Waco, Texas – Sophomore running back Jay Finley rushed eight times for 73 yards and two touchdowns to highlight Baylor’s 111-play scrimmage to end spring practice Saturday afternoon at Floyd Casey Stadium.

“First of all, we didn’t get anyone injured; that was our number one goal,” said Baylor head football coach Art Briles. “We played with a pretty good pace and tempo which is something that we want to be known as; a tempo-tough football team.

“From the standpoint of what we’re looking for, we’re there,” he added. “It’ss like I told them, this journey is not over, it just started. We’ll have 29 workouts before we play Wake Forest and we just finished 15. We should see vast improvement and we will.”

Finley, the Bears’ leading returning rusher, scored on runs of 5 and 4 yards while averaging 9.1 yards per carry. Five of his eight carries on the day went for 10 or more yards and he caught one pass for 5 yards.

Senior Jacoby Jones carried a scrimmage-high 12 times for 53 yards as the Bears’ ground game generated 207 yards on 61 carries for the scrimmage.

True freshman quarterback Robert Griffin also impressed in his first spring game as a Baylor Bear, completing 5-of-9 passes for 66 yards and rushing five times for 30 yards. Griffin graduated from Copperas Cove (Texas) High School last December and enrolled at Baylor in January 2008 in order to go through spring ball and compete for the Bears’ starting job as a rookie.

Senior Kirby Freeman, a transfer from Miami, Fla., who has one season of eligibility remaining, and junior Blake Szymanski, who has 12 career starts under his belt at Baylor, also had impressive moments under center Saturday. Freeman, who took the first series of the scrimmage, completed 7-of-13 passes for 75 yards with one interception and no touchdowns.

Szymanski, a 10-game starter for the Bears in 2007, completed 9-of-13 passes for 102 yards and one touchdown with no picks. He tossed the scrimmage’s lone touchdown pass, a 27-yarder, to senior inside receiver Joe Bennett. Bennett was the scrimmage’s leading receiver with five receptions for 89 yards.

All-told, five Baylor quarterbacks completed 28 passes for 309 yards to 14 different receivers. Junior inside receiver Justin Akers caught four passes for 46 yards, while three other players—senior inside receiver Thomas White (3-16), sophomore inside receiver Brad Taylor (3-36) and junior wide receiver David Gettis (3-36) all caught three passes.

Sophomore place-kicker Shea Brewster connected on field goals of 41 and 28 yards as well as all three of his PATs, while sophomore punter Derek Epperson averaged 47.3 yards on four boots.

Fourteen players were held out of the scrimmage due to injury but no one was injured during Saturday’s workout and nearly all of the injured Bears are expected to be ready for fall camp.

The Bears report to campus for fall camp Aug. 3 and will go through their first workout Aug. 4 in preparation for their Aug. 30 season-opener against Wake Forest at Floyd Casey Stadium. Baylor plays seven home games in 2008, including five of its first six to open the season.

Baylor Scrimmage Statistics:

Scoring Plays:

Shea Brewster 41 yd field goal

Shea Brewster 28 yd field goal

Jay Finley 4 yd run (Brewster PAT)

Jay Finley 5 yd run (Brewster PAT)

Joe Bennett 27 pass from Blake Szymanski (Brewster PAT)

Rushing (Att-Yards-TD):

Thomas White, 1-3-0; Blake Szymanski, 3-6-0; Kirby Freeman, 7-6-0; Ryan Roberts, 2- (-6)-0; Robert Griffin, 5-30-0; Tyler Beatty, 4-(-9)-0;

Justin Fenty, 1-(-1)-0; Andre Pierce, 7-17-0; Jacoby Jones, 12-53-0; Jay Finley, 8-73-2; Tony Anderson, 11-35-0; Team Totals, 61-207-2.

Passing (Att-Comp-Yards-INT-TD):

Blake Szymanski, 13-9-102-0-1; Kirby Freeman, 13-7-75-1-0; Ryan Roberts, 5-3-41-0-0; Robert Griffin, 9-5-66-0-0; Tyler Beatty, 10-4-25-0-0;

Team Totals, 50-28-309-1-1.