The Utah football team played its last scrimmage ahead of the annual Red-White game and came out of it with plenty of takeaways.
Unlike last week’s scrimmage, the offense came out hot on Saturday and immediately had its way with the defense, scoring on multiple occasions early on. The defense did tighten up after getting scored on a few times and held it together in the two-minute drill at the end of the scrimmage.
As for the quarterback battle, Brandon Cox outshined Tyler Huntley once again. Cox finished the day with four passing touchdowns, one rushing and 158 passing yards. Huntley finished with just one passing touchdown and 65 passing yards of his own.
“As an offense we came out here, and we set the tone and set the intensity, which was our main objective,” Cox said. “We showed the defense we came here to play.”
Head coach Kyle Whittingham called Saturday’s scrimmage another day of progress and thinks a lot of things are beginning to look clearer. Cox appears to have the upper hand at the moment, and if the team were to play tomorrow Whittingham would start Cox.
But the head coach wouldn’t necessarily say this was a bad day for Huntley. He has some growing pains as a freshman but continues to impress the coaching staff with his leadership qualities.
“Good to see the offense take a step forward,” Whittingham said. “I thought Tyler Huntley took another step forward even though his numbers weren’t great. Just the way he carries himself and his ability to extend the play and get out of the pocket. [Cox] looked like he was in control of the offense.”
Last week, Whittingham mentioned that the starting running back job was beginning to get a bit hazy with the improvements from Troy McCormick, and during this scrimmage McCormick made it just as difficult for the coaches to point to Joe Williams is the frontrunner. Williams did end the day with two rushing touchdowns, whereas McCormick finished with just one receiving, but nonetheless, the coaches are interested to see what he has in store for them.
“I think I’ve been doing pretty good all spring, just trying hard everyday,” McCormick said. “I’m just going to work hard every day and do what I can do, control what I can.”
The receiving unit is coming along nicely, as more and more guys are stepping up and getting a hang of their roles. Four different players were able to catch a touchdown, which is only a plus for this offense.
Over on the defense, although it fell flat to open up the day, once it got in the right mindset, the unit gave the offense plenty of trouble. During the two-minute drill was when it performed like its typical self, coming away with two interceptions. Reggie Porter got the first pick off of Huntley’s pass, and Cox threw a pick to Sharrieff Shah Jr., who returned it for a touchdown.
Although Whittingham was pleased with how the offense performed overall, he was disappointed in those two turnovers and hopes his two quarterbacks can work on it more this upcoming week of spring practice. Cox hopes that by next week, the offense can keep its energy up for the entire time.
“There’s room for improvement,” Cox said. “Last scrimmage we started slow and ended fast. This one we started fast and didn’t end like we wanted to, so we’ll watch film and see what we can do better.”
@kbrenneisen