TicketsCINCINNATI – The Cincinnati football program held its first scrimmage of fall camp on Sunday at Nippert Stadium.
The Bearcats scrimmaged for two hours and more than 90 plays in the heat, with temperatures reaching the 90s. The practice left head coach Scott Satterfield with plenty of football to digest.
“Today was our first big scrimmage,” Satterfield said. “It was a great day for this because it was close to 90 degrees out here, we wanted to see what guys could do out there. Everything we’ve done in camp so far has been scripted, so getting them out there today and putting together some drives was awesome. We needed to see that. With each position group, we want to see guys making plays. When we go back and watch the film and dissect it, are the guys we have to be counting on out there making plays?”
The offense shined on Sunday with redshirt junior quarterback Brendan Sorsby making several plays, including touchdowns to wide receivers junior Caleb Goodie, senior Cyrus Allen, junior Noah Jennings and sophomore Isaiah Johnson. Redshirt senior Brady Lichtenberg made a nice throw to find Johnson for a touchdown as well, and redshirt freshman QB Samaj Jones found redshirt sophomore wide receiver Barry Jackson Jr. for a score near the end of the scrimmage.
Freshman running back Zion Johnson also found the end zone multiple times to lead an impressive day for the backfield.
The last play of the day went the defense’s way, as sophomore linebacker Darrell Gipson nabbed an interception off a tipped pass.
“Sorsby had some really good plays, the receivers had some good plays out there today as well,” Satterfield said. “I thought the running backs ran well; they saw some holes and burst through them, I thought that was good. We got a lot of great film today, and that’s what you want out of the first scrimmage.”
Sorsby has an almost entirely new wide receiver room to play with as Allen, Goodie, Jennings and Johnson as well as senior Jeff Caldwell all joined the program through the transfer portal this offseason. The Bearcats’ incumbent starting quarterback has worked with his new receivers for months to develop a rapport, and the work is paying off.
“I think they showed how deep they are today,” Sorsby said. “There are a lot of guys in that room who can go out there and make plays and guys that I can count on when I’m out on the field. Props to those guys and the work they’re putting in, it’s showing up out there.”
With Sorsby back in the fold, All-Big 12 tight end Joe Royer back in Clifton, and running backs Evan Pryor and Tawee Walker in the backfield, Cincinnati’s offense could produce some fireworks in 2025.
“We just need to continue to stay consistent,” Sorsby said. “We showed out there today that we can be explosive. There were some things that we missed but we still had a really good day. Now we need to go in and correct those mistakes and see how perfect we can be and see how far we can take this thing, because I think we can be really special on offense.”
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