Countdown to Kickoff - Day 13: Saturday Scrimmage
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
August 22nd, 2010 at 9:31 AM ^
Denard you so crazy .. i think i wanna have yo baby
August 22nd, 2010 at 9:33 AM ^
that's a hell of a hit at 1:57
August 22nd, 2010 at 10:12 AM ^
It's an ok hit, but after a huge gain.
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).
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.
August 22nd, 2010 at 9:35 AM ^
Poor Van Slyke.... next time gadget, next time...
August 22nd, 2010 at 9:36 AM ^
Keeping the backside D end honest should give plenty of time for all routes to develop on a roll-out pass.
August 22nd, 2010 at 9:37 AM ^
Interesting.
August 22nd, 2010 at 10:01 AM ^
It beats QBs wearing a red no contact jersey.
August 22nd, 2010 at 9:38 AM ^
I wish this video was about five minutes longer.
August 22nd, 2010 at 9:43 AM ^
I've got the whole scrimmage in HD but it will cost you 13000 MGoPoints.
August 22nd, 2010 at 9:46 AM ^
I would gladly pay for it and go down to a negative 10,738 points.
August 22nd, 2010 at 9:51 AM ^
Don't do it. Admittance to the next scrimmage will be based on MGoPoints.
August 22nd, 2010 at 9:42 AM ^
I want to watch this over and over again.
It looks like Gardner is going to earn playing time, I wish we could red shirt him though as long as Denard and Tate stay healthy.
August 22nd, 2010 at 9:49 AM ^
Tate does look bigger, I had to do a double take to make sure it wasn't someone else.
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.
August 22nd, 2010 at 7:03 PM ^
Don't you typically have to hit the weight room to add muscle?
August 22nd, 2010 at 9:56 AM ^
Maize Uniform!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111111
August 22nd, 2010 at 10:10 AM ^
M Rob showed on the pick and return.
August 22nd, 2010 at 10:20 AM ^
Nice reverse by Grady, got to hang onto that ball though. Very excited for the game in 13 days.
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.
August 22nd, 2010 at 11:33 AM ^
But that may be a function of playing agaisnt a zone defense. The receiver may have needed to "sit down" in a hole in the zone to avoid running into coverage.
August 22nd, 2010 at 10:30 AM ^
Thanks. I needed that fix before work.
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.
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.
August 22nd, 2010 at 10:53 AM ^
Watching it a second time, there are lots of missed arm tackles in that video.
August 22nd, 2010 at 11:08 AM ^
So that Denard Robinson guy looks like he might know how to play football or something... hm
August 22nd, 2010 at 11:53 AM ^
look at that tight spiral
August 22nd, 2010 at 11:26 AM ^
James Rogers has a nice tackle on Hopkins at 1:45, which is somewhat reassuring. Let's hope he can cover as well.
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.
August 22nd, 2010 at 11:30 AM ^
team looked good, sure there are missed tackles, a pick. But there young, and fast! They will grasp it better with more time! Go Blue
August 22nd, 2010 at 11:41 AM ^
Is the rb position starting to get thin with the departure of Austin White? Im a little worried for that position we just need to stay healthy the rest of the fall.
August 22nd, 2010 at 11:50 AM ^
No. Cox, Shaw, Smith, Hopkins, etc. etc. etc.
August 22nd, 2010 at 5:01 PM ^
Don't forget Fitz!
August 22nd, 2010 at 11:54 AM ^
had to could we move lets say Grady over there or is he to small?
August 22nd, 2010 at 11:57 AM ^
Let's throw him in over at corner!
August 22nd, 2010 at 12:27 PM ^
Grady & Gallon both took some reps this fall with the RB's. Never know about injuries but as long as we don't have Iowa type luck there & Shaw took care of the school work, we should be fine.
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.
August 22nd, 2010 at 12:14 PM ^
that it makes our defense look awful. In fact, it will make any defense look awful. At least, that's my hope.
August 22nd, 2010 at 12:44 PM ^
When Michigan is playing Michigan is it even possible for both the Offense and Defense to look great? Isn't this a bit of a zero sum game?
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.
August 23rd, 2010 at 1:04 PM ^
much worse.
August 22nd, 2010 at 1:25 PM ^
the video is only showing offensive highlights with the exception of the big pick) because the general public likes offense.
August 22nd, 2010 at 12:11 PM ^
August 22nd, 2010 at 12:49 PM ^
I'm ridiculously excited about Hopkins right now.
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.
August 23rd, 2010 at 1:09 AM ^
Cox: Got reamed out a few times by RR for not hitting the hole hard and instead dancing around in the backfield
It's funny that you mention this because my wife reams me out all the time for the exact opposite reason.
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. =)
August 23rd, 2010 at 12:57 PM ^
Hitting the receivers in stride isn't something I expect to see much of in the near future. These receivers find holes in the zone, sit down, and wait for the ball. That seems to be what they're coached to do, and I'm okay with it as long as it works.