North Carolina State University Athletics
Rivers Stars In First Scrimmage
8/17/2000 12:00:00 AM | Football
Rivers completed 22-of-33 passes and tossed touchdown passes to five different receivers.
On the first-team offense's third drive, Rivers connected on four straight passes, including a 17-yard touchdown pass to Koren Robinson. After a 15-yard pass interference penalty, Rivers hit Koren Robinson for 10 yards, Ray Robinson for nine yards and Eric Leak for 14 before connecting with Koren Robinson with a touchdown pass.
Rivers' other touchdowns were a seven-yarder to Ray Robinson on, a 43-yard touchdown pass to Cotra Jackson, a 19-yarder to Joe Gray and a 15-yard pass to Bryan Peterson.
"A lot of Philip's yards came in third-and-long situations," said Wolfpack head coach Chuck Amato. "That is good because he does not know what to expect. But he is smart and he makes good decisions."
Olin Hannum looked solid in a back-up role as he completed 11-of-21 passes for 116 yards., while Jatavis Sanders threw for 40 yards and a touchdown.
Leak led the receivers with six receptions for 86 yards and Ray Robinson added six catches for 63 yards and a score. True freshman Jericho Cotchery was impressive as he had four receptions for 57 yards.
On the defensive side of the football, Corey Smith led the Wolfpack with three sacks, while Quenton Allen had seven stops and one pass break up. Adrian Wilson added six tackles, including a big stop on the goal line, while James Walker had the day's only interception.
"We still have a lot of work to do, but we got what we expected out of the first scrimmage, " said Amato. "Offensively, we were not real sharp in the first half and the defense was. In the second half , we did more situational things. However, we need to do things better in a short period of time."
The Wolfpack will return to two-a-day practices on Thursday morning.
