Marcus Ray: Jabril Peppers would be Michigan's best Running Back right now
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.
August 2nd, 2015 at 10:24 PM ^
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August 2nd, 2015 at 10:57 AM ^
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August 2nd, 2015 at 11:28 AM ^
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August 2nd, 2015 at 11:52 AM ^
August 2nd, 2015 at 12:22 PM ^
August 2nd, 2015 at 12:15 PM ^
Six are insightful, two are bragging about "laying somebody out" at UM practice, and two are just WTH? material.
August 2nd, 2015 at 12:47 PM ^
August 2nd, 2015 at 12:47 PM ^
see Peppers in at QB at times or he could be in the backfield for reverses but I doubt he takes direct hand-offs into the line.
I think one of our RB will step up in summer camp and be the clear starter. Though it would be nice to find a good 2nd and 3rd string who could play if needed.
August 2nd, 2015 at 12:49 PM ^
August 2nd, 2015 at 12:58 PM ^
Marcus 'Fred Jackson' Ray telling it straight.
Stop hating on Marcus. Dude's just giving his best opinion - and it's better than 95% of people on here.
And I'm guessing Marcus Ray is also super-high on Peppers as a cornerback, HSP, kick returner, governor, car repairman, and everything else. Ray's a former DB and Peppers looks to be a great player with insane athleticism. I think this is more Ray talking up a player than a knock against the current crop.
I don't think anyone has a great sense of the running back situation right now, but we've seen literally hundreds of middling backs put up good numbers behind solid offensive lines. The hope is UM will have one of those in 2015, and so I expect Michigan to be able to get yards on the ground regardless of who is holding onto the football.
Peppers, if have had wanted it, would have been welcomed as a RB to almost any school in the country. Hell, even with Fournette, Les would have welcomed him on offense just to ensure depth.
bronx is correct in his statement that having a solid offensive line usually guarantees a RB with D1 talent will achieve a certain level of success and the offense will be able to move the ball on the ground effectively. We have been blessed to have had many great RBs here, but we would not have known it if our coaching staffs had not placed emphasis where it belonged, bringing in and properly developing offensive linemen. Bo was well known for turning track stars into All BIG RBs because they had nothing more to do than run through the assigned hole because it would almost always provide an avenue to the end zone.
With Ruddock's reputation of taking care of the ball I think this will alleviate a ton of pressure from the current 3 to 4 deep, depending on how Drake heals. He will be able to effectively move the ball through the air on intermediate routes, thereby causing the defense to play honest. This wasn't the case the past couple of years because if Devin wasnt having an All NFL day, he was having a youth football league day, often times handing the ball to the defense instead of being forced into a turnover. He didn;t enjoy too many,normal, efficient days at the office when he was our trigger man.
I think Ty is our Ace in the hole. I think his mere presence on the roster, along with Jim's demand for daily improvement will ignite the fire under the ass of both our blockers and our backs. I look for us to be greatly improved in this area and allow us to do a number of things on second down instead of having to throw almost constanly because of being shut down on our first down run attempts.
With that said, there is still little doubt, based only on h.s. film, that Peppers would be our starting TB if that were his desire coming out of h.s. i am just hoping for a two year All BIG type of career from him on the defensive side of the ball. i do, however, look forward to seeing how Jim uses him on the other side of the ball. Should be an exciting time for us.
Ray has been known to say a lot of dumb things on the radio. He wanted to hire Jim Tressel and at one point said Butch Jones would be a better hire than Harbaugh.
after listening to the interview he did with Sam Webb, his comments about Pepper's viability as the starting rb came after Webb coaxed him into a position statement about the issue. And, it came after Webb noted that Harbaugh himself announced that Peppers was a candidate to be a three-way player this fall, and Webb talked about his running ability as a high school player before he became known as a defensive standout at Paramus Catholic.
If there is one player since Charles Woodson who is capapble of playing both sides of the ball effectively, it is Peppers. Who here doubts this but is also fearful of overexposure and fatigue leading to injury? All of us. For Marcus to suggest that Peppers might be the best player to start as running back is about as provocative as suggesting that Rudock and Morris are the leading qb candidates -- no matter what the official line is. OK, so what. Marcus went on to say that even when Woodson played both offense and defense, the experiment was tried early in the fall and limited to a set number of plays maximizing his effort without hindering his primary effectiveness on defense.
And can we acknowledge as the best athlete on the team, the defense isn't even considering using Peppers as a safety, but a hybrid linebacker who plays nickel near the line of scrimmage. So, when others suggest he isn't necessarily the best safey on the team, that's because he isn't playing safety.
You may not like Marcus' point of view, but he has an opinion and he gets on the radio and asserts it. Take it or leave it. He knows the game, he knows the program and he was teammates with two of the greatest in Michigan history in their championship season. I personally like him and the way he speaks his mind. Parse his comments for what you want to accept and ignore the rest.
August 3rd, 2015 at 12:41 AM ^
I have that same picture hanging next to my Desmond Howard autographed pic of the 4th & 2 TD vs ND in 1991 and Harbaugh autographed picture of him as a player in '86 that reads "From one Michigan Man to Another ...Go Blue!"
Which are each next to my Denard Robinson autographed jersey..
/humblebrag
lol ....