April 7, 2006
ORLANDO - The UCF football team held its 10th practice of the spring in shorts and shoulder pads Friday morning inside the Nicholson Fieldhouse. The Golden Knights went through their final preparations for Saturday's morning scrimmage. The officiated scrimmage is the second of the spring for the Golden Knights.
"We have eight or nine players banged up right now, so some of the other guys will get reps tomorrow," commented UCF head coach George O'Leary. "We will see if they can keep up with the speed of the game. We are looking tomorrow to see who will be a playmaker on offense and defense. I want to see guys who can make plays in space."
The first part of practice Friday was spent on one-on-one drills, as the offensive line battled the defensive line, the cornerbacks worked against the wide receivers and the running backs and linebackers faced each other in pass situations.
Once practice moved into team periods of work, the Golden Knights worked on their red zone offensive and defensive units and also worked on blitz packages.
In 11-on-11 drills, sophomore cornerback Joe Burnett was all over the field, breaking up three passes. He did allow a deep pass down the sideline from senior quarterback Steven Moffett to junior wide receiver Sergio Joachim.
The Golden Knights return to the practice field Saturday from 10 a.m.-12 noon.
Practice Notes: Moffett found sophomore wide receiver Rocky Ross on three occasions during team drills Friday morning ... Moffett also completed a pass to sophomore wide receiver Willie Thornton over the middle. Thornton caught the pass and raced up the sideline for a long gain ... Junior defensive end Randy Dozier made a big hit on redshirt freshman tight end Travis Ferrer out of the backfield, forcing Ferrer to fumble ... Junior defensive end Emeka Okammor stunned sophomore tailback Kevin Smith with a solid shot near the end of practice ... O'Leary ended practice with junior place-kicker Michael Torres making a field goal from 52 yards. O'Leary put the pressure on Torres, telling the team if he missed the field goal, the team would run at the conclusion of practice. Torres drilled the field goal down the middle.