How does Rudock change your 2015 predictions?
He wasn't the best qb in the country but Ruddock had pretty good numbers and provides a massive improvement in the Michigan qb department. Now that we have him, what are your thoughts on the season and what areas are you still concerned about. I think WRs could still be an issue but we have Jake Butt at TE to take some pressure off of them. I think our defense will be the best it's been since 2006 but we may still have some question marks at defensive end.
Doesnt change my expectations. I think the teams overall progress under the new staff will have a much larger impact than one player.
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I had Peppers winning the Heisman, now I have him and Ruddock as co-winners.
Agree on variability. A 5th year senior QB who has seen it all in 2 years and is not error prone (turnover prone) reduces your variability a lot. With a first year starter there is almost always that game your defense does all it can and your offense is just a mess and you lost 13-10 somewhere along the way to a middling team.
I have us at 9-3 and it wasnt dependent on him at all. And while he's decent I think we would have had decent out of the current crop.
Waiting to hear what Magnus thinks before I make a prediction. Magnus?
I think that I don't know who we're talking about in this thread. I don't know who Jake Ruddock is.
Get back to me when there are any reports about Jake Rudock.
a) Calling people names on the internet is dumb.
b) I assumed the guy was joking, so I gave a silly response.
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I predict a lot of misspellings of his name in 2015.
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I've always been a fan of two D's
Yeah, 3D is way overrated.
Double D's are my favorite.
Like peas and carrots...
Someone needs to photoshop a Michigan jersey instead of the USA jersey.
Do not follow players, but does the timing mesh, and what does it say? Often the answer to your question is "reading too much into it."
I don't follow him, but just checked his twitter. Apparently he said he has a lot on his mind, but that was from 3/29 (Sunday).
https://twitter.com/wiltonspeight
Let's say Morris won the job this year. Speight or Malzone as backup. I dont see much of a difference for Speight. Rudock is a 1 year rental.
Let's say Speight had beaten out the other 2 in spring. That means he was doing "relatively well" - beating out of a true freshman and a troubled JR. It means his job was "lost" for 1 year and he would be the front runner for 2016 along with O'Korn and whomever emerges of Gentry and Malzone.
If Speight is not seeing himself doing well this spring I'd say the O'Korn transfer would be much more of a threat to his viabiity at UM. He is still a RS FR and Rudock does not displace him from starting for 3 years (which is more than 90% of QBs nowadays) as a RS SO, RS JR, and RS SR. A guy like O'Korn on the other hand (if he won the job) would eliminate Speight's RS SO and RS JR years.
But that said there will be attrition in the ranks after this season IMO.
Based off nothing whatsoever, I wonder, if he decided to give it a try, that Speight might be a decent tight end. He could get the size pretty easy and should understand routes better than most. Maybe a Riemersma path? Just pulling that out of my ass, granted.
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I don't know about the win total, but I think we'll have a chance in every game now. QB was the missing link.
Except on Sunday.
its the NBA finals....
Malone v Ruddock is a must see battle.
Schedule + roster makeup+ coaching already had raised my floor to 8 wins. This just makes me much more comfortable with that prediction. There are still many questions (including how good is Rudock), and I don't assume Rudock as the starter just yet.
If true I think the "floor" is 8 wins. Given the overall talent on the team and the believed improvement courtesy of the coaching staff I would be disappointed with 8 but think itis possible (L's to Utah, MSU, Penn St. and OSU). Rudock's add, though, makes me feel better about the chances of hitting 10 wins.
I thought National Championship yesterday; I think National Championship today; I'll think National Championship forever.
Some experience at the position to allow the others time to get up to speed and compete
But didn't this guy lose the starting job at Iowa? And with no receivers to catch the ball I don't think it matters who is the QB because the defense is simply going to stack the box like last year to stop the run.
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Ceiling would be he doesn't start and Shane plays like a third-year five-star should. The floor has to get pretty high though. The defense should be better, the offensive line should be better, and there is enough talent in the stable of RBs that one or more should emerge. The big question mark was always at QB, which held the potential to be among the worst in D-I.
Now that we can ensure at least mediocre qb play, I'd say ending the season ranked is the absolute floor barring catostrophic injury and/or fumble-luck.
My floor is 8 wins with plenty of upside for 10 (or higher if we catch some breaks). My reasoning: 1) Better, more consistent QB play (our biggest problem last year IMO) this year whether it's Rudock or whoever beats him out; 2) Better O-line play (Drevno+talent+experience+depth); 3) Better RB play (Ty Wheatley+ Ty Isaac+ better blocking); 4) Better TE receiving and blocking (Butt, Bunting, Hill etc.); 5) Fullback + Hbacks galore; 6) Equal or maybe better WR play (offset by more throws to TE's plus maybe Dukes, Ways, Canteen or Norfleet step up); 7) overall more coherrent, smarter offense/gameplanning (Harbaugh); 8) a defense improved from last years #15th ranked D (Durken+Gmatt+depth); 9) better special teams; 10) Reversion to mean in turnover differential (less QB turnovers + hopefully more defensive turnovers); 11) Home games against OSU/MSU; 12) Better overall coaching (HARBAUGH). Even mentally adjusting for maize and blue glasses/rosy scenario bias as well as a harder schedule, I can't help thinking a good to great year is possible.