Sam Webb: U-M Has "Slight Lead" for Otis Reese
With one week until Signing Day (Feb. 7), Sam updated the recruitment of Otis Reese this morning on WTKA. He said Michigan has a "slight lead" for him thanks in large part to his relationship with Chris Partridge. It didn't help Georgia that his main recruiter left, but proximity to Georgia is in their favor.
He also said that unlike the Aubrey Solomon recruitment - everyone knew for weeks he was going to Michigan - this one is going to come right down to the wire.
January 31st, 2018 at 11:40 PM ^
February 1st, 2018 at 9:36 AM ^
It's really not even close. He is better than any QB who set foot onto the field wearing Maize and Blue this year. Anyone that disagrees doesn't watch the games.
January 31st, 2018 at 2:13 PM ^
This is a hot take for multiple reasons.
1. They are playing in vastly different offenses. Speight's in a strictly game manager role. he's playing do not make a mistake football. Shea is playing in a spread and has to be the guy taking over a game. in Shea's 10 games as you pointed out he averages 39.2 attempts per game. Speight averaged 20... he's going to throw picks when that's the offense you're running.
2. It's clear Speight's game is lacking in a multitude of areas. His inability to hit the deep ball (see wisky game where he missed a wide open Darboh 5 times), his accuracy issues, his happy feet in the pocket in 2017 due to previous injury, zero mobility. What he does well is dissect a play and make the right checks, though he can't hit the receivers to execute. When you watch Shea's game he can do all these things that Speight stuggled with. Deep ball accuracy, short game accuracy, he's mobile and he's just a playmaker in general.
3. I love when people bring up the "well he played great against inferior teams," you know who didn't?... 2017 Wilton Speight. Even then Wilton Speight had 4 games in which he threw for multiple TDs in 2016, those teams included Hawai'i, UCF, Illinois, and Maryland. So this narrative against Shea is tired. He didn't play well twice in 2017 against LSU and Bama who have FAR superior talent to Ole Miss. So does Auburn and he threw 346 and 2 TDs and no picks.
If you HONESTLY would take Speight in 2016 or 2017 over Shea Patterson, you need help or need the latest version of Football for Dummies.
January 31st, 2018 at 3:59 PM ^
I would take 2016 Speight over 2017 Shea Patterson for 2018 Michigan. From the homework I've done, that was the conclusion I came to. I don't feel like spending an hour and digging threw all the stats again. You can yell at Brian when he says the same things I did.
He is a high four star talent kid, who has never played in a pro-style offense, will have to find out how to be productive while throwing 1/2 the amount of passes. My biggest fear is the gunslinger mentality is coached out of him in order to suppress turnovers and it causes him to overthink things. It is just too many unknowns and what we do know does not translate directly to Michigan or the B1G.
And no, I do not care what he did against Auburn. Ole Miss was down 35-3 at half. His 51 passes at 6.8 YPA looks like a good defensive gameplan when the game is over at halftime. His other 1.5 games against Top 25 defenses put up a whopping 0 TD/5 INT ratio, and 5.4 YPA on 52 passes.
January 31st, 2018 at 5:46 PM ^
Totally agreed. I think Shea is no panacea (TM). Fans will be "disappointed" if we dont go 10-3 etc. I expect a painful season until proven otherwise (hello 2015!)
February 1st, 2018 at 9:01 AM ^
Definitely part of the solution, but not the missing piece. Vast OL/WR improvement will be required just to be a legit B1G contender as well. By legit I mean controlling our own destiny when we face off against OSU.
He is a very talented kid, imo, but he has some shortcommings. He probably has the most talent on our roster, but he has to overcome some disadvantages in order to make it onto the field as a starter, day 1.
