would we expect a HS QB and his offense to be as of *May* 15? How much growth and development can we expect to occur between May 15 and August 15? December 15? Assume the new QB coach is fairly good but perhaps not a miracle worker.

The player started last season as a WR/RB/KR after being a starting QB as a sophomore at another school. He moved back to QB after the starter was demoted and left the program. QB has a strong arm but significant accuracy/consistency issues. He's a really good athlete and a good leader as well.

How much should we read into his performance in a couple of half-game scrimmages in mid-May?

Assuming that "scrimmage" equates to pads and contact with some limits I think it's reasonable to be generous with the learning curve. I'd be far more concerned with a lacking performance in a passing league setting than a scrimmage, though that's largely mitigated by playing style come the fall (if you win games in the fall running the ball your QB's ability to carry you in shirts and shorts is at best a bonus). And even with that, I'm less apt to put stock into a bad off-season performance from someone at a great program and am going with a "prove it" attitude when someone from a lesser program has a stellar off-season.

Assuming that "scrimmage" equates to pads and contact with some limits I think it's reasonable to be generous with the learning curve. I'd be far more concerned with a lacking performance in a passing league setting than a scrimmage, though that's largely mitigated by playing style come the fall (if you win games in the fall running the ball your QB's ability to carry you in shirts and shorts is at best a bonus). And even with that, I'm less apt to put stock into a bad off-season performance from someone at a great program and am going with a "prove it" attitude when someone from a lesser program has a stellar off-season.

The scrimmage featured no live kicking, possibly a few other small limitiations (or not). It was a three-team event where two of the teams travelled just over 2 hours, tickets were sold and the event was in a stadium rather than a practice field. Each team faced the other two for two quarters each. The results of each two-quarter scrimmage are likely going to be displayed at the top of the page of this website for the next two+ months.