VIDEO: Norfleet's Returns

Call him Northfeet for the way he gets his feet moving north-south in a hurry.

Also, I love that he didn't try to do too much fancy dancin' even though that stuff surely worked in HS.  Seems to be transitioning well.

Although the reason Norfleet had so much activity was less-than-desirable, I am so glad he got all the reps.  I can't imagine a Freshman on such a big stage against the #1 team doing much better.  He looked stronger as the night went on and the experience he gained will pay dividends throughout the rest of the season.

Over under 2.5 TD's off returns this year?

 

I'm gonna say under, at what point will the opposing teams just stop letting him have a chance to return the ball.

 

Side note, :22 seconds in.  I love the way his legs still trying to run while he's a good two feet off the ground.

Excited to see how they can integrate him into the offense. He is too dynamic to just use on kickoffs. Maybe I missed it if so but during fall camp was there any talk of him working with the punt team?

 

i wonder if norfleet would get this kind of attention if brian didn't hype him up at every opportunity.

with that said, i was at the game and what excited me the most about norfleet wasnt so much his returns, but rather his...demeanor.  i know this blog generally scoffs at unquantifiable qualities like "intangibles” but norfleet was the only one on that sideline who seemed pissed.  I think he might have been one of the few players who generally wanted to get out there and…hit somebody.  i wish he had an opportunity to get in some plays at RB.

He looks good.  Great acceleration.  Hopefully with more practice throughout the year we will start seeing him on more than just kickoff returns.  He looks like a talent.

norfleet looks like he has the right instints plus the right kind of quickness. should be fun to watch him mature.

that said, watching alabama kick off again and again is like some kind of nightmare. 

At the 23 second mark he observes at the end of the play "looks like he [Norfleet] has the first down."   I guess he was right, but on a kickoff return (first down by rule) that's just an odd call.

At the 44 second mark Musberger describes Norfleet as "the redshirt freshman from Detroit".  Uhm, Brent?  He's a true freshman.

The broadcast was replete with similar Musberger nonsense, which made the Debacle in Dallas even a bit more nauseating to watch.  Looking forward to Saturday.

(Thanks to Thorin for posting this - the kickoff return sample size was obviously larger than we'd hoped for, but Norfleet seems to have great acceleration and a fearless attitude.)

He needs to get some snaps at running back. 

Make that zero to Norfleet in 0.5 seconds.

Would love to seen this guy used like the lions use Logan sometimes. Bring him in for a down here and there throw a swing pass or run him on a sweep and get him to the edge in space. I don't think he can be a feature back. But Kr and PR plus a half dozen other misc touches hrncould be special

Norfleet showed good speed and shiftiness, but how many of his returns made it much past the 25?  I could be wrong, but I was at the game and don't recall many going too far past the 25 which of course is the new touchback rule.   

 

Of course I was also hammered in despair for most of the game so maybe my memory is not the best.

 

Looks good. In the first half I saw a bit of hs kid used to playing against inferior athletes and expecting to run circles around everyone instead of making one cut, but that looked better later on.

Was that a legal tackle at the 1:00 mark?  I know we'd already drawn a flag on the play, but that looked like a horsecollar that should have led to an offsetting penalty.

and undoubtedly this kid will break a couple during his career. I see other posters stating that with added weight, we could use him as a carrier, but I think his real value to this team will remain in the return game, and they should begin grooming his as a lot receiver, not unlike Steve Breason, who they never asked to gain weight but proved very productive at moving the chains duing his career from the slot.   Also could prove valuable on reverses, no unlike Percy from Florida.  Kid has wiggle and is difficult to get clean hit on.

has been busy.

Who else is now significantly disapointed kick offs were moved up 5 yards?

I'd love to see him catch some passes out of the backfield. We can haz Norfleet bubble screenz?

Not only that—he's a 19-year old pure freshman playing in his first freaking game for Michigan in a largely hostile road environment against the best team in the country. Complaining that he didn't get beyond the 35 seems a bit odd to me. We should be thankful he didn't shit his pants... have we forgotten how much trouble other UM kick returners have had in the recent past just catching the fucking kick cleanly?

Just think of him taking it to the house in the Big House, which will happen soon.

I doubt that we will face a more difficult kickoff team than Alabama all year.

Let's start this Saturday.

One great thing about college football is the abundance of undersized or awkward sized players that there are to root for.  The pros weed out many of these athletes, but for four years we can root for them.

FEARLESS he runs. There were a couple runs if he had slowed and shifted direction he might gone the distance. That said, I like how un-Shaw he runs.