WR Daylen Baldwin highlights--he's probably going to start
After looking him up I see now why Michigan went after him. He does have a shot at being drafted. The BIG 10 is going to give him a better spotlight than where he was. He will be facing big time college defenses now, and will be on National tv pretty often. I'm thinking the two starting WRs for Michigan are probably going to be Cornelius Johnson and Daylen Baldwin. He has experience, good size 6'3" 210, can catch in a crowd, attitude, and he appears to have strong hands. There's a couple of one handed catches in these videos.
I think Deion Sanders likes him:
Is that a football ice cream cone at 0:37?
I guess I got to say, BIG 10 refs might catch that little hand thing at 0:40 though.....
That aside, he looks like a legitimately good receiver. Like I said above, I'm thinking the starting WRs this Fall are going to be Johnson and Baldwin.
But maybe Ronnie Bell will surprise me and make starter, and not be in the 2 Deep.
You don't think Ronnie Bell will start?
Ah! I was fixating on WR. Yeah, he is probably the starting slot. This pick up has changed the receiver room in a nice way.
I think Bell will be the slot WR and Michigan will start 3 WR's with Baldwin probably being one of the starters.
I don't think he will be a starter, but a big part of the rotation, until Sainristil drops a couple of passes, then things might get shaken up. We really only have Bell, Johnson, Sainristil, Henning, and Wilson with any experience. After that it's all freshman. Playing time shouldn't be an issue.
The speed in space offense will have 3 starting WRs. Ronnie Bell is a lock at the slot. I'm sure based on choosing Michigan, that Baldwin was told he'd have many touches, leaving a battle for the third starter. Johnson has the height and should see the field often, however with the Gattis offense you'll see the other shorter speedsters in probably just as much.
I almost hate to ask but....what exactly is the Gattis offense?
You're not the only inquiring mind that wants to know.
Honestly, I don't know that Josh Gattis knows what he's doing.
He looks like a playmaker.
It’s going to be a challenge for Gattis to keep everybody happy—there’s only one ball in play.
I just want to see this offense give the ball to guys who can actually make plays. We seem to have plenty of those kind of guys, but they seem to never get the ball more than a couple times a game.
You mean targeting Erick All over and over again, a tight end who dropped a bunch of passes and averaged 6.8 yards/catch, wasn't a good idea?
You mean Tarik Black and Nick Eubanks each catching 25 passes in 2019, while Nico Collins only got 37, wasn't a good distribution?
I'm sure there was some level of snark in that, but yes. That is exactly what I'm saying.
Michigan had a stallion in Nico Collins and for some reason Harbaugh refused to let him out of the stables for more than 30 minutes a day.
The most frustrating thing in Michigan football since Jim Harbaugh has been here was watching how little Nico Collins was thrown too. How many time I yelled at my tv, Throw the ball to Nico Collins!!
Yes because never has a team (cough Bama), had such riches at the WR position on 1 team (cough UM early 2000's)
IF you mean, it will be hard for UM coaches to come up with a competent game plan to utilize the talent on the field, I agree 100%.
For the most part gattis hasn't made me happy since he's been here.
I see we're at the "I'm worried the offense is going to score too many points" phase of the offseason.
IMO, the challenge for the offensive staff will be to modernize the offense to take advantage of the skilled talent, keep the ball moving, and score points. If that happens -- and QB play is competent to good -- then keeping everyone involved won't be a problem.
I think the qb play will be the biggest part of the offense looking explosive. Go back and watch the film the last few years. I've seen dpj open deep, nico open deep, guys have been open but the qb has opted for throwing to slot Ronnie bell or not being able to hit the open receiver when he does actually see him. I'm hoping Cade or JJ can see the field during a game and not just a practice hero.
I think Cade and JJ are gamers and the offense will look a lot better with them. Cade looked sharp before he hurt his shoulder. He's a leader of men. If he can just stay healthy. He's a guy that will run through a brick wall to win a game.
This offense has plenty of guys that can make plays. Just need to get the ball in their hands. Haven't seen that consistently since 2nd half Ruddock and Speight pre-injury was getting the ball where it needed to be.
Shea had good numbers but he could have had elite numbers if he saw the field better. Last year Milton looked good before thumb injury and Cade before shoulder injury.
When was last time we had a healthy qb for a whole season?
A healthy QB the whole season?
I think possibly Chad Henne's junior year, or maybe one of Denard's years.
None in the Hoke or Harbaugh eras.
I have been saying it a bunch. Our program suffers more injuries to important players than any other program, as far as I can tell. There's gotta be something to that. The way they train? The strength and conditioning? Simply having shitty luck? I don't know what it is, but it seems they should really figure it out. Major injuries = losing games. I just don't know what it is.
There is literally nothing you can do to "train" a QB (or any other player really) to avoid major injuries.
Now, you can have a good offensive line to stop them from being pummeled, but that's about it. No training in the world was going to keep, for instance, Speight from being injured on that hit.
I think Rudock was mostly healthy when he was QB here.
I've never been a big believer in needing a QB that can run. I mean, get a few yards here and there, yes, that. But needing to be a running threat, I don't care about.
Now, being able to read the field, it's irreplaceable. Not throwing long passes, and always going to the 3rd option, is a sign that a QB is not reading field, not reading the defense. And I think that has been happening here at Michigan, and what has gotten Ronnie Bell so many yards.
One of my favorite college QBs in a while was Mac Jones. Read the field is what he did. And he did to a very high degree. I'm hoping to see it in a high degree from Cade McNamara and JJ McCarthy. Things should be better with QB play with Matt Weiss here.
Kurt Warner talks about Mac Jones in these 2 videos. How quickly Mac Jones reacts to what he sees is what made him so good. Enjoy!!
I like that we got this kid but we still need someone to get him the ball. Who is that gonna be? McNamara, Bowman, McCarthy? The problem for years has been the QB position and play calling.
Cade starts, Bowman backs up, JJ gets experience but “save-redshirt” experience
Throw the redshirt right out the window, especially at the QB position. He's either going to play or he's going to transfer. If McCarthy is the best qb in the room play his ass. Same goes for Bowman or Cade.
His ability to grasp the offense and limit turnovers will most likely determine if he sees the field this year. He has the arm talent but the mental aspect is the unknown. Fans are typically enamored with the backup QB till they see him in live action. History tells us that he will probably be on the field at some point due to injury circumstances.
I still remember how sure people were that Mallett should start over Henne, or that O'Korn should start over Speight. I'm sure people will clamor for JJ this fall
i don't remember any mallett over henne chatter until henne injured his shoulder.
There was definitely some chatter after the Oregon game. I think most people were shouted down, but it was out there
There might have been some grousing after the Horror but literally only for a week. Then Henne was hurt against Oregon, and Mallett got plenty of playing time after that. He never looked all that great while he was at Michigan, and I suspect the chatter dried up like it did after O'Korn had played a few games.
I mean, he completed 43.3% of his passes in 2007. That looks like something an option quarterback from the seventies would have done.
Mallet couldn't figure out how to take a snap from under center, without dropping it.
Or....throwing the ball 900 miles an hour on an out route. Lol
If we have to worry about saving McCarthy's redshirt, hes not the quarterback we thought he was going to be.
A great quarterback can have a redshirt season.
Let's hope we finally see some competent QB play (e.g. 2nd half of 2015 thanks to Jake Rudock) to showcase his, as well as the other WR/TE, talent.
Competent QB play always begins with protective and productive line play. Otherwise, your entire QB room can be wiped in a quarter of even a meaningless game.
Good play calling would be nice.
So I think we could safely call the RB room and WR room a strength at this point with o-line being unsure and qb room being "holly crap who knows"?
Is that accurate lol
Holly truly has an unfortunate last name.
But maybe Ronnie Bell will surprise me and make starter, and not be in the 2 Deep.
I think he looks good, but Ronnie Bell will be a starter and our #1 WR. The other two will fight for the job opposing him. The slot will be Sainristill/Henning. Wilson and whomever loses the starting jobs will be depth with the freshman.
I think the starters will be mostly nominal and Gattis will rotate everyone in there like last year unless someone separates, which I could see being any one of them except Anthony and Dixon.
Even an optimist like me knows that it's now or never for Gattis to find his groove with playcalling. We have lots of skill players but if we need to run a bunch of boring pin and pull stuff with Haskins at the expense of Corum and Edwards, do it if it's more consistent and keeps the chains moving.
I do think Cade will do a better job executing the reads and having WMU and NIU on the schedule will help the team just in terms of pure reps. Two and a half more months to go!.
I was a late bloomer myself so I unashamedly root for them, also becuase I like the story of how nobody wanting him in high school, and now everyone wants him. The stone cast aside, is now the most important one of all.
Why no "HELLO" post yet?? Usually they give us the announcement with a "more informative post to follow," but nothing. Are Brian and Seth waiting on confirmation from someone "in the know" to confirm he is coming here? Is this another transfer of credits issue?
Edit (after 9:04 AM): patience has never been my virtue. Guess I should have just waited the 17 minutes until the Hello post went up?
Let me guess, it's somehow, in a totally non-conspiratorial way, related to the fact that they didn't post an Exit: Ace thread...
Where in my post did I suggest this had anything to do with Ace??
I can see less of a reliance on the TE "safetynet". More 4 WR sets. Johnson and Baldwin on the outside, and Bell and Henning/Wilson in the slot. All will get his opportunities, but not as much as the TEs have gotten in the past. That's what I can see, anyway.
In an barely-related aside, that's a great tie Johnson is wearing. Is that strictly for the team, or are they available to the public?
I think this is it. Available at fanatics.com
Oops, meant to reply to Sam1863. Up too late and haven't had enough coffee yet.
Ace didn't write the Hello post. Did he leave the site? Has that been mentioned and I somehow missed it? An amicable parting of ways? Or fallout from the deleted post on the WTKA podcast? Apologies if there is a locked thread somewhere dealing with all this that I missed.
And also since I didn't want to thread jack, Baldwin looks good and I think probably comes into fall camp a notch ahead of Johnson?
I know I'm likely just drinking the kool aid, but I think that one thing that gives me hope for next season is that the potential of the receivers/tight ends. In Harbaugh's first two seasons we may have run a lot but our success had a lot to do with Chesson and Darboh (then in 2016 just Chesson) plus Jake Butt. The better moments of 2018-19 saw Collins, Peoples-Jone, Mckeon etc. excell. From a limited sample size I feel like there's reason to be excited about McNamara, and that if Johnson, Baldwin, Bell and All (or more than one of them) plays at a future NFL draft pick level things could be much more interesting this Fall than some expect.
Deion and another coach celebrating the TD in the second video and shaking hands with the ref, not sure how I'd feel about that if I were on the other side...