Nobody touched Northern Illinois tight end Luke Eakes after he caught a Jordan Lynch pass up the middle during Friday’s practice and ran for a 70-yard touchdown, much to the dismay of defensive coordinator Jay Niemann, who yelled angrily at his defensive backs.
“I thought the offense got after it a little bit today,” coach Dave Doeren said.
Overall, it was a good day for the offense. Lynch continued his impressive spring, and Doeren said redshirt freshman quarterback Matt McIntosh had his best day of the spring.
The defense was able to get some redemption when linebacker Tyrone Clark intercepted a tipped Lynch pass.
Doeren is looking forward to Saturday’s scrimmage to evaluate where his team stands.
“You like to see a lot of the mistakes removed off of film,” Doeren said.
“Scrimmage days are really the biggest days to find out how you are. It’s going to be a big day for us. You like to see some of the mistakes that we made in the first scrimmages reduced. You’d like to see us reduce some of the penalties we had last scrimmage on defense. And you’d like to see us stay healthy.”
Injury notes
Linebacker Michael Santacaterina was held out of Friday’s practice because of back spasms.
Receivers Martel Moore and Perez Ashford are back to practice after suffering minor injuries.
Running back Jamal Womble has been back practicing this week after suffering a sprained wrist early in the spring.
