Brian's 26 tix thoughts...
With Jabrill off to the pros (thanks for the effort Jabrill), I'm especially eager to see the post bowl edition of Brian's 26 (27?) tickets. Two thoughts I have.... 1) Speight is a ways down the list. I have to believe the qb competition will be wide open next year. 2) where does Ian Bunting land? Does he really have a position?
January 10th, 2017 at 3:14 PM ^
I think I remember that guy. He's pretty good.
January 10th, 2017 at 3:58 PM ^
Does he play Jabrill's position? If not, I'm not sure I care.
January 10th, 2017 at 4:19 PM ^
Name 3 of his songs.
January 10th, 2017 at 4:41 PM ^
January 10th, 2017 at 5:31 PM ^
I celebrate the guy's entire catalogue.
January 10th, 2017 at 8:23 PM ^
I don't know if it gets any better than when he sings "When a Man Loves a Woman"
January 10th, 2017 at 11:25 PM ^
January 10th, 2017 at 5:27 PM ^
He didn't actually play the music in any of his songs. It was The Wrecking Crew.
January 10th, 2017 at 3:20 PM ^
Bunting is a TE. Not sure if serious.
The Sp8 hate is real wow...and I see it only growing as the winter continues and "my favorite QB is the one I've never seen play a down of CFB" continues. Surely there will be a competition - there always should be. But an established top third Big 10 starter with a solid first year under his belt about to take the 1st to 2nd year starting leap most players make, seems like someone not "a ways down" the list.
January 10th, 2017 at 3:30 PM ^
January 10th, 2017 at 3:34 PM ^
like thinking every highly regarded recruit is better than a player that has 2-3 years at the major college level?
January 10th, 2017 at 3:41 PM ^
had a year and a half of starts under his belt, and was a higher ranked recruit than Speight. It's not that absurd. Crawford also saw the field quite a bit mroe than Moe Ways and Harris. Just sayin, there's no exact science to this.
January 10th, 2017 at 3:51 PM ^
If only we had gotten a chance to see O'Korn in game action...
Oh, wait, we did.
Yeah, he's not beating Speight.
January 10th, 2017 at 5:09 PM ^
The point was not about O'Korn beating Speight. The point was that just because a guy has more game experience, like O'Korn did over Speight this year, does not mean that he is the better person to be the starter.
Speight COULD be passed by Brandon Peters though Peters does not have the game experience Speight does.
January 10th, 2017 at 7:08 PM ^
My question is why okorn is returning?. I am reasonably sure he will not be starting or playing. All he is doing is holding up a recruiting spot.
January 10th, 2017 at 9:33 PM ^
It's wise to keep three viable qbs on the roster and with Shane transferring he will provide backup. Also keep in mind, the competition between the two was very close last season. McCaffrey will, almost assuredly, be handed the RS to create the ideal two year separation from Peters in regard to eligibility. And next season when John's eligibility is expired, we will grab another qb to maintain that schedule.
January 10th, 2017 at 10:46 PM ^
Won't have 2 years of separation. Peters is 2016 recruit and McCaffrey is a 2017 recruit.
January 10th, 2017 at 3:39 PM ^
absurd to hate on Speight. I thought he played well considering everything this past year. It isn't unreasonable to think that he might NOT be the best qb on the roster. Denard earned his spot from Tate by outworking him. I also think it's reasonable that Harbaugh isn't going to hand it to Speight simply because he was top third in the conference this year.
January 10th, 2017 at 3:46 PM ^
That is true but they were both in the same class and denard did play a bit his first season. A RS-FR beating out a RS-JR who just had a whole season as a solid starter isnt unheard of but seems pretty unlikely to me (barring injuries of course)
January 10th, 2017 at 4:01 PM ^
Wasn't that Rudock's situation though? Of course we're talking Ferenz-o-mania.
January 10th, 2017 at 4:06 PM ^
January 10th, 2017 at 4:24 PM ^
"Solid seems like a bit of a stretch considering bad qb play was a factor in all the losses.
Also, a lot of games he was good one half, terrible the other.
But Harbaugh will prob play him because he's tough, just like Smith, even though it doesn't make sense."
Did you mistype the last line above? I've seen comments of this nature by fans of virtually every team. And, as is the case above, it normally refers to the qb. I simply could never grasp the reasoning behind this type of thinking and want to believe that fans cannot be this far removed from reality. I know of no coach, at any level, that would give the starting job, regardless of position, to anyone other than whom he thinks is the absolutely best man for that position. And of all positions, the qb? I did say at any level, but I cannot believe a fan could actually believe a D1 coach, recognized among the best in his profession, starting anyone at qb other than who he believes (in Harbaugh's case I'm going to say knows) gives our team the absolute best chance to win. Why in the hell would a coach do this? I mean what the hell does he stand to gain? Seriously, I would like an answer because I simply don't believe any one could honestly believe this.
January 10th, 2017 at 5:47 PM ^
January 10th, 2017 at 7:25 PM ^
It doesn't have to make sense to us - we don't have a say in who plays. We don't see them in practice, or in the meeting rooms. We don't see the attitudes in class. We don't see how well they pick up the gameplan during the week. Or how hard they go in practice. We don't see what the coaches see each day. By saying that Isaac (or any backup) should play more than the starter, all we're really saying is that coaches don't know as much as we do.
Personally, I don't think thats true...
January 11th, 2017 at 2:51 AM ^
Explain Smith playing the most while isaac never sees the field. Does that make sense to you? And the pass protection thing is nonsense. There are other ways to protect your QB without sacrificing your run game."
If I interpret the above correctly, I believe you are saying Isaac should be rewarded with playing time, despite displaying an inability to pass protect? And you shrug it off as if it's not an extremely important component of being a complete RB. Because of this and posts of similar nature, I cannot take you seriously any longer because even the least knowledgeable fan understands what you pretend not to.
January 10th, 2017 at 4:14 PM ^
January 10th, 2017 at 4:29 PM ^
Garbage. Better, how? Which two do you mean? How'd we win that Indiana game, again?
January 10th, 2017 at 5:43 PM ^
January 10th, 2017 at 5:51 PM ^
January 11th, 2017 at 4:05 PM ^
well you have proven yourself to be one of the dumber people that post on here. if you know so much about the inner workings of putting a team together and who should play. quit your job at burger king and get a spot on harbaughs staff.
January 10th, 2017 at 4:48 PM ^
I think Smith was a very good RB. Problem was he is a very straight ahead runner and if he could have played behind a better OL that could have gotten him to the second level consistently I think he could have put up 1000+ yards.
Problem was everytime we faced a team with a solid front 7 (Iowa, OSU, FSU) our OL couldn't open holes so he was consistently getting hit at or behind the OL. In these games Evans out performed him since he has more agility and can make something out of nothing. Look at Delvin Cook, FSU's OL is not good yet his style of play can overcome an average OL.
I do agree that in our 3 losses we should have used Evans more, though Smith did have some very good games. I just think it is more situational with RB's unless you truely have an elite RB.
January 10th, 2017 at 5:03 PM ^
When your QB is playing with an injury then the best back is the one that will keep him from getting killed. And that was Smith. I think Evans might've played more if not for the fact he's not as reliable of a blocker (Fr vs. Sr).
January 10th, 2017 at 5:40 PM ^
January 10th, 2017 at 5:50 PM ^
January 10th, 2017 at 8:57 PM ^
January 10th, 2017 at 5:50 PM ^
January 10th, 2017 at 8:31 PM ^
sans savant.
Which D1 team do you coach again, and do they suck as bad as you?
January 10th, 2017 at 10:45 PM ^
He would not have played as much. I honestly don't care what you think about his blocking compared to the other tailbacks because he was in there as a pass rush stopper as well as a running back who did indeed save the team from losing to Indiana. His late TD runs in the second half are all we had to beat Indiana, it certainly was not O'Korn.
But he (Deveon) gets more face time not because he could run the ball better than the other backs but he could do both block and rush which makes him a complete back so that makes him a better option than the others and if he had the vision the other guys had and the speed of Evans he would have never left the field. Those other backs came in and you knew it was to carry the ball not pass protect.
January 10th, 2017 at 3:37 PM ^
It's not about hatred of Sp8 (at least for me.) It's about seeing a QB that Harbaugh actually hand picked via recruiting rather than what he inherited. On a positive note though, I have absolute faith that Harbough and Co will choose the QB that they think gives the best chance at winning, and I furthermore agree that Speight has a big head start to being that guy.
January 10th, 2017 at 3:45 PM ^
I don't think its hate. Since this site always talks about Stanfordization, I think its the feeling that Speight is probably more Kevin Hogan than Andrew Luck. And don't get me wrong, Kevin Hogan is fine if you have the right players around him. But I'm not sure that's going to be the case next year.
January 10th, 2017 at 3:47 PM ^
January 10th, 2017 at 4:10 PM ^
January 10th, 2017 at 5:42 PM ^
January 10th, 2017 at 3:50 PM ^
Speight did very well this season. I feel as if he is the next John Navarre with the fans. I'm not saying Wilton is or will be as great as John was, but it seems he will be the player who is really good, yet people give him the hardest time. That's just how it is in Michigan, I guess. The two most criticized players in the state are the Michigan QB and the Red Wings keeper.
January 10th, 2017 at 3:54 PM ^
Did he though? When everyone was hyping him up, it was during the stretch of Illinois-MSU-Maryland. Those teams suck. Before that he hadn't really had a great game since UCF.
He was then really bad against Iowa, then got hurt, then played well against OSU except for all the huge mistakes and then missed a bunch of easy throws against FSU.
I think he's fine, but unless you can stick him behind a monster OL or have him handing off to an all-conference back, I'm not sure he's going to win you much. I hope I'm wrong.
January 10th, 2017 at 5:47 PM ^
January 10th, 2017 at 7:45 PM ^
Let's say that is the case: Don't you think someone like Peters or McCaffrey has a better chance of being that guy? I also don't think that applies nearly as much in college as it does in the pros. For instance: If you gave this team Denard Robinson or Chad Henne, don't they go 12-0? Neither guy is Tom Brady caliber, but they were both great college QBs. And while Speight wasn't surrounded by great talent, he certainly missed a lot of pretty easy passes that could have won any of the three games Michigan lost.
Also, even though its not really the point, that last paragraph doesn't really make sense. Andrew Luck, despite having a trash team around him this year was:
5th in YPG
5th in YPA
5th in TDs
9th in QB Rating
He was middle of the pack in INTs (13 against 31 TDs) and completion percentage (still managed 63%).
Offensively, he led a team of nobodies to a respectable season. Had they had any sort of defense they probably win 11/12 games instead of going 8-8.
Edit: I also don't think you need to be Tom Brady to make more of the Darboh/Chesson/Butt trio. None of those guys is a legit #1 target, but that's still a quality group and Speight often didn't give them a chance to make a play or when he did, it was very difficult.
January 10th, 2017 at 9:24 PM ^
Compare first season records for both Chad and Wilton and then tell me why Chad goes undefeated with this team whereas Wilton, with a better won-loss record in his first season does not. But you are correct when you state Chad was a great college qb which is a result of continuous improvement, becoming better each year.
You are probably correct when you say a completion here and there in any of the three games would have more than likely resulted in wins for UM. However, we could have achieved the same result if the receivers hadn't dropped the easy passes you are talking about, and I can recall Wilton making a perfect throw, right into the hands of one of his receivers which, if completed, would have won the game. Instead, however, he allowed the defender to reach in and steal the ball. There are plays every game that you can point to that could have won the game if executed properly. A large pct of those are not passes by the qb. They come in the form of missed sacks when the opportunity was there, a dropped interception that was in the hands of one of our dbs, a rb making the wrong cut and getting stuffed, where had he chosen the proper lane he would have picked up the crucial first down.
10-3 is probably a little better than the norm for non freshmen qbs in their first season at UM. I am trying to think of other UM qbs other than Dreisbach who were starters and lost that status the next season during fall camp. He is the only one that comes to mind right now. And it wasn't necessarily that he had regressed. Brian Griese had one hell of a camp and according to his teammates in '97, he was the perfect qb for that particular team. Just as our qbs have improved in the past, I think given Harbaugh's history with that position, it is likely that Wilton will improve at a more rapid pace. But with that said, competition will be open just like it always is. As far as I know, neither Peters or McCaffrey has taken a snap as the UM quarterack. I would not annoit either until such times as they prove they are better than the one we have. Everyone will have an opportunity to state their case. I think it will result in all our qbs showing improvement and the one who emerges as the starter should be a fine leader.
January 10th, 2017 at 9:28 PM ^
January 10th, 2017 at 11:07 PM ^
1. I would put more faith in the young guys having a higher ceiling than Speight because they were picked by Harbaugh as opposed to Al Borges. That track record speaks for itself.
2. Henne never went 12-0, but he didn't have A. This staff and B. This defense. While I think we can all agree that the offense lacked top end talent, the trio of Butt/Chesson/Darboh just needed someone who could get them the ball while they were open. Too often Speight missed these type of throws. And Denard, while not the world's greatest passer, more than makes up for that with his legs. Against Iowa and Ohio State, we had no true playmakers. Denard is that type of guy.
3. Luck's team is bad because they have a terrible defense. The Colts averaged .6 ppg less than the Cowboys this year. I'm not going to do the math, but I'd imagine if you tossed out the game Luck missed, they'd be at roughly 5th in ppg this year.
4. Yeah he's evasive and keeps plays alive, but if he can't hit an open man as he couldn't against Iowa...or Ohio State...or Florida State...then that opens the door to the possibility that someone else on the roster might be able to do so with more consistency. I just don't think Speight is good enough to where we can count out the possibility that there might be someone better.