Should we be excited about Wilton Speight?
But yes. Speight looks more comfortable. And faster. Like a gazelle/Tom Brady centaur #fredjackson
....that's enough for me to be excited. If Harbaugh can get a Super Bowl run out of Kaepernick he can make a Big Ten first team quarterback out of Speight.
Why wouldn't we be excited about Wilton? Year two; he's gonna be better. He's going to have a bevy of receivers, some solid running backs. Hopefully a better O-line. Hopefully.
So yeah...yes.
The fans of this program are amazing. You would think there was some proven QB somewhere in this roster who is being blocked by Speight taking up space. Speight works hard and will improve. He still has two years of eligibility left. That's actually a good thing.
I don't think they realize Speight could duplicate his performance last season and would still project as a 1st round pick in next year's draft.
I think I would be displeased if my team used a 1st on Speight in the '18 draft.
Because looking at the retreads and the never-will-be's the Jets are considering as their primary qb next season, make Speight hardly a bad idea, although DeShaun Watson would seem a better option, I grant you.
Let's not forget that Michigan football is rife with qb controversy and who should be No. 1 in our hearts and mind, let alone starting on Saturday. But Speight's emergence after saving a win at Minnesota and then leading his team to a 10-3 season last year when there was no real serious challenger that most fans could identify with, ought to put to rest the entire question of his acceptability regardless of any physical shortcomings he possesses as the ideal prototype at qb to lead this program.
Having our coach's endorsement for the job ought to suffice. At least it does for me.
Because looking at the retreads and the never-will-be's the Jets are considering as their primary qb next season, make Speight hardly a bad idea, although DeShaun Watson would seem a better option, I grant you.
Let's not forget that Michigan football is rife with qb controversy and who should be No. 1 in our hearts and mind, let alone starting on Saturday. But Speight's emergence after saving a win at Minnesota and then leading his team to a 10-3 season last year when there was no real serious challenger that most fans could identify with, ought to put to rest the entire question of his acceptability regardless of any physical shortcomings he possesses as the ideal prototype at qb to lead this program.
Having our coach's endorsement for the job ought to suffice. At least it does for me.
The OP said:
"Although I believe it's quite possible that 2017 Speight could be improved enough to be the one to give them what they need, I don't see it as a guarantee."
He explictly acknowledged Speight may improve. He didn't trash the kid. He listed stats that showed Speight is better against bad teams than good ones. These are facts.
If you want to take exception, ask why the OP didn't do similar research on other QBs. I suspect it's pretty common to have significantly better numbers against bad teams.
Its the way of things on the internet. If you arent outraged over someone elses harmless opinion you arent doing the internet right. The world was a much better place when we didnt know every stupid assertion and outrage of the day of the masses. (Including what I just wrote).
Its the way of things on the internet. If you arent outraged over someone elses harmless opinion you arent doing the internet right. The world was a much better place when we didnt know every stupid assertion and outrage of the day of the masses. (Including what I just wrote).
Show me one QB that performs better against good teams than he does against poor teams? I'm not sure these stats mean a whole lot especially when the kid played hurt against the last three good teams (half of the games against good teams). I expect improvement especially in his ability to read defenses, check into the right plays, limit mistakes and lead. It may not show up in the stats though due to his having less experienced players around him. He is very solid. I am looking forward to seeing him play.
Tom Brady.
Lets see how much he develops over the offseason and how he looks against florida. After that I think would be a better time to ask this question
I think that Wilton Speight will be QB1 come September 2 and will remain as such until he graduates. So I'm going to root for him to improve upon his 2nd in conference completion percentage and 3rd in conference QB rating as a returning quarterback in 2017 and act as a steadying force for our incredibly young team.
Sam Darnold was also in his first year starting. Compare his Bowl game performance vs Speight's.
I expect Speight to start vs Florida, but truly hope Peters beats him out shortly after. Speight's floor is pretty decent but his ceiling is not high enough.
Darnold did well in his bowl against PSU. Speight also did well against PSU. Comparing these performances doesn't tell you much because Michigan gave up on the pass and ran the ball at will.
You'll probably never see this reply, but I was noticing your user name & avatar -
You're Western Mich & SoCal, I'm AA & Bay Area...
How are we ever supposed to agree on anything?!
Darnold is awesome, Speight is Body by Harbaugh. That's all. Speight is not the ceiling at the QB position for Michigan. I'd like to see the ceiling.
People forget that.
Cool block of text, I guess?
I'm kind of with you here. Clearly the majority on MGoBlog think Speight is going to be a great quarterback (and are irrationally defensive of him, in my opinion), but I have some major reservations about his ability to be a championship-caliber QB. We'll see. I'm confident that it will get sorted out.
Come on guy, he said championship-caliber, you can be championship-caliber without actually winning it for whatever reason. Speight is a solid qb but he is prone to some boneheaded mistakes at bad times. We were driving against MSU to push the lead to 24 in the 3rd quarter and he threw that pick that was so bad that Harbaugh turtled the rest of the game. He was terrible the whole game against Iowa and had those constly ints against OSU when we were on the verge of blowing them out. Honestly the guy reminds me of former Lions qb Scott Mitchell. This was his first year as a starter so I expect that he will get better, but that is not guaranteed.
UFR disagrees with you that he was terrible the whole game. I seem to remember his shoulder being checked after every drive in the 2nd half. Criticizing a guy because he played hurt is not fair.
The weird thing is that Speight started out looking much like he had in the previous three games. He missed a bomb to Darboh early, but other than that he was rolling out and finding guys downfield impressively, or actually hitting a downfield shot, or hitting open short stuff with ease. By the time Michigan scored to go up 10-0, he had one inaccurate pass and one marginal one against 9 DO/CA throws.
http://mgoblog.com/content/upon-further-review-2016-offense-vs-iowa
I don't see a lot on here saying anything about being great so you are being a tad hyperbolic. He is the best option at this time, period. So in that way, it is already sorted out.
This is the attitude I'm talking about. Why be so defensive? Maybe Peters will prove to be the better QB through spring and fall camp. That would be a good thing for the team, since we know Speight is aleady a passable QB. Maybe Speight will prove to be the best option this year and start the rest of his career. Maybe Speight will start this year and have simliarly mixed results, then Peters will take over as starter the following year.
I'm just going off what I saw on the field last year, and I question whether we can't find a player with more ability to start at QB.
I'm not worried about Speight, but neither do I think he is necessarily locked in as the starter for the rest of his career. He is capable, but his athleticism is limited. If you can't make an impact running the ball, your passing really has to be better than Speight has shown so far to be a star.
Speight was fine. Just exciting to imagine what Harbaugh's hand-picked QB recruits (who happen to be very highly rated) might be able to do with the reins. We'll see what happens.
If they can't beat out Speight for the #1 spot, then I want nothing to do with seeing what they can do.
Agreed
Few calls Tom Brady Championship calibre when he was a RS junior.
Greatest football player of all time as your comparison? Okay, I'll play along: Brady was the number six QB recruit in his class (per Tom Lemming), so his pedigree and implied upside was much higher than Speight's (rated number 22 QB, per 247 Composite).
You know who also was the number six QB recruit in his class? Brandon Peters. Ergo, he will go on to be the greatest QB in NFL history.
Brady struggled much of the year. Statistically, he ended up with 15 touchdowns against 12 interceptions and 7.53 yards per attempt. It doesn't mean anything, but Speight's stats last year actually ended up being better (19 TDs, 8 interceptions and 7,67 yards per attempt).
There was also that stretch in October of 1998 where Michigan eeked out 12-9, 12-6, 21-10 and 15-10 wins over 3-8 Iowa, 3-9 Northwestern, 4-7 Indiana and 5-6 Minnesota. That would have been a full month of board meltdowns.
I don't think it really clicked for Brady until the latter half of the 1999 season. Brady may be GOAT, but he only showed flashes of that in college.
Yes, but those flashes were the real thing, if you were paying attention. Especially with regard to his leadership qualities. The competition with Henson only made him better. We live in the Patriots' home area, so saw all their games back in the day. I remember when Bledsoe went down, and Brady came in. I said to my wife, "The legend begins ..." We laughed, but I also meant it -- I can't remember any player I've ever been so sure would make it, given a fair chance, in the NFL.
Maybe Montana, who showed some of the same leadership qualities at ND.