CONWAY, Ark. _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears finished off their first preseason scrimmage on Saturday with what head coach Clint Conque called an “up and down” day.
The Bears, in one of their earliest scrimmages in recent memory, worked about an hour and a half before a nice crowd at First Security Field at Estes Stadium.
“I talk to our players all the time about being a thermostat, but today I thought we were a little more like a thermometer, a little up and down,’ said Conque. “But that’s to be expected. We limited some veteran players to a certain number of opportunities. And we only had six practices prior to today.
“But we wanted to get an early indication of where we were and our maturity level, and the areas that we need to make improvement on. I saw some really good things, then there were obviously some things we need to get corrected, whether it be personnel or schemes or whatever. This gives the coaching staff an early indication of where we were are in all areas and where we need the work.’
The offense was sparked by a veteran receiving corps and the running of senior Jackie Hinton.
“Certainly having Jackie on the field gives us another big-play weapon in both the run game and the pass game, and we saw that today in his limited work,’ said Conque. “He’s a physical presence and runs with a lot of confidence. He’s a very powerful running back.
“And our skill kids certainly made some plays today. Touchdowns from Dominique Croom on a 60-yard touchdown reception, Al Lasker on a red-zone fade, Brett Soft on a red-zone inside route... And Jesse Grandy and Dezmin Lewis both made some plays out there, as well. All that reaffirmed to us that we definitely have some playmakers at the wide receiver position.’
Conque said they failed to involve as many young players as he would have liked, although sophomore Damian Watts did catch a 40-yard plus touchdown pass from Jacoby Walker.
Defensively, the Bears had nice pressure on the quarterbacks throughout the day, according to Conque.
“I thought the defensive line kept constant pressure on the offense,’ he said. “(Junior defensive end) Markeith Gaines is just playing at a phenomenal level right now, his effort and his confidence. T.J. Randall inside, along with Matt Hornbuckle, are really playing well. And D. J. Willis, too. And it was nice to get Larry Duvall back out there for limited action.’
Conque also praised the punting of senior Kevin Buford and the kicking of sophomore Eddie Camara.
But he said overall there is certainly room for improvement, in nearly all areas.
“Overall, as a football team, there is a lot of room for growth,’ he said. “We have to play faster, we have to substitute faster. As a coaching staff, our mechanics have to be better. This was just a really good early indication of where we are, where our weaknesses are, where are strengths are.
“And now the next seven days become very critical in the development of our football team. We have to make sure we have players at the right positions, make sure our execution continues to improve, make sure we aren’t asking our players to do something they aren’t capable of doing. The other thing is just gain conditioning.
“We hope to make major improvements from scrimmage No. 1 to scrimmage 2.’
