ESPN article on the McCaffrey Brothers current training plan
I searched and did not see this article posted. Interesting read during slow sports time.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/29137990/how-christian-mccaffrey-brothers-staying-football-ready
It sounds like both Milton and McCaffrey are doing their best to hone their skills before fall(?) camp. Michigan is going to have some great options at QB whenever the season starts!
I’m really excited to see what Dylan and Joe can do within the Gattis’ system as often it the second year of a new scheme that really takes off. Obviously this whole situation is a mess, but there are silver linings and it sounds like Dylan’s situation is one of those. To be able to train with Christian and Ed like, get their more focused feedback, watch film, etc. could be huge in Dylan’s development.
If this pans out perhaps we can set up an unofficial summer camp for all our future QBs with Ed and Christian. Camp Quarantine, where all the recent string of championship-winning Michigan QBs are born. And if Joe looks good, we can bring in Devin Gardner as a coach as well.
I was already thinking it might take an act of God to see Michigan beat OSU again - perhaps a global pandemic will be close enough.
I hope Joe Milton can find the touch so his bullets are more catchable at times. But yes it is exciting thinking about the possibilities for the future QB room. Fall can't come soon enough, we all need some sports venting huh?
There are a lot of players who are going to come out of this pandemic really rusty. I get the impression that Dylan has major advantages that other players don't. He's isolating with a college head coach, a world-class RB who is an elite pass-catcher, and excellent conditioning equipment.
Here's a sample of how one player (Sammy Faustin) is handling it:
Hat tip to Touch the Banner / Magnus ...
Is it bad that I feel like Dylan working with his brothers and Dad is a better use of his time than working with our coaching staff?
At least he's not golfing.
I know the easy take here is to mock Shea's offseason routine, but I think this is awesome on so many levels.
I sure which I was able to quarantine in a crew with all of my family (and Olivia Culpo), my wife and I are doing just fine, but having a crew to play games with would definitely help.
As for Dylan, as a QB is there any better situation for him during all of this. Has a super bowl WR target for a dad, an all world running back and another QB to compete with and push him. I expect when we get past all of this Dylan to be way ahead of where most other QBs are at.
Damn this gets me fired up for what hopefully is a football season. GO BLUE!
It's a great opportunity but it is very important for a quarterback to work with some of his receivers. He missed the normal chances he would have had when they were all on campus over the offseason and spring.
The QB battle is going to be something else come fall camp. I hope it stays positive and a clear #1 is produced with results evidenced on the field. I don't even want to think about the alternative.....
Go blue!
I think McCaffrey is going to come in really poised and fresh unlike a lot of kids who, by no fault of their own, won't have done as much high-level training in the offseason.
Also, Ed looks like he could still line up and run off a LB across the middle.
Right? I feel like life ripped me off by not allowing me to be a McCaffrey.
Can someone please just ensure Wisconsin doesn't try to go headhunting against McCaffery for the third year in a row?
You need to speak with the UW coaches for that... I'll still say that the Newsome injury was just bad football luck on an otherwise routine football play - executed the way that block is taught to DBs. You can debate whether that block should be legal (I don't think it should be), but it was legal at the time. The hits on Dylan, though... Those were fucking cheap.
Not thinking about the Newsome injury. I thought Wisconsin was also the team that broke McCaffery’s collarbone the year before but it actually looks like that happened against Penn State. My bad.
Still, that hit on McCaffery last year was border-line bush league.
I have no proof, but I think that if he isn't injured in that game, he starts the next week against Rutgers.
Yup, it took until that time for JH to make up his mind to switch, but I think he stays with Dylan if no injury.
This is where I would like to see even more fire from the OL...if that shit happens to Dylan/Joe this coming season (it probably will) I hope our OL hogs let whoever know they done fucked up. Personally i wouldnt be mad if they got penalized for excessive roughness or whatever the call would be, our opponents better know that if they do that ..... you will pay the price.
This is GREAT news, with both QBs working hard and focusing on getting better. Doesn't seem like Ed or Christian would let Dylan slack much.
I just hope for an honest-to-goodness QB competition and for the most highly skilled QB to get the job. We need better QB play to improve our record. Improvement should be the short-term goal.
I'm hoping we see a significant year-two leap within Gattis's system. If we can have consistently good QB play I would wager the ceiling is a bit higher than many of us might think.
The two things that Shea lacked in the Gattis scheme were really the two things that make the RPO go: the keeper read, and deep pass accuracy. I loved the article the Space Coyote posted that discussed the evolution of the RPO: it’s a triple option with the pitch man being downfield.
To make the triple option work the defense must commit to stopping the FB dive. As we saw against army, when a team is committed to giving to the FB it chews up clock, and can build into a busted assignment that can gash even the most disciplined defense. In the RPO the QB doesn’t have to be a Denard Robinson-esque home run threat who can take it to the house on any play. But, if they can make the right “keep” read consistently and get 4-5 years in doing so, the entire RPO offense opens because the QB keep is the new FB dive.
Further, and not to pile on pile on Shea too much, he never seemed adept at dropping passes over the top of the defense who’ve become “nosey” and have their eyes in the backfield. So many in here complain about underuse of the WR’s, and while I do wish they were more productive, it was never (IMO) an issue of scheme, but the ability and vision of the QB. The passes were there, and in the RPO there typically isn’t a “go to WR” which the is designed is designed around. It’s all about optioning DE’s, LB’s and Saftey’s. This I what I really Hope DMac and Milton become adept at.
Letting the ball find the appropriate player who, should be, wide open.
Hopefully he’s doing a lot of sliding drills. He has gotten hurt a couple times by not sliding. He runs like a deer though; deceptively fast. But, please, for the love of God, start sliding Dylan.
I think the Dylan injury prone thing is a little blown out of proportion. He was skin and bones as a freshman and took a big hit, breaks collarbone. Last year was so close to targeting that could've happened to anyone. Patterson had injury issues at Ole Miss early in his career as well. He's bulked up his upper body and i'm sure the coaches will stress sliding/going out of bounds or at least avoiding big hits. Everyone is enamored with Milton's arm and rightly so, but so far Gattis offense isn't exactly much of an attacking deep vertical routes. I mean if i'm remembering right maybe one or two deep balls a game last year? It's more important to have touch and accuracy and I think Dylan does both of those better than Milton. I also think he's the better runner and all around more polished QB heading into the season. That said I expect them both to play this year if only to keep one of them from not transferring. McNamara is probably a distant 3rd at this point.