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Press ReleaseSALT LAKE CITY -- The Utah football team held its first scrimmage of the season on Friday evening, pitting the No. 1 offense and defense against each other while the second string also battled it out. Although many of the established starters sat out of the scrimmage, a number of reserves stepped up to shine, especially on defense.
"We had a lot of good performances out there tonight," head coach Kyle Whittingham said. "We made a lot of plays. It was good that we held our ‘proven commodities' out, because it gave our guys who haven't played a lot an opportunity to prove themselves. Both quarterbacks [Corbin Louks and Terrance Cain] performed well and I thought our receivers played well. We also had much cleaner [offensive line] play for the most part. We had a lot of good tackling and we executed well. It was good to get a lot of live reps and we saw a lot of good things out there tonight."
Louks and Cain each saw time with both the first and second offense and threw for similar numbers. Louks threw for 87 yards (8-for-14) and completed a 30-yard touchdown pass to Shaky Smithson during red zone drills. He also ran for a 1-yard touchdown.
Cain passed for 73 yards, going 6-for-11, including an 8-yard touchdown to Jereme Brooks. He did throw one interception, which was caught by Brandon Burton and returned 84 yards for a touchdown. Jordan Wynn went 2-for-6.
Three receivers had over 40 yards, led by Brooks with 46 yards on four catches with a touchdown. DeVonte Christopher, who is participating at receiver this spring, had five catches for 45 yards. Smithson had two long catches, making two grabs for 44 yards. He had the longest catch of the day, a 30-yard grab. Aiona Key also made two catches for 21 yards.
In the running game, Eddie Wide had a standout day with eight carries for 94 yards, including a 50-yard run that set up a touchdown. Freshman Sausan Shakerin, who was also impressive in the fall preseason before redshirting the 2008 season, carried 14 times for 29 yards and had a 1-yard touchdown run in red zone drills.
Although Burton's touchdown return was the defensive highlight of the day, juniors Christian Cox and Mike Laloni each had three tackles for loss. Laloni had losses of 15 yards while Cox had losses of 10 yards, which included a seven yard sack. Lamar Chapman and Bryce Bennion each had pass breakups.
(Courtesy UofU Athletic Department)
