Tate Forcier released from Hamilton Tiger-Cats
Well, I guess that's that. From what what we heard from people who watched the exhibition game and saw how poorly Tate did, especially when compared to LeFevour, this unfortunately doesn't come as a surprise. Where the heck does he go from here?
I still think he's got enough talent to be a viable QB at some level... but I thought Sam McGuffie was going to be a big star, so my predictions are about as valuable as The Party Room's.
I think that's the question more people need to ask. He's a QB because his dad tried to turn all his sons into QBs, to the point of home schooling them and having Marinovich train them. At some level Tate never had a choice, dad told him to become one.
As it stands Tate doesn't seem happy with this life (remember his Twitter feed at one point). I'd rather Tate go figure out what makes him happy and do it.
And in my opinion it really starts with the parents. On the one hand you have an 18 year old 4-star recruit whose parents decided to homeschool him so that he could train with a noted QB guru who turned his own son into a burned-out addict. I don't mean to denounce homeschooling or say that it doesn't prepare one to succeed academically at Michigan, but I think that in the Forcier household the homeschooling wasn't done for the benefit of the student.
On the other you have another 4-star, who committed to Michigan and said "I'm not making a 4 year committment, I'm making a 40 year committement". It's not about the football, it's about the degree, relationships, and alumni network that come with it.
It's all attitude. Best of luck to Tate going forward. We'll always have ND/Illinios. Hopefully he can get it together and GO GET A DEGREE.
"...Robert Patrick Forcier AKA Tate Forcier the youngest of 3 brothers. Tate Forcier was born at Kaiser Hospital in San Diego, California. As a newborn, he threw for three touchdowns and crawled for another in the hospital's big game..."
Thanks for posting. The entire family history surrounding the boys sounds like serial, "if you don't do what I want, I'll take my ball and go home." I love the ending, "and the rest is history." Pretty much history repeating itself, except now, no one wants to play ball with him any more.
That's one thing. If you're doing it for his athletic benefit....that's another.
the sentiment I was going for. Worded perfectly. Priorities of the parents were not right
Exactly. When your kid gets ensnared by Mr. Maranovich it's pretty much all over.
Also, sometimes it's ok for parents to teach their kids failure and how to respond properly, it really is ok. Not everyone wins but everyone can sure get back and try again with real effort.
It was very foretelling when RRod took his wings away.
I kinda always knew that there was only room for 1 qb between Denard and Tater. I think we still have the right guy.
At the Illinois game in 2010 my buddy summed Tate up best when he called him the improbability drive. On one drive in that game you are thinking what the hell is he doing. On the next you are clamoring for him to start. It was quite a ride.
RichRod's handling of Forcier and his torching of DG's redshirt look a lot better in retrospect now that we know what a head-case Tate was. RR clearly knew that Tate would have a hard time cutting it as the backup and needed Gardner to be ready.
I wish him the best. The anti-Tate sentiments expressed above are unwarranted. The kid was very young, success went to his head, and he flamed out. A person's life would have been okay if, after this death, that was the worst thing you could say about him.
You have to understand that the people who frequent this blog are in the top 1% (#occupythebighouse) of Michigan fans in my opinion. I don't like it when a person who has the opportunity to play football at the best University in the world wastes his talents. IMO it's not that these people are against Tate in any way, but that they are upset at the opportunity he wasted.
Yeah, but they're also being douchey and holier-than-thou, which is what gets on my nerves. What is the point of running anyone down on an anonymous message board?
I think you hit upon the key point : " I only had my parents criticizing me." Whereas Tate had his dad always excusing him and allowing a lower rung every single time. You had good parents, Mr. Forcier, at least from the facts, might fall short of 'good'.
There's another thing. Everyone knows the cliche of "uptight kid with uptight parents goes to college, then goes crazy. Well we just saw the athlete version of that. A kid is groomed since he was really little to be the perfect QB, and once he's away from the parents things go off track
Sorry to hear this - hope he lands on his feet somewhere. There goes my only reason to watch any CFL games this year.
That is sad. I always liked him. The worst part is that he doesn't have much to fall back on. If he stayed on the team and never played he would have graduated with a degree, and if he couldn't get on a team like this then he could resort to doing something with his degree. He now has nothing though.
Jason, stayed on campus for most of Tate's first year to keep him level-headed and (mostly) undistracted. It seemed like as soon as Jason left campus, Tate's demise began. Really sad to watch from a student and fan perspective.
Unfortunately, the thing about Tate I will probably most remember is Denard going "Jesus Tap-Dancing Christ" in that ridiculous, cartoon video where Tate is talking about how awesome he is and should be the starter.
in arena football. Save some money and get a degree in a field of interest!
Here's the college resume of one of their current QBs, Danny Southwick:
2003: Enrolled at Oregon State during spring quarter and participated in spring football
2004: Transferred to Dixie State and passed for 1,913 yards and 11 touchdowns
2005: Transferred to Utah but … Did not compile any statistics
2006: As a junior, led Dixie State to a 15-3 record as a starter
2007: Played his senior season at Occidental
to no stars. It happens
How many of the posts in this thead are straight out of The Only Colors or The Buckeye Battle Cry?
Is there some reason that Tate Forcier gets the kind of treatment that some might apply to Boubacar Cissoko? Or worse, frankly.
Is "Tate Forcier" the proxy for some, uh, other fight?
I make no excuses for Tate Forcier. I also freely admit to having been one of his fans. For me, the indelible moment was the first week in September of 2009. The Michigan football program was reeling under the incredible stress of the national feeding on the Free Press' story of one week earlier. Michigan was facing a Western Michigan team that featured Tim Hiller at QB, who was thought to be a future NFL pick, with Western a real threat to knock off the distracted and demoralized Wolverines. Mark Snyder of the Free Press predicted a Western Michigan upset.
Forcier came out and played like a Big Ten upperclassman, including Michigan's first touchdown, a scramble to his left (the east sidline) where he freelanced a pass to Junior Hemingway whom Forcier had directed into the clear.
I had seats right below the press box that day, having given my regular seats away to other family. After the crowd quieted, I turned and screamed up to the press box, "That one was for you, Snyder!" It is the loudest I have ever yelled at a game.
It was also clear from his ridiculous I-don't-get-nervous claims in his first big time interviews that he was going to crack when something big enough to make him nervous actually came along. Everything obnoxious about naive arrogance poured out of that kid, and he (and to some extent his brothers) seemed to retreat from the world of adult responsibility every time they came up against it. So yeah, in some sense he's a proxy for the general uselessness of the over-entitled and otherwise spoiled members of his generation.
Incidentally, I guess I was also a fan of his football exploits for a while. But I was always hoping he'd respond to nervousness or something not going his way by stepping up his game and becoming a man. Instead, he crumbled. It might be harsh, but the cold, hard truth is that he has yet to redeem himself.
I don't even know if he can do that. The kid obviously has academic issues.
I sense a 30 For 30 in the near future...
"What if I told you, father doesn't always know best? ESPN Films Present...Taters Gon Tate: The Tale of Tate Forcier, Friday at 9pm. Only on ESPN."
http://collegefootball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=989142
September 16, 2009
FORCIER MAY BE NEXT FRESHMAN IN HESIMAN DEBATE
VOTE: Tell us who you would vote for this week
In the nearly 75-year history of the Heisman Trophy, a freshman never has won - though Georgia's Herschel Walker in 1980 and Oklahoma's Adrian Peterson in 2004 were deserving candidates.
Tate Forcier showed veteran poise against Notre Dame. |
Michigan freshman quarterback Tate Forcier was absolutely remarkable in leading the Wolverines to a 38-34 upset of Notre Dame. He passed for 240 yards and rushed for 70 while accounting for three touchdowns, including the game-winner in the waning seconds after he weaved through the Irish rush and found Greg Mathews for a 5-yard touchdown pass.
"Everybody kept saying a freshman can't do it," Forcier said after the game. "And I did it."
History says a freshman can't win the Heisman. Perhaps Forcier can prove that wrong, too. Still, freshmen can be frustratingly inconsistent, so Forcier figures to have some struggles, too. Besides, several players had amazing performances a week ago that should earn them inclusion in the Heisman race.
West Virginia quarterback Jarrett Brown has passed for 577 yards and four touchdowns. Notre Dame wide receiver Michael Floyd is averaging more than 29 yards on 11 catches. Purdue running back Ralph Bolden leads the nation with 357 rushing yards. Cincinnati wide receiver Mardy Gilyard already has scored touchdowns via a reception, a run and a return.
Capturing the Heisman requires consistent excellence throughout of the season. Therefore, the leading candidates remain players who have proven themselves over the long haul. And none are freshmen.
This kid just needs to realize he will never play football again and move on with his life.
sorry double post - removed
Like any complex tale (and one arguably that hasn't really ended yet), the whole story of Tate Forcier and the Wolverines reveals something with each retelling. It can be a story of the flaws of putting athletics over academics. It can be a tale of hubris. It can be a tale of well-intentioned (or well-ambitioned) parenting gone bad. It can be the tale of someone who peaked too early.
Unfortunately he really never understood the value of his UM ties. Years from now, it will be hard to explain to future fans while his freshman year was so memorable; how he captured the imagination of so many and how during September and October of that magical year, it seemed like the Wolverines were the team of destiny.
He still has baseball or basketball eligibility, I bet we see him try to go back to school for something like that. I don't even know if he has ever played them before but it sounds like a pretty Tate thing to do.
I don't know where he goes from here, but it's really too bad he fucking hates going to class so much. He had already blown a great opportunity to trade his skills for a college degree. Now, he can't even execute his "backup plan." My guess is that he tries AFL, AFL2, or whatever the next step down the ladder turns out to be.
What a waste of talent.
Tate and Todd (Marinovich)
Too bad I can be there to be their back up to the back up to the starting guitar player.