Jacobs welcomes new crop of Bowling Green receivers

Falcons running back B.J. Lane gains a first down during the second quarter of BG's spring game at Doyt Perry Stadium.

Receiver Corey Partridge, who caught three TD passes, is tackled by Nate Waldron, left, and Erique Dozier.

BOWLING GREEN - None of Omar Jacobs' receivers get preferential treatment.

They'll all be treated well.

"Just get open, and I'll find you," said Jacobs, Bowling Green State University's star quarterback.

At BG's spring game yesterday at Perry Stadium, Jacobs and backup Anthony Turner found a few young wideouts to invite into the circle.

In a show that resembled Arena League football, five of the pair's nine touchdown passes were to redshirt freshman Corey Partridge and Luke Alexander, who graduated from high school last semester and enrolled at BG in January.

"We needed that kind of showing from those guys," Jacobs said.

About 600 fans saw the Falcons' first and second-team offenses score 80 points in the first half, which was mostly regulation, except for coach Gregg Brandon standing five yards behind the offense and exercising ultimate clock control.

The second half featured a running clock with 12-minute quarters and only one touchdown. Orange defeated White 45-42.

Jacobs threw six touchdown passes and Turner had three.

Partridge, a 5-11, 180-pounder from Loveland, Ohio, is second at a receiver position on the depth chart. He had six catches for 140 yards and three touchdowns.

"I knew coming in, because Omar was on my team, that I was going to get a lot of throws," Partridge said. "We were ready for it, we were good to go."

Falcons running back B.J. Lane gains a first down during the second quarter of BG's spring game at Doyt Perry Stadium.

Alexander, also on the Orange squad with Jacobs, had five catches for 108 yards and two touchdowns. He played at Springfield South.

Turner's main target was Derrick Lett, a senior who had just two catches last year. Lett sprained his knee Tuesday but felt good enough to go yesterday. He said he and fellow receivers juniors Brandon Jones and Kenneth Brantley II talked this spring about taking advantage of their experience.

"It's our time to shine, we've been waiting here three, four years," Lett said.

"It's just that we came in at the wrong time, with some great guys ahead of us, and now we've got to finally get our shot. Just don't let it go."

Turner, a redshirt freshman from Dayton, turned a few heads, too. He completed his first 10 passes and his touchdown throws were crisp.

"He's come a long way, and coach [Mick] McCall has done great work with him," Brandon said. "We're expecting great things out of him."

Turner said he felt his work on timing this spring paid off.

"I timed every route up perfectly and got it there, and my read keys were zip, zip, zap," Turner said.

But Turner was quick to give most of the credit to the receivers: "As long as you have athletic receivers to make the quarterback look good, everything's all right."

Contact Maureen Fulton at: mfulton@theblade.com or 419-724-6160.