Scrimmage at Central Arkansas draws mixed reviews from coach
CONWAY -- University of Central Arkansas head coach Nathan Brown saw some good and bad in Saturday morning’s scrimmage on “The Stripes” at First Security Field at Estes Stadium.
The Bears, less than two weeks away from opening the season at FBS Western Kentucky on Thursday, Aug. 29, worked for a little more than two hours on a hot, humid morning in their first major scrimmage of fall camp. The defense, particularly the front four, shined for most of the day.
“Really pleased where our defense is,’ said Brown, in his second season leading the Bears, “They really flew around to the ball. I saw a lot of big plays, guys making people miss, guys making big hits.
“The offense wasn’t great down around the goal line. We’ve got to be able to punch the ball in, we’ve got to be able to knock them back and assert yourself when they know you’re going to run the football. Which is a testament to our defense. The defensive line stood up. We’ve got some guys down (injured) on the defensive line but I thought four or five guys really stepped up, practiced hard and really looked good out there in the absence of a couple of guys. So that was big to see, too.
“(Junior end) Nathan Grant, he’s a star. (sophomore) Caden Brown, (junior) Austin Norris, (junior) J.W. Jones, those top four guys are playing at a high level. They’re getting a lot of reps, just because of depth. I love James Kitt, one of the freshman. He’s playing at a high level. Alejandro Ramirez, a redshirt freshman, is going to be a great player on the inside. And we should get (junior) A’Javius Brown back this week. Azuka Mgbemena is eligible now so he’s going to factor into the miz. We should get Marquez Casey, the freshman, back from a foot injury.
“So they’ll be three or four we should add to the mix this week to help those guys.’
Brown liked the play of the running backs and quarterbacks but was not pleased by periods of sloppines.
“The quarterbacks protected the ball when they threw it. But we have to protect the ball,’ said Brown. “We had 3-4 balls on the ground between our receivers and running backs, and we have to get better at that. But that’s why you do this. It gives us an opportunity to coach it up and get better about it.
“I thought (senior) D’erek Fernandez, him and (redshirt freshman) Cameron Myers both ran the ball hard. Of course, we limited (junior) Kierre (Crossley) and (senior) Carlos (Blackman) to a pitch count, but gosh, D’erek and Cameron are going to be really good for us. I really like them. (Freshman) Marshun Douglas has a quick twitch to him. Pleased with those running backs.
“I saw some big plays by (sophomore receiver) Lujuan Winningham and (freshman) Tyler Hudson on the outside. They made some great plays. I thought (sophomore quarterback) Luke Hales had a good day, made some big throws. (He) had a good two-minute drive. Breylin (Smith) protected the ball and made some good decisions late in the scrimmage, so pleased with those guys and how they played.’
Brown said the offensive line, a predicted strength heading into the season, is harder to evaluate in a scrimmage situation.
“I’ll have to get on the film and see how the offensive line did,’ he said. “There were some good plays and some good movement in there at times. But that’s a position we’re looking for guys to maybe mix around and see what our best combination is.’
The Bears will hold one more short scrimmage Wednesday evening featuring the band, pep squads and the Bear Den student group before classes begin Thursday. Game preparation for Western Kentucky will begin in earnest after that.
“We’ll have an abbreviated scrimmage on Wednesday, get some young guys worked in there,’ Brown said. “Some guys that maybe missed today will hopefully be able to go in that scrimmage. We have a big week ahead of us. I think we’ve taken big strides from Week 1 to Week 2 of camp. I fully expect out guys to be ready to go by Western Kentucky.’
Students return to campus on Sunday, which normally means more distractions for teams preparing for their season opener.
“We’ll talk about it,’ said Brown. “Anytime you have move-in day on Sunday, the campus will be hopping, there will be a lot more interaction with our students, classes starting Thursday. So we have to focus in. Like I say on the football field, it’s the same thing off the field, attention to detail is what wins. We have some mature kids on this team so I’m looking forward to them bringing the young guys along.
“I’m looking forward to the students getting here because that means football is about to start.’