Offense Impresses In Utah's First Scrimmage

The Utes held their first scrimmage of spring football Saturday and as expected, the offense was superb.  

Jordan Wynn came out firing with a 25-yard completion to TE Kendrick Moeai.  Wynn, who appears more comfortable in the offense, finished 12-20 for 129 yards and three touchdowns.  He was excellent during red zone drills, scoring touchdowns three times.  

The senior leader for the receivers, Jeremy Brooks, played very well.  He finished with seven catches for 118 yards and two touchdowns.  He made many big plays with a16.8 yards per completion average.

Sophomore WR DeVonte Christopher played very well.  He had the play of the day when he caught a pass from Terrance Cain and used a spin move to take it 62 yards to the end zone.  He finished with four catches for 90 yards and 2 touchdowns.  His move from QB to WR last spring seems to be paying off and should land him a starting job at WR.

Terrance Cain seems much improved from last season.  He was very impressive early and moved the ball very well in the scrimmage.  Towards the end of the day during red zone drills he struggled a bit and had a fumble that he recovered, but overall had a solid practice.  He finished going 16-30 for 234 yards and passed for three touchdowns.

Many running backs saw action including Eddie Wide, Sausan Shakerin and Victor Spikes.  Wide led all rushers with 26 yards on 6 carries.  Shakerin had 24 yards on 6 carries.  Spikes added 19 yards on 8 carries and scored a three yard touchdown.  

Although the offense was great, the defense wasn't bad.  The defensive line did a decent job getting their hands in the passing lanes having quite a few batted balls.  They had two sacks coming from Joape Pela, Chaz Walker and Neli A'as.  Dave Kruger also added a forced fumble on Cain. 

The performances had coaches pleased, but they want to see a better effort defensively.  

"There were a lot of positives," said Head Coach Kyle Whittingham in a press release. "Our offense took care of the football and protected the quarterback well. The quarterbacks threw the ball well. Defensively, we tackled well, but we did not get enough pressure on the quarterbacks."

Sophomore DT Joape Pela went down with an injured right knee.  He was carted off the sidelines into the locker room and will be evaluated.  His injury didn't look too serious.  He was playing very well before his injury.

The next spring scrimmage will be on Saturday, April 10 at 10:00 a.m.  That will be the final scrimmage before the Red-White game on April 17.