Minor vs. McGuffie, recruiting
If there was one bright spot in our loss to Penn State it was that Brandon Minor played extremely well in the first half. He ran with conviction, broke many tackles and repeatedly got to the second level for big gains. When he gained no yards he was visibly upset. I don't know about the rest of you wolverine fans, but I thought it was a welcome departure from McGuffie who shows promising vision and speed, but folds upon first contact.
This was the first game where I thought we had a viable, consistent rushing attack (at least for the first half). You'll also notice that Threet carried the ball more as well, making the backside DE have to be more honest. So that also may have contributed to Minor's success. IMO we had more success with him in the first half than we've had all year with McGuffie running the ball.
That being said, Minor is a big back. He's listed at 214 pounds. He's a bruiser. The top three rushers in the nation are all listed over 200 lbs (Ringer, Brown and Greene). None of our running back recruits breaks 185 lbs (heck, Vincent smith is 156!). Mike Hart is currently listed at 206.
Though weight may seem like an arbitrary point and it gives no indication of the success of a back (look at Jacquizz Rodgers, for example), it becomes an issue when the back cannot absorb the hits. We don't appear to be recruiting bigger backs, despite the fact that it appears that, at least against a very good defense, our bigger backs were more productive.
Added experience on the offensive line would certainly reduce the amount of early hits a back would take, but the fact still remains that a good running back usually has a combination of size and speed. Though the spread is predicated on speed, you still need a solid, well built running back. Steve Slaton, RR's back at WVU, is currently listed over 200 lbs as well. He would flat run over people. Nobody would accuse McGuffie of that.
As long as he holds onto the ball, I'd vote that Minor get the start for the rest of the year if he stays healthy. Feel free to disagree, I've just commented based on my observations from watching our offense stumble recently.
October 19th, 2008 at 6:06 PM ^
October 19th, 2008 at 6:20 PM ^
October 19th, 2008 at 6:20 PM ^
October 19th, 2008 at 6:28 PM ^
McGuffie will put on weight in the off season. He should be able to get close to 200 without losing any speed.
I would like to see us recruit a bruiser though. Mendenhall was great in the spread and was over 220.
October 19th, 2008 at 8:00 PM ^
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October 19th, 2008 at 10:13 PM ^
'Nuff said.
October 20th, 2008 at 10:36 AM ^
I had this very stat lined up and ready to go as my meaningful contribution to the internet for the week and you ruined it for me. So here's another one:
Mike Hart (3* Prospect) - 5'10", 175!
October 20th, 2008 at 10:54 AM ^
I had this very stat all lined up and ready to go as my meaningful contribution to the internet for the week and you ruined it for me. Here's another interesting one:
Mike Hart (Rivals 3*) - 5'10", 175 lbs.
Interesting only in that a RB's HS height and weight is not a valid indicator of how he will perform in his first year in terms of yds/game. Mike happened to have Stenavich (6'5" 318 lb Sr), Henige (6'4" 326 lb Sr.; Kraus backup), Bass (6'5" 323 lb 5th yr), Lentz (6'6" 300 lb Sr) and Long (6'7", 335 lb So.) blocking for him.
How do you think Sam would do with those experienced hosses blocking for him?
October 19th, 2008 at 10:40 PM ^
I wonder how weight stacks up as a potential "fake" stat. In Michigan's 2004 media guide he's listed at 194, his NFL combine weight was 195. My guess is he wasn't 194 when he was a freshman. I guess the question is, is McGuffie being reported accurately or inflated at 185?
Regardless, while weight is important I think this is also a learned skill and I'd be surprised if McGuffie isn't able to run through a hit more effectively later in his career.
October 19th, 2008 at 10:46 PM ^
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October 20th, 2008 at 1:27 PM ^
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October 20th, 2008 at 9:41 AM ^
Good post. I've actually been worried about this myself. I know Minor put the ball on the carpet way too much, but you have to remember, he is an insanely physical back that runs to contact. A lot of those fumbles were him trying to do too much.
I really do like McGuffie, but I don't see him being anything like the type of back Minor is. That doesn't mean he's not going to be a major part of the offense, but that's not what the original poster is talking about. He's talking about a back with enough speed to be a threat, but enough power to make up for games where our offensive line isn't giving him a push or any seams.
I think it's crucial that Rodriguez continue to recruit the type of back that we've had here at Michigan. If the plan is to get quick bunnies and put them "in space", RR will be changing that plan in a few years.
October 20th, 2008 at 12:01 PM ^
October 20th, 2008 at 1:11 PM ^
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October 20th, 2008 at 1:35 PM ^
October 20th, 2008 at 1:38 PM ^
No, it's actually 7 minutes long.
Barry pretty much had it all, that's why he's considered one of the greats.
October 20th, 2008 at 2:25 PM ^
Sanders, indeed, was not very fast. His long long runs in the pros came from defenders selling out to stop him at the line of scrimmage later in his career.
October 20th, 2008 at 2:30 PM ^
According to the NFL HOF website, Sanders, in college, was timed at 4.27 in the 40. When the Lions worked him out, he was 4.35. Either way - he was very fast. I swear to god, that if someone uses the term "football speed" to rebut this, I'm going to flip my shit.
October 20th, 2008 at 2:37 PM ^
Well, I don't watch the game with a stopwatch, but like the previous poster said, Sanders was, indeed, run down from behind on a lot of his long runs. I'm not knocking the guy, as he is my favorite pro football player of all time, and he had more of those long runs than anyone else in history. But I do remember the guy getting a strangely large number of 60 or 70 yard non-TD runs where he would get caught at the 5 yard line.
With that said, breakaway speed is an overrated stat for running backs IMHO.
October 20th, 2008 at 2:42 PM ^
October 20th, 2008 at 5:09 PM ^
October 20th, 2008 at 5:55 PM ^
I don't get it. McGuffie could possibly be a 1,000 yard rusher this season, and he's averaging just a hair over 4 yards per carry.
I like McGuffie and all, but even if he were to start again from here on out, I think he'd be hard-pressed to reach 800 yards, much less 1,000. He has 460 yards in seven games, half of which came against two teams: ND, which inexplicably played a nickel most of the game against us (which we'll never see again), and Toledo, which is Toledo.
McGuffie has great potential, but I don't think he's physically mature enough to be our featured back right now.
October 20th, 2008 at 6:00 PM ^
October 20th, 2008 at 6:04 PM ^