ORLANDO (UCFKnights.com) – The Knights held their first full scrimmage of the spring Monday morning. After roughly 90 minutes of work, UCF head coach Scott Frost had seen enough.
"It was a shorter practice than normal," Frost said afterward. "We got the work that we needed to in, so we cut it off. Last year, we felt like we needed more work and kept going. This year, I thought the guys responded well and came out ready to go. We got our work done quickly."
One area where Coach Frost wants to see improvement over last season is in the running game. He was pleased with how the Knights rushed the ball in Monday's scrimmage.
"We're coming off the ball and moving the ball in the run game better," he said. "That's against a good D-line. We've got some good guys in the front seven on D. Our offensive line has done a better job, tight ends … receivers … of blocking and moving people. If we can get the run game cranked up, everything else will come along with it."
Of course the running game starts with the big fellas up front on the offensive line. Frost compared where he'd like to be on the offensive line with the way the Knights' defensive line operated last season.
"We got to a point pretty quickly last year on the defensive line where we trusted a lot of guys in the game," Frost said. "I think it made a big difference. We definitely had a first unit. But there were a lot of guys who came into the game and played 10, 20, 30 reps a game. They played well in their reps and that helped the starters. We need to get there on the offensive line, too. I'd love to see us play seven or eight guys during the course of a game on the O-line."
Frost picked out a handful of Knights for praise following the scrimmage, including wide receiver Tre'Quan Smith, linebacker Shaquem Griffin and defensive lineman Trysten Hill. He was also pleased with both lines.
"We've got some playmakers on this team and they did their job today," Frost said.
