a few stalled series and a defensive touchdown on a Ryan Smith interception, the offense found its rhythm again. Cochran found a diving Reggie Lewis in the end zone for a 5-yard score, the first of their two touchdown connections on the day.
Cochran was able to find Lewis again in the two-minute drill, connecting on a 75-yard touchdown.
In the goal line portion of the scrimmage, Cochran again found the end zone with his feet, slicing across the goal line from four yards out.
“I thought it was outstanding,” said Dean of Cochran. “He made some big time throws and also some big time runs. We are asking him to read some things and he did that very well; checking some plays when we were asking him to check-off. Mentally and physically, I thought he had a very good day.
“Coach (Robby) Brown and I were just talking, it is the first time since 2007 that we’ve had a quarterback go every snap with the No. 1’s. So that is going to be a very big positive.”
