Norfleet Out Per Borton(Rivals) - Confirmed
http://michigan.forums.rivals.com/threads/norfleet.18579/
Per rivals mod John Borton
His high school coach just confirmed that coach Harbaugh booted him.
http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2015/05/hs_coach_dennis_norfl…
kidding....I love Norfleet. Don't want to lose him. He's been a great member of the football team, and his dancing is just frosting.
has it I might be drunk.
ATTRITIOOOONNNNNN. ATTRITION.
This might not be the last. Not for the same reasons though. Some smoke out there still exists about transfers and medicals.
If I could give you all my points for this reference, I would.
I'd let Peppers return everything possible.
Jabrill Peppers returned my Roomba and got me a maid.
returned the letter from my ex-wife who asked/wanted to get back together with me after cheating on me multiple times....
Oh wait...TMI, wrong forum. Peppers is amazing.
You want someone solid, but I'm leery of putting in an every-down playmaker at PR when you can coach up a specialist.
I know Woodson's PRTD iced our game against OSU back in '97, but if he went down then there's no Big Ten title on the line in the first place. This is just my personal feeling, but just because something paid off doesn't always mean it was the smart move. Norfleet has the tools to be a good, if not deadly, returner and if we've got that then there's no need to have gunners repeatedly slamming into our new Hybrid Space Defender.
But if he's been dismissed as people are saying downthread, then it's kind of all irrelevant. But I still wouldn't have Peppers return punts.
I've never really understood this theory. You are essentially putting your return guy out there for a few more plays per game (let's say 4 kickoff returns, 4 punt returns). What if Jabrill Peppers was going to play 80 snaps, but the game goes to double overtime and he has to play 88. Are you going to remove him because there are extra chances to get hurt? No. Players are supposed to play football.
Furthermore, good returners don't often take big hits, and half the time they don't take any hits (touchbacks, not fielding punts, punt goes out of bounds, etc.). So you might send him out there 8 times, but he only touches the ball and has a chance to get hit 4 times.
The best guys need to play the most football. If Peppers is the best returner, he needs to be returning kicks/punts.
I would like to see some statistics, but you don't see many kick returners going down with injury. Yes, people are running downfield at them, but the KR is not a stationary target. He has blockers, he jumps out of the way, etc. I don't remember the last time a Michigan punt returner or kick returner was injured (not saying it hasn't happened). Honestly, this has rarely even seemed to be a discussion except for when Jason Sehorn of the New York Giants got hurt returning a kickoff 17 years ago.
It does happen, but those things also happen on regular plays. McGuffie had about a 15% chance of getting hurt on any given play.
come on man, hatin' on McGuffie is so 2008
My understanding is that the concerns are more about blockers and "wedge busters" than the returners themselves. Kick returners are not susceptible to big hits on kickoff returns any more than running backs on running plays, wide receivers going across the middle, etc. Punt returners are more susceptible, but the rugby-style punts these days aren't the same sky-high 42-yarders we used to see. So no, I don't think it's that big of a deal.
PR and KR are the two most dangerous plays in football. Putting your star in that might only be a marginal improvement over the rest might be seen as an unncecessary risk. Saying that I still want the best person returning them regardless of position
That's been predicted since he was a freshman, and he's never been a "big-timer" in the return game. He's been consistent and reasonably reliable, but he's never been anything more than that. I'm sorry to see any player leave, but stuff happens.
Brian says he's underutilized and is so good! He just needs a competent coach, right?
I could ner really tell if he was serious about thinking norfleet was great, or if he was joking. I'm sure he's just imagining similar guys that were successful in rich rod's offense and dreaming about what could have been (in an alternate reality that never could have existed because he was a hoke recruit), but it always seemed totally disconnected from reality.
Norfleet seems like a great dude though - sad to see him go.
I agree with Brian that Norfleet was underutilized. It doesn't mean that he would have been a superstar with other coaches. But when your team lacks playmakers (which is the case outside of Gallon in 2013 and sometimes Funchess in 2014), someone like Norfleet should get a few more chances. It's not like De'Veon Smith, A.J. Williams, Derrick Green, etc. were in much danger of breaking big plays.
Norfleet's body of work as a returner didn't hold a candle to what Steve Breaston accomplished for Michigan. I don't even think I'd put him in my top 5. I loved Norfleet's enthusiasm and colorful demeanor, but I never thought of him as a big-time player.
Best wishes to him. Moving on now.
I doubt that. He's never sniffed the endzone on a return. He's shifty as a waterbug, but lacks the top gear to take it home. If he had the gear to threaten the endzone you would've see him involved more in the passing game.
Never sniffed the endzone? He took one back, only to have it overturned by a penalty that had no impact on the return. I know that doesn't count, but you can't hold that against him either.
I hate when fans judge a punt returned on "has he returned one for a TD or not." That's not the only criteria. Return TDs are rare. If you have a guy that gets consistent yardage but never takes one all the way, that's still very valuable.
Not many teams have a guy who is returning punts and kicks for TDs. We had a guy who was consistently getting positive yardage and not fumbling. We are taking a hit here.
how good he could have been if he had had 10 teammates with him on the field every time he returned a punt! I shudder to think.
Anyway , we are thin at having established WRs. Even if not a true WR, we need(ed) him IMO.
Borton's the editor of that site, so unfortunately this seems legit.
...do we want to post this while it's still just a rumor?
John Borton is very credible. I wouldn't have posted if it was a regular poster.
I'm not familiar with the Rivals guys.
If I wanted to hear about it with everyone else...I'd watch the four letter network.
...transfer/dismissal rumors. If this is the equivalent of a report from Sam Webb, though, I agree with the OP that this is more than rumor.
Damned, one of my favorite players, but I think the writing might have been on the wall that Peppers is going to be the primary return guy this season,
What does "hearing he's gone" mean?
For the season? From the team?
He's off the team.
who would be gone who would be somewhat of a surprise. Is this who you were implying or is there another blow coming?
I had heard rumors of Norfleet being gone, but he's not the one I was referencing because those were just rumors. There's still one offensive player and one defensive player that I know of who are not coming back.
But thanks for the insight Magnus!