Offense makes progress in second fall scrimmage
CORAL GABLES — Al Golden planned to spend this morning filling out a depth chart.
Whoever he pencils in may not be there for long.
“We are a long way out,” Golden said after his team ran through three quarters of game simulation Saturday, two weeks before its Sept. 5 season opener against Bethune-Cookman. “We have to all get better.”
That’s not to say Golden wasn’t pleased with the results of the closed scrimmage, held at a newly lighted Greentree Practice Fields.
First of all, he liked that no players suffered a major injury during the scrimmage. Players were impressed by the offense, which seemingly had a much better night than they did Aug. 13, during the team’s first scrimmage.
Instead of regretting early penalties and sacks allowed, players — who spoke mostly in generalities — mentioned a long touchdown catch-andrun by junior wide receiver Stacy Coley. Teammates estimated Coley took it 50 yards.
“We caught the defense sleeping,” senior receiver Rashawn Scott said. “We were moving a little faster today. … He broke out, and that was the end of that.”
The offensive line, quarterback Brad Kaaya said, “only gave up one sack.” The firststring offense committed no turnovers. “The majority of our drives came away with points,” Kaaya said.
Defensively, teammates credited sophomore defensive tackle Anthony Moten with a pair of sacks. “He was getting in the backfield a lot,” defensive end Chad Thomas said.
Golden’s gripes were mostly minor.
“We came up 1 yard short on a route on a third-and-5. We didn’t run the requisite depth,” he said. “We had a third-and-13 on defense and we had someone who was supposed to be backed up, but played close to the line of scrimmage. Little things like that.”
He added his players committed some “costly” penalties but the scrimmage was “cleaner overall” than the first. UM ranked 108th nationally in penalty yards per game (63.6) last year.
The scrimmage was closed to the media, but was open to dozens of high school players, their families, coaches and other invited guests.
Running back rotation: As they did last scrimmage, running backs Gus Edwards, Joe Yearby, Trayone Gray and Mark Walton split carries. “They complement each oth- er, and we’re not afraid to roll them in there,” Golden said. “We’ve got a lot of competition coming up before that’s settled, for sure.”
Yearby added that, “everyone got in and got some big runs.”
Golden’s thoughts on his defense: “I thought we tackled better. Our pass rush was better. Our third-down defense was better. We had one stop inside the 5, which was good. … I thought there was a couple third downs we shouldn’t have given up.”
Golden said “probably 11 or 12” freshmen played, with some getting looks with a higher unit. “I’m pleased with that group overall,” he said. Scott spotlighted the play of cornerback Sheldrick Redwine and receiver Lawrence Cager.
QB rotation: Offensive coordinator James Coley, asked what he learned Saturday: “We have four quarterbacks that can go in the game.” He was seemingly referring to Kaaya, backup Malik Rosier, sophomore Vincent Testaverde and freshman Evan Shirreffs.
Injury report: Slot receivers Braxton Berrios and Malcolm Lewis and backup middle linebacker Juwon Young were held out because of injuries. Young has a sprained foot. Berrios has a hamstring injury. Lewis’ injury is unknown.