Roundtree > Grady?
I noticed Roundtree commonly on the field after Grady's drop in the 2nd quarter. I also don't recall seeing Kelvin on the field again after that (could be he just didn't get the ball thrown his way). Did Grady get benched? Injured? Should we expect to see Roundtree over Grady from here on out? My thoughts are that the coaches have been giving Grady playing time over Roundtree up to this point for a reason but maybe Roundtree has closed the gap enough that a mistake by Grady meant the coaches felt comfortable giving him the chance.
Do we know enough about Roundtree to know whether this is a good thing, bad thing, or does it not even matter in the grand scheme of things?
October 4th, 2009 at 4:48 PM ^
he looked great at the spring game ..i was there...dont know why he hasnt had more time...looked really good in spring
October 4th, 2009 at 4:50 PM ^
how'd he look in the spring?
October 4th, 2009 at 4:54 PM ^
I don't know, I wasn't there, but I've heard he looked really good.
October 4th, 2009 at 8:49 PM ^
name a receiver that hasn't looked good against our secondary not being smothered by Warren?
October 4th, 2009 at 4:49 PM ^
roundtree that is
October 4th, 2009 at 4:59 PM ^
nice catches in the spring game (vs mostly the 2nd unit and walkons)
I was expecting more out of him this year, but I guess Grady beat him out.
That said I do think Grady was benched for his drops. I think Grady was back on kickoff returns.
October 4th, 2009 at 5:15 PM ^
Roundtree and Tate are buds off the field...looks like they had some good chemistry on the field. Grady needs to look the pass in to his hands and make the catch before turning upfield.
October 4th, 2009 at 5:19 PM ^
asked a similar question regarding Cissoko and Floyd. Who should start? Who would you like to see play? And really, none of us has a clue as to who is currently most able to help the team win. All of these players are young and most of them are contributing for the first time. There's still a lot of analysis left. If Roundtree outperforms Grady in practice and earns the start, great. If the coaches believe he is the best player and as a result he gets the start, I won't question their decision until it becomes evident that on-field performance isn't matching effort put forth during practice. We'll learn a lot about all of these young players this year and throughout the off-season. It's still too early to make any definitive decisions regarding starters at certain positions.
October 4th, 2009 at 5:20 PM ^
Odoms is the starter. This is mostly about backup minutes.
October 4th, 2009 at 5:21 PM ^
Grady hasn't been horrible, but I expect more from a starter at the slot position. I'm looking forward to a time when we can run some running back-type players out of the slot, as opposed to tiny wide receivers. I think that would open up the playbook a little more.
October 4th, 2009 at 5:32 PM ^
Sanders seems to be a prototypical slot ninja. Odoms has other plusses, but he doesn't have that elite shake and shift that keys the screen game.
October 4th, 2009 at 5:34 PM ^
Agreed.
I think Odoms is a good receiver, but I'm generally not a fan of him running the ball (although he did have that TD run vs. EMU).
October 4th, 2009 at 5:44 PM ^
Did anyone else notice Odoms making a bad read on that reverse yesterday? Watching live it looked like he had a huge seam if he'd have cut it up field, but instead he seemed to literally run into the defenders being blocked on the edge. Probably will know more after Brian's UFR, but at the time I felt like we missed an opportunity for a nice gain.
October 4th, 2009 at 7:04 PM ^
On the reverse the middle of the field had a gaping hole but Odoms continued to the sideline. It looked like he realized the middle was open, but at that time, it was too late and the play was a bust. Good design, bad read as you said.
October 5th, 2009 at 8:39 AM ^
I think that he tried to do this but he slipped.
October 4th, 2009 at 7:39 PM ^
Carlos in the slot more. He seems to have good hands, is a capable route runner and would probably add some pre-snap motion to the offense.
October 4th, 2009 at 5:35 PM ^
It seems Terrence Robinson was expected to fill this role before his hands turned to stone. Maybe Drake can fit the bill?
October 4th, 2009 at 6:25 PM ^
Drake could even be considered an option, Odoms will be a 3 year starter (and, in his fourth year, could be in line to break Michigan's all-time receptions record), and Roundtree and Kelvin Grady will be in their third years in this system. Drake may be an option at the slot, but it won't be on a significant basis until 2012 at the earliest.
October 5th, 2009 at 10:56 AM ^
I think he has the most potential.
October 4th, 2009 at 5:21 PM ^
I approve of a sort of revolving door position on starters. I just think there's still a lot we don't know about several of these young players and this year will shed a lot of light on talent and ability. We'll have a much better picture at the end of the season and I believe the best will emerge soon enough.
October 4th, 2009 at 5:21 PM ^
Well, Roundtree caught a pretty important pass yesterday. He may be a good player.
October 4th, 2009 at 5:30 PM ^
You can't flat out drop balls like Grady has. Period.
October 4th, 2009 at 5:37 PM ^
Is that 3 periods at the end of your sentence?
October 5th, 2009 at 1:14 AM ^
Technically, that would be an ellipsis wouldn't it?
October 4th, 2009 at 5:40 PM ^
agree Grady has way too many drops, which sucks because he looks fast and shifty, something odoms looks like he may be lacking. Which is not to discount the things he does well (route running Catching the ball lol and is a great downfield blocker)
October 4th, 2009 at 5:51 PM ^
but what is the thought on grooming Grady for the other cornerback spot? Granted it would take some time, but the dudes fast and has decent size...and it's not like we can do worse.
October 4th, 2009 at 6:16 PM ^
So not likely to happen.
October 4th, 2009 at 6:22 PM ^
Because Kelvin Grady has 2 more years of eligibility after this year.
October 4th, 2009 at 7:17 PM ^
BOOM FACT'ED
(doesn't work that well without mallet)
October 4th, 2009 at 9:00 PM ^
Um, I think you're getting Kevin and Kelvin mixed up.
October 4th, 2009 at 10:52 PM ^
Kevin would be an awesome CB, 5'9 230 lbs of terror
October 4th, 2009 at 9:02 PM ^
I just read his bio on mgoblue and it says that he was playing CB in High School. Since we have approximately 832 guys designated as slot receivers, Roundtree seems like a pretty quick guy, and we need some pretty quick guys in the secondary, maybe, just maybe I'd consider it...
October 4th, 2009 at 9:08 PM ^
We already have two cornerbacks who haven't been good enough to earn playing time (Teric Jones and Justin Turner). It's not like we're completely lacking depth at the position - we have 5 guys to fill 2 slots. It's just that very few of those players have experience at the position, and Roundtree would just be an additional newbie.
Meanwhile, he's the only slot receiver on the roster who can give us a 3-wide look rather than a 2-wide-with-slot-midget look.
October 4th, 2009 at 11:11 PM ^
Kelvin didn't play a lick of defense on the bball court, what makes you think this would be different on a football field?
October 4th, 2009 at 6:27 PM ^
Because once Gallon gets on the field, holy shit it's so over.
October 4th, 2009 at 9:05 PM ^
Last I heard, Gallon had qualified and was on his way to campus, and this was before Turner qualified. Is he not on campus and practicing yet? If not, why not?
October 4th, 2009 at 9:09 PM ^
Gallon is qualified and practicing, but he's chubby. He's almost certainly a redshirt, barring a rash of slot injuries.
October 4th, 2009 at 9:23 PM ^
Are there any other practice news bits from him aside from this? I've been excited to see him in action.
October 4th, 2009 at 7:11 PM ^
Let's remember that Roundtree has one more year than Kelvin in this offense.
October 4th, 2009 at 7:37 PM ^
are the biggest deficiency. and the coaches, despite Roundtree's additional year, started Grady.
October 4th, 2009 at 7:57 PM ^
kelvin has had a handful of drops already. not sure, but i think tay shouldve had more PT yesterday that being our first road game and all. still elusive though is that slot that catches it 5 yards up field and breaks it to the house. where is that guy? or the guy that sneaks behind the secondary for a big one. the deep threat in the middle so far has come entirely from the TE position. even on missed targets. just havent even seen many shots at all down field to the slots- the tay TD being the exception- want to see more of that.
October 4th, 2009 at 9:04 PM ^
"the guy that sneaks behind the secondary for a big one"
You mean like when Odoms got past the secondary for the go ahead score at the end of the game?
October 4th, 2009 at 8:03 PM ^
Also not huge on Odoms running the ball simply because there are guys with more speed that do probably do better. I've been surprised that Roundtree hasn't seen the field more, but you gotta earn it and I'm sure the time he's seen on the field is what he's deserved.
He showed up in a big moment on Saturday - I'd like to see him out there next week.
October 4th, 2009 at 8:15 PM ^
For those of you familiar with him from Scout, Roundtree has been a player he has consistently hyped. He's been saying that Roundtree catches everything thrown to him, runs great routes, and he has been scratching his head (that may be a lie) as to why Roundtree hasn't played more.
Of course, what it means to me is UM HAS ALOT OF WEAPONS. You have to make choices early, and give them time to gel as a unit.
At 4-0, averaging 38 points per game--what do you change with regard to the offense?
Of course, at 4-1 (an overtime loss on the road)--HOLY FUCK ZOMG THE TEAM IS DOOMED WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE FUUUUUUCK MEEEEE
October 4th, 2009 at 9:33 PM ^
On GBMW, Maizeman has also been extremely high on Emilien and Khoury, whom he stated early in the year should both challenge the incumbent starters. Emilien has yet been able to displace a walk-on and the coaches have disrupted 3 o-line positions in playing Moosman ahead of Khoury.
I really like Roundtree based on the little evidence I've seen, but I've learned to take any "insider" information from these guys with a grain of salt.
October 4th, 2009 at 10:40 PM ^
(I don't really mean this as much as I just want ERoc to respond again with another idiotic post that the majority of people don't read and just neg and make fun of him)
Lutha, this is not directed at you in any way, shape or form. The comment just fit here.
October 5th, 2009 at 12:23 AM ^
None of this really matters if the defense can't pick it up.
October 5th, 2009 at 2:09 AM ^
you mean the defense gives up 20 points in regulation on the road in a rivalry game, well, consider it picked up.
Yards may make us all feel bad, but points are all that matters in American football.
If the defense holds Iowa under 20 this week, I feel rather confident the team can win. It's the OFFENSE that needs to step it up - Saturday's game (other than the ending) was too similar to a 2008 game - bad TOP, short offensive drives, and decent to good defensive play.
October 5th, 2009 at 9:37 AM ^
Aside from the points, the defense couldn't get off the field, which resulted in long, sustained drives for MSU and limited the total number of possessions we could get on offense. While I agree that we didn't necessarily do anything with the ball for 3.5 quarters, given our explosiveness our offense does significantly better with more attempts.
October 5th, 2009 at 10:27 AM ^
TOP is not completely on the defense. Another thing that limited our possessions was, you know, not doing anything with the ball when we had it.