Who is this Lucien fellow you speak of that I don't see on our roster or in a recent recruiting class? Sorry for my ignorance - I stopped paying attention to recruiting during Hoke's last year.
Devin Lucien. Potential grad transfer WR from UCLA. He is definitely transferring somewhere and it was rumored he wanted to come to Michigan in 2011 but Hoke was recruiting him for defense.
with 12 tackles. The linebackers looked great in general.
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come November, you'll still be complaining "if only the receivers could catch".
Were you there?It doesn't sound like it, because damned few of those drops could even remotely be excused by too much velocity.
Even when he was off, we was very close. He's off an inch or two, a few mph on his throws. He needs tuning, not an overhaul.
We'll see if he can get to that last step (and his recievers with him) to be a good B1G starting QB.
Are we still doing phrasing?
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and Isaac taking limited snaps, it really is hard to tell how Morris is doing when the Defense acknowledges there isn't much of a run game and they can cheat on the pass.
If Morris beats out Rudock I think everyone would be pleased (well aside from Rudock). Rudock is now the floor. Morris is either going to be above that floor or below it. If its above that floor - that's a bonus.
My long winded thread was too late - so here are my sweeping generalizations based on limited data.
- Shane Morris looks ok. His deep ball is actually pretty decent. His intermediate pass game continues to need work, especially velocity. Accuracy has improved from ugh to decent. Still an area of improvement. Footwork also off at times (back foot throws ala Matt Stafford).
- Malzone looked like a freshman who should be in HS. Not worried or going to analyze much. He did have the much anticipated poise - i.e. didnt try to be a hero, threw it out of bounds when play was not there etc. Everything else was just freshman QB stuff.
- OL is not deep enough to be split into 2. Probably 6ish legit starters so splitting it was going to be an issue. That said I thought the pass protect was generally decent. Run blocking aside from that first play was not so good on first glance - would have to watch it back on DVR play by play to really see it better but that's my first glance. The unit when combined as 1 should be ok. Run blocking is main concern here.
- Run game very uninspiring. Drake Johnson still seems like our best back. Smith is what Smith is - he will run hard without speed. Green disappointed in his few touches - saw no burst but were there holes to burst through? I don't know - chicken and egg. Drake Johnson somehow found holes last year that many said were not there. Ty Isaac sounds like he is banged up but putting hopes on someone we have never seen makes me worried. I hope Drake is back 100% by fall. Our RBs today are slow footed IMO - something Drake is not.
- WR is main area of concern - no surprise but dropsies today were not fun. Lack of footspeed and separation here as well. An issue from last year returns. Gallon cloaking device needs to be refound by someone, anyone. Came into game worried about lack of speed in the WR corps but expected hands to be better. Most disappointed part of game for me - let the QBs down.
Very difficult to judge the defense because the offense was quite bad. Glass half full will say it is because of the defense, glass half empty will say because of the offense. Last few years games and scrimmages say when the offense is bad in these exhibitions its because of the offense. I am going to go with that until I see a dominating D in Big 10 play.
- The fact the O was this poor without Charlton and Mario O (our 2 starting DEs) out there is also an issue.
- I thought Brandon Watson had some very nice plays out there and will be interested to see if he can push Lyons/Countess for a starting job. Loved his size for a CB but some people were saying he was moved to S this year - seems not to be the case. On the flip side I didnt hear Stribling's name much at all - maybe I missed it.
- Bolden had a good game and ate lemons on the sideline for some reason.
- Really difficult to judge the DBs in general - if they were shutting down JT Barrett and a slew of fleet footed WRs it would be one thing. Shutting down this struggling passing game was not something you can really tell what it says at this point.
- I thought the DTs would be the strength of the D coming into the year and I see nothing to change my mind esp if we go 3-4 and you have guys like Henry and Wormley as your DEs.
- Marshall was the other 2nd year guy who flashed a bit along with Watson on the D. Will be interested to see if he can push Mario O.
I am high on Drake Johnson as well. I hope he comes back in full health. He has a quick wiggle that squirts through small, moving holes . . . the only kind our OL has really produced to date.
We would have beaten Ohio State, National Champion Ohio State, if he stayed in the game. I have no doubt about it. They had no answer for him.
I don't remember see any passes completed against him..
Good write-up. To me, the running backs were the most disappointing. Does Green ever make the first guy miss? I really wanted to see Isaac, but if he is not really good then you are probably right about Drake. As for the receivers, even worse than the dropped passes was the lack of separation even against backup DBs. Looks like our TEs are going to catch a lot of balls this year. About Shane -- when we watch the DVR of this game, I think we're all going to say that he made some really nice throws. This is a much improved version of Shane, after only ond set of spring practices with Harbaugh. He may amount to something yet.
Think you nailed it Alum. Probably the biggest problem on offense is our lack of speed at wr and rb. Man we look slow. The offensive line will be fine once the top 5 or 6 guys are playing all the snaps. An injury on the line would be difficult to overcome. Morris looked fine. He is definately ahead of Malzone to this point.
The defensive tackles look like a top unit and Bolden looks ready for a monster year. Countess and Watson were solid. Were in for a big year on D I think.
Great turnout! Exactly what I expected, leaps and bounds ahead of last years team when it comes to execution. WR's need to hold on the to the ball more. QB's and WR's will workout all summer I'm sure. Defense is solid, front 7 look really really good. The blitz's were solid by both sides and the OL picked up a lot of them. It was very positive defensively, very. I am excited to see this team in the Fall.
Good: The entire defense. OLine. QB play was very solid. Crowd!
Needs work : WR's blocking and catching (possibly need to get bigger), RB's still a work in progress but much better than last year.
Bad: That Punter was horrible... only 40 yards? sheesh
I would say the O-line needs work. The running backs had no room to run and the QBs were under pressure all day.
Especially missing our best edge pass rusher and one of our interior guys. LBs, DL, and Peppers all looked great.
WRs looked...not so good.
O-line is hard to grade; big part of it is continuity, and with the draft setup, a lot of the 1st, 2nd team guys were split apart.
QBs; Morris > Malzone, but this should be no surprise. Glad Rudock is going to be in the mix.
RBs; hard to grade due to O-line play.
I've had a few pops while watching the Red Wings game, but this literally made me laugh out loud. Kudos and a +1 to you for great execution.
Offense is still a problem. Morris was better, but he still missed a lot of throws(receivers didn't exactly help) and the TD came against Norfleet. Overall, I'm glad Rudock is coming in and hopefully they can fix things in fall camp.
True about the TD pass, but it was still a nice back shoulder throw. There were two of them in that drive. Shane is much improved. That was very encouraging. Still a lot of work to be done, though.
Surprised to not see Speight get any reps.
Bolden is gonna be our head coach in 20 years. Impressed by his post game interview.
Peeps were saying injury for Speight.
Speight's hurt
Per 247, Speight had a minor leg injury which prevented him from playing
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Spieght should definitely have gotten a chance especially considering how the other guys struggled. And Bolden was great on the field too. All the linebackers looked good.
I would be very comfortable if Shane starts for the Utah game.
The numbers were not great, but with assembled OL and WR's dropping passes everywhere, I thought Shane made pretty good decisions and his balls were on the money for the most part. I have no problems with him starting, Rudock or no Rudock.
Michigan is not the only football I watch...