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SAN ANTONIO — Sophomore safety Brian King posted seven tackles and broke up a pair of passes to lead a strong showing by the defense in UTSA's first spring scrimmage on Saturday morning at Dub Farris Stadium.
King, an Orlando, Fla., native and transfer from Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College, was one of six Roadrunners who recorded five or more stops to help the defense limit the offense to just three points on nine drives.
Senior linebacker Brandon Reeves, sophomore safety Triston Wade and redshirt freshman cornerback Malcom Scott registered six tackles apiece, while senior safety Sean Luchnick and junior linebacker Steven Kurfehs turned in five each.
"I really thought the defense played with a lot of energy and passion today," head coach Larry Coker said. "We had many guys flying to the ball and gang-tackling and that's what you want to see. That shows the effort is there."
After forcing punts on the first two possessions, the defense allowed the offense to reach the 22-yard line on a 53-yard drive before forcing a 39-yard field goal attempt by sophomore Sean Ianno. However, junior cornerback Erik Brown came off the left edge and blocked the kick to keep the scrimmage scoreless.
The offense broke through for the only score of the day on the next drive.
Junior quarterback Tucker Carter guided the Roadrunners on a nine-play, 48-yard march that was capped by a 44-yard field goal by sophomore Kristian Stern.
Junior quarterback Eric Soza then engineered the longest drive of the workout, leading UTSA down to inside the 10-yard line on nine plays. On the 10th play, however, senior defensive end Marlon Smith forced a fumble of junior running back Evans Okotcha at the one and the ball bounced out of the back of the end zone for a touchback.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Ryan Polite was under center on the next possession and he also led the Birds inside the 10. However, the defense held on fourth and goal from the 6-yard line to halt the 69-yard march.
The defense forced a three-and-out and stopped the offense on fourth down twice on the last three drives to cap the scrimmage.
Sophomore receiver Mike Wilburn hauled in seven catches for 100 yards with a long of 25 to lead the offense. Meanwhile, sophomore receiver Earon Holmes racked up 48 on three receptions, including a 27-yard connection from Soza for the longest play of the day. Sophomore running back David Glasco II led the ground game with 22 yards on four carries and Okotcha rushed for 20 on seven totes.
In shared duties among six signal-callers, Carter completed 11-of-18 for 92 yards, while Soza was 5-for-7 for 54 yards. Polite connected on four passes for 67 yards and also rushed four times for 11 yards.
"I thought we had very good first week of practice," Coker said. "We are definitely ahead of where we were at this time last year, but we obviously still have a lot of work to do to get to where we need to be. The great thing about it is all the guys are excited about practice and working hard each day they come out here."
The Roadrunners have nine practices and one scrimmage left before the second annual UTSA Football Fiesta Spring Game presented by Health Texas, which is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 15, at the Alamodome.