Defense Stood Out In Utah Football’s Second Spring Scrimmage

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The University of Utah football team held their second scrimmage of spring ball on Saturday and the defense played very well.

The scrimmage for Utah football was closed to the public and media but head coach Kyle Whittingham gave details on guys that made plays and who stood out.

According to Whittingham, Saturday’s scrimmage was more situational scenarios while running about 115-120 plays. They went through nearly every situation they could think of being in during a real game.

“Not quite as extensive as last week but almost I think was about 115, 120 snaps which maybe a dozen or so less than last week,” Whittingham said. “But good work. Plenty of special teams work in addition to offense and defense. But like I said we hit virtually every aspect, backed up, two minute, four minute, high red, low red, short yardage. We had it all and much better tempo this week by the offense. Last week, one of the things that was a negative was the tempo of the offense. Too slow getting out of the huddle. Pressing the play clock too often, so much, much better in that regard this week. Did turn the ball over a couple of times today offensively, which bad for the O, good for the D. Some good work in the red zone. Defense came up with a heck of a goal line stand on one of the series.”

Clark Phillips had a nice interception.
Defensive front was physical.
Zemaiah Vaughn made good plays.
Devin Lloyd was everywhere.

All of the defensive standouts according to coach Whittingham.#GoUtes @kslsports

— Trevor Allen (@TrevorASports) April 10, 2021

Utah Defensive Standouts From Second Spring Football Scrimmage

Whittingham named multiple players on the defensive side of the football that stood out during the second scrimmage.

“We had a bunch of guys making plays,” Whittingham stated. “Clark Phillips had a nice interception, made some made some big plays. Defensive front was physical from start to finish. Zemaiah Vaughn made a couple of really nice plays, he’s adjusting to that corner spot, moving from safety. Devin Lloyd was all over the place as always, he’s a guy that makes a ton of plays every practice. We didn’t have Mika Tafua, he had a little minor injury that kept him out today. But overall, a lot of good play by the defense overall, maybe didn’t tackle quite as well as we did last week. But we did create some takeaways on that side of the ball.”

Fast. Physical. Fun. #Uboyz scrimmage 2 highlights 🎥 pic.twitter.com/PKld2PspaJ

— Utah Football (@Utah_Football) April 10, 2021

The Utes will have two more practices on Tuesday, April 13 and Thursday, April 15 before the Red/White Spring game on Saturday, April 17 at noon MT. The practice on Tuesday will be a physical practice in pads. Practice on Thursday will be without pads leading up to the spring game.

Trevor Allen is a Utah Utes Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Crimson Corner podcast. Follow him on Twitter: @TrevorASports. You can download and listen to the podcast, here.

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