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Utah football spring scrimmage #2: Utes defense, Troy McCormick top performers

Script flipped from last week's scrimmage.

By Avinash Kunnath

After the Utah offense had a good show last week in the first scrimmage of spring practice, it was the Utah defense being the dominant unit in Saturday's scrimmage. Additional highlights are below.

Utah's defense did not allow Travis Wilson to get going through the air (19-41, 184 yards, 2 touchdowns, no picks), although he did march the Utes down the field for two scoring drives. Conner Manning actually performed better in limited action, completing three of his 12 pass attempts (nine completions) for touchdowns. Adam Schulz struggled, completing 6 of 13 passes for 34 yards.

You can read the scrimmage stats here.

Dres Anderson led the Utes with eight catches for 111 yards. Westlee Tonga hauled in five catches for 62 yards and a touchdown. Delshawn McClellon also grabbed a touchdown and Kendrick Moeai had a nice 40 yard grab.

The offensive standout of the day (and probably the person who you can spot the most on the video highlights) was Troy McCormick, who burst forth for the 60 yard touchdown you see in the video above. McCormick averaged a pretty crazy 26.8 yards per rush on five carries.

Utah's defense was the dominant unit on the day though. Pita Taumoepenu forced two sacks (seven tackles for loss), Reginald Porter broke up four passes (the Utes had 13 pass breakups on the day!), Hipolito Corporan recovered a fumble, and in general shut down the bulk of Utah's attack outside of McCormick.

Andy Phillips also continues to do what Andy Phillips does. This time around, the strong-legged kicker hit a 59 yard field goal (along with a 41 harder) that might have been good from over 60 if he tried.

Quotes on the day courtesy of Matthew Piper.

  • Coach Whittingham is still not happy with the tempo. Video of the full scrimmage press conference is below.


"Not nearly fast enough," Whittingham said. "The sense of urgency to get the ball snapped is not where it needs to be."

  • Travis Wilson is feeling certain in his health. Full video presser below.

"I feel perfect," Wilson said afterward. "My body feels healthy, and I've definitely got to gain a couple pounds, but other than that I feel really good."

  • Conner Manning talked about the general mindset of being a quarterback.

Whether it’s season, offseason, summer, fall, whatever," Manning said. "Competition never stops."

Watch additional interviews with Dave Christensen and Kilani Sitake below.



Here are some additional interviews with Dres Anderson and Pita Taumoepenu.

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