BUFFALO, NY- The University at Buffalo football team continued its spring drills Saturday morning with a scrimmage at UB Stadium. The morning was full of energy, hard hits, great catches and was dominated early and often by the Bulls' defense.
First-year head coach Jeff Quinn had mixed feelings about today's scrimmage.
"The defense played with great energy and enthusiasm, they flew around and made some good plays. The offense wasn't anywhere where we needed to be, very inconsistent, that's something we need to clean up as coaches. The most important thing right now is that we develop as a team, and come out here, practice hard and make each other better so at the end of the day we are ready to compete at the highest level."
The Bulls' defense played hard throughout the entire scrimmage and were clearly a step ahead of the offense by raking up a few sacks, quarterback hurries and effectively shut down the run game. Senior linebacker Justin Winters led the way for the defense with a couple of tackles and an interception in traffic.
"It was a good day, the defense is coming together, the offense too," Winters said. "We played hard and aggressive, it was pretty good overall, there are a lot of things we got to work on, we need to get in there and watch film and get better."
The offense though, was able to get into a rhythm and make a couple big plays. Sophomore quarterback Jerry Davis gave the offense some much needed momentum when he took the snap and threw a beautiful 48-yard touchdown to redshirt freshman wide receiver Fred Lee.
"The offense struggled to come together a little, but we have some good things on film that we can study and get better from," said Lee. "We have the talent, it's all mental, and we need to focus more as a team and everything will come together."
With the departure of All-MAC wide receivers Naaman Roosevelt and Brett Hamlin, the Bulls will look to their plethora of young talent at wide receiver to fill the holes. The Bulls' receiving core is confident they will be able to make plays and get the job done catching the ball.
"Naaman and Brett were great, they made a lot of good plays, but the core receivers we have now have the talent and mental focus to step up and make big plays when it matters," said Lee.
The Bulls are excited to be back on the field and look forward to proving that they are a force to be reckoned with in the MAC. Expectations are high and the players are confident with the team they have.
"Expectations are to win the MAC Championship," said Winters. "Talk is cheap, but we have the talent and drive to do it. We just have to keep working hard and pushing each other to get better as a team."
-Written by Zach Ruske