Cox Tosses Four TD's in Second Spring Scrimmage

4/16/2016 12:00 AM | Football

April 16, 2016

SALT LAKE CITY - Junior quarterback Brandon Cox completed 16 of his 24 passes and tossed four touchdowns in the University of Utah football team's second spring scrimmage Saturday morning at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

"It was good practice today," Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said. "I thought it was very productive. It was good to see the offense come out and get a fast start. [We had] a lot more production offensively today."

Cox opened the first series completing all four of his pass attempts, which included a 30-yard strike to Harrison Handley and Joe Williams capped off the drive with an eight-yard touchdown run.

Tyler Huntley completed four of nine passes during the second and third drives, but the defense stopped both drives resulting in punts on the offensive side of the ball.

Cox later completed four of six passes for a total of 49 yards, capping off the fourth drive with an 18-yard touchdown pass to Siaosi Wilson. Cox later found the end zone again during a red-zone series, hitting pay dirt on an 11-yard run.

The offensive second unit's red zone drill was halted with the help of a six-yard sack from Cody Barton, but it eventually led to a 45-yard line-drive field goal from Mitch Wishnowsky.

Troy McCormick found the end zone during the second unit's next red zone attempt when Huntley found the junior running back from 14 yards out. Cox later found Chad Hekking for a 12-yard touchdown pass during the first unit's final red zone drill.

The squad lined up for goal line drills and Williams managed to find the end zone from one yard out. Cox later found Hekking for a two-yard TD in the second portion of the drill. The ensuing play finished with Cox finding Calep Repp for a three-yard score.

"Our two-minute drill, right now, offensively is a weakness for us and we've got to make a concerted effort these last few practices to try to improve that," said Whittingham. "Now, conversely, the defense is playing the two-minute situations very well. So it's a give-and-take. But overall, it was a very positive scrimmage. We came out healthy, got a lot of work done and it was good to se the offense take a step forward."

Huntley finished the day completing 10 of his 23 pass attempts for 65 total yards and a score. Williams led the rushing attack totaling 16 yards on five carries and a pair of touchdowns. Cox totaled six yards on eight carries and the one TD.

Tyler Cooperwood and Repp led the receiving corps with four receptions each. Cooperwood led all players with 35 receiving yards, while Repp and Handley notched 32 yards each.

Wishnowsky was 1-for-2 in field goal attempts, connecting on the 45-yarder, and Andy Phillips connected on a 50-yard field goal. Both kickers were perfect in PAT's on the day with Wishnowsky going 2-for-2 and Phillips notching a 3-for-3 effort.

Chris Hart led the defense with a pair of sacks and two TFL's that went for -nine yards. Kylie Fitts, Stevie Tu'ikolovatu, Hunter Dimick and Pita Taumoepenu collected a sack each on the day.

Reginald Porter had an interception and Sharrieff Shah Jr. recorded a pick-six that went for a total of 65 yards.

Utah will close out spring camp with a pair of practices on Tuesday and Thursday before concluding camp with the 13th-annual Red-White spring game on Saturday, April 23, at noon.