Exactly four months after Utah’s Sugar Bowl triumph, the Utes were back on full display Friday night.
Kind of.
Utah’s first official scrimmage of the 2009 Spring Season was under the bright lights of Rice-Eccles Stadium, in front of fans speckled throughout the west side of the stands during a blustery cold evening.
The Utes put on a show for everyone watching.
“We had a lot of good performances out there tonight,” said head coach Kyle Whittingham. “We made a lot of plays.”
The game got off to a quick start as Corbin Louks spearheaded an impressive jump on the No. 1 defense. Louks and his offensive crew ran five consecutive rushing plays, including a 12-yard scamper right out of the gates. Louks orchestrated a long drive that led right to a 1-yard touchdown run by the junior from Danville, Calif.
“It’s good to get our confidence going and start fast,” Louks said. “It was great for us to move the tempo and move the offense down the field right away.”
Louks and recent juco transfer quarterback Terrance Cain led both sets of offenses, with Cain having a fairly good first impression as he went 6-for-11, for 73 yards and an 8-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver and fellow Texan Jereme Brooks.
“Both quarterbacks performed well and I thought our receivers played well,” Whittingham said.
Brooks led all receivers with 46 yards receiving on four receptions. DeVonte Christopher, who is spending his spring as a converted wide receiver, led all Utes with five receptions that earned him 45 yards.
Aiona Key, who will be looked upon to replace the likes of Freddie Brown and Bradon Godfrey, said he thinks that this year’s wideout crew can bring the same type of weekly performance as last year’s corps.
“I think our whole receiving crew are go-to people,” Key said. “I can be a threat, but we have a lot of weapons. Just stepping into the role where Freddie Brown was, that’s big, but I’m welcoming it. I want to be better than that.”
Key said Christopher, a 6-foot-1-inch, 190-lb. redshirt freshman from Las Vegas, has made an amazing transition in the few short weeks he has been lining up as a receiver.
“(He’s) playing a great role, I mean, he knows the whole offense and he has good football instincts that helps him out a lot,” Key said.
Utah had two standout offensive performances.
Junior running back Eddie Wide, who was one of the main running backs on display with senior Matt Asiata being held out, ran for a game-high 94 yards on eight carries, including busting a 50-yard tear that set up Cain’s touchdown pass to Brooks. Shaky Smithson, the JC transfer wideout from East Los Angeles Community College, wowed at times with some impressive moves after the catch and more specifically, a 30-yard touchdown reception thrown by Louks that was hauled in by Smithson in the far corner of the end zone.
“It was good to get a lot of live reps and we saw a lot of good things out there,” Whittingham said.
The whole night wasn’t an offensive showcase8212;the defense made its presence known.
Despite holding out defensive starters that included the starting linebacker corps of Stevenson Sylvester, Mike Wright and Kepa Gaison, alongside free safety Robert Johnson and defensive end Koa Misi, the defense had its moments.
Defensive linemen Mike Laloni and Christian Cox each had three tackles for loss, with Cox getting a sack on Louks that was a 7-yard loss.
But defensive back Brandon Burton stole the show.
The 6-foot sophomore from Houston, Texas, picked off Cain during the redzone portion of the scrimmage and took it 84 yards for the touchdown.
With Utah’s star players being held out, Johnson and Sylvester, two players who will surely be looked upon to be captains come fall, enjoyed the scrimmage from the sideline, but felt the itch they couldn’t scratch.
“I guess they were just keeping out certain seniors,” Johnson joked. “It’s just the people that have kind of been here a while and know the system.”
Johnson and “Sly” often yelled instructions and signals to the defensive squads and were impressed with their teams’ overall effort.
“Sometimes they need some second answers or second opinions, so I just help them out a little bit,” Johnson said of his defensive backfield.
Sylvester joked about wishing to have played, but knows why he didn’t.
“Man, I was kinda peeking in there, looking, but no,” Sylvester said, laughing. “But the good thing about this team is, you don’t need a lot of hurrah-hurrah, because everybody loves to play, and when you got a lot of people that love to play, it’s easy to do your job.”
Tyler CobbCorbin Louks started the first official spring scrimmage by leading the offence down the field against the No. 1 defense. Louks and Terrance Cain took turns leading the offence and both performed well.