Thanks.  Glad you didn't put anything in there re: formations.

....that is bad news.  Not that Gardner couldn't play...I think he is easily talented enough.  I think it would mean, however, something terrible for DRob and Tate, which would mean bad things for the team.  I RRod feels comfortable leaving Gardner out, that spells good things for the team. 

Who was playing with the first string?  Was it all three of them?  How much pressure was being put on the QB's?  Some of Denard's passes in the spring game were due to the fact that there were only about two second-string D-lineman making a token effort to rush him.  Not saying that he isn't better right now, but on a team this young there is a pretty big difference between taking snaps with the 1's or 2's.

...scrimmage impressions post is up.  Lots to chew on there. Some excerts.

• Unless something crazy happens between now and September 4, Denard Robinson is your clear starter at quarterback.
• Devin Gardner, running mostly with the twos, looked at times like a seasoned veteran, but he had a couple throws — including an ugly interception to Marvin Robinson — that reminded everyone he is just a freshman.
• Tate Forcier started with the threes but saw snaps with the ones and twos as well — he looked solid throwing the ball, but made a couple poor reads on zone running plays.
• It was great to see Vincent Smith out there running with the first-team offense, and he looks 100% healthy. The most impressive back, however, may have been Stephen Hopkins.
• Kelvin Grady had a very impressive day, making some great catches on seam routes from the slot, getting a lot of yards after the catch on screen plays, and scoring a touchdown on an end-around.
• On defense, I was most impressed with the play of Mark Moundros, who showed good instincts in the run game and had a couple really nice hits — he was playing alongside Obi Ezeh with the ones, with Jonas Mouton sitting out in a green jersey.
• J.T. Floyd and James Rogers were the cornerbacks on the first-team defense. Floyd looked solid, but Rogers got picked on a couple times and got hit with a pass interference flag after getting beat deep by Jerald Robinson. The secondary in general looked very suspect.
• From the few kicks we were able to see, Brendan Gibbons looked like the best kicker, but he still has to get more consistent from inside 40 yards — just can’t afford to miss those kicks. Will Hagerup had an up-and-down day punting the ball.

2 questions, 

was the scrimmage 1s vs 1s or 1s vs 2s that you could tell?

And did the defense run any man coverage or was it all zone?

DG might not get a redshirt, 1. being that he was promised the chance to compete when he was recruited, and if he competes his way to play, then he should play..........If he is good enough and the media (or us at mgoblog) make it sound like he is good enough to play but will redshirt just because we want to keep him for an extra year, then we probably will have a tough time selling the "chance to compete" to future recruits. And 2. maybe i need to l need to look up the rules for declaring for the NFL draft, but if he's as good as people are making him sound, we might want just want to get him on the field while we actually have a chance. This is a tough decision for a coach , but something tells me RR doesn't see too much talent at QB as much of a problem as us on this board.

the bottom line regarding the qb's (specifically tate and denard) is that they will both be playing against UConn. I expect towards the beginning of the season it will be relatively close to a 50/50 split, unless one guy is just absolutely rolling. As the season progresses, one guy might establish himself. But that is only going to happen on the field, in the games, when it matters.

As excited as I, and everyone else is for denards development, we have to keep in mind that certain defenses struggle against certain types of quartbacks. It's obviously nice to hear that denard's passing was crisp and accurate, but we haven't seen him pass this offseason against a top-notch secondary. And we haven't seen him face, since his recent progression, a defense with a proven pass-rush.

on a different subjct, did anyone mention/know how will campbell looked? was he able to play successive downs? did he get pushed around by a center who he has 50lbs on?

It sounds like the offense and the front 7 of the defense should be quite good this year.  As long as there is a good pass rush, the secondary may turn out better than expected, as well.  After a pretty rough week, I am starting to feel more hopeful about our prospects for this season again.

Sounds like there are some positive things happening out there.  We should probably interpret performances from the fall scrimmage cautiously, given that our offense is working against a somewhat suspect defense.

The amazing thing about Ben Franklin is that he was also a huge college football fan, and he also said "if ye saveth a red shirt, ye banke a kick-asse fifth year to lay waste your opponents."

If the defensive secondary can survive the first five games this team can go on to some very good things.  I realize that is a big if but it is not out of the question - they are inexperienced but have enough talent that by game six they will be veterans and ready for the tough part of the season.  The important thing is to win these first games regardless of how ugly it looks because we will get better as we go.

Interesting that Grady had a big day.  Assuming we start three wideouts (counting slot receivers), who do you think they'll be?  Roundtree's a safe bet, but beyond that it seems like a tough call to determine the other two.   

...when you think Hopkins, think Franco Harris. Just wait and see...

thanks! this was awesome. 

hard to believe that DR has left Tate so far behind, but can't wait to see it on the field.

can't wait for kickoff!

I was at the scrimmage, too.  I got home later (I live in Midland) then went to a poker game, so am just on the computer now.  I agree with most of the OP comments and have a couple differences of opinion.  I will also go back in and address some of the specific posts down below.

Key caveat -- I'm just a stupid fan.  I don't know much about football.

#1 I think RR is trying to push Tate every way he can.  He was a little hard on Tate at first, but it was clear to me that Tate has a *much* better understanding of the offense than Devin.  As the scrimmage went on, RR was more and more on DG about mistakes, and had less and less to criticize Tate about.

I do agree, however, that Denard is your leader right now.  He was *very* impressive, both in his decision making, his pass reads, and the quality of his throws.  What a difference a year makes.

Biggest negatives for me:

Michael Shaw had a fumble (recovered by the O) on the first series.

Vincent Smith had a fumble (recovered by the D after an EXCELLENT hit) on the second series.

The middle of the defense looked porous. The front stopped the inside run very well, but any sort of short pass beyond the line of scrimmage was money.  I don't know if this was the offense moving very well, or the D playing badly.  (Remember, I'm just a stupid fan).

Especially in warmups, Will Hagerup was BOOMING punts.  Some where he started at the back of the endzone, kicking from about the middle of the EZ going to the opposite 47 or 45 yardline.

*REALLY* agree on Hopkins and Grady.  Grady had a LOT of catches.  I was surprised to see Odoms not getting more.  After the fumbles on the first two series, Shaw and Smith were both consistently good when they weren't trying to run in the middle.  Even with the O-line playing better there was no room in there.

Molk still had on a green limited contact jersey.

Dilithium actually had TWO amazing runs.  The one the OP talked about where he made it to the 1 and ANOTHER where he scored without a single member of the defense ever getting close.  He is in a completely different category than anybody else in terms of moves  and the ability to make players miss.

Devin is bigger than I realized.  Denard and Devin were often together talking about stuff, and Devin dwarfs Denard.  

In the post game calisthenics, one of the activities is sorting the players by position and then having them run a lap around the field (then rest, then repeat).  Among the QBs, Tate was running the hardest.  He still has the fire in the belly.  There was one scrambling play with an ensuing pass to the back of the endzone that was really great.