Bulls Conclude First Week of Spring Practice with Scrimmage

Bulls scrimmaged in full pads

Naaman Roosevelt

BUFFALO, NY - The University at Buffalo football team continued its spring drills on Saturday afternoon with a scrimmage at UB Stadium. It was the fifth practice of the spring session that will conclude with the Blue and White Scrimmage on April 18.

Head Coach Turner Gill was pleased with what he saw on the field on Saturday.

“I saw some good things on each side of the ball,” Gill said. “Defensively, I saw some guys run around pretty good. Offensively, we ran plays with good execution. We have some positions where we are trying to fill some spots. Overall I thought it was pretty good.”

The biggest question mark heading into the 2009 season is who will fill the shoes of quarterback Drew Willy. Gill is confident in the trio of signal callers he has this spring and is looking forward to the competition to see which one will step up to earn the job.

Zach Maynard took a majority of the snaps in Saturday’s scrimmage and Gill will lean on the southpaw sophomore to build on his experience from a season ago.

“Zach has a better understanding of our whole offense right now. He is doing a good job of calling the plays in practice,” Gill said. “Jerry (Davis) and Cory (Jorgensen) are a little bit behind from that standpoint, but they have done some good things too throughout the practices. Right now Zach is the lead guy, but we have a long way to go.”

Whoever is playing quarterback will have the luxury of having a pair of first-team All-MAC weapons in his arsenal in running back James Starks and wideout Naaman Roosevelt and Gill knows that can only aid in the development of a young quarterback.

“It makes it comforting for the quarterback to know that he doesn’t have to make all the plays,” Gill said. “Obviously, a quarterback is going to have to make some plays, no matter what kind of offense you run. We have an outstanding running game. We have receivers that understand things and have a lot of experience. We have a great supporting cast, so he won’t have to carry us on his shoulders to lead our football team to win a lot of games and win championships.”

Gill and the Bulls are excited to be back on the field and look forward to defending their MAC Championship. Gill isn’t worried about the heightened expectations. In fact, he almost welcomes them.

“Our expectations are always going to be to win the MAC Championship, to go to a bowl game and to win a bowl game,” Gill said. “That’s what this program should be, that’s where we are and that’s where we should be from year to year.”