Kenny Demens, Cam Gordon among standouts at Michigan's first scrimmage

"Probably the usual suspects" stood out, Rodriguez said Saturday before the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame banquet. "Defensively, guys that have been impressive the last week or so, Kenny Demens, Cam Gordon, Craig Roh’s had a couple good days. Renaldo Sagesse, we were teasing him, Thursday he had the best practice since I’ve been here. I asked him what he ate for breakfast. I didn’t know if it was Canadian bacon or something, but he’s had a terrific spring. So those are some guys on defense that have looked well."

Rodriguez said senior middle linebacker Obi Ezeh "has had a good spring" after losing his starting job late last season, but acknowledged Demens has opened eyes with his play.

"Oh yeah," he said. "He’s (playing) good enough to push for it, so we’ll see."

On offense, Rodriguez said guards Patrick Omameh and Steve Schilling have had "solid" springs. Michigan has nine more practices left this spring, including the spring game April 17.

"The quarterbacks have been kind of up and down, some good, some we got to get better at," he said. "I think they’re getting more comfortable, but they need a lot of work still."

Rodriguez said Michigan did not suffer any serious injuries Saturday after losing safeties Vlad Emilien and Jared Van Slyke to knee sprains last week.

"It was a typical first scrimmage," he said. "There was some good, some ugly, but there’s a lot of, using a coaching term, a lot of teachable moments, so to speak. So I was pretty pleased with it and I think the guys had fun."