Is Denard Running Track?
I would assume so, considering how he's run track the last couple of years. But in light of the fact that he will be learning a new offense, and how important spring practice is this year, I am curious as to whether Denard or the school has announced any decision on this.
I think Denard running is a good thing. Might help us recruit some speedsters too. To show them that they can run track and play football. It could help us with a Florida player or two, now that our RR Florida pipeline is virtually gone.
EDIT: He's not on the current roster.
http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/m-track/mtt/mich-m-track-mtt.html
February 13th, 2011 at 11:14 AM ^
Might also help him regain some of that blistering speed he showed at the beginning of the season, and almost sort started to lose a bit towards the end from all the hits he'd been taking.
February 13th, 2011 at 11:32 AM ^
Not all, but most of the "hits" Denard took that really hurt him should have been penalties. For some reason, refs allowed a lot of players to hit Denard while he was out of bounds with no consequences. It was such a hit against BGSU that made him start to lose a little speed. MSU hit him a lot after he was down and after he was out of bounds and no penalties were called.
February 13th, 2011 at 12:56 PM ^
That hit that knocked him out of the BGSU game was pretty clean. No ref is going to call that a late hit. Defenders aren't going to slow up just because a player is running toward the sideline especially when earlier in that same game he ran toward the sideline and then burned a defender to score a TD.
February 13th, 2011 at 4:14 PM ^
I agree some of the MSU hits were suspect but the Bowling Green hit that took him out was pretty clean. The only hit that was just rediculous was in the Illiniois game were he was clearly down for a good second and took the helmet to helmet hit. That should have been automatice ejection from the game but I don't even think it was called. I just remember Rodriguez going nuts on the sideline.
February 13th, 2011 at 7:00 PM ^
Agreed that the injury definitely started him going the other way physically. The bigger more talented defenses hitting him over and over again in Big Ten play seemed to slow him down too. A lot like Forcier in 2009. Tate even mentioned after the 09 season that the physicality of the conference took it's toll. He was not run first like Denard was either
On your other point, I can't stand MSU but I honestly didn't see anything beyond very physical clean hitting by big powerful back 7 players.
February 13th, 2011 at 7:32 PM ^
Besides some MSU hits and the Illinois hit, I don't have a huge problem with most of the hits Denard took.
However, I'm still incensed over the lack of penalties because the hits you refer to are consistently called penalties on pocket passers.
February 13th, 2011 at 11:21 AM ^
I hope so. It's free technique training for him, plus runners get faster as they compete against other fast runners.
February 14th, 2011 at 9:54 AM ^
plus runners get faster as they compete against other fast runners.{chuckle} Denard could get faster.....c'mon tell us another one....{snicker}
February 13th, 2011 at 11:25 AM ^
I hope they don't attempt to stop him from running. I like the fact he is continuously training. If not with the football team, he is working his tail off with the track team. As long as he can continue to progress in both sports and he keeps his grades up, wh not allow him to compete.
February 13th, 2011 at 11:28 AM ^
He's not listed on the 2011 roster. Not sure exactly what that means, but it appears he's not running track anymore.
February 13th, 2011 at 11:31 AM ^
We want MOAR DROB HIGHLIGHTS! The only way to do that is if he competes in a winter sport.
February 13th, 2011 at 11:36 AM ^
He's too fast to see.
February 13th, 2011 at 1:46 PM ^
look for the vapor trail.
February 13th, 2011 at 2:21 PM ^
He already completed the season.
February 13th, 2011 at 11:47 AM ^
I know guys like Wheatley (or Deion or Jeff Demps) were great track stars, but a quarterback has a lot more to be working on for football besides his physical conditioning, and that goes double for a quarterback who is about to enter a completely new offense.
So it's probably not the worst thing in the world if he skips track this year and concentrates on learning the new playbook and throwing 9 routes to Stonum on target
February 13th, 2011 at 12:02 PM ^
February 13th, 2011 at 12:06 PM ^
has demonstrated he'll do whats best for the team. If running track helps the team ie improve his overall performance on the field we'll see him running track. If however practicing new drops and passing, getting new timming down with the WRs and backs is more important and will help the team. We will probably see him sarcifice participation in that sport to support this team. Just my thoughts. new coach, new system, new techniques. Go Blue
Edit: he'll also be competeing against DG for the starting posistion. He also demonstrated last year that he will work hard at competing for a starting spot.
February 13th, 2011 at 12:46 PM ^
He'll just show up for The Dual on April 16th and toast whoever is running for that team in Ohio in the 100.
February 13th, 2011 at 4:08 PM ^
It should be interesting to see if he can come away with a 100m victory. He smoked fools last year in the 60m, but didn't come close to winning the 100m.
With an extra year under his belt he should be faster in the longer race.
February 13th, 2011 at 10:47 PM ^
were terrible. If he is a full time track athlete, he could be running in 6.6-6.7 in the 60s and a tick under 10 in 100m. He has to do both football and track plus school which is hard to do.
I do like players running track because it allows them to be more disciplined and be in better condition than you would in football IMO.
February 13th, 2011 at 1:29 PM ^
A few people felt that maybe Denard should put on a few pounds during the off season, but wouldn't running track affect that somewhat? I'm sure with him not running track this year he will still be the fastest guy on the field.
February 13th, 2011 at 1:59 PM ^
......we're only perceiving the meets he ran last year just now.
February 13th, 2011 at 4:04 PM ^
I talked to him the other day at lunch and he told me that the winter training was going pretty well, I should have asked him about track, but he seemed to be a big fan of Hoke as well.
February 13th, 2011 at 6:32 PM ^
Thats good news about Hoke and DR. I know this season will be better for our fans as long GM can impose his will on our D.
February 13th, 2011 at 10:19 PM ^
I would just like to see him run again to blow by tosu again. ahhh the beauty of him running
February 13th, 2011 at 11:15 PM ^
This is my cautious first effort as an IE user (yeah, yeah, Chrome, I know) after the great MGoCrash of '11.
Does anyone know if Spring footbal overlaps outdoor rack? If so, he can't have any intention of running track outdoors. So, wouldn't that deprive someone from the outdoor team the chance to run indoors too? Maybe him runing track isn't the best for either the track or the football team at this point. (I know he ran indoor last year, but at that point Tate was the starter and no one had been Denarded yet.)
Does anyone know if Tyrone Wheately just ran indoor, or did he run outdoor too?
/Stares into the distance remembering Tyrone running past fools in the Rose Bowl.
February 14th, 2011 at 8:41 AM ^
...non-zero chance you could get injured, right?
Love, mom