Chris Balas on Brandon Peters: "There are recruiting mistakes, and this appears to have been a big one."

Submitted by Maizen on

Meanwhile Michigan had 4 passing yards in the 2nd half vs IU. I don't really know what to say about this if true, but thought it was extremely noteworthy.

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Ghost of Fritz…

October 15th, 2017 at 10:30 AM ^

left AA so much better as a QB than what he was when he arrived.

Though only the coaches can know, it is possible that O'Korn is also much better than he was 12 months ago. 

JOK arrived with a decent arm and decent accuracy.  He throws on the run better than Speight.  

But he played in a different type of offense at UH.  His skills for the rest of the QB job were unknown/undeveloped when he arrived.  Still not great, but possibly better at this part of the QB position than 12 months ago.

Joined: 10/04/2014

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MGoBeast

October 15th, 2017 at 9:43 AM ^

He was meant to add depth and competition. He was added in the mad scramble when harbaugh just arrived. gentry was not a whiff either, i believe they recruited him as a te/wr all along Peters isn't a whiff yet. he's a rs freshman. give the kid some time.

Joined: 11/24/2015

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reshp1

October 15th, 2017 at 12:27 PM ^

They always wanted Gentry for TE, O'Korn was a must take, best available type situation. Despite not being that great, we'd be completely screwed without him. Peters is still a redshirt freshman. So he's not the insta-impact, Andrew Luck type recruit we thought he'd be, but it's way too early to call him a whiff.

Joined: 10/31/2011

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Losher

October 15th, 2017 at 1:50 PM ^

i wouldnt really call gentry a whiff, he never really had a shot at qb. not long after he got here and the depth chart was taking shape at the qb spot he was asked to move. i would say that a highly rated qb who comes to michigan late in the process b/c of jim harbaugh then is willing to take one for the team and move to a new position, change his body, and mindset for the better of the team is a win

Joined: 06/02/2012

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Coldwater

October 15th, 2017 at 7:56 AM ^

Isn't he a quiet kid? Maybe he has no leadership qualities. It's hard to believe Harbaugh would offer a QB that has no ability to be a high D1 player. It just doesn't make sense.

Joined: 12/14/2008

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war-dawg69

October 15th, 2017 at 9:49 AM ^

Harbaugh is the one who said Peters reminds him of Andrew Luck. So what if he is quiet. I am sure he is loud enough to call plays or the team would false start on every play. Wasn't he like #5 QB in the country?. I would think he did quite well in high school. I am willing to bet a lot on here are questioning Harbaugh on this one.

Joined: 10/07/2016

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pmark1210

October 15th, 2017 at 9:33 AM ^

to be fair, Speight wasnt his. yes he accepted jok, but I think that was more under the "lets get as many able bodies in as we can, because our qb situation is dire." can't blame him for taking jok. so in reality, his qbs are peters and mccaffrey.

Joined: 11/02/2011

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Mr. Yost

October 15th, 2017 at 12:28 PM ^

Bullshit.

JOK seemed like a fantastic pickup. A kid Fisch knew, he'd played and was freshman of the year in his conference.

We were ALL excited to have him as the "floor" in case things didn't work out.

None of us, including the coaches could've know how low the floor really was. But he's gone after this year. You act like that 1 scholarship is keeping Michigan from winning.

Like we had the change to get Jacob Eason, but instead we chose John O'Korn.

Give me a break.

Joined: 07/25/2011

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swalburn

October 15th, 2017 at 8:02 AM ^

I honestly have no idea.  We complained about Speight and got O'Korn.  In hindsight the coaches were right about Speight being the best option on the roster.  There has to be a reason the coaches won't play Peters.  Personally, I'd rather see the young guy.  Maybe something clicks and he grows into the position.  I just can't imagine it being worse than yesterday even if we have to simplify things on offense.  

Joined: 11/24/2011

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DomIngerson

October 15th, 2017 at 8:15 AM ^

Disagree. He’s in his second year and was an early enrollee. People on this board act like you need to be 30yrs old with 5+ yrs of grooming to play QB. This is college football. 18-19 year olds play QB competently at tons of other schools. Why not at Michigan?

Joined: 11/30/2014

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SyracuseWolvrine

October 15th, 2017 at 12:57 PM ^

Put Braylon, Jake Long, and Mike Hart on this team and O'Korn probably looks a lot better than the O'Korn we saw yesterday.

 

QB is an important position, but they don't operate in a vacuum. You can make the most perfect throws in the world, and it doesn't mean anything if it clanks off your receiver's hands and isn't caught.

 

I realize our receivers are young, but I'm equally as concerned by their inability to hang onto catchable balls than I am by the QB issues.

 

As for "Why not start Peters? He has more upside!", well, possibly, but if he gets injured because our O-Line can't pass protect, then maybe having him not play this season, and wait until next year, when the O-Line is better, might have more long-term upside.

Joined: 10/20/2008

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Maynard

October 15th, 2017 at 12:22 PM ^

Or you can watch those two QBs and know that they are talented themselves. It's not because they have so much more talent than us that those two are doing so well. Give that a rest. Fromm and Eason are just really good. It's okay to play freshman if they are talented. There are freshman all over the country starting.

Joined: 02/19/2016

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Losher

October 15th, 2017 at 5:00 PM ^

all that talent plus their o line is playing overtly well. then you watch the games and they are sending running backs to the open side of the field they make one defender miss and they are gone to the endzone. it happens multiple times versus mizzou, who is terrible but it still shows that with talent you can overcome some of the other downfalls on the team. 

 

Joined: 06/02/2012

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DJEasy12

October 15th, 2017 at 1:18 PM ^

Enough with "other schools have young QBs playing great!" line. It's a simplistic observation that offers no context or analysis. "Josh Jackson is GREAT!" the dude plays in a simplistic read-option offense where he looks at the sideline every fucking play to get the call and he only has 1-2 reads and just takes off. It looks great against the overmatched and gets waxed by anyone with a pulse. 

"Sam Darnold!!" Sam Darnold had a stud WR (Juju Smith), a stud RB (Ronald Jones) and a veteran O-Line last year. This year, he got Jones back, but the other pieces left and now he has been STRUGGLING all year (4:3 TD:Int Ratio).

"Jacob Fromm!!" I love this one! This guy has two elite, bellcow running backs and only throws ~20 passes a game for 100 - 150 ypg. 

In conclusion: When a young QB gets the start and plays well, there are usually elite RBs, WRs, and O-lines (or at least 2/3). Michigan does not have any of these things (though Higdon and the O-line were VERY good today). 

Michigan runs a complex, pro-style offense with multiple formations, reads, checks, and so forth. The reason they do this is because when this offense is executed properly, it is an absolute nightmare for college defenses to stop. But the drawback is that, yes, it takes a long time to install and learn. And JH clearly has made the decision to not simplify things any more than he already has. This is similar to Don Brown saying that he isn't just going to lay down and be in Quarters coverage because it's easy to learn; he'd rather die. And I agree with this sentiment. Crafting an overly simplified scheme that goes against what the coaches want is simply bolstering up short term gains that don't mean much (do you really think that approach is going to get us to the B1G Championship and National Title?) by sacrificing long term offensive development and stability. You want this young team to keep increasing their capabilities within Jim's offensive system. And that means yes, 2017 may in fact be a developmental year rather than a contending year. But this developmental year is setting up better years to come, and it will still be better than ANY Rich Rod year and better than 3/4 Hoke years. 

Seriously, this blog has turned into a fucking cesspool the last week with all these know-nothing, arm chair coaches acting like they're Bill Belichick. If you idiots want to live through 2008-2014 again, by all means, demand changes willy-nilly with no thought and a rudimentary understanding of the facts. Us sane people will understand that there are no easy fixes, and will continue deferring to a coach who has literally turned chicken shit into chicken salad EVERYWHERE he has gone. 

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