Scrimmage April 16th

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The scrimmage was broken down into two parts. The 1st part is what I would call a regular scrimmage where the ball was placed on the 30 and the offense would go until they could not make a 1st down. This was pretty much how the 1st hour went. The second hour was situational. The scenarios were 3rd and two, just outside of the redzone at about the 30, or 20 or goaline. There were also hurry up scenarios where the ball was about 70 yards from the goal line and the offense had 2 minutes, or 30 seconds or 20 seconds, etc. The defense completely dominated the situational scrimmages. The offense made a few nice plays, scored a couple of times on the goal line but that’s about it and I didn’t take many notes during this part.

So, on to the nitty gritty.

I’m going to put all the special teams stuff in this paragraph, but special teams situations were sprinkled thoughout the 2 hour scrimmage.

Holy S**t, Wishnowski can kick the hell out of the ball, big time. There is no way to over exaggerate his capabilities. He can kick off, punt of course and kick field goals. His field goal kicking needs some polish becase he kicks line drives and I don’t know how it gets past the line of scrimmage but it does. No s**t, he frozen roped a 38 yard field goal, I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. It was astonishing. It looked like an outfielders throw from the warning track to second base to pick off a runner. Wish also had a 41 yard attempt which was no good. Another line drive that had the distance. I swear the ball wasn’t more than 20 feet off the ground. When his foot hits the ball it’s like a bass drum being hit in the stadium.

Kick Offs: I don’t think we will see Andy handling kick off duties. Here’s what happened:
Andy – kick lands 1 yard deep in the endzone
Wish- kick lands 9 yards deep in the endzone
Andy- 2nd kick lands on the 2. Wish didn’t get another kick but I get the feeling he can put it deep in the endzone at will.

Wish and Jake Kane did some punting with the ball on the 1, punter’s heels in the back of the endzone. Wish punted the ball to the 49 where Hobbs caught it in the air. Jake Kane’s punt made it to the 40. What was astonishing is that Wish’s punt made Kanes look little league, but when you think about it, I think any team would be fine if their punter could get the ball to the 40 on the fly from the back of the endzone. Again, Wish’s punt was 9 yards deeper and a hell of a lot higher.

During punt drills, the punters where just punting downfield to returners Hobbs and Justin Thomas. Yeah, I guess Justin Thomas has his hat in the ring as a returner. Anyway, Wish’s punts were drawing oos and ahhs from the crowd. He com boom perfect spirals or kick classic backspinning rugby style punts. Some guy in the crowd yelled “Tom Who.” Even though it is sacrilegious, it was entirely accurate.

4th downs are going to be very exciting.

Now from the start of practice, Cox carved up both 1st and 2nd team defense with 5 TDs, this was before the situational stuff.

Cox’s 1st two series were outstanding. Against the 1st team D, he went about 5-5 passing and scored each time.

1st series, from 70 yards out took 2 plays to score a TD. 1st play Cox hit a wide open Handley for a large gain. 2nd play was a read option where Cox kept the ball, nailed Pita T’s feet to the turf with a juke and ran upfield, untouched for a TD. Cox let out a giant jungle, celebration scream in the endzone. It was nice to see that kind of passion coming from the QB.

2nd series was from 21 yards out. Another 2 play score. Cox hit someone wide open in the flat for a 10 yard gain. 2nd play was Joe Williams up the middle, huge hole, untouched 10 yards to the endzone. Again, both of these scores were against the 1st team D.

Huntley up next against the 2s. Deep bomb to Repp slips through his fingers. I noticed TE Chad Hekking put an excellent block on Hobbs that allowed hoewver caught a swing pass to go up field for about 5 yards. Huntley launches another bomb where Hobbs was called for interference which prevented the catch. Huntly hit Repp on a slant to the middle for 8 yards. Great looking play but didn’t get the 1st down.

Huntley gets the next series again, throws a beautiful pass to Simpkins but Porter immediately strips it away from him. Great pass, great defensive play by Porter. Simpkins has full possession of the ball and Porter just took it from him.

Huntley went on to throw about 4 more passes that slipped through the finger tips of the receivers. Great looking throws, appeared to all be the receivers’ fault but I could be wrong. Some may have been a little high and away. The reason I say I might be wrong is because pretty much the same receivers were catching the balls thrown by Cox.

Huntley finally hits McCormick on a dump off crossing route to get away from a blitzing D. McCormick is incredibly fast in the open field. It was a 3rd and 10 and he only got 9.

Cox back in. During a scramble Keven Dixon decleats Pita T. Remember that famous hit Travis Wilson put on the Cal player at home about 4 years ago? It was kind of like that. Many oos and ahhs from the crowd. We have some guy playing RB I’ve never noticed before. #26 Jordan Howard? Well, he caught a nice 13 yard pass from Cox. He ran from the backfield right up the middle of the field wide open and Cox hit him. Nice little play. Cooperwood grabs about a 20 yard bullet from Cox, open in the middle. Repp catches an 18 yard cross route. Scoring play was Cox to Siaosi Wilson from 20 yards out. I think he caught it and dove at the pylon. Cox’s 3rd series and 3rd TD.

Cox series again, this time from 21 yards out. Fumble between Cox and RB, Cox recovers, loses 4 yards. Cox hits Kenric Young across the middle for about 10 yards. 3rd play Cox scores on a well executed read option with Joe Williams. Cox goes untouched into the endzone, about 10-15 yards.

By now, Cox is totally carving up the D and having his way with them.

Huntley in now, from the 21 yard line tries to hit a WR in the corner of the endzone but it’s broken up by Afia. Excellent defensive play. Huntley to McCormick on a wheel route that results in a TD from about 15 yards out.

Cox back in, this series starts 15 yards from the endzone. Cox hits Handley for another TD. Up to this point, most of Cox’s passes are pinpoint bullets but this one was a little different. Cox had to be patient, Handley got a tiny bit of separation and Cox kind of floated the ball over a defender and dropped it right into Handley. The play was pure patients and touch.

At this point, the situational stuff started. 3rd and short, 3rd and goal and hurry up offense. This is where the defense took over. The offense did next to nothing during this part.

Here’s a few of my notes.
Cox series, hurry up situation. Holding. Hit’s Hampel for 8 yard gain in the middle of the field. Sack. 4th and 20, pass incomplete.

Huntley- sack, pass batted down, receiver wide open deep, 35 yards out, pass underthrown and defender broke it up. 4th down, Pita T chasing down Huntley, Huntley just chucks the ball to an open space, incomplete.

Another Huntley pass batted down.

Shah Jr pick 6 off of Cox from mid-field.

Brian Allen with an animal strip of a receiver. Brute force, just rips it out.

Andy Phillips 50 yard field goal attempt no good, short.

They give him another shot, 2nd try hits the cross bar and bounces through, good.

That’s all folks!

In my opinion, Cox took a huge step today. If I had to call it, Cox won the starting job going into fall.

[Anonymous]

I am really looking forward to fall this season.  I think Utah’s defense is going to be nasty and I am actually optimistic about the offense for the first time in I can’t even remember how long.   I am really thinking about it now and I think Wynn’s senior season I thought we have a great shot this year.  Then I saw the ducks he threw against Montana St and it was crushed.

Thanks for the report!

[89ute]

University site has a report up with pictures, stat sheet and some commentary.

Cox Tosses Four TD’s in Second Spring Scrimmage

[GadValleyUte]

Great read. Thanks for the details. Perhaps this year my hope for the offense will not be in vain.

[Tony (admin)]

Many thanks for these awesome reports. Fantastic.