Football | 8/13/2017 4:28:00 PM

SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State football team held its first scrimmage in the 2017 fall camp on Sunday morning and head coach Everett Withers walked away pleased with his team's toughness and competitiveness.
 
"I thought our team came out and competed today," Withers said. "We threw a lot of plays and a lot of special teams' situations at them, but I like the fact that they came out and competed."
 
Sunday's scrimmage featured the first-team offense and defense going against each other, while the second-team offense and second-team defense battled against one another, and so-on.
 
It was a winner-loser day for the Bobcats in the scrimmage and the offense came away edging the defense in the team scoring.

"The winners get to be first in line at lunch and at the cold tubs," Withers said. "The losers had to run half-gassers. It pays to win and it doesn't pay to lose. That is what we try to teach our guys."
 
Withers was impressed with the play of freshman quarterback Willie Jones III. Jones III ran for one touchdown and helped set up another when he scored on a one-yard run around the right end. He also threw a 10-yard pass to Mason Hays at the one-yard line to set up Robert Brown, Jr.'s TD run.

 "I saw some good things out of Willie Jones III today," Withers said. "I was really impressed with some of the things he did. Robert Brown and a couple of guys up front also played pretty well."
 
Withers was also pleased with how the Bobcats were able to successfully communicate plays in from the sidelines to three freshmen quarterbacks, especially since the coaching staff features new offensive co-coordinators Zak Kuhr and Parker Fleming, and a new offensive line coach, Eric Mateos.
 
"We didn't play quite as fast as I would want to, but guys were trying to make sure they got the correct signal from the coach to the signaler and then to the players," Withers said. "For the most part, we didn't have a busted play, which is pretty neat. We also didn't bust very many protections so I thought our (freshmen) quarterbacks and offensive line communicated pretty well."
 
Withers limited Texas State's co-head coach and defensive coordinator Randall McCray from calling his entire defense so he could see how well Texas State's young offense could compete.
 
"I literally tied coach McCray's right hand behind his back because he could use just one inside and one outside blitz today because of the youth on offense," Withers said. "Defensively, I thought some guys up front played pretty well. Some guys on the second team's second line didn't play as well.

Withers was also pleased overall with Texas State's kickoff returns and punting on special teams.
 
"We did some kickoff returns today and I thought we did some things well," Withers said. "I thought we punted the ball pretty well today with Marcus Ripley hitting it fairly consistently."
 
Overall, Withers walked away from Sunday's scrimmage pleased with the competitiveness on his team pleased with his team's first scrimmage.
 
Texas State opens its 2017 season against Houston Baptist on September 2 at Bobcat Stadium. The game kicks off at 6 p.m. and is the first of six home games this season. Texas State also hosts Appalachian State on September 16, UTSA on September 23, ULM on October 7, New Mexico State on November 4 and Georgia State on November 11.

Season, half-season and single-game tickets for 2017 Texas State football are on sale now. Season tickets for all six games start as low as $80 and half-season packages start at $40. Single-game tickets start at $15 each and $25 each for the UTSA contest.
 
Tickets may be purchased through the Athletic Ticket Office in person at Bobcat Stadium, by calling 512-245-2272, or by clicking the "Tickets" tab at the top of www.txstatebobcats.com.