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UK Football: Brooks likes team's progress

August 17, 2009|Keith Taylor/Sun Sports Editor

Kentucky football coach Rich Brooks liked what he saw from his team during their first scrimmage of fall camp Saturday at Commonwealth Stadium.

Brooks said the team's performance was encouraging, especially from an offensive standpoint.

"The first-string defense and the first-string offense actually executed pretty well, maybe ahead of my expectations," Brooks said. "The very good thing is that we're throwing and catching and actually running the ball halfway decent."

Mike Hartline and the Cats' first-team offense scored on its first two possessions. Brooks said one drive featured 15 to 16 plays and the other scored in eight or nine plays.

Brooks said receivers Randall Cobb and Chris Matthews turned in a solid performance and was encouraged.

"It was pretty good by everybody," he said. "I don't think I saw a (dropped pass). That's a shock. Last year, I saw a whole bunch of them."

In the backfield, Brooks praised the effort of Alfonso Smith, Moncell Allen and CoShik Williams. Overall, Brooks said the offense is making strides and said the unit is "night and day where we were a year ago."

As for the defensive unit, Brooks wasn't as pleased.

"We have to get to playing with better tempo on defense," he said. "The defense did not perform up to the standard I expect."

After reviewing the film from the scrimmage, Brooks likes the progression of junior college transfer DeQuin Evans at defensive end.

"DeQuin Evans has made a real serious move," Brooks said. "He's still not 100 percent on that hamstring (injury) but it's very obvious what he brings to the table and it's pretty impressive — quickness, speed and effort. I think three guys, Evans, (Collins) Ukwu and (Chandler) Burden, on an every-down situation we can count on (at defensive end)."

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