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UA football UA football: Plenty to like in Zips’ rehearsal Defense, offense look strong in scrimmage; QB shows confidence By George M. Thomas Beacon Journal sports writer Published: August 22, 2012 - 11:18 PM | Updated: August 23, 2012 - 09:56 AM The football players will find out in exactly one week whether they are ready for their close-ups when they take on Central Florida. Wednesday night at InfoCision Stadium, the Zips went through a dry run to see how ready they are. It’s difficult to judge any team’s potential or stage of development this early, and the Zips are no different. They’re at least a week past needing to see an opposing team’s colors and numbers so that they can quit pounding on one another with the occasional fracas breaking out in camp. There was plenty to chew on in what turned into a full scrimmage with the first-team offense squaring off against the second-team defense and the first-team defense facing the second-team offense. Here’s a rundown on how each unit looked: Offense The good: The Zips moved the ball consistently against their teammates, which has to be tempered by the fact they were playing the second unit. The first-team offense put up 23 points. More good: Quarterback Dalton Williams ran the offense with confidence. He completed most of his passes, including a strike of 62 yards to wide receiver Dee Frieson. Williams appeared to have chemistry with all of his starting receivers: Frieson, L.T. Smith and Marquelo Suel. The bad: Protection collapsed around Williams a couple of times, and there were a couple of sacks. The ugly: A couple of mental breakdowns in the form of silly 5-yard penalties hit the offense. In a game, those could be drive killers. Defense The good: Scoreboard. In a game like football, you can’t argue with it, and the scoreboard read 30-3 at the end of the scrimmage for the white team. The defense essentially dominated from the beginning when senior linebacker Troy Gilmer intercepted a pass at the opponent’s 8-yard line and took it in for a . They produced several three- and-outs during the scrimmage along with scoring two , the second coming on a return of a recovery. The longest play they gave up was a 27-yard pass. More good: The linebackers — Kurt Mangum, Justin March, Troy Gilmer — proved to be an active bunch, producing several tackles for losses to go with that return for a touchdown. With that unit, depth is going to be the overall issue. The secondary played extremely well. The bad: Bad might not be the appropriate word for the defensive line’s play. They didn’t get a lot of pressure on the quarterback, but they made plays in the trenches to allow the linebackers to come in and do their jobs. The ugly: There wasn’t a whole lot to notice. Second team Kyle Pohl came out in the scrimmage’s second half and showed that he’s comfortable in the offense, marching the

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team down the field on the first two drives for field-goal opportunities. … On the second drive, freshman Hakeem Lawrence came up with a couple of nice runs on consecutive plays. … Freshman wide receiver Imani Davis had one touchdown pass slip off his fingers, but followed with a catch for a touchdown on the next play. Returning the ball: Coach Terry Bowden hasn’t commented on who his return specialists might be. However, Frieson and Dylan Potts got some work in that area. George M. Thomas can be reached at [email protected]. Read the Zips blog at http://www.ohio.com /zips. Follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/GeorgeThomasABJ and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/sports.abj.

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