Is Nico Collins the most underutilized All-American caliber WR in U-M history?
For some reason, targets aren't listed as part of a player's cumulative stats, so I went through each game to tally up Nico Collins' targets. Another note: drawn (or committed) pass interference penalties don't go down as targets unless declined pic.twitter.com/pI91EzcmUl
— Orion Sang (@orion_sang) November 4, 2019
He has 22 catches for 439 yards (20.0 ypc) and 3 TDs — and has drawn six accepted pass interference penalties, all of which converted third downs and five of which that resulted in four touchdowns and a field goal
— Orion Sang (@orion_sang) November 4, 2019
So ... based on tallying everything up ... in addition to the 22 catches for 439 yards and three touchdowns, he has also accrued 7+4+15+15-15+15+9 = 50 yards in penalty yardage and six first downs
— Orion Sang (@orion_sang) November 4, 2019
November 4th, 2019 at 3:10 PM ^
Yes, a board full of Maizens. Doesn't get any better than that...
November 4th, 2019 at 3:39 PM ^
I believe he has already attempted some variation of the "you have me confused with someone else, I just joined" defense.
November 4th, 2019 at 5:38 PM ^
Get a hobby
Says the guy with 2 million posting points...
November 4th, 2019 at 6:02 PM ^
Zing.
November 4th, 2019 at 6:00 PM ^
You guys act like some middle school girls....you guys take this mgoblog community way too seriously, the true mgoblog culture is over guys, has been for about 5 years... the mgoblog culture was ruined about the same time you became a powerless mod, its been a steady decline ever since. Give me more Space Coyote please....hold me Tom VH....
November 4th, 2019 at 6:09 PM ^
Well god forbid anyone generates discussion that might stir up an anything other than U-M is the greatest at everything ever. Groupthink and obsessing about a former poster is far better discourse.
November 4th, 2019 at 7:21 PM ^
You forgot - And I’m not Maizen! wink wink
November 4th, 2019 at 1:12 PM ^
Maybe?
Can we do anything about it as fans? No.
Do I wish Collins, DPJ, and Black all had 80-catch, 1200-yard, 10-TD seasons this year? Yes.
Will that ever happen with Harbaugh as our coach? No.
This is going to be a run-centric offense as long as he is here. It's producing 9.5 wins/season so it's not a dumb strategy by any stretch of the imagination.
I actually am really looking forward to next season to finally watch a Harbaugh-hand-picked upperclassman QB in a system that he will be running for multiple seasons finally.
Either McCaffery or Milton wins the job and we get to see what Harbaugh can do with his own QB and no more caveats attached to it.
I predict another ~10 win season.
November 4th, 2019 at 1:20 PM ^
Yeah I'm trying to think of a U-M WR with this much talent that only had 22 catches at this point in the year. Braylon Edwards had 67, 85, and 97 receptions his last three years at Michigan for example. Apparently asking things like this is trolling even though Brian Cooks asks the same thing on the Mgo podcast every week. Lesson learned.
November 4th, 2019 at 1:50 PM ^
Asking things like this IS trolling when 95% of what you post is trolling.
November 4th, 2019 at 8:03 PM ^
You live in a small world.
Try to break out of it.
Prayer will help.
November 4th, 2019 at 3:10 PM ^
Fuck you biggip, you are the same troll who made this crap post. Congratulations
November 4th, 2019 at 9:26 PM ^
I am? Because i definitely wasn’t. Why in the flying fuck would I have 2 accounts and post from both of them? How tedious and stupid.
but I hope you feel better now.
and what are you congratulating me for?
Maybe take a deep breathe, log off MGoBlog for 2 weeks, and quit.
November 4th, 2019 at 1:12 PM ^
Knew this was another Maizen account with the Indiana thread earlier. Join date, sudden thread spamming...why make it so obvious, man? A little effort and you'd get by unnoticed for a while.
November 4th, 2019 at 1:17 PM ^
I called him out last week Doc.
November 4th, 2019 at 1:22 PM ^
The same reason Maizens are always so obvious: Maizen is dumb and bad at this.
November 4th, 2019 at 1:25 PM ^
It's not official until he gets into a heated argument on the Moderator Action thread when someone inevitably reports him and he lobbies his "I am but a humble poster, stating facts. Why must this blog label me a Mazien whatever that is" defense.
November 4th, 2019 at 5:20 PM ^
Thank god the worst thing anyone has ever called me is Wolverine Devotee.
November 4th, 2019 at 4:23 PM ^
The whole starting multiple threads per day thing is a total look at me move. All users should be limited to 1 thread/week.
November 4th, 2019 at 1:17 PM ^
Please Stop with this.
November 4th, 2019 at 1:18 PM ^
Is Maizen the most obnoxious poster in MGoBlog history?
November 4th, 2019 at 1:20 PM ^
I didn't realize Collins had been voted an all-american already.
November 4th, 2019 at 1:23 PM ^
Orion Sang cannot add. 80 yards, not 50.
November 4th, 2019 at 1:23 PM ^
They’re saving Nico for OSU where he’ll have 46 receptions in that game alone.
November 4th, 2019 at 2:16 PM ^
I'm thinking 46 in the first half, but we'll see what shakes out.
November 4th, 2019 at 1:27 PM ^
Nope.
Behind Derrick Alexander off the top of my head.
November 4th, 2019 at 1:27 PM ^
Well he is usually good for one deep contested catch or Pi and that's the problem its only 1 throw a game.
So is he underutilized for his ability? Probably
Is he underutilized for the effectiveness of the Offense? Most Definitely.
November 4th, 2019 at 1:29 PM ^
I don't understand this. Nico's too short and too slow for all this stuff you're saying. He needs another year before he can be considered an All-American. In fact, same applies to DPJ and Tarik. Totally overrated and need another year of seasoning.
November 4th, 2019 at 3:20 PM ^
Your “another year” got me thinking. A bunch of NFL teams still utilize the FB position. Would a guy like Ben Mason leave early for the NFL as a FB? What’s the upside of a FB sticking around all four years, besides a the degree which most guys grad transfer after two or three years anyway, when he can leave early and play FB in the NFL while still healthy?
FBs rarely get drafted and when they do it’s late in the draft, so why put off a shot at becoming a free agent? Is another year going to make a college FB more fuller?
November 4th, 2019 at 3:53 PM ^
Did you forget the s/?
November 4th, 2019 at 1:30 PM ^
No. The correct answer is Jim Smith. 73 catches in 4 years with a YPC of 23.1.
November 4th, 2019 at 2:20 PM ^
You got it. And then he went to Pittsburgh and played behind John Stallworth and Lynn Swann, as I recall.
November 4th, 2019 at 2:32 PM ^
So Collins is merely the most underutilized WR in the last 50 U-M football seasons?
Ok then.
November 4th, 2019 at 1:33 PM ^
Thank you for reminding me to put you in the cave.
November 4th, 2019 at 1:34 PM ^
Michigan was never going to go full air raid, no matter what our OC's hashtag was. We also have 3 other guys in DPJ, Black, and especially Bell to eat into Nico's targets. Have there been times where Michigan could have thrown more, or specifically to him more? Yes, of course. It's not even close to the criminal under-utilization you're implying though.
November 4th, 2019 at 1:34 PM ^
Not really?
I know this site's mantra is to throw it deep a bunch of times to Collins, but I honestly feel like he's used reasonably well. He's not a guy who is just blazing past defenders and throwing the ball to him all the time would likely stymie the offense and put those 50/50 balls in danger of being on the wrong side of the coin flip. I hope they exploit his matchup when it's beneficial, but this offense does best when it moves the ball around and gets guys in bad situations, not hyper-focusing on one guy.
November 4th, 2019 at 1:47 PM ^
Our deep balls to him are a lot closer to 80/20 than 50/50. If they were 50/50, I'd agree with you.
November 4th, 2019 at 3:03 PM ^
He hasn't been targeted all that much so it's hard to tell if it's 80/20 because they really aren't true toss-ups or not. Maybe he's 60/40, but I also wonder if the reason he doesn't get thrown them as often against bigger/better corners is because it's not as obvious he'll come down with them. So there's a little selection bias going on.
That said, I think they shouldn't be afraid to throw it more downfield with him; he's certainly the most consistent WR next to Bell they've got.
November 4th, 2019 at 4:04 PM ^
Are they? That doesn't seem remotely true.
November 4th, 2019 at 2:30 PM ^
Most often, when the ball is thrown, Nico has 1-3 steps on his defender. However, every single ball thrown to him is too short, which is why they're always jump ball situations. If Shea could ever lead him to the point where he catches it in stride, it'll be a TD without any thought of PI, contesting, or tackling. The 51-ydr against UMD is a prime example - Nico had three steps on his guy and had to stop to wait for the ball to arrive. Shea always throws it late, so it's arrives too late, and too short.
I'm at the point where I want to just avoid deep throws. Make the throws to Nico (or anyone else) come out 15 yards earlier in the route. That will leave Shea with a more manageable ~30-35 yard throw, and he can hit those (reference DPJ's 60-yd TD against MSU last year). That can turn a jump ball into a 'on the numbers' throw that results in a TD.
November 4th, 2019 at 3:10 PM ^
To me, throwing the ball close to 60 yards (because he's behind the line) on a rope to a guy downfield is pretty hard, and Collins didn't have acres of space between him and the corner. Sure, a more perfect throw maybe hits Collins a bit more downfield, but I'm not dinging a QB for making a throw like that. YMMV. And even the throw to DPJ last year still required DPJ to break a tackle because the corner was pretty close.
I do agree they need to push more stuff in stride across the middle; Collins had a long TD this year specifically because he caught it in stride and ran for a TD. Same with Bell a number of times this year.
November 4th, 2019 at 1:35 PM ^
The WR corp as a whole is underutilized. Probably because of a combination of QB ability and Head Coach risk aversion. Collins will be gone after the season. Black and DPJ will test the NFL waters.
November 4th, 2019 at 1:35 PM ^
Hyperbole is not welcomed here.
November 4th, 2019 at 1:37 PM ^
Agree with all the "troll" comments. However, there is perhaps an interesting answer to this question: Anthony Carter. He was a once-in-a-generation type player with all the physical tools and was a 3 time All American.He played 12 games in each of his 4 seasons and his career stats were 161 catches, 3076 yards, and 37 TDs. So he averaged 19 yards per catch with 23% of his catches going for TDs and yet he only averaged 40 catches per season!!!
November 4th, 2019 at 4:00 PM ^
Different kind of football played back then, especially in the Big Ten and especially at Michigan.
That said, nice work on the numbers. That was fun to read.
November 5th, 2019 at 9:43 AM ^
Yep. The age of "3 things can happen when you pass, and 2 of them are bad". I am sure that there were many people who thought that Bo was really opening it up during the AC era, and I would guess that if you looked at #s before and after (at least until Harbaugh/Kolesar/McMurtry came) they would back that assessment up.
November 4th, 2019 at 1:40 PM ^
I always felt Breaston was waaaaaaay underutilized.
November 4th, 2019 at 7:21 PM ^
Except he had issues actually catching the ball.....
November 4th, 2019 at 1:42 PM ^
I agree that Collins is underutilized, but...
In 1976, Michigan went 10-2, won the conference championship, beat OSU 22-0, and went to the Rose Bowl. Finished #3 in the polls.
That year, WR Jim Smith was an actual All-American.
He played in all 12 games.
He had 26 catches. Total.
Case closed.