I'll return with quotes and details from today's closed scrimmage, but here are the stats provided by coach Mark Richt from Wednesday's first scrimmage of the fall:

SOME DETAILS

> Richt said he had the first team offense face the second team defense and the first team defense go up against the second team offense.

> The defense created nine sacks, one interception return for a touchdown and two forced fumbles.

But as far as the pressure was concerned Richt said: "Again it's hard to call it a sack when we're actually not sacking the quarterback. When we think we have him dead to rights we let the official call it a sack."

> Redshirt sophomore Ryan Mayes picked off quarterback Brad Kaaya and returned it for a touchdown. Richt, though, took the blame saying he asks Kaaya to make throws anyway.

> Kaaya threw his touchdown pass to Braxton Berrios on what Richt described as a deep go route.

> Sophomore safety Jaquan Johnson forced two fumbles with big hits.

SCRIMMAGE STATS

Passing

Brad Kaaya 16 of 19, 258 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT

Vinny Testaverde 3-3, 62 yards

Evan Shirreffs 3-5, 16

Malik Rosier 2-5, 1

Rushing

Mark Walton 7-29, 1 TD

Gus Edwards 7-13

Crispian Atkins 4-20

Joe Yearby 4-25

Travis Homer 7-22

Trayone Gray 2-6

Receiving

Braxton Berrios 3-75, 1 TD

Stacy Coley 3-35

Dayall Harris 2-80

Chris Herndon 2-24

Marquez Williams 2-16

Wyatt Chickillo 2-10

Sam Bruce 2-7

Malcolm Lewis 1-12

Defense

Trent Harris 5 tackles, 2 tackles for loss and two sacks for minus 15 yards

Romeo Finley 5 tackles, 1 tackle for loss and one sack

Jaquan Johnson 4 tackles, 2 forced fumbles

Robert Knowles 4 tackles

Jermaine Grace 3 tackles

Jamie Gordinier 3 tackles

Zach McCloud 3 tackles, 1 tackle for loss and a fumble recovery

R.J. McIntosh 3 tackles

Mike Smith 3 tackles, 1 tackle for loss

Michael Pinckney 3 tackles

Teddy Stavetski 3 tackles

Charles Perry 3 tackles

Al-Quadin Muhammad 2 sacks for minus 16 yards

Chad Thomas 3 tackles, 2 sacks for minus 7 yards

Rayshawn Jenkins 2 tackles, 1 pass breakup

Charles Perry 2 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 2 sacks

Corn Elder 2 tackles

Kendrick Norton 2 tackles

Gerald Willis 2 tackles

Malek Young 2 tackles

Terry McCray 2 tackles

Demetrius Jackson 1 tackle, 1 pass breakup and a fumble recovery

Ryan Mayes 1 tackle, 1 PBU and 1 interception for a TD

Shaquille Quarterman 1 tackle

Jared Hardie 1 tackle

Jamal Carter 1 tackle

Terrance Henley 1 tackle

Eddie Dunn 1 tackle

RICHT TRANSCRIPTION

On who stood out in the first scrimmage of #CanesCamp…

“We went ones [first string] versus twos [second string]. Our one offense, when it was all said and done, had a pretty good day. But we had a pick-6, and we had a fumble that could have got us beat. You take the turnovers out, it’s a pretty good day. But you can’t take the turnovers out, unfortunately. Had a couple of dropped balls. [Brad] Kaaya was 16 of 19 – we threw and caught the ball well. I think at least one was a drop, maybe two. The other one was a pick-6. That’s on me, really more than. him, to be honest with you. He was throwing a route on rhythm, and I told those guys to throw it no matter what. In practice, we’re not going to lose a game on it. So really, he did exactly what I asked him to do. It turned into a pick-6, so that was on me. Brad was very sharp. The other quarterbacks, I’ve kind of got to watch it. Obviously there were some statistics…but that doesn’t always tell the story, because we grade accuracy over the completion percentage and the decisions that these guys make.

“A few runs spit, not a lot. I thought defensively we played the run pretty darn good. The number one defense would have had as many sacks as we recorded – I think they would have had every one of those. They were really coming off the edge and creating issues for that number two [offensive] line.”

“One of the blessings is that nobody got banged up. Somebody might have got banged up, but nobody got hurt to the point where they had to come off the field for any reason, which was a huge blessing. That’s kind of what I’ll say as far as my observation. The farther away we were, we didn’t really drive the ball well…it’s kind of what tends to happen in the game. On the drives that started on the 50 or 40 [-yard line], the offense did extremely well. On the drives that started on the other side of the 50, we couldn’t execute well enough to go down the field – whether it was a turnover, or missed assignment, or whatever it may be. We did do some situations – third-and-medium and third-and-long. The ones on each side of the ball won the drill, in my opinion – one offense did well, the one defense did well. We let the threes [third string] rep. We let the threes get reps, and there’s just too many guys have no earthly idea what to do on just Day 1 plays. That’s what happens. It’s the first scrimmage of your life in college, you get a little nervous, you just forget everything. You can’t even get lined up. We had some of that going on with the young guys. It was kind of a cluster offensively with the threes, but they have to go through it.”





On if he saw any issues with penalties in the first scrimmage…

“We had a few penalties, but I didn’t think it was a massive amount. We had ACC officials. I told them to call it like they call it in a game. We had a holding on a screen play that you should never have. I’m trying to think of any defensive penalties – we didn’t really keep track of that. I don’t really remember any defensive penalties. We didn’t have any alignment issues, or any of that pre-snap stuff. We might have had another holding or something along the way…not a lot of penalties.”



On if he was encouraged overall with the performance of the team…

“Yeah. The other thing too, is you set up a scrimmage kind of the same you would have done it for years and it took ‘X’ amount of time. This scrimmage ended fast. It wasn’t because we went less plays, it was because we went less time between plays, and with tempo. Back in the old days, you’d call a play and get in the huddle, call a play and get in the huddle, call a play…that whole thing, I don’t know if it doubled it in time, but it must have been close. When you go no-huddle, even the scrimmages go faster.”



On if there were any players that took ownership of the moment…

“I’ve just been really pleased with Brad [Kaaya]. Brad has been very, very solid. Today, he was just locked in, taking care of business. [David] Njoku – we had a third-and-nine or third-and-ten – caught the ball short of the sticks by two or three yards, and guys were ‘bb’ing’ him, and he kept his balance and kept his feet and made a nice run. Same thing with Yearby – Yearby had a play where he probably got hit two yards short of the sticks but he just battled and fought to get that first down on those third-down situations. The edge pressure all day was more than what we could really handle – on that number two [offensive] line, for sure.”



On if any quarterbacks separated themselves as the No. 2 option…

“It sure was [even] going into this thing. I think the pack of twos were locked in pretty good. It’s been frustrating to figure out who that guy is. I talked to them last night about it, that there’s a possibility after this scrimmage that we might start repping one guy with the twos and one guy with the threes, and getting that guy ready. I don’t know if we’ll do that or not. After I look at the tape I’ll decide, and I know you all will be asking me that. Right now I don’t know for sure. But I also said, if someone gets named the number two tomorrow, if you’re three or four, don’t cry. You’ll still get reps, and it could change. It really, truly, could change. I don’t see anybody coming out of the crowd. I see a cluster of people – good thing, bad things, and there are some redeeming qualities in every one of them. They’re all doing some very nice things. But they are also doing some things that give me pause as to naming them the No. 2 quarterback.”

On the status of freshman linebacker Michael Pinckney…

“Pinckney got reps. He practiced. He’s been hobbling around with some kind of soft tissue issue. He went today. I’ll see how well he moved. We did every test you could to maybe give him peace that he’s okay, and he went. That was good. It’s hard. I think he’s a guy that has never been hurt. You don’t really know what a pulled muscle is. Is it truly a pull? Or is it just a cramp? What happens sometimes, when you get a cramp and it tightens up your hamstring, you say, ‘Oh, I pulled it.’ Sometimes it’s just constricted, it’s a cramp, and you don’t really understand the difference. From what [head athletic trainer] Vinny [Scavo] is saying and the doctors are saying, he has tremendous strength in that area, and they don’t see any weakness at all. We think he’s okay.”