Jordan Paskorz not on Mgoblue roster
http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/mich-m-footbl-mtt.html
Paskorz not listed. He is listed on Brian's weight post from yesterday but I don't know where that information came from. Is this an oversight or is he ho longer with the team (which would also explain the Heitzman shift)?
February 27th, 2014 at 10:09 AM ^
Honestly I heard a rumor about him not being on the team about a few weeks to a month ago but it was on a blog, and was also never was confirmed so you could be correct
February 27th, 2014 at 12:00 PM ^
It wasn't a certain high school blogger who isn't allowed on this site, was it?
February 27th, 2014 at 5:25 PM ^
No, I think I read it on the scout.com forum
February 27th, 2014 at 10:13 AM ^
He is a 5th year senior. IIRC, he didn't walk with the seniors on Senior Day. If he is not with the team then it is a recent decision (after the announcements of Ash and Furman).
I hope he is still on the team, we have the need for a blocking TE and senior leadership.
February 27th, 2014 at 10:20 AM ^
That would mean we have 5 unused scholarships this year. Woudl have been nice to take a flyer on a couple more sleepers in the 2014 class.
February 27th, 2014 at 10:31 AM ^
The Paskorz scholorship would only be open for 1 year, while a flyer that doesn't pan out locks up 4 years. Also, we were looking at an especially small class next year prior to the recent attrition. All that said, I think you're right, we could have offered a couple more kids.
February 27th, 2014 at 10:34 AM ^
February 27th, 2014 at 10:51 AM ^
You say that now, but will you be saying that in the September when A.J. Williams is our best receiving TE? Banking scholarships is pointless when you are trying to compete nationally with teams that have 95 guys on their roster right now.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: while roster manipulation is not "right," and I don't approve of it; it's not enforced by the NCAA and teams that "bank scholarships" will not compete for championships.
This would put us at what - 80 or 81 scholarship guys? 5 players are a big deal when it gets to November - a place we haven't exactly been great as of late.
February 27th, 2014 at 11:22 AM ^
February 27th, 2014 at 12:07 PM ^
We won 50% of the games you listed above and lost 1 by 3 points -- I guess that doesn't count as competing in your book
February 27th, 2014 at 12:15 PM ^
And one of them was without our starting QB.
Road games are tough in college football, and all of the non-bowl games you listed were on the road. Two of them we came back to win. One of them we had a shot to win at the end and couldn't close.
February 27th, 2014 at 12:20 PM ^
Yes, but to defend him - beating a 5-7 Northwestern and what... a 2-10 UConn team is not something we should really brag about. Especially since we beat both in miracoulous fashion late in the game.
February 27th, 2014 at 12:21 PM ^
I think the mere fact we are rationalizing wins/losses vs. the stated competition proves Tripp's overall point - that we are not ready to compete with the big boys. The rest is just semantics.
February 27th, 2014 at 12:44 PM ^
February 27th, 2014 at 12:58 PM ^
competing on a national stage or level, sort of in the broad sense of "being categorized with" both in esteem and on the field.
my overall point being that this coaching staff has better things to worry about, like beating the beatable teams on the schedule than filling roster spots with flyers and hidden gems and 2* guys.
semantics, whatever
February 27th, 2014 at 12:20 PM ^
We aren't talking about Minnesota...This is Michigan. Competing is reserves in in the fourth. To me, that is struggling.
February 27th, 2014 at 11:25 AM ^
I agree that we might as well have kept Paskorz, although we don't seem to know the full story. But the idea that not having Paskorz on our roster is going to keep us from competing for championships seems like a bit of a stretch.
February 27th, 2014 at 12:09 PM ^
First of all, Jake Butt.
Second, you think that Paskorz was going to see the field before AJ Williams?
Third, I think the premise of this chain of comments is that he is already gone, so who get's his scholarship? Even if they had used that scholarship on another TE, they weren't likely to get anyone who was going to pass Butt or Williams in any way. We're better off waiting a year to take another 4* rather than trying to fill with a 2/3* right now.
February 27th, 2014 at 12:28 PM ^
Yes, we should "wait" for another four star...........which may never come after another disasterous season we could be set up for. That is called star gazing. Why in the world would we wait for another "4 star in 2015," when we could've went out and got a 3 star like Gaelin Elmore who could've served an immediate need this year.
I get it. No one knew Butt was going to get injured. That's exactly my point. If we had 5 other scholarship options on the team this year (which we should have filled), we wouldn't be freaking out as to whether we will have a TE in September that can catch and block adequately.
February 27th, 2014 at 12:28 PM ^
Pretty sure Bunting and Khalid Hill will still be on the roster with Butt supposedly being back by the end of September...
February 27th, 2014 at 2:57 PM ^
February 27th, 2014 at 3:26 PM ^
The phenomenon of loading up on OL a couple years ago is something that can conceiveably build a ringer team of all quality seniors and then be back to the entire freshman scenario the next year making our heads spin.
"Leveling out" the class (meaning, theoretically, an entire lineup of every position for each class...just look at the concept, I realize the numbers don't quite add correctly) is a strategy that needs to be employed if you ask me, for longer-term stability, than having monster classes, followed up by slim classes.
Quietly banking a scholarship here or there helps to painlessly do that equalization. At the same time, to your point, it does take away a D1 athlete who could be training, learning, developing, and potentially someone with a surprisngly large upside (one never knows). But I think the needle swung way over to one side due to necessity but I would say the strategy needs to build the above equation in some form or another.
February 27th, 2014 at 10:34 AM ^
February 27th, 2014 at 10:39 AM ^
5 preferred walk-ons who play will get 1-year scholarships (Kerridge, Glasgow brothers, Bryzinski, and now one more)... so they won't go unused
February 27th, 2014 at 11:10 AM ^
Even with the most recent attrition, Michigan has awarded 82 scholarships for next year. Glasgow is as much a walk-on now as Kovacs was so I'm going to count that as an allotted scholarship moving the number to 83. So, in reality, Michigan banked two scholarships to supplement a small class next year. With no obvious candidates in this year's class, banking two makes a lot more sense than taking a couple of flyers.
But, yeah, I don't know what happened with the retraction of the Montae scholarship as he appeared to be a very good payer at a position of need. Although he demonstrated character issues by signing with Sparty ;-)
February 27th, 2014 at 11:31 AM ^
From what I heard, Nicholson was a good athlete and had nice size for a safety, but didn't like contact. I believe Penn State passed on him for the same reason.
February 27th, 2014 at 11:45 AM ^
I thought grades were maybe an issue too?
February 27th, 2014 at 12:09 PM ^
February 27th, 2014 at 10:24 AM ^
I think the charts from yesterday are simply the fall version of Overanalysis with the 2014 freshmen added, so I imagine they were ready made before the actual roster was made official - the weights are listed though, so perhaps it was an oversight. It's an understandable one perhaps, as there was not even a mention of the possibility of Paskorz not being around. I know there was a thread a week or so ago wondering what, if any, role there would be for Paskorz because of Butt's injury, but as was said above, at least one move makes more sense now if he is no longer on the team.
February 27th, 2014 at 10:36 AM ^
I had heard that this was a possibility, but I thought he would come back with all the youth at TE. I guess this explains the Heitzman move even further, but I think Heitzman is a better player, anyway.
February 27th, 2014 at 10:53 AM ^
You think Heitzman is a "better player," or a "better TE?" We've seen one five second clip of Heitzman catching a pass in shorts.
February 27th, 2014 at 10:59 AM ^
recruited by some schools at TE. Like Ross Douglas he was not a total slouch at the position in high school. Hopefully that translates to the college game for both.
February 27th, 2014 at 11:12 AM ^
Heitzman is a better football player than Paskorz. Heitzman was a very productive HS football player in Ohio's largest division, but didn't have many offers or ratings because people were worried he wouldn't be able to put on the weight (he was 230 in HS as a DE). He was 1st team All-Ohio as a senior and had a good showing in the Big 33 game (along with Frank Clark). He took a redshirt year here and has been a solid contributor ever since.
Paskorz trended in the opposite direction. Many thought he could be a 4 star after we offered and ND showed interest, but after he committed to us he stunk up his senior year and has done almost literally nothing in four years in AA.
I'm not saying Paskorz isn't a good kid, but in terms of who is the better football player, that's very clearly Heitzman. Who is the better TE? Neither of them started out at TE here, but both played it in HS. Considering I like Heitzman as a player a lot better than Paskorz, I think he would be a better TE as well.
February 27th, 2014 at 11:22 AM ^
Heitzman is a better athlete. Paskorz had four years and three positions (DE, OLB, TE) to get on the field, and all he had to show for it was a little bit of playing time as a blocking tight end in year four. Meanwhile, Heitzman was a backup as a redshirt freshman and a starter as a redshirt sophomore.
February 27th, 2014 at 12:15 PM ^
I think Heitzman is a better player as well; I just haven't seen him play TE at all so the fact that he may be starting in September is concerning. I just wanted to know why you were higher on him as a TE than a kid who played meaningful snaps at the position a year ago.
I haven't seen Heitzman's HS film, so he may have been a solid HS TE. I just hope he can be adequate until we get J.B. back.
February 27th, 2014 at 10:40 AM ^
Commece continued head scratching over turning down guys like Montae Nicholson. So does this mean that the 2015 class (which was supposed to be super small) could be bigger than the 2014 class?
February 27th, 2014 at 11:06 AM ^
I don't get them passing on Tommy Schutt, Levenberry (the second time around), Pocic and a few other talented guys that reportedly had high interest in us that we spurned early on because we were "set" at the position only to change course and offer lesser rated kids at the same position later in the process.
Obviously, there are things that go on behind the scenes that we aren't aware of and cirucmstances change so I won't beat the coaches up over it. This staff gets a B+/A- so far in recruiting, so they are entitled to a few misses.
February 27th, 2014 at 11:19 AM ^
Levenberry and his dad were kind of being jerks about the recruiting process, leveraging schools against each other and using public announcements to try to influence schools. I don't think the coaches wanted to bother with them anymore.
February 27th, 2014 at 11:21 AM ^
The problem is that the whole recruiting situation is fluid. When we turned Schutt away, it's very likely that when we turned down Schutt, we didn't have room (or need) for another DT. Then later in the process, once Schutt was committed, that changed. Considering we picked up Willie Henry who has been pretty good, I can't complain about that either.
Over the course of the recruiting cycle, numbers change, needs change and the coaches' opinions of individual recruits change. It's easy to say "we should have taken this guy" a year later, but it's not that simple. We also don't know for sure that any of those guys would have picked us anyway.
February 27th, 2014 at 12:46 PM ^
We did turn down Schutt.....and he wasnt happy about it.
February 27th, 2014 at 6:20 PM ^
Oh, I know we turned him down. But people bring up that situation as a recruiting "screw-up" because after we turned him down, we took another DT (Willie Henry). But that's likely because things change, not because the coaches "screwed up."
That said, Willie Henry might end up being as good as Tommy Schutt, or very close.
February 27th, 2014 at 11:18 AM ^
Paskorz would have been a senior in 2014, so his loss doesn't add to the 2015 class's size.
February 27th, 2014 at 2:21 PM ^