Zach Gentry on being switched to TE as a freshman: "“I was upset,” Gentry said. “I was really upset. I tried to transfer..."
“I was upset,” Gentry said. “I was really upset. I tried to transfer. Coach Harbaugh kind of sat me down a handful of times and explained that if I stick it out, do his regiment and do what I’m supposed to do, I’d go to the NFL as a tight end. I didn’t want to believe him because I wanted to play quarterback. But I believe in him and his record with tight ends. I just stuck it out and luckily everything happened the way it did.”
Zach Gentry caught his first TD pass as a pro, and looked good doing it.
Jim Harbaugh is a brilliant football mind. He saw something in Gentry that has turned out to be right.
I know the past 2 seasons may say that Jim Harbaugh isn't as great a coach as he's been billed to be. It looks like the progress he was making in his first 2 years stopped in the next 2. But I say otherwise. I think some coaching moves he made 2 years ago didn't work out as he thought they would. He has made changes to correct that, and get back on track to growing, to improving. Ed Warinner was a great move. The O Line has shaped up great in 1 year. Now we will see if Josh Gattis was a great move too. Everyone is living and learning in this life. And I think Jim Harbaugh has lived and learned over the past 4 years. I am sure he's going to continue to live and learn. And I'm on his side.
The Jim Harbaugh project at Michigan is still under way. I am only expecting things to continue to get better and better. I'm thinking there's going to be 11 regular season wins this year, maybe 12.
Hat Tip to Thunder at Touch The Banner for the link to the Gentry story: https://touch-the-banner.com/morning-roundup-august-11-2019/
Link to going back to the original article at AP: https://apnews.com/65a19f3f8f81494fa1c4755b3d2db6da
August 11th, 2019 at 1:12 PM ^
Gentry almost dropped the ball on an NFL future
August 11th, 2019 at 1:15 PM ^
He was so upset that he dropped those 3rd down conversion passes in The Game.
August 11th, 2019 at 2:58 PM ^
I get it, he dropped some passes, it sucks, I wish it were different, I'm sure he wishes it were different, and he's gotta live with it. But when you snipe a former player after the fact for good-faith performance issues, it reflects poorly on us as a fan base -- just a really petty look.
August 11th, 2019 at 6:13 PM ^
Maybe I'm misremembering, but I recall a pass in the end zone where the DB made a nice swipe to knock the ball out of his hands and Shea coming up way short on a play where Gentry was wide open. That second one might have happened right before the blocked punt. The point is, Gentry doesn't deserve criticism for the OSU game, plenty of other players and coaches dropped the ball that day.
August 11th, 2019 at 6:39 PM ^
He still should've easily caught those two, and you're forgetting a 3rd terrible drop on a wide-open 30 yd pass with plenty of room to run, just went right off his hands.
Still love the guy but he was terrible that day.
August 12th, 2019 at 9:13 AM ^
Everyone was terrible that day, nobody was ready for that game.
August 11th, 2019 at 7:04 PM ^
The DB made a perfect play on the ball in the endzone and punched it out. No one could have caught that ball.
August 12th, 2019 at 8:34 AM ^
The db made a perfect play? No.
Gentry made the catch and casually thought everything was rosey instead of finishing the play. The Ohio db played through the whistle, and kept fighting eventually stripping Gentry of the ball.
That play epitomizes the Rivalry of late. OSU scratches and claws to win. Michigan hasn't done that. They have do more than just want it. Michigan has to take it. Hopefully, it happens this season.
Back to Gentry. He definitely had his worst game of the season in the Game. It's not all his fault though. Still cannot understand why he was the featured plan of attack to begin with.
August 12th, 2019 at 1:36 PM ^
Agreed, he didnt let the nutz score 62 mind numbing points!
August 11th, 2019 at 1:16 PM ^
I'm by no means one of those posters who criticizes thread titles, but yours is a tad misleading. I clicked on the link thinking this was Gentry trashing the program. Good for him buying in to Harbaugh and believing that he could be an NFL tight end. I know his tenure here didn't end on a great note because of the OSU game last season, but he's a great example of buying into a program and seeing rewards because of it. I'll be rooting for him.
August 11th, 2019 at 2:51 PM ^
Counterpoint: The quote is taken from Gentry as he starts his career as an NFL tight end. I think one can reasonably infer that he's not actually trashing the guy who moved him to tight end -- it's pretty clear what's going to happen after the ellipsis.
August 11th, 2019 at 4:56 PM ^
Well, he stayed. Thinking he’s trashing the program is stupid.
August 11th, 2019 at 5:23 PM ^
Given the circumstances...drafted by the Steelers and catches a TD in his first pre-season game of his rookie season, there was no way he was going to be moaning about Harbaugh.
August 11th, 2019 at 1:20 PM ^
Meanwhile Chris Clark has disappeared.
August 11th, 2019 at 1:20 PM ^
Jim's just gotta keep on livin, man. L-I-V-I-N.
August 11th, 2019 at 1:34 PM ^
I definitely recall the transfer rumors. Guess it wasn't all BS.
August 11th, 2019 at 7:31 PM ^
It's really hard to know which rumors are true. Like the rumor Urban Meyer is going to be head coach at USC next season. Or the rumor about Joe Milton, maybe transferring next season. Who can pin any rumor down. Maybe if you pay to get behind pay walls of insiders, maybe then you could pin things down. But who knows even then.
August 11th, 2019 at 7:44 PM ^
Didn't you start the Joe Milton transferring rumor? There was a whole diary about it.
August 11th, 2019 at 9:24 PM ^
You guys are funny.
NO, I didn't.
And that diary entry was made by a guy that has some kind of problem.
August 11th, 2019 at 1:40 PM ^
A shame he didn't fully buy in to the whole "catching the ball" thing.
And blocking.
August 11th, 2019 at 5:26 PM ^
"Nattering nabobs of negativism"
- Spiro Agnew
August 11th, 2019 at 1:40 PM ^
It wasn't lucky that everything worked out, young man. It was your own dedication, talent and hard work. Well done.
August 11th, 2019 at 1:49 PM ^
I could totally see it. Being a QB then asked to move to TE. Going from a glamour position to a hard nosed one isn't what those guys have been groomed for after doing it their whole young lives. Not everyone has the mind for it. Look at Tim Tebow.
That man is a hell of an athlete who never backed away from physical play or hard work. IMO if he stayed with the Pats, Bill Belichick could have turned him into one of the great TE's of the game.
Instead he opted to turn numerous NFL teams down to try TE to play minor league baseball. I give Gentry credit for accepting the move and doing really well at it. Well done young man.
August 11th, 2019 at 4:46 PM ^
The great TEs of the game. Tebow was 6’3 and relatively slow - not seeing it
August 11th, 2019 at 2:18 PM ^
I was expecting something negative in this. I'm glad this turned out to be good news. Because I like Zach Gentry. And I like Jim Harbaugh, a lot.
I hope Michigan can get into the final 4.
August 11th, 2019 at 2:21 PM ^
Great to hear that this switch worked out for him. I'd have to think though, that for every Gentry, there's another player where a switch didn't work as well - for whatever reason. We never hear the real reason for some of these transfers. Even when the coaches are giving a player good advice, he isn't always as willing to take it. So he moves on instead. It's pretty much always going to be that way.
August 11th, 2019 at 2:34 PM ^
Did he ever throw a pass from the TE position in a game? I remember always wanting to see such shenanigans in either the MSU or OSU games but don't ever think it happened.
August 11th, 2019 at 2:52 PM ^
Look, in two of Harbaugh's four seasons, The Game has been for the B1G title. I don't like the final outcomes either, but he came here after years of Hoke/Richrod. He's been excellent.
August 13th, 2019 at 12:09 AM ^
What?
August 11th, 2019 at 3:01 PM ^
August 11th, 2019 at 3:34 PM ^
Wouldn’t have blamed him for transferring, but I’m glad he didn’t. Hope he has a long and successful NFL career.
August 11th, 2019 at 3:36 PM ^
Where are the comments from Mark Smith of the Albuquerque Journal? I hope his teeth have healed after all that gnashing.
August 11th, 2019 at 3:48 PM ^
He declared for the NFL because how many few tweens were to him on twitter after the Ohio St game , so it doesn’t surprise me he also also almost transferred at one point too
August 11th, 2019 at 5:26 PM ^
I suspect that he declared for the NFL draft because he always wanted to play in the NFL, and because he could get paid in the NFL to play football.
Not sure what "because how many few tweens were to him on twitter" means. I ran it through the Google gibberish-to English translator, and it still came out gibberish.
August 11th, 2019 at 3:58 PM ^
Never liked the Steelers but looks like I will be paying them a little more attention.
And FTRecord books will show that Zach has 0 TD receptions as an NFL Pro. I expect that will change.
August 11th, 2019 at 4:45 PM ^
If he could have only held on to the ball like that against Ohio State last year.
August 11th, 2019 at 6:41 PM ^
We'd have lost by 19.
August 11th, 2019 at 4:55 PM ^
Probably worth its own post, but in checking the Steelers' site re: their coverage of Zach and Devin's game last night, there were notices that their wide receivers' coach, Darryl Drake, died this morning at the age of 62. No word yet on cause of death, but practices Sunday & Monday are closed to visitors. He was starting his second year at Pittsburgh, after coaching such standouts as Larry Fitzgerald elsewhere.
An arbitrary link of many: https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/11/us/darryl-drake-steelers-coach-dead-trnd/index.html
August 11th, 2019 at 4:58 PM ^
This sports writer from New Mexico owes Harbaugh an apology.
August 11th, 2019 at 5:10 PM ^
I think he's a good coach. He's also good with finding places for guys to play who are clearly great athletes, but maybe not great at the position they've been playing. He's made a few offensive coaching mistakes, his offensive philosophy is in the stone ages, and he hasn't really upset any more talented teams than his, but he's been very good at admitting mistakes, making adjustments after each season, recruiting, and beating the teams he's better than.
August 11th, 2019 at 5:18 PM ^
I wonder. Did we recruit him knowing hed be a TE? Or was the plan QB?
August 11th, 2019 at 5:41 PM ^
I think they tell these guys (like Ryan Hayes) that they’ll give them a fair shake at their preferred positions but really envision them at position Y instead. I also think they quickly move them to where they want them once they give a “fair shake.” Let then see who they are up against on the depth chart as a way of swaying them.
Hayes was quoted last year vehemently stating that he wanted the chance to play TR, but now we are hearing how great an OL he can be, according to Bredeson. Same with Peppers needing convinced that Viper was his best position here.
August 11th, 2019 at 6:36 PM ^
Considering he was the #9 QB nationally and a 4 star and Texas wanted him bad, I hope Michigan gave him a shot at QB.
August 11th, 2019 at 7:57 PM ^
To be fair Texas QB recruiting under Charlie Strong was kind of a mess. The 2 QBs they took before recruiting Gentry ended up as a TE and WR. The QB they took the year after Gentry got passed by Tom Herman's first QB and transferred to SMU.
August 11th, 2019 at 5:47 PM ^
I have relatives in New Mexico, which is where Zach is from. They were all upset too, and thought he should transfer. I did my best to assure them he was going to be a star at TE.
Everyone there was hoping Zach would be the next NM NFL QB after Landry Jones and Jim Everett. (Those are the only two I know.)
August 11th, 2019 at 6:49 PM ^
It's much harder to get into the NFL at QB than TE. There's even a team this year that had 2 TEs get drafted in the 1st round. Zach gentry was a good QB. But his ability to run with the football, and his size, made him a beter TE than QB. I always thought he was an exciting player at TE. I still remember that TD he had in the Spring Game on a pass from Brandon Peters. Jim Harbaugh turned out to be right!
August 11th, 2019 at 6:07 PM ^
Gentry was on Harbaugh's podcast around the draft and said if he transfer portal had been around back then he likely would have made a huge mistake and transferred.
August 11th, 2019 at 6:23 PM ^
Thanks for the hat tip.
August 11th, 2019 at 6:59 PM ^
I think it's right to do that.
And you have a good site. I read revenue is down there, because of some kind of change with Google. I wish you had more traffic. You are right about things more often than not.
Maybe you should consider having a Board like here, where commenters could make posts, and they would be held for review by you before they were made public. Maybe that would increase clicks at your place. I would make posts there myself if you did that. There's things I would post here, but I don't, because many commenters here are not open to seeing posts on college football news outside of Michigan news. For example, there's a significant story from Alabama football, that their freshman 5 Start RB, the #1 RB in the 2019 class, Trey Sanders, is out for the year. I wouldn't post it here, because of the negative comments that would come. And I just don't want to see it. But I would have posted it at Touch The Banner if you had a Board.
Just presenting the idea to you.