Marcus Ray: Jabril Peppers would be Michigan's best Running Back right now

Submitted by Dawkins on
Ray made this comment on Michigan Insider during his weekly Thursday morning interview. They were discussing Habaugh's comments about Peppers potentially being a three-way player.

It was unclear from the comment whether this was simply meant as a compliment toward Peppers, or if he was suggesting that Michigan's RB corps is in trouble. He did also say Ty Isaac could do well this year too.

In any event, this will be a LOOONG season if we're unable to move the ball on the ground effectively.

massblue

August 2nd, 2015 at 8:52 AM ^

He does not have any insider info because there is no insider info to have. I would have taken this statement more seriously if we were in the middle of the Fall camp. Nobody has seen Ty and Drake play this year and nobody has seen how effective or ineffective the O line is. Even Jim himself probably has little idea about how good or bad his RBs are.



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m83econ

August 2nd, 2015 at 8:55 AM ^

As the best athlete on the team, Peppers is probably the best potential player at a number of positions. So not terribly surprising for Marcus Ray to make that claim.

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PeterKlima

August 2nd, 2015 at 9:07 AM ^

I like him.  He seems nice.  However, he is chummy with Jabril and Ray's analysis is always heavily colored by his friendships.  I think he was just paying the kid a compliment.

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mGrowOld

August 2nd, 2015 at 9:21 AM ^

Not surprising. Peppers is clearly the best athlete on the team and also, not coincidently, the highest rated player on the team coming out of HS.

For all the people on the board who say star ratings really don't matter and that Harbaugh can coach up a 2 star player to be just as good as the 5 star players Meyer is dragging in I think this would be a pretty good case that ratings DO matter a little.

The best chef in the world still needs good ingredients to make a fantastic meal.

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DetroitBlue

August 2nd, 2015 at 9:23 AM ^

Probably true. On the other hand, Marcus Ray was adamant that Hoke was the right guy for the job throughout last season, so I'll continue to take his opinion with a grain of salt



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allintime23

August 2nd, 2015 at 9:50 AM ^

Ray should be responsible enough to keep things like that to himself. If you're able to watch practices that closely you should also be able to act like a big kid and not run your mouth. This can be taken both ways but still, you don't say that heading into fall camp.



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Mr. Yost

August 2nd, 2015 at 11:08 AM ^

He called Peppers the best player on the team and the only elite player before he ever played a down last year.

There's going to be a ton of comments like this...not just with Peppers, but with the QBs, RBs and WRs...any position with a competition or high profile recruit.

He works for the media...why should he keep it to himself? That would be a little counterproductive.

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MChem83

August 2nd, 2015 at 12:04 PM ^

If he were saying that the coaches are actually contemplating giving him snaps at RB ahead of all of the other guys we have there, or that it would be a good idea for them to do so, that would be irresponsible, IMO.  But if all he's saying is that IF Peppers were a RB, he'd be a really good one, just to point out what a freak athlete his is, that's a little different.  

Even if he could be our best RB, though, it would be a big mistake to use him there in our current situation.  It would increase his risk of injury significantly, for no good reason.  Even though we don't have any standouts there, we have a lot more solid candidates than we do at DB.

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Gobgoblue

August 2nd, 2015 at 9:54 AM ^

about this a long time, but imo that radio show is awful. It's no better than the rest of the homer hacks for other teams that talk nonsense.

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PopeLando

August 2nd, 2015 at 10:14 AM ^

Something something joke about Jabrill and three-ways. Already covered on other threads? I know that he played RB in high school, but RB takes a special skill in college: consistently avoid fumbling. Even the best high school RBs can have problems with coughing it up in the college game at first. I still have nightmares of Kevin Grady. Let's use him like we used Manningham in the Florida game, please. Oh my god, those jet sweeps.

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Bodogblog

August 2nd, 2015 at 10:14 AM ^

Ray is prone to grand, dramatic statements. If you dismiss those, his analysis is pretty spot-on. He was very critical if the team at times last year, and early on said they were mediocre (even before ND). I don't think this means anything re. the other RBs. It's been a long offseason for the analysts as well, need a couple overstatement to get them through to the first week of practice

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maize-blue

August 2nd, 2015 at 10:26 AM ^

In my opinion, Peppers would make the most impact at slot or throwing to him out of the backfield or catching the ball in some capacity at least. I feel like getting him the ball in open areas and letting him try to make plays is where he'll be most efffective.

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umchicago

August 2nd, 2015 at 10:39 AM ^

is another woodson.  he obviously is dangerous with the ball in his hands.  that said, he can't be taking too many plays on offense.  i would like to see him on every 3rd down on offense, if only as a decoy.

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Jevy

August 2nd, 2015 at 10:41 AM ^

The thing is that Jabrill would be the best player at multiple positions on this team. Safety, Corner, Rb, Wide Reciever and would probably be a decent LB too, but it's where he is the best at and it would definitely be safety. Marcus had no need to say this, especially when it's an open race between 4 players. I'm sure they catch wind of stuff like this, especially coming from and Alum.

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