West Long Branch, NJ- Monmouth University's football team held an open scrimmage on Saturday afternoon as the countdown to the Sept. 2 opener with Florida Atlantic hits the two-week mark.
 
"My initial impression is that there was a lot of intensive and hustle out here on the field. I thought defense really flew around and made things happen, they forced turnovers and made key stops," said Monmouth Head Coach Kevin Callahan. But to balance that out the offense was able to put together some long drives, create some explosive plays to put the ball in the endzone."
 
NOTES ON THE SCRIMMAGE

• The defense forced a three and out on the first drive but the offense answered with a 13-play 75-yard touchdown drive that was capped with a Sone Ntoh 4-yard run
• Ntoh, a Harvard graduate transfer, finished with 11 rushes for 46 yards and a touchdown
• The defense was active, forcing a number of fumbles and registering sacks
• Charlie Sasso had a key third down sack to stop a drive on the fourth series
• On the second series, Eddie Morales III had four tackles
• Marquez McCray, who was recently named the starting quarterback was 10-for-14 with 119 yards and a touchdown on the day
• Jake Brown, also a graduate transfer from Harvard, had a pair of sacks on the day
• Overall the defense forced 10 three-and-outs
• Connor Farrell recorded a strip sack with Isaiah Bishop recovering the loose ball for the defense. The Shore product also had a pressure and a sack late in the scrimmage. Bishop finished with a pair of tackles for a loss and a pass breakup
• TJ Kamara was a defensive force out there, with a pass breakup and three tackles that could be heard in the stands
• Monmouth fans got their first extended look at James Madison transfer Antonio Colclough. Colclough recovered a fumble in the backfield and was a menacing force all day
• It was a big day for young wide receivers with the starters getting limited reps. Gavin Nelson took a slant from McCray 70 yards for a touchdown and Tra Neal hauled in a contested 53-yard contested catch just shy of the goal line
• Arjona led two touchdown drives on the day. The first was a 16-play drive capped off by a Rodney Nelson 11-yard TD catch out of the backfield. The second, came via an Austin Castorina 1-yard run following Neal's 53-yard grab.
• Kadeem McKnight delivered the biggest hit of the day, jarring the ball free from the wide receiver to force an incompletion on a third down play

 
Senior defensive lineman Antonio Colclough on the defensive line
"I feel like we're a young group that's being led by some older veterans. When it comes to the overall group as a whole, we're just some dogs. We have dogs from the ones to the threes. The work doesn't stop though, we have to keep going. This camp, up to the point we are at now it is all coming together beautifully."
 
Colclough on what fans can expect when he steps on the field
"A true pass rusher and play-maker. Every time the quarterback is in the pocket I never want him to feel comfortable. He should know, I got to get this ball out. There will be no sitting there, there is no four seconds, there is no three seconds. DBs are going to strap, do what they do. With me and Nick White coming off the edge, he's in for a long day."
 
Callahan on the team's effort during the scrimmage
"There was good balance to the work that we did out here today. There was a high level of intensity. The players were highly motivated to come out here and put their best foot forward. That is not something you get after 15 practices in camp. Our guys really stepped it up and played some good football out here today."
 
Callahan on filling in the two-deep after the scrimmage
"A lot of the work you saw today were guys who were pushing for a starting position or pushing to be in the second group. We made sure that they received the lions share of the work today to see where they were. The good news is we have two weeks before we open. We can take a look at the film from this scrimmage and pinpoint some specific areas we need to improve on."
 
Callahan on Colclough
"Antonio is a veteran player who has a lot of experience and has the ability to play at an extremely high level. He is very explosive, he can rush the passer and has a lot of athleticism that was on display this afternoon. He was making plays up and down the line of scrimmage and he is very difficult to block.
 
UP NEXT
Monmouth is back on the field for practice on Monday, August 21