Scrimmage update

33jacket

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what is interesting, is paul was yelling at MJ to throw the ball...alot of tentativeness it seems

some thought we was hesitant to pitch...

I remember watching him closely at VT. He played good, but you could see he was not comfortable going left and pitching, and really pitching in general. His injury did him no service for sure getting comfortable again.

This could be interesting to see over next few weeks.
 
Unk T

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Taquan looked good, but most of his snaps were against the 2nd team defense. I think Lucas Johnson is our starter and 2nd is between Taquan and Jay. Jordan is afraid to pitch the ball and teams will catch on to that quickly.

ABs were a non factor for the most part because there is no qb that is very comfortable pitching the ball.

Jerry Howard and QW both looked good. I wouldn't be surprised to see Howard as the back up to Mills.
 
Techster

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Unk T said:
Taquan looked good, but most of his snaps were against the 2nd team defense. I think Lucas Johnson is our starter and 2nd is between Taquan and Jay. Jordan is afraid to pitch the ball and teams will catch on to that quickly.

ABs were a non factor for the most part because there is no qb that is very comfortable pitching the ball.

Jerry Howard and QW both looked good. I wouldn't be surprised to see Howard as the back up to Mills.
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Did Lucas get snaps with the 1's?

You can always tell what a coach thinks of player by which team they're running with.
 
Towaliga

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Bule said:
I did not notice the ABs as much today, except Nate had a open catch downfield for a TD

QB and BB play very strong

Jerry Howard is a player

Taquan Marshall strongest QB all around. Very good today

After him I would say Lucas and Jay are both neck and neck at number two QB. Lucas good passer and pocket presence. Jay impossible to tackle. Tobias looked good too. MJ not a good day and got an injury to boot
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I agree regarding Howard. He kept driving after the first, second, and third hit. I saw him come up one time holding his hamstring and he went to the sideline with the trainer. Probably just a tweak.

We missed the first 30 minutes or so. After we got there, we noticed that Mills wasn't getting any touches ( although I may have missed some ). Did he have any early?
 
Boomergump

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I'm glad to hear that TM had a good day. Sadly, I couldn't be there (kills me). All any of us should really be rooting for is one of those four separating themselves from the pack. It seems any of the four are capable, so, if one makes a jump and separates, then we will have something really good. If it is TM, good for him and good for us. Clarity is great. It gives the whole team something to rally around. This scrimmage is important, but in reality, it is merely a single data point in a long list of data points. It might be the most important one to date for this season, but it is not the be all end all.

As fans, we all want to extrapolate wildly based on our limited observation samples. Let's be patient and let this thing develop. All I really want, is clarity by the time September rolls around. I could care less who gets the nod in the end.
 
Eastman

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As Boomer says, a single practice is just one data point so I believe CPJ is still a ways out from determining the starter. What I am excited about is the obvious talent, skill diversity and depth at QB. Typically at best we talk about the starter and one back-up. Now we appear to have a starter and three exciting back-ups. Yep, I am excited about this season.
 

lv20gt

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33jacket said:
that is what puzzles me...why was this even being talked about? Was today just a flash in the pan and not relevant to TM in general...hence why AB was talked about?

I think not...but ....maybe its playing the media a bit
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This is just a guess so take it fwiw. My guess is that when it comes to Marshall the coaching staff feels the best route is either he wins the job or he goes to Aback. That is what makes sense to me. Johnson hinted at it recently, I believe at the media days, but I think people sometimes forget that who the quarterback is changes how our system is run a good bit. If Jordan is the starter, and we gear up the playbook and practice to best suit his skills then it doesn't make a lot of sense to have a back up who is the same class as Jordan, but with a very different style. Ideally you want your back up to be able to go in on short notice without having to change too much of the playcalling. Otherwise you have to dedicate practice time to working on plays you won't usually use, that year, which you don't want to have to do. And if one of the freshmen wins the starting spot then Marshall is probably viewed as being able to provide more of a benefit elsewhere in comparison to Jordan, and so Jordan would be seen as the better back up candidate.

Also, my opinion is that Jordan was pretty much a lock for the starting spot against UT, barring either a slow recovery or a re-injury, because how much emphasis coaches, including Johnson, put on experience, especially in games like our first one. That would leave Marshall on the outside looking in.

But things look to have changed, at least temporary.
 
Techster

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dressedcheeseside said:
He hinted at the possibility of it. Posters here ran with it.
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There was no hint. CPJ flat out said "depending on what we do with Taquan" when a reporter asked how many ABs he'd use this year. When it comes straight from the head coaches mouth, that's not a good reason to talk about it? I mean, if CPJ is debating on whether he should do it, I think that's worthy news to discuss. That's the point of message boards...otherwise, let's just wait for the AJC to print their GT stories.

Cheese is trying to shut GTSwarm down. BOOOOO!!!! (All love Cheese!)
 
gt13

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Taquon looked really, really good. Made several great reads on option plays. He runs pretty aggressively - looks like Justin Thomas out there but different somehow. Maybe a tad less elusive but just as fast. What I like about him is he's less of an east-west runner and more north-south than JT was IMO. He will take a crease and explode through it instead of trying to find the perfect hole. It's almost like he's less concerned about the homerun ball running it than Jt was.

I was really pulling for MJ and was getting annoyed with people saying the 2nd/3rd/4th string guys should be playing ahead of him. But after today, I'm not sure he should start. I think he'd be great in short yardage situations - very much a Tim Byerly to Taquon's JT. But he is still showing hesitation in his reads and just lacks the decisiveness you'd like to see out of a starting QB. He looks very similar to the way he played vs VT last year - reluctance to pitch, lots of keepers for short gains, shaky passing the ball.

With Taquon, you could slap a #5 on him and the average fan would not know it wasn't JT. The casual football watcher would say "looks like they still have that little fast guy." He's got a great arm, nice zip, good vision downfield. Distributes the ball well in the option game. Yes he played against the 2nd string defense most of the time but he played them with the 2nd string offense. His pass to Cottrell was great. Had a 40 yard TD scamper and at least one more from inside the 5 IIRC. Really was impressive.

Coming into the scrimmage and sitting in the stands before the game starts, seems like everyone had forgotten Taquon was in the running for the starting position. Don't think anyone will forget him now.

LJ and JJ were both okay. I'm a Jay Jones believer. He has so much raw athleticism. He's impossible to tackle, very shifty and can extend passing plays for seemingly forever. He also may have the best looking pass of anyone on the team. Very tight spiral (LJ is a little wobbly), great zip and accuracy. I've been a Jay Jones guy since the spring game and I still think he will be the guy soon. LJ throws pretty well, whether or not better than Jay I'm not sure. Jay looks more comfortable running the 3O and appears to understand it better.

Jerry Howard was another standout. Had a nice one handed catch, lots of tough yardage up the middle. He really played great.

Cottrell had a great TD catch from TM, probably 30 yards. He's gonna be tough to cover because he's so fast. He also had a terrible drop - went right through his hands.

Dedrick hardly played but looked good, he hits the hole HARD. Clinton Lynch didn't play. Qua dropped a pass. A-backs didn't really get the ball a whole lot today.

1st string OL was hard to read. They got terrorized by the DL on the first few series. I think they settled in though.

1st string defense looked sharp. That defensive line is pretty scary. If we can get some penetration by the linebackers, the defense is going to be GREAT. We have a ton of talent in the secondary and with more pass rush they will be able to make a lot more plays. Don't think Gray or Griffin played at all. Brant Mitchell looked good on a couple blitzes.

2nd string defense wasn't bad. Swillings, Tre, Bonds, and Jaquan Henderson all played a fair amount - wouldn't be surprised if that were the case this season. Not sure if they were with the 2s or 3s because they started mixing everyone in after a few series.

Special teams seemed eh. Shawn Davis missed a 52 yarder - had the distance (very low kick) but missed left. Brenton King hit the upright on a PAT. No punting sadly, I was really looking forward to seeing Pressley Harvin III. He's a big guy. Very excited about him.

Those are my observations for today.
 
Techster

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gt13 said:
Taquon looked really, really good. Made several great reads on option plays. He runs pretty aggressively - looks like Justin Thomas out there but different somehow. Maybe a tad less elusive but just as fast. What I like about him is he's less of an east-west runner and more north-south than JT was IMO. He will take a crease and explode through it instead of trying to find the perfect hole. It's almost like he's l

Those are my observations for today.
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Great write up.

I get what you're saying about Taquan. I don't think he's as fast in the open field as JeT, but I do think he possesses the same short space quickness and explosion as JeT. Where JeT is more apt to try and juke with stutter steps and change of direction, I think Taquan is more apt to get N/S after maybe one cut. He's more decisive in where he wants to go, where JeT tried to improvise more, and it worked to a certain extent for him. Taquan is also a little bigger than JeT, and I think CPJ would feel comfortable running more Midlines and QB follows with Taquan than JeT.

I alluded to the fact that all 4 QBs brings something different to the table, and it's going to be a fascinating competition to see play out. Although it's going to be disappointing for 3 of the 4 guys not to be the starter come UT, it's a battle that may play out throughout the season. The guy who starts the season as QB1 may not end the season at QB1. In the end, I think the winner will be GT football, so just enjoy the fun of watching 4 really good QB talents compete.
 

33jacket

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paul will pick the best qb. Not worried.

But because i think our o is a notch better with a guy like jay jones or tm etc. i am pulling for them. I know some also loved the nesbitt midlines etc. i do too. But i think we can do that with lucas and tm just fine and have the bonus of the edge and solid enough passing.

So. If that makes me biased ok. But as a fan pulling for one if those guys :)
 
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