FOOTBALL SCRIMMAGE REPORT

August 17, 2008 - The biggest surprise from yesterday's scrimmage was that quarterback Aaron Opelt didn't play. According to head coach Tom Amstutz, Opelt sat out so that the other quarterbacks could get more playing time.

The biggest beneficiary of Opelt's absence was D.J. Lenehan. The sophomore back-up looked sharp throwing a 20-yard touchdown pass to tight end John Allen and a screen pass to Stephen Williams that went for a 50-yard touchdown.

New quarterbacks Alex Pettee and David Pasquale also got some reps, but not enough to give a good evaluation. In Pasquale's first series, he threw a ball directly to linebacker Uriah Akinmoju who took the interception in for a score.

Young receivers who showed that they might be ready to play this season were Kenny Stafford, Sam Gaymon and Kaunda Hancock who's moving up the depth chart and getting praise from the coaching staff.

DaJuane Collins did a good job running the ball showing power inside plus the ability to get outside and make tacklers miss. But the biggest run of the day was by Morgan Williams who scampered forty yards on a sweep. All of the running backs looked good including Adonis Thomas and Jake Walker.

There were a lot of good hits by the defense, especially from the linebackers and safeties. It looks like the overall speed has been improved. Two players that did a good job putting pressure on the quarterbacks were defensive ends Derrick Summers and Albertson Alexandre.

The Rockets were using Alex Steigerwald and Brett Brodbeck on kickoffs, with Brodbeck having the advantage. And UT may have found its punter as Florida freshman Zack Cooper had a good day with some good hang time on deep punts.

"I thought we improved as a team from our first scrimmage," Amstutz said. "D.J. (Lenehan) played very well, and that's very important for us."