Photo Gallery 
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
WACO, Texas - Baylor junior quarterback Seth Russell threw for 345 yards and four touchdowns before an estimated crowd of 5,610 in the first "Friday Night Lights" spring scrimmage Friday night at McLane Stadium.
"Just unbelievable crowd support for a rainy night in the middle of March," Baylor head coach Art Briles said. "It was just inspiring to see this many people show up to support our guys. That's very humbling to us. . . . I looked around, and I was kind of in awe."
In a 90-minute controlled scrimmage, the first- and second-team offenses produced 600 yards on 113 plays and scored five times.
Hitting on the big plays, Russell connected with three different receivers on TD passes of 54 yards or longer. Corey Coleman grabbed a 65-yarder on a pass down the left sideline, sophomore KD Cannon got behind the defense for a 54-yarder and then Lynx Hawthorne turned a short crossing route over the middle into a 64-yard TD catch.
"He would probably tell you the same thing, but I thought Seth was just OK," Briles said. "And that's good. It's good that he's not where he's going to be. We expect a whole lot, he expects a whole lot. But you still have to go through a whole lot to get where you want to get to, and he hasn't been through a whole lot yet. I think he did an admirable job. It wouldn't classify it as great, but it was productive with a lot of room for improvement."
Russell, who completed 18-of-27, said he has been "holding back, hesitating on a lot of things."
"These last couple of practices, I feel like I've been building my confidence a little more on the field," he said.
Hawthorne also scored on a 10-yard TD strike from Russell, finishing with three catches for 78 yards and two touchdowns. But one of the highlights of the scrimmage was the 21-yard reception by 6-7, 410-pound slot/tight end LaQuan McGowan.
McGowan spent his first three seasons predominantly at offensive guard, but caught a TD pass in the Cotton Bowl game and was switched to the slot/tight end position in the spring.
"He's just a big kid that's got some talent," Briles said. "We've got to make sure he keeps burning hot and keeps figuring out ways to help our football team."
After making the catch over the middle, McGown rumbled for a few yards, slinging the ball freely with his big right hand, before getting tackled by sophomore safety Mallory Franklin.
"Was it a ball?" Briles joked. "I thought it was a lemon drop or something in his hands. I wasn't sure what it was. If he tucked (the ball), it might deflate."
Sophomore running back Johnny Jefferson broke off a 50-yard run and finished as the leading rusher with 113 yards on 10 carries.
Linebackers Kendall Ehrlich and Grant Campbell led the defense with 12 and seven tackles, respectively, while Taion Sells and Chance Waz had interceptions and Travon Blanchard had a fumble recovery.
"All in all, a pretty good scrimmage," Briles said. "We're not where we need to be or where we're going to be, but we're getting a better feel for how we need to get there. We're learning, particularly from an offensive standpoint, what some of these guys' strengths are. We've got to make sure we get our right people in the right place to give us the right results."
The Bears have five of their 15 workouts still left and will conclude April 2. Baylor will open the 2015 season with a road game Sept. 4 at SMU.
Get updates on Baylor football by following @BUFootball on Twitter or Instagram.
|  | SCRIMMAGE STATS |
PASSING:
Seth Russell - 18-27-1, 345 yards, 4 TD; Jarrett Stidham - 7-18, 52 yards; Chris Johnson- 1-6-1, 21 yards.
RUSHING:
Johnny Jefferson - 10-113; Shock Linwood 10-37; Terrence Williams 11-32; Wyatt Schrepfer 8-28; Seth Russell 4-13; Jarrett Stidham 9-(-18); Chris Johnson 10-(-23).
RECEIVING:
Corey Coleman - 2-88, TD; Lynx Hawthorne - 3-78, 2 TD; KD Cannon - 1-54, TD; Gus Penning - 3-45; Chris Platt - 1-29; Tre'Von Armstead - 2-26; Jay Lee - 4-25; LaQuan McGowan - 1-21; Trevor White - 1-13; Quan Jones - 1-11; Kaleb Moore - 2-10; Johnny Jefferson - 2-7; Jacob Humber - 1-6; Ishmael Zamora - 1-4; Terence Williams - 1-1.
TACKLES:
Kendall Ehrlich - 12; Grant Campbell - 7; Mallory Franklin - 6; Brian Nance - 5; Verkedric Vaughns - 5; Aiavion Edwards - 4; Taion Sells - 4; Jamie Jacobs - 3.5; Andrew Billings - 3; Jourdan Blake - 3; Byron Bonds - 3; Xavier Jones - 3; Alfred Pullom - 3; K.J. Smith - 3; Suleiman Masumbuko - 2.5; Justin Barnes - 2; Travon Blanchard - 2; Calvin Hill - 2; Patrick Levels - 2; Ira Lewis - 2; Chance Waz - 1.5; Jeff Bryson - 1; Xavien Howard - 1; Miles Johnson - 1; Greg Roberts - 1; Andrew Morris - 1; Tion Wright - .5.
SACKS:
Brian Nance - 4 (-22); Xavier Jones - 2 (-16); Jamie Jacobs - 2 (-11); Byron Bonds - 2 (-8); Suleiman Masumbuko - 2 (-6); Ira Lewis - 1 (-8); K.J. Smith - 1 (-7); Kendall Ehrlich - 1 (-5); Andrew Morris - 1 (-4); Andrew Billings - 1 (-3).
INTERCEPTIONS:
Taion Sells (1), Chance Waz (1).
PBU:
Xavien Howard (2); Mallory Franklin (1); Verkedric Vaughns (1); Jourdan Blake (1); Taion Sells (2); Chance Waz (1); Alfred Pullom (1); Kendrall Ehrlich (1).
Fumble Recovery:
Travon Blanchard (1).
SCORING:
Coleman 65 yard pass from Russell
Cannon 54 yard pass from Russell
Hawthorne 64 yard pass from Russell
Hawthrone 10 yard pass from Russell
Callahan FG 24
ATTENDANCE: 5,610
| | POST-SCRIMMAGE QUOTES |
Opening statement:
"First of all, just unbelievable crowd support. Rainy night in the middle of March, it's really inspiring to see this many people show up to support our guys. That's very humbling to us. As far as the scrimmage went, I still think we're not where we need to be or where we're going to be, but we're getting a little better feel of how we need to handle to get there. We're learning some of these guys, particularly from an offensive standpoint, what their strengths are and how to deal with them, and we just have to make sure we have the right people in the right places to get the right result."
On Seth Russell:
"I thought he was just okay, and that's good. It's good that he's not where he wants to be. We expect a whole lot and he expects a whole lot, but he still has to go through a lot to get there, and he hasn't yet. I think he did an admirable job. I wouldn't classify it as great, but I would classify it as productive with a lot of room for improvement."
On what LaQuan McGowan brings to the offense:
"There's big linemen, but there's not big slots and tight ends that are athletic that can help us. It's not for the notoriety, it's for the benefits to our football team. He can be beneficial to our team in ways that really nobody else has because no one else has a four hundred and ten pound person on their team."
On the secondary:
"All in all, as a secondary, we did okay, but I feel like we could have done better. I had a pick, Taion had a pick, we both dropped a pick and I had a fumble. We need to learn from that and get better from that."
On making some plays and giving up some plays:
"We made a decent amount of plays, but at the end, we don't want to give up anything as DB's and we did, so we need to get better at that."
On whether the offense changes with Seth Russell at QB:
"You have to be on your toes nonstop. It could be a pass route to the left side and Seth might run it to the right side, so you really can't sit around and wait because more than likely, he's already running by you. It's all about trying to get a block for him when he's scrambling, which he does best."
On the leadership of Corey Coleman:
"He's great. He's one of those kind of guys that his production makes him that much of a leader. He's one of those kind of guys that is constantly perfecting his craft. For the other younger guys, he's a great example for us to look up to."
On the atmosphere:
"You can't be in any better atmosphere than here with the fans we have. It's exciting to have all the fans come out and support. If you think about it, this is just a practice and all these people came out to watch us practice. It's exciting."
On his goals moving forward:
"Just to learn the offense more. I feel like I've been young on a lot of things. I've been inexperienced. I feel like just watching the film I can grow in that and make the offense more crisp."
On getting pressure on the quarterbacks:
"You can't touch them so some plays got off that shouldn't have, but we were getting good pressure."
On the defense:
"We are a work in progress always, that's even during the season. Freshmen are making the move up and getting smarter, and I myself am just getting better on technique on everything."
