Some random thoughts from last night’s scrimmage…
- Since I’m not a troll, I tend not to take too much out of scrimmage stats, especially when it sounds like Richt had something of an agenda in mind (“We wanted to see the matchups today, going best on best. We think it’s a pretty good matchup. We’re not sure what we’ll do in the next scrimmage, but we wanted to go ahead and put the best on the best tonight.”), but there were a couple of encouraging things to take away from last night’s numbers. The biggest seems to be that Keith Marshall is back. He was second in rushing yardage and led the team in receiving yards. The other stat worth noting was zero, as in no interceptions. If that’s an indication that Bobo is putting emphasis on his quarterbacks being careful with the ball, that’s good.
- Best observation of the night: “Mason said Pruitt’s defense is similar to the one Todd Grantham ran previously except on passing downs.” Richt sounds pleased about that, too. “That was one of the better things that happened today, was the lack of big plays given up…”
- No injuries in the scrimmage, but several key players were absent. The offense was missing Malcolm Mitchell, Justin Scott-Wesley, Chris Conley and Jonathon Rumph. And the defense had Leonard Floyd, Ramik Wilson and Shattle Fenteng out.
- The offensive line situation doesn’t sound like it was settled last night. “Mason said the offensive line used “a lot” of different combinations, rotating in about seven players on the first team.”
- Seven completions last night to tight ends/H-backs.
You guys have any other insights?
Get The Picture 
I understand sacks are easier under scrimmage rules, but still: there were an awful lot of them, even w/ Floyd out. Don’t know whether that’s good or bad in the long run.
LikeLike
Richt said they did a lot of situational plays, particularly 3rd and long and most of the sacks came there.
LikeLike
All they have to do is touch a Qb to count as a sack. That distorts that.
LikeLike
Yeah, hard to say. There were 3 sacks, all by Jenkins. It’s a guess, for sure, but you’d think they would have come against the first-team LT – Theus. So now I’m having trouble getting Vic Beasley out of my head.
Other than that, it looks to have gone pretty well. We should be pleased.
~~~
LikeLike
Jenkins ran right past the Qb so many times last year, he touched them, had them, and then they slipped away.
But Richt chose to count any touch as a sack for the stats.
Means nothing as the Qb’s in the SEC don’t fall down if you touch them.
LikeLike
How are scrimmages supposed to be judged? On every play something good and something bad happens. If a QB has a good game the DBs were getting beat. If the DL had a bunch of sacks then that means the OL was getting abused. I’m sure I’m not the first to make this observation. McKinzie returns a kickoff for a TD and my first reaction is, “Great! He’s gonna be a good one. But our kick coverage sucks.” I’m confused.
LikeLike
Ultimately, they’re judged on who shows up where on the depth chart.
LikeLike
You judge it whether it achieves the coach’s goal for that practice, which we don’t know. Looks like a major goal was to build up confidence for the defense so didn’t run goaline situations or throw long against the inexperienced secondary much and of course avoid major injuries, if so, it was a success.
LikeLike
Mason said he noticed Pruitts D doing their best to strip the ball among other things.
Oh yeah.
LikeLike
Teaching the art of stripping the ball is ok as long as CJP and his guys are teaching correct tackling techniques. CTG stressed stripping the ball…BUT tacking to CTG was shoulder bumping and open field grabbin’
LikeLike
Sure was. It didn’t mean a lot to Martinez, either.
~~~
LikeLike
Sounds like they used good technique since they was only 1 big run by Chubb, likely wrapped up ballcarrier first, stood him up, and 2nd guy tried to strip.
LikeLike
“…being careful with the ball”
Indeed. The last time we were in this spot at QB, we were careless with the ball.
LikeLike
How many sacks? It depends on how you read and the source of stats. One article (R&B) listed 9 sacks, another 7 sacks. How many had more than one person on the sack? I would like to see who and how they got through (delayed, beat his man, double teamed the O, etc) in order to get an idea of this team.
Seven potential starters didn’t play.
It appears the D “passion” that Pruitt was looking for was present. Our O had weapons everywhere, especially at TE and passes to RBs as well as WRs.
One stat showed 29 catches on 31 passes completed.WTF?
Came away with respect for our D line that will help in reducing the pressure on the secondary until they get to their best play. Hutson’s average has been in the 70s in Spring and first scrimmage. Think his passing will skin some opponents. Backup QBs were credible and show no big flaws if we have to call on them.
LikeLike
I did notice that Ramsey had more yards passing than Bauta. He has obviously caught up with him and is now our number 2 guy. 😉
LikeLike
I think you mean he has caught up to Mason and is clearly the number one guy. Mason is now the third teamer.
LikeLike
Too funny! But, the trolls will say Bauta matched up with Mason again, same passing yards, and remember, Bauta was ‘live’. Not a lot of seperation there so far in the scrimmages by the numbers though, a bit surprising Bauta is hangin with Mason so far.
LikeLike
Nice bait, AHD…but the winking smiley face may warn the trolls not to bite.
LikeLike
I had a weeeeee nibbler. 🙂 Did you notice the discipline amongst the GTP faithful——–>>>>> not feeding the troll? Ahhh I sense an SECC game on the rise! 😉 It’s a good day to be a Homer Dawg!
LikeLike
Yeah, funny, Mason outhrew Bauta by 2 yards, he’s very clearly the No 1 guy. Stats don;t mean nothing to Richt though, he goes by feel. Hopefully this year, we finally get that elusive SEC Championship!
LikeLike
Stats from one scrimmage don’t mean anything to Richt; he goes by performance throughout camp.
FTFY
LikeLike
The thing that caught my eye was the number of different receivers who had catches…12 different guys, and that Blake Tibbs was the leading receiver.
Since several potential starters did not play, it would appear this offense has lots of weapons.
And, as Cojo said above, the defensive front seven appears formidable.
LikeLike
You saw what happens when the top wr’s go down, back ups make the offense sputter at best, remember the Vandy game?
LikeLike
Nope. Don’t ‘member none of that shit. Remember Grantham’s D opening up like the Walls of Jericho.
LikeLike
Pruitt looks like he might have been exaggerating about Davis. No picks for him, I expected greatness the way Pruitt has hyped him all year, looks average. Especially considering he was battling a depleted wr corp. I won’t put stock in walk ons Pruitt hypes in the future.
Also, the top 3 wr’s were out, so I wouldn’t call it a great day for the defensive secondary, but I do like the way the front 7 stuffed the rushers (except for Chubb).
Clemson, South Carolina and Auburn will test the secondary, they won’t want to test the front 7 rush defense, plan on it.
Marshall is such a weapon receiving, might limit Chubb’s touches. Not a fan of Marshall as the No2 rusher, but his receiving skills complicate things.
LikeLike
Aw, c’mon. Davis may have had a great scrimmage, for all we know. I would guess he probably did, playing safety. That we gave up no big plays would indicate safety play was pretty solid.
~~~
LikeLike
He had o PBU, O int’s, No Forced fumbles, didn’t live up to the hype.
LikeLike
LMAO.
~~~
LikeLike
won’t be laughin in September if a bunch of walk ons are the secondary. Hopefully, it’s another scare tactic by Pruitt to try and jazz up the experienced players. I seriously doubt walk ons will be our only secondary defenders.
LikeLike
if Davis struggled against all the WR backups (pbu, int, fumbles), non-playmaker, wonder how he’ll do against Clemson and SC? Yikes! Just don’t sound like the playmaker Pruitt hyped all year.
LikeLike
Maybe Davis was in good position and they did not try to throw against him. It’s virtually impossible to tell a lot about any position stats other than QB and RB from a scrimmage you don’t see and even those are often a crapshoot.
LikeLike
I thought you said stats were meaningless.
LikeLike
They are, Pruitt keeps playing Davis even though he can’t put up any stats.
LikeLike
“Keeps playing Davis”? As in… He has 0 starts and has played in 0 games.
Troll on…
LikeLike
Looks like the pass defense needs CPR. Every single Qb seemed to have a field day throwing the ball. Which you have to ask yourself, is the secondary that bad, or the back up qb’s that great? Very concerned when all 3 back ups have a great day throwing.
LikeLike
I agree scrimmage stats mean nothing, but I can’t figure out why Richt keeps them reports them, and all the bloggers write about them.
LikeLike
Pretty simple. We are still a few weeks away from kickoff so we want whatever news there is even if it’s meaningless. Richt provides it because he is asked to and there’s no harm in doing so. I guess he’s the one that provides it. Could be Claude Felton or one of his lackeys. As for Pruitt hyping Davis I didn’t think he overdid it in the first place. Davis was probably out working the other guys and Pruitt rewarded that. I wasn’t at practice so I don’t know for sure.
LikeLike
Richt could not provide the stats if he didn’t want to. So he chooses to do it for some reason. I;m not sure why since it’s meaningless.
Also, can’t figure out why media wants the meaningless stats, seems they would have more meaningful stuff to write about but they don’t.
And the blogs all write articles about it, which doesn’t make sense.
The people post responses about the meaningless practice stats that don’t matter.
Seems a lot of fuss over meaningless stats.
LikeLike
Step away from the koolaid,crab claws and unlimited buffet. It’s a scrimmage, as amatter of fact, it’s the 1st scrimmage. What does it mean? Not a GD thing. Almost 3 weeks of practice left to go. Cool your jets for now folks. State your opinions on the 23rd. Which is my birthday. WOOHOO!!!
LikeLike
I bet it waz my birthday first, by golly. 🙂
LikeLike
I think rampdog will have a happy birthday.
This is a very talented Georgia team. The offense IS loaded with weapons. There are lots of capable backups at skill positions…including QB. The kicking game is shaping up and most agree that the defense is playing with more intensity and aggresiveness than last year. The injuries have all healed and the sky’s the limit for this team. As far as scrimmages go…it’s pretty much about showcasing talent…and showing if the players have learned the plays and their positions…it’s not about settling a whole lot. It’s also about not showing too much to your early opponents. So we shouldn’t read too much into a ho-hum performance by any particular player or squad.
This is a very talented Georgia team. We should all be expecting good things.
LikeLike
The offense is loaded? Yes, with injuries at WR. We saw how that worked out last year.
Lots of capable backups at Qb when teams arn’t allowed to tackle them?
Injuries have healed? Where were 26 & 86?
Kicking game is shaping up? The guy wasn’t live, he ran one back in touch football. Richt downplayed it. Punt return has been terirble for years, not likely to fix it without a Special Teams coach or a Head Coach who calls nothing but fair catches…or won’t use his best talent there…
LikeLike
You’re right Willie. Move over so we can wallow in it with you. Jeez why does this blog attract these types?
LikeLike
Mike, were not all as naive as you, that’s all.
LikeLike
You ain’t from ’round heah, are you? But your disguise was so clever that only Mike saw through it. Yeah.
LikeLike
Oh ok. I don’t jump on the pessimism buss with you so I’m “naive”? You’re sharp enough to cut a floating turd without making a ripple.
LikeLike
WillieJ hasn’t posted for a couple of hours. He must have skate-boarded over to the Varsity for supper.
LikeLike
now that is freakin funny. North Avenue Varsity too.
LikeLike
You can tell its preseason and expectations are sky high!
LikeLike
How bout the walk on qb throwing a nice 30 yard back shoulder pass!
LikeLike