The UB football team closed the spring portion of its practice regimen on Saturday with the annual Blue-White Scrimmage, a game that pits the Bulls' defense against the Bulls' offense. The game also traditionally wraps up the spring off-season until summer training camp commences in August.
Despite a competitive battle, the "White" team (offense) emerged victorious over the "Blue" team (defense), 50-24.
The scrimmage was played at Walter Kunz Stadium, formerly known as "Old UB Stadium." Prior to kickoff, the stadium was dedicated to Kunz, a former UB faculty member and a longtime advocate for the Division of Athletics.
The standout player of the game was redshirt freshman running back Joe Cerminara, who scored three touchdowns while amassing 104 yards rushing on 14 carries, including one touchdown run of 42 yards.
Criticized for being sluggish at times, Cerminara felt confident that he had proven his critics wrong and in turn, shown he has the tools necessary to make a dent in the Bulls' already fleet-footed rushing corps.
"I'm just trying to do the best I can. If people want to say that I'm too slow, then they can come out here and see what happened today. I'm not trying to prove anything to people. I'm just trying to show that I can play at this level," Cerminara said.
UB head coach Jim Hofher also praised Cerminara's performance.
"Joe really has worked very hard. It's nice to see a young guy keep developing and improving," said Hofher. "He's got a great attitude and he's a wonderful guy and he's local. He had a long run, and did a nice job in the goal line area too."
Going into next season, the biggest question for the Bulls is who will fill the role of starting quarterback.
Last year, four different quarterbacks took snaps for the Bulls, but none of them were on the Bulls' spring practice roster this year. Randall Secky is graduating, P.J. Piskorik is no longer with the team, Chris Moore is recovering from an injury and Datwan Hemingway is taking a semester off from the team for personal reasons. In turn, there is a great chance that the starting quarterback for the Bulls next year will not have taken a Division I snap until his first start with the Bulls.
The only two quarterbacks on the spring practice roster who took place in the Blue-White scrimmage were junior-college transfer Tony Paoli and junior Stewart Sampsel. Sampsel took a few snaps for the Bulls two years ago, but never played the majority of a game or threw for any yards.
Unconcerned about rivalries developing or heightened tensions within the Bulls, Hofher views the open quarterback slot as a valuable learning experience for his young and inexperienced players.
"We're not pitting one guy against another; we're pitting a guy against himself. What does he know now, what more can he learn, how much more can he develop, how much more will he be able to execute flawlessly because of what he's learned, and prepared. It's not Tony against Stew, Stew against Tony, because that becomes fractious on your team," said Hofher. "It's Stew against Stew, Tony against Tony. What I think we'll have is two guys who are going to be able to help our team, they're past that point of can they or can't they, now it's just a matter of how good can they become."
Paoli, a transfer from Palomar Junior College, likes the fact that there is competition for the starting position.
"Competition makes everyone better;" Paoli said. "I wouldn't be here if I didn't think that I could win the job, but it's fun competing. The bottom line is whoever makes plays and puts the team in a position to win is going to get the job. I'm just psyched to be here and have a chance to compete at a Division I school. I want to be the starting quarterback, that's what I am here for, but Stew had a good spring and I'm good friends (with Sampsel) and we'll take it from there."
Since coming to UB in January, Paoli has found a lot of differences between playing football at junior college and playing at the Division I level.
"JC ball is about going out there and just winging it. It's not as structured, you're out there just playing. Its real competitive ball and you have real good athletes, but as far as the structure goes, it's a lot more street ball. Guys are out there flying around, and you just throw to whoever's open," said Paoli. "That's been the biggest difference coming here, but I'm loving it."
Though the final score favored the offense heavily, there were many times when the defensive line experienced a great amount of success, with sophomore defensive end James Judges finishing the afternoon with four sacks.
Hofher also noted the relative success on the defense side of the ball.
"We have seen all spring, guys playing with great enthusiasm, good contact level, and good fundamentals," said Hofher. "We have thrown almost as much at our defensive players schematically as we have our offensive players. We're more veteran on defense then we are on offense, we don't lack for veterans on offense, but we're even more veteran on defense, and that's exciting. These guys know how to come to work on a daily basis, now we just have to play better."
With the tough 2005 schedule recently released, Hofher maintains very clear goals and expectations for his team.
"Everyone has to play their absolute best, all the time." Hofher said. "That will be good enough with our program. If everybody does that, we're going to have tons of success. If everybody is playing at their very best, we will perform at a high level."
The football season is set to start on Sept. 3 at Connecticut with the home opener scheduled for Sept. 17 against Rutgers.
Photo: Courtesy of SUNY
