Looking back: Alex Malzone vs. Tyree Jackson
https://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/tyree-jackson-qb-muskegon-mona-shores-edit
It’s interesting to look back on the comments to the post I made over four years ago....would’ve looked good in the Maize & Blue.
January 6th, 2019 at 8:06 AM ^
What has Olave done this year? I say Bust.
/s
January 5th, 2019 at 9:10 PM ^
A poster named "gord" wrote to OP (lukepanici):
"If he turns into the QB version of Khalil Mack then come back in 4 years and bump this thread and say I told you so."
While Jackson isn't the equivalent of Khalil Mack at QB, OP was right to point out Jackson as a quality prospect.
Props to OP.
I can understand where OP is coming from. For instance, I badly wanted Brady Hoke to offer Deshone Kizer (who grew up a Michigan fan). Idiotic move to not do so in retrospect.
Another player I wanted was Tyler Boyd at WR but Hoke wasn't interested. (IIRC, Hoke wanted him at DB.)
January 6th, 2019 at 12:27 AM ^
Khalil Mack was drafted 5th overall. Jackson, uh, isn't.
So Jackson didn't turn into the QB version of Mack.
So no props to the OP.
January 5th, 2019 at 9:14 PM ^
In 2014 I and most the of the board were very, very worried about the QB position. Morris seemed to have broken, Speight was not even on the radar of being a potential starter, and Malzone didn’t seem to have the wow factor either. Plus we had a commit from deWeaver who also didn’t inspire.
Remember that in the 2015 Spring Game Malzone was the first QB drafted. My have we come a long way. We had 4 QBs on our roster this past season that were far better than anyone we had when Harbaugh originally arrived.
January 5th, 2019 at 9:22 PM ^
Speaking of the 2015 spring game, my only memory of Malzone was the beard I managed to grow while waiting for his 10-yard out attempt to arrive.
January 5th, 2019 at 9:41 PM ^
I was at that spring game as I was still living on the west side of Ann Arbor (off S. Maple at the time). It was during the hash bash so as I walked to the stadium I passed about a dozen juggalos.
That spring game had me worried big time. The defensive player that really stood out was Brandon Watson amazingly and the only TD was to Jaron Dukes over Dennis Norfleet. Malzone got some hype so I was willing to give him a chance but damn, every pass looked like it took all of his effort to throw. I expected a 7-5 season even with Harbaugh at the helm. Thank God for Jake Rudock and the defense.
January 5th, 2019 at 9:19 PM ^
I mean, he's a good MAC QB. But he completed 55% of his passes for 28 TDs, 12 picks, 7.7 ypa and didn't run all that much (Patterson averaged more yards per run on more carries). For comparison purposes, Shane Morris at CMU had virtually the same numbers (55%, 27 TDs, 17 picks, 7.3 ypa). I'm sure he'll transfer somewhere and get a shot, but lots of guys look good in the MAC when throwing against mediocre competition. Hell, the article points out one great throw against Rutgers but ignores the fact he went 14/28 for 3 TDs and 2 INTs against...the 66th pass defense in the country.
Also, don't think I didn't notice you linked to your own post 4+ years ago.
January 5th, 2019 at 9:45 PM ^
Obviously Malzone didn't pan out, but Tyree Jackson isn't that special either and P5 teams were right to pass on him. He's basically getting the Josh Allen treatment right now (Did you know he's TALL?), but Jackson's game-by-game stats are thoroughly 'meh' on a pretty good UB team. He certainly wasn't the primary reason Buffalo had such a good season
January 5th, 2019 at 10:36 PM ^
Yeah, I saw him play in the MAC Championship.
He sucks .
January 5th, 2019 at 10:45 PM ^
He looks like Speight would look if he was healthy and playing MAC level competition each week. But you were certainly right vis a vis Malzone.
Since we're diving into the wayback machine, here's some Kelly Baraka highlights.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE1O9eGsxb8
January 5th, 2019 at 11:02 PM ^
Of course he never comments in his own thread
January 5th, 2019 at 11:47 PM ^
Maybe Jackson would have sat the bench his entire time at UIM, except to come in the 2nd half of The Game 2017 and win it. Which would have pushed us to a different bowl, which happened to be seen by an impressionable 10 year old, who then committed to Michigan and led us to the Natl Champshionship in 2028. Ray Bradbury wrote a decent story about the Tyree Jackson effect.
January 7th, 2019 at 2:30 AM ^
Schiz, does UIM stand for University In Michigan, a mockery of THE THE ohio state university phrase? I like calling them THE 11th best university in Ohio since I found a ranking putting them there a few years ago after reading some annoying post by a THE guy.
January 6th, 2019 at 12:46 AM ^
Yeah, looking back he'd had been a way better add
January 6th, 2019 at 5:04 AM ^
I mean let’s be honest here. He’s an above average QB in the MAC. While that’s better than Malzone, he still likely would have never played a meaningful snap here with the possible exception of last season when half of our QB room was hit by a bus and the other half played as if they had been hit by a bus.
And half of our fan base would have flipped their lids if we took a QB ranked #1528 in the country...
January 6th, 2019 at 10:30 AM ^
If we're being honest, lets be all the way honest and acknowledge that he was the best player in the whole conference, at ANY position.
January 6th, 2019 at 8:25 AM ^
He did look very good against Rutgers - who were left wondering why they weren't pursing him.
https://www.nj.com/rutgersfootball/index.ssf/2018/09/is_there_any_way_r…
January 6th, 2019 at 9:22 AM ^
Alex Malzone may start next year for my alma mater, so I am not going to trash his career. Gus was a returning starter who rescued the program from being the worst in D1 to winning nearly every game once he took over for a winless team. Malzone was his backup this year—and next year he has a chance in the offense to spread the ball around on a pass heavy system.
I njist hope no star-gazers are lamenting the miss.
January 6th, 2019 at 10:02 AM ^
That's funny. I was just thinking about Tyree Jackson this past week when I was writing an "Ex-Wolverine Update" for TTB. He had some good raw skills, and I guess the completion percentage thing might still indicate some rawness. But he's done pretty well for himself so far.
Personally, I would like to see him transfer to a bigger school and see what he can do (if the right situation presents himself), but it might be smartest for him to stay where he's comfortable, make some strides to get better, and see what the NFL thinks in 2020.
January 6th, 2019 at 12:24 PM ^
...And he just announced that he's going to forego his senior season and declare for the NFL draft.
January 6th, 2019 at 10:26 AM ^
You have earned the right to distribute many L's even though none of the smug commenters then will come back to hold them. Ive been posting on Okayplayer for almost 20 years and the sports forum there birthed what we call "agenda posting". You could be said to have a "Tyree Jackson agenda", and as it turns out, you hit big. Your predictions and scouting report have come to pass, and your contrarians took huge L's.
*tips cap*
January 6th, 2019 at 1:01 PM ^
Guy has good but not great stats, lacks mobility, has an arm that's fine but nothing special, and he plays in the MAC. His production as a fourth year player is less than what O'Korn put up as a freshman at Houston and we saw how that skillset translated to a higher level of competition. Good for him for having a good career and making a major contribution to his school. But this is hardly a drop the mic situation as the OP was presumably right about Jackson > Malzone, but there is nothing to indicate he'd be a successful QB against P5 competition. But maybe he'll grad transfer and you can say I told you so next year and hand out some L's.
January 6th, 2019 at 11:17 AM ^
That Brady Hoke certainly knew his QB talent.
January 6th, 2019 at 7:29 PM ^
Thanks for this article, not Alex Malzone