We got a little bit of access to UVa's first scrimmage of the fall, earlier today at Scott Stadium. I'll break down what I saw in the scrimmage below.
-There were a group of players that were either in yellow and not participating but in pads, and others not in pads, but also not participating. Most of those players ran steps in the stadium or did other workouts, so I think most of the holdouts are precautionary. The group included: Tayvonn Kyle, McKale Boley, Jason Hammond, Cody Brown, Kobe Pace, Donte Hawthorne, Davis Lane, TeKai Kirby, KJ Bratton, Andy Lutes, Hayden Rollison. There were others for sure, but it's hard to get numbers from 100 yards away when they're covered up by the yellow penny. I also believe I saw Jimmy Christ over there, but I'm not 100% sure.
-Before the scrimmage, UVa went through the typical stretching stuff, and then did some field goal work. Most or all of the kicks went through from Bettridge, Bruout and Ganyard.
-UVa football alums were allowed to come by and watch practice, and I saw some player families as well. Notable folks I saw included Shawn Moore and Quin Blanding, but there were many others.
-There were rotations all over the place in the short scrimmage session we saw, so it's hard to extrapolate anything we saw into a two-deep.
-On the 1st team's second drive, the offensive line out there (left to right) was: Nnanna, Josey, Furnish, Stevens, Steen
-On defense, UVa had Elijah Gaines at one of the cornerback spots, and Sam Westfall on the other side. Sanker and Aidan Ryan were in at safety, and the linebackers were Ahern and James Jackson.
-Freshman Keandre Walker (now listed as Dre Walker on the roster), was one of the second-team CBs. He certainly looks the part. Dave Herard was out there for the 2nd team as well, and got after Colandrea on a play action pass.
Scrimmage Breakdown
First Series (#1 offense vs #1 defense)
-Handoff up the middle for no gain (believe it was Mike Hollins)
-Muskett's pass intercepted and returned for a touchdown by Jonas Sanker (It looked like a WR fell down or ran the wrong route or something, but it happened very fast.)
Second Series (#2 offense vs #2 defense)
-Jet sweep/Pop pass from Colandrea to Suderian Harrison for a gain of 10 or so.
-Play action dump off from Colandrea to Karson Gay for a short gain
-Long Jack Griese touchdown run, virtually untouched. Big hole created by the offensive line
Third Series (#1 offense vs #1 defense)
-Handoff to Hollins for a short gain.
-Comeback route to Fields who was open for what would have been a medium gain, but Fields slipped and fell and the pass fell incomplete
-Delay of Game/Timeout (Tony Elliott called out the play clock with about 6 seconds left, but they had to call timeout or took the delay, wasn't clear without an announcement.
-Muskett complete to Fields for about 10
That was all we got to see in the period open to the media. It's worth remembering that we can't take anything we see in these scrimmages and think it's going to translate to the season, good or bad. Last year Brad and I got to see four series, and all four resulted in touchdowns for the offense. As we know, that success didn't really translate to the season at all.
-There were a group of players that were either in yellow and not participating but in pads, and others not in pads, but also not participating. Most of those players ran steps in the stadium or did other workouts, so I think most of the holdouts are precautionary. The group included: Tayvonn Kyle, McKale Boley, Jason Hammond, Cody Brown, Kobe Pace, Donte Hawthorne, Davis Lane, TeKai Kirby, KJ Bratton, Andy Lutes, Hayden Rollison. There were others for sure, but it's hard to get numbers from 100 yards away when they're covered up by the yellow penny. I also believe I saw Jimmy Christ over there, but I'm not 100% sure.
-Before the scrimmage, UVa went through the typical stretching stuff, and then did some field goal work. Most or all of the kicks went through from Bettridge, Bruout and Ganyard.
-UVa football alums were allowed to come by and watch practice, and I saw some player families as well. Notable folks I saw included Shawn Moore and Quin Blanding, but there were many others.
-There were rotations all over the place in the short scrimmage session we saw, so it's hard to extrapolate anything we saw into a two-deep.
-On the 1st team's second drive, the offensive line out there (left to right) was: Nnanna, Josey, Furnish, Stevens, Steen
-On defense, UVa had Elijah Gaines at one of the cornerback spots, and Sam Westfall on the other side. Sanker and Aidan Ryan were in at safety, and the linebackers were Ahern and James Jackson.
-Freshman Keandre Walker (now listed as Dre Walker on the roster), was one of the second-team CBs. He certainly looks the part. Dave Herard was out there for the 2nd team as well, and got after Colandrea on a play action pass.
Scrimmage Breakdown
First Series (#1 offense vs #1 defense)
-Handoff up the middle for no gain (believe it was Mike Hollins)
-Muskett's pass intercepted and returned for a touchdown by Jonas Sanker (It looked like a WR fell down or ran the wrong route or something, but it happened very fast.)
Second Series (#2 offense vs #2 defense)
-Jet sweep/Pop pass from Colandrea to Suderian Harrison for a gain of 10 or so.
-Play action dump off from Colandrea to Karson Gay for a short gain
-Long Jack Griese touchdown run, virtually untouched. Big hole created by the offensive line
Third Series (#1 offense vs #1 defense)
-Handoff to Hollins for a short gain.
-Comeback route to Fields who was open for what would have been a medium gain, but Fields slipped and fell and the pass fell incomplete
-Delay of Game/Timeout (Tony Elliott called out the play clock with about 6 seconds left, but they had to call timeout or took the delay, wasn't clear without an announcement.
-Muskett complete to Fields for about 10
That was all we got to see in the period open to the media. It's worth remembering that we can't take anything we see in these scrimmages and think it's going to translate to the season, good or bad. Last year Brad and I got to see four series, and all four resulted in touchdowns for the offense. As we know, that success didn't really translate to the season at all.
