Usually, the defense starts out ahead of the offense in spring football drills. But Thursday, Utah's offense did pretty well and then made some noise about it.
So Saturday morning, in the Utes' first official scrimmage of spring 2000, the defense made the effort to control things.
"We had to pick it up," said defensive tackle Garrett Smith. "We shut them down pretty good. We had to shut them up. They talked too much on Thursday."
"They came to play real hard, and you've got to give them their props," said running back Mbe Agbor, who carried a team-high eight times for 49 yards. "They filled the holes. They came hard. I think we got lulled into a false sense of security (after Thursday's practice)."
"If you've got good players, they respond," said Utah coach Ron McBride following the 100-or-so-plays scrimmage that was attended by maybe a couple hundred fans — almost as many as usually attend the spring's final scrimmage. "The defense, for pretty much the whole game, did a really good job.
"We looked at a lot of players," McBride said. That may be one reason the offense wasn't in sync.
"The offense has got to become more consistent. The running game was not real good, so obviously, we're not getting enough knockoff at the line."
Smith, the 280-pound sophomore who started seven games as a freshman, had one of the defense's seven sacks, good for minus-5 yards, and he broke up a pass. Linebacker Wes Tufaga had two sacks for minus-12 yards, nose tackle Maake Kemoeatu had 2-yard sack, and cornerback Andre Dyson caused a fumble.
Additionally, McBride said defensive end Marcus Jones and sophomore defensive lineman Tevita Vakalahi caught his eye.
On offense, receiver Johnny Lundy (five catches, 94 yards, 45-yard long play) and tight end Dennis Smith (3-30) "did a good job catching the ball," McBride said. He said the second offense, with Agbor, "moved the ball a little better" than the other offenses.
The 5-foot-6, 185-pound Agbor, from East High, has been mainly a special-teams contributor, but McBride has noticed him a lot this spring. Agbor says it's mainly more opportunity. "It's nice to get more carries, more chances. Of course, I've got to think (the tailback job) is open or I wouldn't be out here."
Receiver Philippe Wells caught the only touchdown, 11 yards, from T.D. Croshaw. Wells had two catches for 20 yards. Croshaw was 4-for-6 for 38 yards passing. Tony Alvarez completed four of eight passes for a team-high 79 yards, including the 45-yarder to Lundy. Darnell Arceneaux was 3-for-8 for 32 yards, Joel Gines 4-for-6 for 42 and Lance Rice 2-for-6 for 14. Redshirt freshman Edwin Benton ran seven times for 24 yards, junior Thomas Fortune was 5-for-11 and sophomore D'Shaun Crockett 4-for-5.