SALT LAKE CITY – The University of Utah football program took on its second scrimmage of spring practices today, giving the Utes just two more practices before the annual Red-White Game on Saturday, April 13 at 11 a.m. MT in Rice-Eccles Stadium.
Tyler Huntley,
Jason Shelley and Cam Rising all had strong days passing and on the scramble. Huntley showed off his wheels early in the scrimmage with a 15-yard rush before also taking a tough run on a third-and-five for a first down.
After not taking snaps in last week's scrimmage, Rising showed his versatility, breaking free for multiple big gains on the ground that included a touchdown. In his throwing game, he proved to be accurate, hitting
Solomon Enis for a first down in double coverage over the middle.
In the run game,
TJ Green had a nice showing, looking elusive down the middle by breaking tackles, scoring on a 35+ yard rush. He also took on a 15-yard gain for a first down later in the scrimmage after breaking some big tackles with a defensive player hanging from his jersey.
Demari Simpkins, Donte Banton and
Ali'i Niumatalolo all came away with impressive catches today. Banton broke to the outside with help from
Derrick Vickers on the block to get a first down while Niumatalolo had a huge reception to the goaline with
Devin Brumfield bringing it home for a touchdown.
On defense,
Terrell Burgess once again provided tough coverage for the Utes in the secondary with
Josh Nurse stepping up to make some monstrous tackles.
Mika Tafua also put some pressure on the Utah quarterbacks coming away with several quarterback hurries with one forcing a fourth down after pushing the offense into their own end zone.
Head coach Kyle Whittingham addressed the media after today's scrimmage:
On how the scrimmage went today…
"I thought it went very well, certainly better than last week. The offense's execution level was better. Errors overall were fewer. No turnovers, but the bad thing with that is that it means when one side of the ball is doing something well, the other side is not. If they are both mediocre, then we are mad at both sides, but there is not much of that going on. So overall, I think the offense took a step in the right direction. The offensive line did a much better job this week. There was more space in there for movement of the ball. Defensively, we are still very confident in those guys and I think we are going to be a really good defense."
On how the specialists looked…
"We are making progress. We had a couple of awful days this spring in punting and kicking, but now it is back and things are looking more like that we are used to. But we have big shoes to fill. We are talking about Utah having the best specialists in the country for the last several years now, so the standard is very high. But we have a lot of confidence in these guys and they are making progress and working hard. They care a great deal about what they are doing, which is the key."
On where the improvement on the offensive line is coming from…
"I would say in the run blocking today, and like I said with the increase in space and I think the running backs did a nice job of hitting the wholes today, which was part of it as well."
