Who is watching football practices? What do you see?
So if RichRod is allowing specatators into practices, who is going, and what are you seeing?
Has Denard's passing improved as dramatically as we are being led to fantasize? How about the DBs? Please God tell me there are a rack of good looking future studs running around.
Anyone actually seen Fitz Toussaint?
If you search around the Michigan Internets, as well as this website, all your questions have already been answered. Brian had a lengthy post up last week answering all this. Use that search button above and to the right.
But he doesn't like to talk about it. He's one of those silent types.
He might not talk, but he's clearly got ways of letting us know what he's thinking.
I saw a bunch of 18 year old kids running around wearing a bunch of heavy plastic gear.
giggity
Just talked to a player on the team, these are his thoughts:
1) Denard is "hands down" starter at QB this year
2) Denard is impossible to tackle
3) The defense is just Huge (with a capital 'H')
4) The defense is FAST (all caps)
When I asked about Denard's throwing, and if it's improved, he said definitely. And if he messes up, he just takes off for 20 yards.
Denard improvement or defensive mistakes?
Anyway, that's just one guy's opinion. Take it FWIW.
1) Denard is "hands down" starter at QB this year
Year 3 and ANOTHER first-year starter QB? Ugh. As much as I love and am optimistic about Denard's growth as a player, I hope this isn't true.
This makes me very nervous too, but like people are often saying, maybe Denard will be the next Pat White with a little legitimate coaching. This seems like a high risk/high reward situation.
If this is true, will Tate transfer? Sure hope not.
TATE'S TRANSFERRING?????? GAHHH MELTDOWNN
ohhh. it's a hypothetical
This does seem like a high risk/high reward type situation, but maybe RR feel she can't play it safe right now. Think about those read plays where DR hands it off or keeps it (I can't remember the name of the play, zone read?). Even if he keeps it 60% of the time, I'm confident we can count on 5-8 yards a play almost every time, with a good chunk of them going for 20+. Defenses will have to account for him around the outside, which would open up the middle for our bruisers to run all day. And if DRob can actually get even half of the throws down, how do you stop us? The lesser athletic teams we play will just get slaughtered, and the OSU's and PSU's are still going to have their work cut out for them.
We all know what Pat White did at WVU. At that time, WVU did not have the receivers that we have, and they did not have the talent on the OL that we have. This could be an exciting year.
With Denard, it's all about interceptions. If he can keep them down then he will earn/keep/deserve the starting job and our offense will be electric.
I agree with that, his INT's need to decrease. That said, it was all very new to him last year. He had been on campus for just a couple months before the season started and was seeing college defenses for the first time. Now he'll have been here for over a year and will have the game experience.
However, I think his picks were a little overblown. He threw 4 picks, 2 of which were against EMU, only his second game playing QB. He wasn't ready yet then, and that's half of his interceptions. His only other picks were against PSU and Iowa, probably the two best defenses we played against.
The biggest thing for Denard as a passer is to let him get into a groove. Every QB needs this, and DR never got a chance to do that last year. That said, I don't think DR will need to throw the ball more than 15-20 times a game this fall. A good third of the called pass plays should end with Denard taking off down field - the chance of both a touchdown and a 7-10 yard gain are higher that way.
I'd +10 if I could.
People seem to overlook the tiny amount of time DR actually spent under center. After an entire off season to study and be coached - AND time to get into a groove under center - there's no reason he can't win out the starting job.
I vote for the QB with the fewest turnovers. Denard can run but I remember the few times he was tackled, held up and someone stripped the ball from his hands before he went down. Tate, my biggest concern was seeing him throw the ball up in the air to avoid a sack.
I hope they both will be ready, I easily see RR quickly replacing the other if they turnover the ball. Mich will win if they protect the ball and would have won over 50% last year if they protected the ball.
its good that Denard is improving, but its clearly the best case scenario for the QB position going forward to have Tate remaining the starter, DR backing up while getting pt at slot and Devin red shirting.
Hopefully the planets align in such a way as I'm not sure I (nor RR's job security) can take another year of a rookie QB starting.
If Denard starts this year, it won't be "another year of a rookie QB starting."
Threet/Sheridan had never played college football before and were brand new to a system that was brand new to the whole team. And neither were physically capable of playing the QB role well.
Tate was a true freshman who had also never played college football before. He, too, was learning a system for the first time. However, he was more physically able to do what RR wanted and had teammates who were less green.
If Denard starts, he will be a sophomore in his second season on the team, as the QB, in this system. He's thrown passes and scored touchdowns against college defenses. He's made college mistakes and learned from them. He's been pushed in practice by another competent, experienced QB. He will go through summer workouts and training camp for a second time, and will see many of these defenses for the second time. He will have 15 or so months learning and practicing the playbook by our first game this fall. In addition to all of that, he is physically perfect for this offense. Capable passer, and an absolute burner.
He will not be a returning starter, I grant you that. But this would be far from the situation we had the last 2 years.
but having Denard as our starting QB this year still scares the crap out of me.
Tate is not the better QB (gasp, I know)? It is said often that we need to get the talent on the field regardless of age/experience. Why go with Tate just because he started last year if he is not good enough to keep his position on the depth chart? If Denard wins it, then he should start regardless. Same goes for Devin. If he is the best we have, he needs to see the field.
Just saying Tate should start so we have consistency is a little shortsighted, no?
If Denard is the best QB on Friday 9/3, then how is the best case scenario keeping Tate as starter.
If Denard starts, its because he won the job and is the best player available at that position.
The best case scenario for the Michigan QB spot is to have the better guy playing
my whole "best case scenario" thing kind of assumed that Tate was the best qb for the job. If he's not, then he won't be and shouldn't be the starter but its still not the best case scenario for a whole host of reasons
if D Rob took over yes, he'd be a first-year starter but it wouldn't be his first year in the SYSTEM. Threet only had one year (plus spring) in the system, and so did Tate. D Rob would have a full year in the system under his belt, simply not as a starter. Not the same thing, not the same panic-level.
Uh, if Denard messes up a throw he runs away? IS HE THROWING THE BALL TO HIMSELF? OMGWTFBBQ
He is made of dilithium. Let's not forget that. They could be designing an entirely new offense capable of being run by him and Demps down at Florida. If he throws the ball, he's protected as a QB and then as a receiver from contact before catching the ball--it's so crazy it just might work!
He's throwing the ball to you, presumably not to the hands of the opposing team. Then on the next play he'll say "F you Jobu, I do it myself" and runs one for 60 yards.
I could up-vote you 50 times for the Jobu reference.
I'll take a Huge and FAST defense.
...more missed tackles.
I think it's fantastic that each one of your questions has a corresponding thread, that when put together, collectively contain all of the answers you're looking for.
...but according to A2.com:
This has highlights of almost every single one of redshirt freshman from Michigan, including Fitzgerald Toussaint.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAwNRwvqokE If previously posted, my apologies.
It's highlights from high school.
Oh well. Thanks for looking and sparing others the click.
Gibbons really needs to learn how to wrap up on his tackling...jeesh
I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it
I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it,
I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin',
I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin',
I saw a white ladder all covered with water,
I saw ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken,
I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children,
And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
...ahh, you know the rest.
I know they are an anathema to some around here, howevea GBMW is rumoring that Tate's arm isn't right.
We are hearing rumors that Tate Forcier is not 100% and it is effecting his play this spring.Arm injuries can certainly "effect" your play:)
Sometimes I am convincted that they intentionally right pourly four comedic affect on that cite, because they're is simply know way that their making sow many typographical errors.
... some guy opened some door for a woman and her daughter. That got a positive reaction from the watchers. I didn't witness it, though.
I haven't seen much, but at least it's nice and cool inside this shed. The defense SOUNDS really Huge and FAST.
- Adam James
I will preface this with this statement: I don’t know much about football. Adding to that, I don’t know if this has been brought up. There has been a lot of talk about how Denard is practicing with the 1st offence and second defense and Tate vice-versa. On the face of it, one can look at this and say Denard has made some strides and Tate has fallen off a bit.
I may be wrong but this sounds like a smart move. If you put DR with the first offence and the second defense, it slows the defense down so DR gets used to
1. Reading the defense (in a slower pace than the first defense)...maybe.
2. Learning to make the decision to hand off , run or throw the ball
Tate the exact opposite, he would have to think quicker with a ( presumably slower offence) and quicker defense. He would have to make decisions faster and get out of trouble more that if he was protected by the 1's
Just a thought
I think you're on the right track.....especially after Denard mentioned that he was practicing for a hybrid position called "Des".
I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself what a wonderful world.
I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself what a wonderful world.
The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do
They're really saying I love you.
For some reason, the question in this thread reminds me of the Little Giants scene where Coach O'shea and the assistant coach are spying on the Little Giants' practice. He's in the bushes with binoculars amazed at the formation, but they're just standing around. Anyone else...? No takers?
My best friend watched a practice a couple weeks ago and said Denard looked like the best QB out of the three. I just want the QB that gives us the best chance to win.
I thought I was your best friend, but I didn't watch them practice. So I guess that means I'm not your...
/long sigh
Maybe you would be if I saw you every once in a while! When was the last time?
need to get a room.
Another way to look at is, do you want the most durable quarterback, 1) starting, or 2) being the reserve?
I tend to think that it is better to have the most durable quarterback starting. Keeps the continuity of the offense and gives the QB the chance to grow game by game.
Not saying that we know for sure whether Denard is more durable.... but we do know that Tate has had his injury problems.
Tate coming in for spot duty can keep him fresh and preserve him so that he can last the entire season. Moreover, as someone said already.... in looking at the film, it looks like Tate has lost something off his fastball. His ball really seems to lack zip. Coming off of surgery can do that. And coming off of surgery, maybe taking it slow his Sophmore year will be better for his overall career.... give him a chance to heal up, get better, get well.
Rich Rod has got to win this year. He is only going to start the quarterback that gives him the best shot at doing so. We still have lots of time before UConn. Relax, lets see what the three of them can do, and then support the coaches decision either way. Go Blue!