Scrimmage Observations 4/10

Submitted by michWolves2580 on

[Ed: couple of first-hand observations posted on the message board that jive with those of a couple sources of mine who were also there. Those will be coming early next week.]

I was at today's scrimmage and noticed a couple of things:

-the final score was 59-53 offense... it was 53-42 when they went to a segment called last play from the 3 yard line with the defense up by 4. defense stuffed the offense twice then Denard ran in for the win.

-everyone played. walk on slot receiver #10 (not gallon) i think his name is Jordan Barpal had a terrific catch in the back of the endzone for a touchdown from Jack Lennedy.

-John McColgan looked good at FB.. even had a td reception.

-Stephen Hopkins is the real deal. He was running with the 1s has the "big back" and had some really tough runs. I love the way he finishes his runs and really punishes defenders.

-the QB competition is WIDE OPEN. All 3 played with all the lineman and WRs. ( it seemed like they were rotating the QBs with no regard as to which offensive teams were going in.)

-Taylor Lewan looked very good. he played LT with the first team and the second

-the defense looked phenomenal. There tackling was like night and day from last season. There was only one missed tackle that I saw, and it was on a great move by Mike Cox who looped back around and ended up being tackled for a loss by Thomas Gordon.

I was very impressed by today. The team seems to really be coming along.

GO BLUE

Another Report Pulled From Lower In the Thread

I was there too and concur with the OP and was pleasantly surprised.

I would add:

Fitzy had a nice run. He was solid. Stephen looked the best on this particular day though.

Thomas Gordon seems to be the best fit for the Stevie Brown Spur/Bandit position for now. I would be curious to see if he will beat out Marvin, or even Cam, or JT Turner.I think they will have to move JT Turner to one of the safety spots when the other frosh get in. That young lad had himself a growth spurt. He is a big kid. It will be interesting to see what they do with him once they get depth this summer at CB

The LB's or secondary didn't suck. I was pleasantly surprised. Troy is pretty good at that CB spot. The defense as a whole was better against the run than I ever would have thought based on last year.

Devin was owning the 2 and 3rd team D. He is the real deal, I don't care what string he was playing against. He seems to have the best shot of us having a vertical game whenever he takes the reins. Denard has a cannon, but doesn't have the touch that Devin has. Devin had a long gainer to Gallon. When Devin played with the 1's he threw a TD to Roundtree.

Denard seemed to have the most success moving the ball against the first team D. He was carving up the D when running the zone read, has a cannon, lacks a little touch on the short and intermediate stuff. If they want to stay true to the West Virginia style O, then Denard has to be the guy this year. He reads it pretty well, and has the explosiveness necessary to get around the corner obviously.

Tate was pretty decent. Didn't get as much time with the 1's as Denard. Tate is Tate. Pretty accurate on the short and intermediate stuff, not as explosive as the others when running the zone read. He did okay though. He can win football games, they just have to tailor the play calling to his strengths.

I would guess that we see more of a rotation this year as opposed to last year when Tate was getting the majority of the snaps. Devin is the real deal, I would hate to be the coaches if they wanted to keep a redshirt on that kid. I wouldn't be able to do it.

Either way. Denard has to be on the field somewhere. You can tell he is putting it together. He is way too explosive to spend as much time on the sidelines as he did last year.

The Oline seems to be a lot better too. Taylor Lewan was getting a lot of time at LT and did really well. It wouldn't surprise me if he just didn't let that spot go.

Cam is a ball hawk. He is very much a see ball, hit ball kind of player, and seems to be just fine at that deep safety if he has to stay there. They tested him a little bit.

It wouldn't surprise me though that when the fall frosh comes in to see them work JT Turner in back there, and move Cam up to a Spur/Bandit position to get the best 11 out there. You can see the talent in JT, the sky is not falling with him, but he has outgrown corner and in my opinion is only there this spring because they don't have depth to move him. JT is big enough now to work into a spur/bandit type roll too.He looks to be in the 210-215ish range.

One fumble, but no turnovers up until the point I left. I had to jet a little early.

All in all I came out actually more impressed with the defense than the offense. Logic tells me that is a good thing, but with this team....who knows?

In Which Your Editor Provides A Short Addendum

I also heard that Hopkins was killing people today in a fashion similar to a squatter Minor, although I'm guessing with less speed since a 230-pound running back who's as fast as Minor is not a generic three star recruit. The quarterback situation seems utterly confused; depending on who you talk to any of the three is the likely starter against UConn. Running back is also a jumble.

One thing that is becoming more and more certain: Taylor Lewan is locking down the left tackle spot, which is great news.

Comments

pee on freep

April 10th, 2010 at 2:35 PM ^

i didn't see too many thank you's down there; as such, Thank you 2580 for the Manna. and thank you to all for these updates. even if sometimes they have judgement or weak predictions (which this did not) they are so enjoyable to read during the offseason. Thank you. Go Blue!!!!!!!!
Can't wait to see squished buckeyes ground into that stupid-ass horse(shit) stadium!!!!!!

Hoken's Heroes

April 10th, 2010 at 12:55 PM ^

I hope that the improved tackling you witnessed translates to season games. I have had it up to my hairy chin chin with piss poor tackling by this team over the last several years.

burntorange wi…

April 10th, 2010 at 8:06 PM ^

kick a man while hes down and having serious problems just cuz you are bitter of a defeat in a college football GAME? idc how much im gonna get negged for this: fuck you.

i understand that this is sarcasm but there are things u joke about and there are things u dont joke about. the mental health of a 26 year old athlete is not something u joke about.

mrider

April 10th, 2010 at 12:58 PM ^

This is very encouraging. Then when we get some of the blue chips from this recruiting class contributing and we will be set. I really think this team is going to surprise some people.

exmtroj

April 10th, 2010 at 1:21 PM ^

Sounds more like the staff wants all three QB's to be able to play at any given time, probably to use their different skill sets/strengths and keep the D guessing. There might not be a "competition" per se, just planning on using all three.

Ziff72

April 10th, 2010 at 1:22 PM ^

Thanks for the info, but the Qb competition is this.... Tate will start and Denard will play a certain percentage at QB as well.

If you believe there is really a competition then at least wait until fall to go nuts about how many reps they are taking in practice. The Spring means very little to the actual final depth chart.

aaamichfan

April 10th, 2010 at 3:07 PM ^

At this point, that is probably just coachspeak intended to increase competition between Tate, Devin, and Denard.

However.....because each player possesses a different set of skills, it is certainly not outrageous to believe that any one of them can improve enough in the next 5 months to win the job.

I've heard that the main reason Devin chose Michigan over Florida was because RR promised him a legitimate opportunity to compete for the starting job as a freshman. If he can add weight over the Summer and learn the playbook, it's not outside the realm of possibility that his natural ability makes him the best man for the job in September.

Personally, I hope for a fierce competition where all three guys emerge as capable starters. I'd prefer Tate's experience to win out, but RR is going to choose whoever gives us the best opportunity. May the best man win.

blueblueblue

April 10th, 2010 at 3:47 PM ^

Wait - saying "At this point that is probably just coachspeak" means that the coaches have decided who will start. If so, that conflicts with your later argument that Devin could gain the start over the summer.

Also, I would argue that while it is "not outside of the realm of possibility" that Devin will start, it is at the edge of possibility. Little is outside the realm of possibility, which means that such a discussion tells us very little. I think it is a safe bet that Devin will not start. I am very willing to eat those words in September, but I think my doing so is only slightly inside the realm of possibility.

blueblueblue

April 10th, 2010 at 4:57 PM ^

You make a false distinction. The comment was in terms of who would start at the beginning of the season, not who leads today: "Anybody who says they know who the QB will be is kidding themselves...this straight from a coach today!"

Again, it says "who the coach WILL BE". That means who will start at the SEASON. My point was simply that this is not coachspeak. The coaches are honest and shooting straight in that the competition is wide open for the starting job in Sept, even if they think there is a leader now. Who leads now was not the issue.