SPRINGFIELD -- The Missouri State football Bears conducted their first of four spring scrimmages on Sunday afternoon as head coach Terry Allen's Bears went 34 plays during a cold session at Plaster Field.

"It was a good opportunity to run some plays in adverse weather," said Allen. "It was a good afternoon, but this was more about getting some reps and closing out the first week of spring practice."

The offense rushed the ball 18 times with first-string quarterback getting one-third of the carries and collecting a team-high 35 yards on his six touches. He showed the expected elusiveness the Bears will need from their sophomore signal caller who has speed and an underrated throwing arm.

Mikel Cooper-Falls had the longest offensive play of the day, a 17-yard pick-up on third-and-long toward the end of the session. The sophomore missed the entire 2010 season with a knee injury. Chris Douglas and Vernon Scott collected 8 rushing yards apiece, while Stephen Johnston played but did not collect any carries.

Back-up quarterback Mitchell Jenkins threw 12 of the 16 passes in the scrimmage with Woden taking the other four.  Wooden was 2-for-4 for just 7 yards, while Jenkins had 8 completions for 38 yards. Nine different receivers caught passes from the tandem, including a team-high two from Dan Reichert who rejoined the team this spring.

The Bears are slated to practice this Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday at 3 p.m. before a 10 a.m. scrimmage next Saturday at Plaster Field.

 

SCRIMMAGE STATS
Rushing 18-66
Trevor Wooden 6-35, Mikael Cooper-Falls 2-17, Chris Douglas 4-8, Vernon Scott 3-8, Cadarrius Dotson 1-4, Mitchell Jenkins 2-(-6).

Passing 16-10-0, 45
Trevor Wooden 4-2-0, 7 yds.; Mitchell Jenkins 12-8-0, 38 yds.

Receiving
Dan Reichert 2-13, Mikael Cooper-Falls 1-10, Eric Brown 1-9, Jermaine Saffold 1-5, Adrian Taylor 1-3, Matt Thayer 1-2, Joey Mendel 1-2, Duane Atteberry 1-1, Vernon Scott 1-0.