Tarik Black's limited role vs. Rutgers?
I'd be interested if anyone has thoughts on Tarik Black's limited role in the game against Rutgers. I don't know how many snaps he was out there for, but I don't believe there was a single pass attempt thrown to him. Explanations might include:
- Perhaps he's 95%, not 100%, so every extra week helps with recovery
- He's still getting back up to speed with the route concepts
- Coaches want to save him for OSU and minimize his appearance on film
Tarik himself appears eager to get back on the field. A Victors Club poster noticed that Tarik, on Twitter, liked a number of comments expressing dissatisfaction with Tarik's playing time.
November 12th, 2018 at 8:51 AM ^
I think the coaches are trying not to risk any sort of re-injury against teams like Rutgers and possibly even Indiana.
Tarik was out there vs. MSU, but once the weather became worse they didn't want him playing on his ankles. He played a few snaps vs. PSU and would have had a hell of a TD catch, but it was called back for holding.
I believe we will see him against OSU for sure. OSU only has film on DPJ and Collins, I think the coaches like that.
November 12th, 2018 at 8:57 AM ^
Yeah, I agree with this. I think he is sort of a secret weapon at this point. I believe he is 100% but if you can win 42 - 7, why show too much? I expect some special packages against OSU. Oliver Martin looked great Saturday. The receiver position is in great shape.
November 12th, 2018 at 9:56 AM ^
He's been out for basically 2 years. It would be good to get him some game reps prior to OSU.
November 12th, 2018 at 10:17 AM ^
M can beat tOSU without Black. Maybe use him, work him, etc. but save Black for playoffs. If he's 100% for tOSU, why show others in CFP what he may be capable of?
November 12th, 2018 at 10:21 AM ^
Assuredly, Michigan is not going to save anything for post-OSU.
November 12th, 2018 at 11:14 AM ^
Yeah we don’t save anything for the playoffs . We need to beat OSU. Throw the kitchen sink at them. Not only do we have to beat them , we have to beat the refs.
November 12th, 2018 at 11:33 AM ^
We'll beat everybody!
Well, except the wives.
November 12th, 2018 at 12:32 PM ^
Thought you were Zach Smith for a second
November 12th, 2018 at 2:29 PM ^
Bingo... my thoughts exactly. Glad someone included beating the refs along with Urban & OSU.
November 12th, 2018 at 10:30 AM ^
If we were able to beat Ohio State 42-7 without Black, I'd bring him in so we can beat them 49-7.
November 12th, 2018 at 10:42 AM ^
DISAGREE
if we score that 7th TD with him, I’d go for two.
And yeah I’d use him to do it.
November 12th, 2018 at 10:44 AM ^
Save him for the playoffs? Are you crazy??? We need to keep him under wraps until his final game of eligibility so no one knows how awesome he is until the last second!!!
November 12th, 2018 at 12:14 PM ^
I negged you just because you type "tOSU." Using the small T is so lame.
November 12th, 2018 at 3:42 PM ^
I would never do that. I roll with tsiO.
November 12th, 2018 at 11:10 AM ^
It's probably a combination of getting game reps, and more importantly conditioning. Because he's been out for almost 2 years, his in game conditioning is most likely not where it should be. But when it is, we will be Fully Operational.
November 12th, 2018 at 12:21 PM ^
Exactly. He hasn’t played much the last two years. Our other WR’s have been playing great. Give him some time to get back up to full speed and earn more playing time. It will come
November 12th, 2018 at 9:57 AM ^
Is there really a significantly different way to prepare for TB as opposed to the other guys though? I think it’s definitely just a matter of trying to ease him back into the game to minimize injury risk.
November 12th, 2018 at 10:31 AM ^
Yeah, it's not like he's going to sneak in and play QB.
Is he . . . . ?
November 12th, 2018 at 10:32 AM ^
OSU can juice up their DB's so they run faster.
November 12th, 2018 at 8:55 AM ^
DPJ is catching everything thrown his way, not hard to see why Shea likes throwing to him more than Nico or Tarik. Plus Tarik may take a few games to get up to speed.
November 12th, 2018 at 9:04 AM ^
Nico is also catching everything thrown his way.
My son is also named Bort.
November 12th, 2018 at 9:55 AM ^
Yeah DPJ and Nico are almost 1A and 1B. DPJ is at 67% (30/447) and Nico is at 61% (26/429).
November 12th, 2018 at 9:11 AM ^
You're technically not wrong here, but Collins has 4 less catches than DPJ.
November 12th, 2018 at 9:20 AM ^
And fewer targets I'd imagine too. Nico seems to catch everything thrown his way.
November 12th, 2018 at 10:24 AM ^
That's not what I get out of the lip-reading lol; I get "revenge tour"
November 12th, 2018 at 8:55 AM ^
I’m sure he’s frustrated as he feels good enough to let it loose. I’d be willing to bet they get him involved this week to give OSU another credible threat to worry about in planning.
November 12th, 2018 at 8:56 AM ^
Can't wait for the 4 WR All Verticals play againt OSU. Collins, Black, DPJ, Gentry all go vertical. How do you stop that?
November 12th, 2018 at 9:03 AM ^
You sack the shit out of Shea before they can complete their routes
November 12th, 2018 at 9:04 AM ^
Get to the QB before he can see which of the 4 receivers is the most open while also having 4 DBs on the field who are excellent in coverage.
November 12th, 2018 at 9:11 AM ^
Freelion: Don't tempt Pep with this fallacy - it is/has been his Achilles' heel as a coach (saw him do this for years as a Colts coordinator). We need quick plays to players in space against OSU zone. (akin to last year's game plan)
November 12th, 2018 at 9:14 AM ^
Works in NCAA 14 every time!
November 12th, 2018 at 10:03 AM ^
Unleash the Dragon!
November 12th, 2018 at 10:04 AM ^
Or Techmo Super Bowl run back to your endzone and throw a 100 yard bomb!
November 12th, 2018 at 10:24 AM ^
More like 118 yd bomb; in the air from back of endzone to back of endzone! Man that game was awesome, think I'll play it tonight.
November 12th, 2018 at 10:57 AM ^
Slot rout is open every single time
November 12th, 2018 at 9:22 AM ^
yea that would be dumb, I think that's what pep did last year and how'd that go....
November 12th, 2018 at 10:00 AM ^
put 4 out wide then dump the ball off to Chris Evans underneath....
November 12th, 2018 at 10:26 AM ^
I completely agree. After the TD run on the quick hitter up the middle for Evans, you can play fake to him, send everyone long and still throw to him over the LOS.
November 13th, 2018 at 7:36 AM ^
I agree with dumping it off to Evans but there’s something about him that makes me think he isn’t necessarily enjoying contact this year. If he gets into the open field the kid can fly but I’m wondering if he’s just not 100 percent. If he gets hit at the LOS when the ball is handed off, unlike Higdon, he seems to go down awfully quick. I get he’s a completely different back than what Higdon is but I don’t quite see him as a game changer yet.
November 12th, 2018 at 10:00 AM ^
Great time for the draw play!
November 12th, 2018 at 10:35 AM ^
Put 4 WR's out there, arm punt it to whoever has single coverage, then wait for the PI call.
Oh, wait . . . that only works against us.
November 12th, 2018 at 10:51 AM ^
Joe Flacco became insanely rich using this very tactic, so we know it's a part of the Harbaugh repertoire.
November 12th, 2018 at 8:59 AM ^
A combo of bringing him along slowly so as to not overly risk re-injury and who the coaches currently trust the most to run the vanilla stuff and succeed.
Black has fewer practice hours logged this season than Martin and Bell. We don't want to put a bunch of new things on film against Rutgers, which means we need to run the base/old stuff perfectly to still beat Rutgers comfortably.
I assume that we will see a good deal more of Black against OSU, at least compared to what we've seen since his return. No reason to be concerned about re-injury in that game and he'll have logged another 2 weeks of practice.
November 12th, 2018 at 9:12 AM ^
This x1000. He is still easing into it after weeks of not practicing. He could very well be #1 on the depth chart by the end of spring or even end of bowl camp.
Why rush a guy back from injury with the risk of hurting him again when we have depth at that position?
November 12th, 2018 at 8:59 AM ^
There were quite a few players with limited roles against Rutgers. We got a heavy dose of Ronnie Bell and Oliver Martin early. I expect that Harbaugh knew Rutgers wouldn't present a challenge, so started the subbing in and out early.
November 12th, 2018 at 9:00 AM ^
p.s. I guess points are broken again. I'm stuck at 181. Awesome!
November 12th, 2018 at 9:04 AM ^
+1
That's as good as anything else.
November 12th, 2018 at 9:26 PM ^
It looks it might be working....
November 12th, 2018 at 9:00 AM ^
Unless the receiver blows by his man (which is literally the last pass Tarik caught), it takes time and reps for a QB to get used to a WR. The timing at this level is pretty unforgiving. It looks like Shea is only just getting comfortable throwing to DPJ and Collins. He's not going to get to that level with Tarik in a couple weeks.
The other thing is that the last couple opponents M faced had respectable pass defenses and terrible run defenses, so it's unfortunate timing for Tarik that M was going to de-emphasize the pass following his return.
Was he at least out there for the 4th quarter? If not, then we can speculate he's being withheld for OSU. He's not worse than Bell.