switch26

August 22nd, 2010 at 9:28 AM ^

So many possibilities of how we could start off the season stomping UCONN.  Let's hope it all comes together in 13 days

bluebrains98

August 22nd, 2010 at 9:34 AM ^

Looking good...nice to see some good offense and defense. Of course, these are just a few clips, but the defense seemed to be tackling well (except when Denard or V. Smith were juking them out of their shoes).

Marvin

August 22nd, 2010 at 10:15 AM ^

It was good to see V. Smith taking a hit there towards the end. He didn't look squeamish, which is the hardest thing after major knee surgery. So many offensive weapons. If we can hold teams under 30 I think we'll have a chance in most games. -- don't know why this posted twice.

Don

August 22nd, 2010 at 10:36 AM ^

If you compare Tate's helmet last year with those of his teammates, his appeared to have more padding and looked bigger in proportion to his head, which made him look to me like he was a peewee league kid. The helmet he was wearing yesterday looked the same as the other guys. Plus, there's reason to assume he's also physically bigger—he's probably still growing, and has probably put on some muscle on top of it.

MGoLiteral

August 22nd, 2010 at 10:35 AM ^

Ugh..the fact that most of the passes were to receivers who were standing still worries me, as it did all of last season. Fast DB's will shut that down in a hurry. I want to see the QB leading the receivers and the receivers catching the ball in stride.

Mlegacy

August 22nd, 2010 at 10:33 AM ^

The team looked good, a lot of offensive plays, hopefully not too telling of this years defense, but there were some plays made on both sides of the ball. 

I noticed that the runnings backs were doing pretty well. I was a little worried after the spring scrimmage, though I know it was just spring and I probably didn't need to be, but its good to see some production out of our RBs. Curious to see who's going to get the starting nod. 

13 days.

ND Sux

August 22nd, 2010 at 10:44 AM ^

seem decisive with their reads, but maybe they're scripted for these plays.  I see quick decisions and quick throws, which makes the offense seem smoother to me. 

I still think V Smith is ready for a big year if he stays healthy. 

dosleches

August 22nd, 2010 at 11:27 AM ^

Tate looks different, denard looking good (albeit against the van slyke's of our D), and vincent smith was cutting and everything! He's going to be 100% this season.

Beavis

August 22nd, 2010 at 12:06 PM ^

God our offense looks great and our defense looks awful. 

Just being real here - I am a little more concerned now that I've seen this. 

We're going to need to score ~35 points per game this year.

Beavis

August 23rd, 2010 at 12:52 PM ^

Very true - total zero sum game.  And as someone mentioned below - offense is likely to get more highlights than defense.

However, when you add in:

1) Last year's preseason impressions (offense looking better than D) and how they translated to real results

2) The number of people who said our D looked "vanilla" or "base"

3) The fact that we're starting a corner no one expected to start this year, and a MLB who was a FB as of a month ago

You seriously can't have high hopes for our defense this year, can you?  I mean, MAYBE we're a lot better against the run (if W. Campbell can step up and Moundros/Ezeh can fill the MLB gap).  And MAYBE that makes our D significantly better.  But for those hoping on a much better secondary?  I have a bridge in Brooklyn I want to sell you, partner.

MichiganStudent

August 22nd, 2010 at 4:41 PM ^

It is true, The offense looked great for most of the scrimmage and the defense looked not so good. Although, you could tell that the defense was very vanilla and almost 0 blitzes. When they did blitz it disrupted the offense very well. 

 

Players that stood out to me:

Devin Gardner: you can tell hes a freshman, but you can also tell that he is extremely gifted and will be the quarterback of the future. I'd almost be surprised if he did not start by years end and they moved Denard to "Percy Harvin" and "trick play pass specialist". If not this year it will be in the near future. 

Denard: Looked solid throwing the ball. Very few deep balls were attempted in the scrimmage so I cannot give you a good indication on that. He is obviously fast as hell as witnessed in this video. He had other shorter scrambles and designed runs that set him apart from the other 2 QB's. 

Tate: Solid throwing the ball. Good scrambling ability. Not as much zip on his throws or scrambling ability as Denard though. Experience and decision making look really good though. 

Shaw: explosive. Fast. 

Hopkins: big tough runner with some nice moves. He is Brandon Minor, no doubt, and has the potential to be better than him IMO. 

Smith: Very good runner. Has excellent balance and cutting ability. 

Cox: Got reamed out a few times by RR for not hitting the hole hard and instead dancing around in the backfield (I literally saw him deke 4 guys out of their shoes and 1 guy twice while he was in the backfield. Forward progress...not so much). Looked really good catching the ball out of the backfield though.

All the slots: especially K. Grady, Odoms, Gallon, Roundtree. Robinson looked good on returns, but did worry me a little with some drops (I do give him the benefit of the doubt on most of them because some were when the QB was pressured and threw a non "touch" ball towards him). 

Stonum: Looks like he might have a breakout year. Solid on returns and very good on receiving and being physical during and after the catch. Very excited about his all around game.

OLine: I do not know much about these guys because I do not know enough about line play to comment. But all of them looked very strong and I got a sense that they were more cohesive of a unit. Actually, the entire team looked more like a "team" as well.

 

DEFENSE:

I was really watching the offense more than I was watching the defense. So, I'm sorry but I don't have much to report. MRob had a nice interception. Patterson looked strong and fast. Herron caught Denard on a race to the corner. Moundros did not look out of place at all. He looks kind of like a white Ezeh (not sure if thats a compliment or not). 

It was tough for me to watch the defense because the offense just looked vastly superior to them. They did have some nice plays and good stops, but overall, they just are not as good of a unit as the offense is. I did notice that the defense was basically just doing base stuff, so I'm sure the lack of blitzing or confusing the offense played a major factor into their performance. 

maizenbluedevil

August 22nd, 2010 at 4:50 PM ^

Hopkins is gonna be a stud.  That is all.

Also, I could be wrong, but did it look to anyone else that the QBs were not hitting their recievers in stride?  It's like they had to wait - or stop - until the ball got to them.  

I realize some of the pass plays we saw were bubble screens, which , I think the recievers aren't necessarily supposed to be hit in stride for... but the other ones concerned me.

Also, good to see Tate.  I wonder if they intentionally included more footage of him to ease people's panic.

Also, nice end-around to Kelvin Grady.  

Also, I have no idea how to even begin evaluating our defense so I'll read others' comments about that.

That is all. =)