UC football takes brief break from Higher Ground for scrimmage at Nippert Stadium

Three weeks before they'll officially grace the field named after Jimmy Nippert, the University of Cincinnati football Bearcats took a brief break from Camp Higher Ground activities to scrimmage on their home turf.

Running roughly 120 plays, Coach Scott Satterfield saw some early highlights from the defense, then some explosiveness from the offense with many of the highlights coming from the quarterback position. Emory Jones, Brady Lichtenberg and Brady Drogosh all had rushing touchdowns and are currently running in that order on the depth chart.

"We got exactly what we wanted out of it, we got to see a lot of guys," Satterfield said.

Defensive coordinator Bryan Brown was very pleased with his No. 1 unit which caused some initial havoc.

"There's some dudes!" Brown said. "I think they'll be one of the best in the Big 12, maybe in the country to be honest with you."

Redshirt sophomore Dontay Corleone and senior Jowon Briggs were held out of some reps on purpose, but Brown's men still played intensely as if it were a real game.

"We've got to get those big boys to the fight," Brown said. "I don't need to see a whole lot from them in scrimmages."

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Said Corleone, "You've got to hold me back from myself. I want to have all the reps. The ones I wasn't in, I was trying to lead the second unit."

Boom goes the dynamite

As for hits that caught everyone's attention, Deshawn Pace blew up an outlet pass to Corey Kiner, something he'll be doing in his hybrid star position this season. Linebacker Dorian Jones, a Louisville transfer also had a bone-crushing tackle as did Sammy Anderson Jr., but the biggest hit came from redshirt junior Dion Hunter from New Mexico who came in after an Evan Prater reception, knocking off his helmet.

Prater was down a few minutes, but appears fine and was back on the sidelines.

"We always say, 'Make sure you protect your teammates,' because we need those guys on Saturday," Brown said. "But the game of football is a physical game and our guys came out today and played really, really physical."

Brown also enjoyed seeing interceptions by Arizona State transfer D.J. Taylor and redshirt freshman Oliver Bridges.

Rush of the day

Redshirt sophomore Myles Montgomery rambled 75 yards for the first eye-opening play of the day but was later trumped by true freshman quarterback Drogosh who got loose with his back to the end zone and whizzed 99 yards to the other end zone.

"That big guy can run!" Satterfield said. "That was special to be able to see that."

Late in the day, UC was in an overtime drill and Kiner was able to bulldoze 14 yards to the end zone.

Still a backfield by committee

Redshirt freshman Stephan Byrd also ran for a score, keeping his name in the mix for carries come September. Satterfield says they might not know a starter until the opener against Eastern Kentucky.

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"Myles showed some great speed on that 75-yard touchdown run," Satterfield said. "Corey in that do-or-die overtime scenario takes it from 14 out. As we stand here today I think those two guys are probably 1-2 in any particular order, quite honestly."

No denying the dual threat

Drogosh showed his wheels on the long run, but Jones makes it look easy at times. Obviously, the team is instructed not to pound the quarterback, but Jones seems to be extra elusive in the red zone.

"I like putting pressure on defenses with the quarterback run game," he said. "Today we made some really nice runs for first downs and touchdowns. It's a big part of our offense. What it does is open up your tailback runs and some throws downfield. We'll keep working it. (We're) not really giving anything away! Everybody's seen our offense over the years."

Satterfield says veteran Jones has done a great job of trying to sit in the pocket during practice. He doesn't think anyone's seen his true capabilities, but some of that was on display in this scrimmage.

"It's really just like a read," Jones said of his scoring jaunts. "I'm just reading the defense, reading the area. I feel like that will affect the game pretty well for us as an offense."

Numerous receivers were involved

With Dee Wiggins briefly sidelined from an injury the day before, Xzavier Henderson got his reps and Washington State transfer Donovan Ollie and Connecticut transfer Aaron Turner got some reps with the current No. 1 offense as well as former quarterback Prater. Still, No. 0 Braden Smith has consistently been a presence given his knowledge of the offense from playing at Louisville.

"Braden is back to where he was two years ago," Satterfield said. "He's fresh. He's showing some speed. He's been a weapon for us this whole camp."

Smith would certainly be a candidate for catch of the day on a fade from Jones, but Prater also looked sharp and hung on to a pass despite being leveled by Hunter (see hit of the day).

"It was a great catch!" Satterfield said. "He's had a really good last couple days. Evan has really shown that he can help our football team."

Back to the forest

The Bearcats are back for a final week at Camp Higher Ground in West Harrison, Indiana starting with Monday morning practice.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: UC's football returned to campus briefly over weekend to scrimmage