Field goals, defense highlight Cincinnati Bearcats football spring showcase scrimmage (2025)

It was a good day to play two at the University of Cincinnati April 12.

The Cincinnati Bearcats football squad got in a sun-splashed, 76-play controlled scrimmage just after noon followed by a Big 12 baseball game adjacent to Nippert Stadium with UC facing Arizona State.

Football-wise, UC had its lettermen's golf outing Friday, then their traditional Captain's breakfast Saturday morning before the Bearcats took to "The Nipp" for a spring preview. Numerous former players were on hand including former NFL players Haruki Nakamura and Antwan Peek.

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Some top Bearcats either didn't play or played sparingly as a precaution. Nose tackle Dontay Corleone did not play but it was more for safety reasons. Corleone and tight end Joe Royer ended the day throwing out the first pitch at Great American Ball Park before the Reds vs. Pirates game.

"When you're playing a lot of young players, you can't do a whole lot," UC coach Scott Satterfield said. "You want to be simple and let those guys play. Obviously, we're not game planning anything today, we're just running plays out and seeing what the guys do."

As for the action on the gridiron, it was somewhat vanilla, which is not unusual for such spring scrimmages. Four quarterbacks saw action. Here are the highlights of each:

Starting UC quarterback Brendan Sorsby sees limited action

Sorsby started the scrimmage with running back Evan Pryor behind him. He had a nice completion to Texas A&M transfer receiver Cyrus Allen who looks like he'll be a factor in the offense. Allen may have gotten more looks as UC played it safe and kept Sorsby's touchdown man from last year, Tony Johnson, on the sidelines.

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Pryor and Wisconsin transfer Tawee Walker got some hand-offs, but the bulk of the days running went to Chance Williams and redshirt freshman Jakorian Caffey.

Williams had the longest run of the day breaking off a 50-plus yarder late in the contest.

"It was good to be back," Sorsby said. "We had a good turnout of fans out here. Obviously, we wish we would have put the ball in the end zone a little bit more but we had a solid, productive day. The defense did a great job. It felt good to get back out here."

UC quarterback Samaj Jones gets most repetitions

Jones, a redshirt freshman from Philadelphia, was sent out to direct three drives, then had a pair of short-yardage (from the 10-yard line) possessions to end the scrimmage.

He twice directed drives that ended with field goals as new kicker Stephen Rusnak banged in a pair from 47 and 49 yards, respectively.

"You want to see some field goals in an atmosphere like this and that was good, we knocked those down," Satterfield said.

Rusnak made all 11 of his field goals last season at Charlotte, with a long of 54 yards.

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On the day he had nice completions to junior Charleston Southern transfer Noah Jennings and redshirt freshman speedster Dakari Anderson. In the short yardage drill, he had a touchdown to freshman tight end Ka'Mauri Smith, who was greeted immediately after the score by starting tight end Joe Royer.

While a good note for the defense, the scrimmage ended with Kye Stokes picking off Jones in the left corner of the end zone nearest the student section.

Veteran UC backup Brady Lichtenberg has most TD tosses

Lichtenberg was the third UC quarterback in, but after completions to Barry Jackson Jr., Wayne High School's Smith, and Dakari Anderson, he was picked off on the UC sideline by New Mexico State transfer safety Tayden Barnes. Coach Satterfield is an offensive-minded coach, but was happy for his defense with three picks on the day.

"Those are game-changing type plays," Satterfield said. "We've got to be able to do that. He (Barnes) is not very big but he plays bigger than he is (5-foot-10, 185). He'll come down and strike you. He's very physical for a small player. He's had a done of great reps this spring."

Said Barnes, "It was a scramble drill so I was just trying to attach to a body and make sure the dude I was attached to wasn't able to catch the ball. I just saw the ball, attacked it and tried to keep my toes in bounds and I did."

Barnes celebrated his highlight by chucking the football in the stands. During a controlled srimmage, that is not a penalty.

Lichtenberg made up for the pick in his next series with completions to redshirt freshman Elijah Jones, then a pair of tosses to 6-foot-5 Lindenwood transfer Jeff Caldwell, the second being a 15-yard touchdown.

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In the short-yardage scenarios, Lichtenberg added another touchdown toss to sophomore tight end Gavin Grover. He was also behind center for the second scoring run of the day by Chance Williams.

While not necessarily a highlight during his time, new punter Max Fletcher unleased a punt that went about 65 yards and was recovered inside the 5-yard-line after a Lichtenberg possession.

New UC quarterback Zebulin Kinsey gets rudely welcomed

The only quarterback to be "live" in a white jersey was true freshman Kinsey who was immediately sacked by redshirt junior Drew Logan. The UC defense smelled blood as Antwan Peek Jr. intercepted Kinsey a few plays later.

Peek Jr. made the pick shortly after his father, UC Hall of Famer Antwan Peek, appeared on the videoboard in an interview.

"I already know on Monday coaches are going to get on me about getting to the sideline," Peek Jr. said of his post-interception return. "I was thinking about my old running back days, trying to cut it across the field."

Peek Jr. had heard his father over the PA but took his advice of blocking out background noise and focused on making the play.

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The highlight of Kinsey's time on the field was the handoff to redshirt junior Williams which went for the day's longest score.

UC's Satterfield on portal, future spring games

While UC played against themselves Saturday, there has been talk around the NCAA of using spring games for actual competitions with other teams. Colorado's Deion Sanders has openly talked of playing another team. Perhaps, in Big 12 solidarity, Scott Satterfield agrees with Coach Prime.

"I would not mind playing another team," Satterfield said. "Toward the end of spring practice, you're tired of hitting each other. I think it's a good opportunity too. If you're playing somebody else, you only have to worry about 11 guys as opposed to 22 when you think about injuries and that type of thing. I think it's a great opportunity to showcase your team. I think the fans would come out and you get an opportunity to make money for the programs."

The college football transfer portal also opens Wednesday, April 16. Satterfield doesn't think it will be as crazy as the basketball portal, but there could be some moves.

"We'll see what's out there," Satterfield said. "We'll meet with our guys and see where we're at in any position of need. I don't foresee us getting very many guys, maybe two, three, four guys. Something like that."

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Bearcats football runs controlled scrimmage for fans