I attended today's scrimmage, and spent most of my time focusing on the tailbacks.
It was pretty clear that Malcolm Agnew had the best day among the tailbacks today. Agnew ran hard and well all day, showing toughness, balance, and looking sure-handed with the ball. He scored a 20-yard TD on an excellent catch and run up the middle. He also blocked hard and effectively on pass plays, knocking down a number of pass rushers on cut blocks. Agnew seems to have improved his blocking a lot since last season — especially his cut blocks. Based on today's scrimmage — and assuming he stays healthy — I'd guess that Agnew is going to be listed #1 at TB this week or next on the Beaver depth chart.
I also thought that Storm Woods looked good. SW only had a couple of carries, but he too ran hard, and was tough to bring down. SW also did a good job blocking on pass plays.
Chris Brown only came in near the very end of the scrimmage, but I thought he played okay, too, in a limited role. He had one gain of 10+ yards on a pass/lateral to the right side where he juked a defender, turned upfield, ran hard, and proved hard to bring down. Chris Brown looks like he is somewhat behind Agnew and Woods at the moment in terms of being ready to play TB in PAC-12 games, but that's to be expected (as a true freshman in his second week of summer camp). I also think Chris Brown could use some time in the weight room, to get bigger and stronger (he doesn't appear nearly as big and strong as Agnew). In other words, I don't think Chris Brown will step in right away and be a star at TB. But he has potential, as pretty much everyone has said. Just not sure whether it's going to be this season or next….
Jordan Jenkins was the least impressive TB today (at least to me). A couple of his runs went nowhere, and he looked a bit slow getting to the line of scrimmage. But JJ did a good job blocking on pass plays, and did break one run to the outside for decent yardage. JJ looks like a solid back up or third down option when/as needed, but Agnew and Woods seem clearly better.
Terron Ward did not play in today's scrimmage.
For more details, see the play-by-play report below.
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P1: Quick out to Cooks for a good gain, Jordan Jenkins at tailback but didn't do much on this quick pass
P2: Jordan Jenkins run over left tackle, JJ cut inside and picked up 2-3 yards (nothing special)
P3: Quick out to left to Obum Gwacham for 5+ yards; JJ flared to right as secondary receiver but no action otherwise
P4: Quick out to Cooks to the right side, faked one tackler, turned upfield for 5 more yards, then hit and fumbled ball out of bounds — Coach Brennan yelled multiple times to Cooks: "Lock it up!", who nodded his head — JJ at tailback, but didn't do much on this quick pass
P5: Malcolm Agnew's first play in scrimmage, at TB behind York at FB: handoff to left side, MA cut it inside quickly, hit quickly, but still gained 4-5 yards with some tough running and good balance
P6: Agnew over left guard, cut inside, slipped a tackle, stayed low, picked up another 5 yards or so with more tough inside running
P7: Fake to Agnew, pass to FB, Agnew threw effective cut block on Scott Crichton that kept him out of the play
P8: Off tackle run by Agnew, cut it inside again and fought off hits to gain 3-4 yards — again, tough inside running by MA
P9: Storm Woods first play — fake to SW into the line, SW then cut down an onrushing linebacker, pass complete to Clayton York outside for about a 15 yard gain
P10: Storm Woods over left tackle, plowed into a small hole which quickly closed, moved the pile for about a four yard gain — good inside running by SW
P11: In red zone, on 7 yard line, fake to Storm Woods into the line, then Mannion threw a high fade pass to Obum Gwacham in the corner of the end zone for the TD — nice to see the Beavers using Obum's height and jumping advantage in the red zone with the fade!
P12: Second unit in, with Cody Vaz: first play is completed pass to Tyler Perry, Jordan Jenkins was at tailback — faked into line and helped with pass protection (nothing special)
P13: JJ took handoff on play designed to run over left guard, but nothing there, so JJ tried to cut back to his right, but slipped — no gain (or perhaps a loss of a yard)
P14: Quick slant completed to Obum on the right side for 10+ yards; JJ at tailback moved to left and blocked DE John Braun on the play, getting in Braun's way (but it was a quick play, so not much for JJ really to do)
P15: JJ at tailback; play action pass to Connor Hamlett for 14 yard gain; JJ after fake didn't do anything notable
P16: JJ at tailback, fake handoff, then JJ drifted through the line and into the middle, caught a short pass, and turned upfield to gain 7+ yards
P17: False start by R. Mullaney on left side; Mullaney chastised and pulled out; Agnew now at tailback, handoff to right side, MA got outside and picked up 5+ yards, knocked out of bounds on right sideline by Kell, but Agnew kept his feet and never went all the way down — good balance and toughness
P18: Agnew used as a checkdown option on an attempted quick pass to Kellen Clute (incomplete)
P19: Storm Woods in at tailback, on this play acted as checkdown receiver on right side, downfield pass route complete (to Hatfield, I think) for about 10 yards; after the catch, Storm Woods did a good job of blocking the defensive back near the right sideline, to give the receiver a chance to pick up a few more yards
P20: In red zone, from 20 yard line, Agnew in at TB again, fake handoff to Agnew, who ran through the middle of the line, turned and caught a short pass from Vaz, turned back upfield and eluded tacklers to dance into the end zone upright, after which MA pointed to the sky — excellent catch and run for the TD by Agnew
P21: Agnew at TB, Mannion back in at QB with first unit: first play is right side slant to Obum for 8+ yards; Agnew did not do much on this quick pass play
P22: Storm Woods in, gets handoff, runs over right side, met quickly, with Andrew Seumalo trying hard to strip the ball — Woods hangs on to the ball, and keeps driving forward, gaining about 3 yards — tough running by Woods
P23: Quick slant to Cooks on the left completed; Storm Woods executed a good cut block vs. onrushing lineman
P24: Storm Woods floated to the right and caught pass; juked and evaded a linebacker (I think it was DJ Welch, although I'm not positive) and then took a hard hit downfield from Scott Crichton and held on to the ball for about a 5 yard gain
P25: Jenkins in at tailback — took handoff and ran over left guard, slow to hole, gained about a yard
P26: Jenkins over left tackle, then cut the play outside and gained 8+ yards on a nice run
P27: Flare pass to FB; Agnew threw an excellent cut block on Scott Crichton to protect Mannion
P28: Jenkins at TB: took handoff over left side, cut back to right, got stood up, made about a yard
P29: Shotgun formation, JJ on left, circled over the middle and caught pass from Mannion for about 5 yards — JJ went down pretty quickly/easily
P30: Fake to Agnew into the line, pass protection broke down — Mannion would have been sacked on this play had this been a real game (only time pass protection really broke down all day)
P31: Draw play to Agnew — good cut to the right after taking the handoff, picked up 6+ yards with tough running — hard to bring him down at the end
P32: Shotgun with Agnew to the right — incomplete pass downfield, Agnew a checkdown receiver on the play, but not involved in the action
P33: Second unit in — Cody Vaz to Tyler Perry on the right side for 8+ yard gain; Storm Woods in as checkdown received on the left side, but not involved in the action
P34: Fake handoff to Storm Woods, then quick out to Mullaney for 5+ yards
P35: Quick slant to Mullaney for 10+ yards; Storm Woods in at TB but not involved in the action
P36: Quick pass to Mullaney again on the left side for 5+ yards; Storm Woods in at TB but again not involved in the action
P37: First play for Chris Brown at TB in the scrimmage: quick pass (perhaps a lateral) to Chris Brown to the right side, plenty of room to run, turned upfield, juked one defender, then continued for 10+ yards before being tackled — nice catch and run
P38: Chris Brown in at TB again, ran off tackle to the right, got through the line and gained 4+ yards, stood up by several defenders but kept fighting and did not go down easily
P39: Chris Brown, took handoff on play designed to go over left guard, but took it outside instead and got gang tackled for no gain (or a loss) — not a great decision to take the play outside, but again tough to bring CB down
P40: Red zone play — attempted pass to Clayton York to left side, dropped by York; Chris Brown did a decent job of pass protection on the play
P41: Red zone play from the 6 yard line: Cody Vaz throws a high fade pass to Mullaney in the left end zone, Mullaney jumps high and comes down with the ball for the TD. Scrimmage ends on that TD play.