Pride in persistence in 1st UI scrimmage

It was all but a real college football game — same day and everything — but a couple things were off.

Just double the number of plays and add a couple dozen more.

In the Vandals' first scrimmage of fall camp Saturday morning at the Kibbie Dome, a three-hour romp featuring 157 snaps and a bonanza of bigwig moments, UI garnered some youth development and potential foreshadowing.

And an assessment of the team's situational tendencies, according to offensive coordinator Kris Cinkovich, citing the meaning of "T" in the FIST acronym exposed on his bracelet (Fundamentals, Intensity, Speed, Toughness).

"You just feel like you have to stress these guys competitively, so we do. Then we know, when they've been pushed to the edge, what we have," Cinkovich said. "Some guys today responded — I'll speak for my position group — some guys struggled with it.

"We need to know that, you can't find out on Saturday afternoons when the games come. It's something, frankly, we take pride in."

Responding was a key theme in the day's events. As has been the case for a week, UI's defense and offense thoroughly clashed and one outperforms the other by at least a smidgen each day.

Even considering some of the ludicrous offensive numbers, like Mason Petrino's 43-for-57, near-600-yard, nine-touchdown day (by this writer's count), both sides illuminated their top-grade facets as well as others that require readjustments.

Colton Richardson was not dressed down after slightly tweaking an ankle earlier in the week — a matter coach Paul Petrino said would not be of long-term concern. Mason Petrino got the majority of reps, and he was kept relatively clean by his offensive line.

"If we just keep (speed rushers) vertical, our quarterback can come forward. And you saw some of the escape lanes It's a work in progress," Cinkovich said. "(The O-line) probably made improvement. We're certainly not perfect, so we've got good reason to come to practice tomorrow."

Extravagant offensive numbers don't tell the whole story. There were also sacks, about five of them, and plenty of third-down stands.

The white-shirt rushing attack was limited early by the linebackers and the gap-plugging, vertical-flowing defensive line, a unit defensive coordinator Mike Breske said shares an "espirit de corps." It's a five-guy first group that is working on playing in harmony.

Charles Akanno, who thrived at the "buck" spot, was constantly creating backfield pressure and Ben Taliulu forced the day's lone interception after tipping a Petrino rollout ball at the line of scrimmage.

"Initially, the defense got after us up front early in the scrimmage," Cinkovich said. "They played with more emotion and it looked like we wore 'em down and then it flipped."

The offense looked to flow in the passing game. Jeff Cotton, Cutrell Haywood and Josh Ellingson, in particular, loaded their stat sheets while five running backs combined for about 150 yards and three scores. Those three wide receivers amassed eight touchdown snags on about 400 yards.

And a lot of that was from an on-the-run Petrino, who often darted through a gap between tackles and flung the ball in motion to one of his many breakneck pass-catchers.

"(Petrino) did a great job of moving around and being elusive when they were bringing vertical pressure, trying to cut routes. He really did a good job of making the sticks move for us," Cinkovich said.

As for the receivers, what gives with the swollen stat lines?

Most of it was the sheer volume of reps. Another chunk - or several chunks - was the speed factor against man-on-man coverage.

"We were loose," Breske said of his secondary. "We gave up some big plays, which we've gotta square up. We got beat on some man-to-man coverage ... We've gotta be able to rally and run to the ball and give ourselves a chance to line up for another play."

They've got to continue to understand the circumstances of each play, Breske said, whether to press or creep back a bit.

"We've gotta change our techniques up, we can't be up there and play press 100 percent of the day."

Three of Haywood's superfecta were tallied against man, and his second score could've been called the highlight of the day, if someone ranked in accordance.

He smoked his coverage on a slight stutter and beelined it toward the left corner of the end zone. The ball was right overhead, so he turned and peered over the shoulder, stuck out his right mitt, and cradled the lob in. Then he echoed a shout through the dome.

"I just had to let it out one time, you know, I couldn't celebrate that much, so I just had to let it out," Haywood said.

Notes and numbers

Junior running back Jack Bamis looked determined, rushing for two scores and 70 yards on 10 carries while also contributing to the defensive line's performance.

Freshman wide receiver DJ Lee whizzed by everyone on a post route and hauled in a 35-yard ball from Petrino, then proceeded to go the rest of the way himself for a 68-yard touchdown - the longest score of the day by more than 10 yards.

To go along with the wild passing numbers, Petrino rushed for about 85 yards on 18 carries and two scores. It's sometimes hard to tell when a quarterback, to whom players are often yelled at for getting too close, is actually tagged down.

If junior Jeff Cotton is targeted the way he was Saturday morning (11 receptions, 130 yards and two TDs), he could be one of UI's shots at a 1,000-yard receiver.

Senior wide receiver David Ungerer appeared to be resting. He was very much a part of the festivities, though - hyping people up, celebrating with teammates after scores.

The offensive line is still going through transformations. Logan Floyd, a freshman guard coach Petrino lauded for work ethic last week, got looks with the first unit. Junior Sean Tulette continues to split time at tackle and center, and junior Edwin Grande lined up at tackle to round out the group. Conner Vrba and Irving Schuster also were with the first group, while Noah Johnson sat out the session.

Quotes

Kris Cinkovich on developing players:

"Sometimes you almost prefer (guys sitting out), because you're gonna end up getting 80-100 reps for a kid who's going to help you win a game sometime down the year. I think today we probably developed some kids that will help us win games down the road."

Cinkovich on Jack Bamis:

"He's an explosive, ballistic athlete, and he's matured now. He's really taking this stuff seriously. In the spring game he was running like a thoroughbred that people were trying to tackle. Knees were driving and guys were flying off him. But he's grown up too and that's helped him. He's embraced this role."

Cinkovich on players like Kaden Elliss playing both ways:

"I think it's fine, I really do. I think it's smart. When you look around the country you'll see people taking good wide receivers and they play nickelback on third down, I think it's smart. Kaden Elliss is a phenomenal football player, and he can help us win on both sides and he can handle the workload."