CONWAY -- After the fifth series of Saturday's scrimmage, Coach Nathan Brown wandered over to the offensive sideline at Estes Stadium.
From a distance, it was hard to make out what Brown had to say. From the volume alone, it was clear he was not pleased.
"I went over there and tried to light a fire in them," the University of Central Arkansas football coach said afterward. "It's been no secret over the last two years, our problem on offense is being a slow-starting team.
"My frustration was that we know that and we've got to generate some energy or self-motivated juice to get ourselves going. We weren't doing that. We let the defense punch us on offense, and we just kind of took it."
The Bears head into their final week of spring practice off an up-and-down showing Saturday as the offense found a little rhythm during the latter half of the two-hour situational scrimmage.
With spring practice pushed back from its usual start, UCA did not play its traditional Purple-Gray game but instead opted for a simulated game with the majority of series beginning on the offense's 30-yard line.
The early possessions were dominated by the defense, which constantly was getting into the offensive backfield with just its front four. Nathan Grant and Logan Jessup served as disruptors from the edges, and Jeremiah Gray -- who moved inside to defensive tackle after previously playing at end -- had little issue getting to the quarterback.
"Our defensive line on the front end of the scrimmage really dominated," Brown said. "They were controlling the line of scrimmage, knocking them back, tackles for loss and just really had our offensive line's heads spinning. They were just bringing the punch to them."
Incumbent starting quarterback Breylin Smith was limited Saturday, with Brown hoping to keep his veterans' snaps down to prevent the possibility of injury.
But with the white squad struggling to find a groove, Smith came back in and connected with star wideout Lujuan Winningham on back-to-back dimes, pushing the offense into the red zone and setting up a Hayden Ray field goal for the day's first score.
That got things going a little bit before the afternoon's two offensive highlights. Reserve quarterback Darius Bowers hit North Little Rock alum and Arkansas transfer Tobias Enlow on a 6-yard fade for the opening touchdown.
A few minutes later, with the offense backed up against its own goal line, Cameron Myers busted through the line for a 99-yard touchdown run.
Other than Smith's two throws to Winningham, there wasn't much downfield passing action going for the Bears' offense, with winds hovering between 15 and 20 miles per hour the entire afternoon.
"Throwing in wind is sometimes tougher than throwing in rain," Brown said. "We're going to play in a windy game [in the fall], so to get to throw and compete in it is good."
Outside of some inconsistencies, there were relatively few complaints as UCA continues to build toward its first full season in two years.
"We competed, the guys played hard and we stayed healthy, which is the goal in spring as a coach," Brown said.
