Utah Utes football: Defense impresses in Utes' scrimmage

The old adage says that the defense is always ahead of the offense in the early part of football camps.

That seemed to be the case at Utah's first scrimmage of fall camp Tuesday morning.

On the other hand it could have just been that there's a more noticeable gap between the Utes' first-team defense and backup offense than between the first-team offense and the backup defense.

Whatever, despite Brian Johnson's 9-of-10 passing performance in limited action, the defense was more impressive, keeping the offense out of the end zone for the most part and sacking backup quarterback Corbin Louks several times (minus-39 yards rushing).

"The first two units played well and we were able to get a lot of young kids some reps," said defensive coordinator Gary Andersen. "I thought their execution looked good on the field and their effort was very good. I would have liked to see some more turnovers — we had our hands on the ball a couple of times and couldn't get that done. We stopped the run for the most part and did a good job in third downs."

One of the standouts was defensive end Koa Misi, who has nailed down one of the starting positions on the defensive line. He led the defense with three sacks on the day for minus-16 yards.

"Our defense did a good job today. I think I did all right," Misi said. "I had help from Paul (Kruger) on the other side, pushing the quarterback my way to help me with the sacks. I think we're going to be good this year. It's all coming along well."

Defensive end Derrick Shelby and defensive back Terrell Cole each had a pair of tackles for losses.

"They flew around really well," coach Kyle Whittingham said. "It's a fast defense. We've been a fast defense for three or four years and getting faster every year."

D-LINE STARTERS SOLID: One of the big concerns coming into fall camp was the defensive line. However, according to Andersen and Whittingham, the starters are established and the Utes are looking for solid backups.

Paul Kruger and Misi are the defensive ends and Shelby, a redshirt freshman from Texas, is a solid third defensive end. After that there is a gap and Anderson said Christian Cox, a transfer from Southern Utah, and Junior Tui'one, a JC transfer from El Camino, are battling for the fourth spot.

"I really like the first three defensive ends, but we need to find a fourth defensive end," said Anderson said.