Greg Robinson
While everyone focuses on RichRod, The guy whose performance I am watching is GERG.
This is his second year, and the fact that he is playing freshmen means at least some of his players he recruited himself.
Sure, there are weaknesses in personnel, (every team has weaknesses) but a good coach can overcome some of that.
The verdict is still out on whether he is a good coach or not. He certainly failed at Syracuse.
He has had plenty of time to teach his system. He moved out Hopson and coaches the linebackers himself.
This team's success this year depends A LOT on GERG's performance of his job.
August 31st, 2010 at 5:16 PM ^
I've been wondering about GERG for a while now, but I'll reserve judgement until we see the boys on the field.
August 31st, 2010 at 5:16 PM ^
This is true. There will be linebacker improvement and a good D-Line but I am still concerned a black hole will open up in the secondary.
August 31st, 2010 at 5:16 PM ^
Don't you mean GERG? Who's Gerg?
August 31st, 2010 at 6:14 PM ^
I think you answered your own question there.
August 31st, 2010 at 5:17 PM ^
And if we still had Ron English as def coord, our team as a unitwould be contenders, no ifs ands or buts.
August 31st, 2010 at 5:24 PM ^
The jury's out on Robinson, but it didn't deliver a very favorable verdict on English.
August 31st, 2010 at 5:34 PM ^
Because his results at EMU have been earth shattering?
August 31st, 2010 at 6:21 PM ^
August 31st, 2010 at 6:36 PM ^
I took this as a sarcastic comment that was commentary on the limited amount of talent/experience that GERG has to work with but maybe this was a serious comment?
August 31st, 2010 at 5:17 PM ^
This is one guy I have not heard one peep about since fall practice began. Do we have any indication of how he looks? Will he redshirt? Will he play S or LB?
I was happy to grab this kid from Va Tech.
August 31st, 2010 at 5:19 PM ^
All the word during his recruitment was that he is a freak athlete, but really raw. Don't expect to see him play.
August 31st, 2010 at 6:27 PM ^
According to GERG, he looks like the second coming of Smoove B, as represented in portraits painted by the world's finest Italian painter, painted with a brush made from the very choicest horse hair from Arabia on a canvas woven by Tibetan monks who dedicate their lives to weaving only the very finest canvas from the most delicate and lustrous materials available. Also, he is nibbling succulent strawberries so fresh from the vine that they glisten with the morning dew.
September 1st, 2010 at 10:44 AM ^
Strawberries don't grow on vines.....just sayin.
August 31st, 2010 at 10:15 PM ^
He's been playing Spur, but Carvin Johnson is now the starter there. I wouldn't be surprised to see Furman redshirt, and personally, I'd like to see him bulk up and play WLB. Regardless, he's not on the depth chart right now.
August 31st, 2010 at 5:20 PM ^
The guy whose performance I am watching is Gerg.
then get ready to see some rugged good looks, a fine silver coiff and the brightest maizest shirt you ever did see, sir.
August 31st, 2010 at 6:26 PM ^
Sam the Eagle agrees.
<see profile pic>
August 31st, 2010 at 8:14 PM ^
Why do you have D'Antonio as your avatar?
August 31st, 2010 at 8:32 PM ^
http://mgoblog.com/content/greg-robinson-presser-notes-4-1-10#comment-442130
Some where in the comments is the origin of this avatar.
August 31st, 2010 at 5:21 PM ^
I said some seriously bad things about Greg at the end of the last season. I've had some Syracuse alumns tell me some really bad things.
I hope to god he makes us all eat our words.
August 31st, 2010 at 6:25 PM ^
His track record as a D Coordinator or position coach is pretty good. He coached two players last year Stevie Brown and Craig Roh and both were better then expected. He won two SB rings as a DC and has never lost a college bowl game as a DC or D position coach and this is the person you're worried about.
Given our D's youth and inexperience all he needs to do is make them adequate this year. He'll lose two starters off of this D for next season. The key will be how he coaches up Mouton and Moundros/Ezeh.
August 31st, 2010 at 7:30 PM ^
What? Our defense looked next to awful by the end of last season and I shouldn't be focusing on our d-coordinator? Penn State dropped 35 on us in Ann Arbor. Illinois? 38. Same with Purdue. Wisconsin hit 45. That isn't a good defense. That isn't a mediocre defense. That is a bad defense, ranked 82nd in total defense and 91st in rush defense. Youth, inexperience, and yes, coaching are all part of it.
I'm optimistic because Hopson is gone. I'm optimistic because the second year under Greg's possibly more complicated schemes are going to be a lot easier to understand and the guy has had success elsewhere. Hell, I'm optimistic just because Sharik thinks that Greg should get more defensive control.
August 31st, 2010 at 11:26 PM ^
even if Jesus was our D-Coordinator last year we would have given up a lot of points. Not saying we had a bad defense or anything....but we did
August 31st, 2010 at 10:12 PM ^
Stevie Brown was Mike Williams before Mike Williams was Mike WIlliams. GERG turned Stevie Brown into a serviceable player.
August 31st, 2010 at 11:34 PM ^
oh, wait.
August 31st, 2010 at 7:32 PM ^
Syracuse fans are beneath you.
You only talk to Syracuse alums.
August 31st, 2010 at 5:24 PM ^
Fred Jackson
August 31st, 2010 at 5:36 PM ^
Fred Jackson thinks GERG's defense will be both an unmovable force and unstoppable object. If the defense had to play itself the world as we know it would end.
Also, he think's GERG's hair is the finest he's ever seen, its as if he has a miniature silver fox living on his scalp.
August 31st, 2010 at 5:55 PM ^
Thinks the M offense is matter and the M defense is anti-matter. If the two played each other - BOOM! - the whole universe blows up!
August 31st, 2010 at 9:16 PM ^
Tough-actin' Tinactin, bitches.
August 31st, 2010 at 6:03 PM ^
thought this thread was for just randomly naming coaches.
August 31st, 2010 at 11:02 PM ^
Fluffier.
August 31st, 2010 at 5:28 PM ^
but the guy can flat out coach defense.
Not all good co-ordinators make good head coaches and not all good head coaches make good co-ordinators.
I like the future of the defense with Robinson at the helm.
The early buzz on some of the true frosh on that side of the ball like Jibreel Black, Marvin Robinson, Cullen Christian, and Carvin Johnson have been great. All of those kids will start games for Michigan this year IMO, and next year will be firmly entrenched as starters. Not to mention there are some other kids from this class with great athleticism like Josh Furman and Courtney Avery that could really benefit from a redshirt year and then log some quality minutes in 2011.
The future of the defense looks pretty good IMO.
August 31st, 2010 at 6:14 PM ^
thing is "flat out" anything, my b.s. detector goes ding ding ding. I tend to agree that the jury is out--in fact, it is entering its second season deadlocked.
August 31st, 2010 at 5:32 PM ^
All I know is people on the blog call him GERG. Why I don't know and I am sure there are some others that don't as well.
August 31st, 2010 at 5:35 PM ^
Orson Swindle of the blog Every Day Should Be Saturday accidentally typed "GERG" instead of "GREG" when reviewing a bad Syracuse loss a few years back, and it stuck.
August 31st, 2010 at 5:35 PM ^
the Texas D had 3 total points scored against it in the second half for the entire regular season. I know he had Texas athletes, but some of it had to be schemes as well. I repeat this to myself every night before I go to bed to help me sleep.
August 31st, 2010 at 5:36 PM ^
The one thing I think you can consider is that he has a pretty good track record as a coordinator. It's one thing to have success at only one place, but he has had some success at most places as a coordinator. He is probably at least above average or would not have lasted this long or made it to the NFL as a coordinator.
Other than Gary Moeller I don't think we've had a defensive coordinator with the experience and success of Robinson. That said, I'm not sure you can scheme your way out of a talent and experience deficiency. I'm just hoping for adequate or decent defense this year.
August 31st, 2010 at 5:38 PM ^
simply because some of the freshmen - who are playing because there literally is no one else to play their positions - are his recruits. The fact remains that they are still freshmen. Some of them may play like bona fide starters by the end of the year. Some will struggle mightily. I'm not going to judge GERG based on the performance of freshmen. I will, however, judge him based on the rest of the D - especially the linebackers. I want to see some marked improvement there.
August 31st, 2010 at 5:38 PM ^
What should I title my threads?
Please make your thread titles as informative as possible: "Justin Feagin" is bad. "Justin Feagin leaving the team?" is good.
August 31st, 2010 at 5:43 PM ^
"The verdict is still out on whether he is a good coach or not. He certainly failed at Syracuse.
He has had plenty of time to teach his system. He moved out Hopson and coaches the linebackers himself."
When you choose to start watching the film at the time of Robinson's Syracuse HC job and afterward - what has happened at Michigan in one year , and you want to cast a blind eye to mitigating factors (depth chart), yeah, Greg Robinson has failed.
Had you started watching the film earlier in his career after he left Pacific U. and joined Bob Field at UCLA, you'd surmise how GERG was the shit, since most of his defenses won the PAC10 title, defeated Michigan, went to the Rose Bowl, owned a horrid USC era, or all of the above. Robinson coaches some great defenses in his career. At Texas and the NFL Robinson did a good job.
Maybe only the latest achievements matter. I don't know.
I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that Bill McCartney and Gary Moeller, two of Michigan's best DC's ever, never had to cope with such a thin roster ond D, nor this ridiculous level of athlete attrition on defense. They never dealt with starting true walk ons at safety, defensive end and linebacker like G.Robinson has.
I disagree that he's had sufficient time to teach his system. It's only year 2 and already Rodriguez has sort of commandeered some of Robinson's decision-making by insisting that some semblance of Jeff Casteel's 3-3-5 is installed in 2010 - another intervention and distraction that, if you asked me, Michigan doesn't need and could do well without. Changing things a little is alright and often required given personnel.
I do agree that 2010, and especially the UConn game, will be an excellent indicator of what Robinson is capable of doing at Michigan with minimal depth, poor to no experience at key skilled positions, and installing yet another wrinkle in defensive schemes.
I think there will be brighter spots in 2010, but it's highly likely that Michigan's seoondary and linebacker play is going to be a major liability this fall.
Just my opinion. I could be wrong.
August 31st, 2010 at 5:51 PM ^
'Nuff said.
August 31st, 2010 at 7:34 PM ^
At Michigan, but BOY does he do a mean Treat Williams impresson.
August 31st, 2010 at 5:59 PM ^
I agree that GERG is also on the hot seat this year. The defense has to show some sort of improvment because the offense cannot carry us all season long. There are going to be games where the defense needs to make a play or two for the win. I believe in this seasons defense. Everyone is hungry. We have a solid front seven and I believe the secondary will get better as the season goes on. Valuable experience with the Bowling Green and Umass games will also help the defense gain some confidence. GO BLUE
August 31st, 2010 at 6:18 PM ^
You got any hair dye? /prior diary entry
August 31st, 2010 at 6:49 PM ^
The verdict is still out on whether he is a good coach or not.
As if they give away those Superbowl rings...
August 31st, 2010 at 7:03 PM ^
to evaluate GERG. On the one hand, he has coached some pretty good defenses (Texas, UCLA, Broncos, etc), but on the other hand some of his defenses haven't been very good. There's no doubt he's a great Xs and Os guy, but it basically comes down to the players you have to work with.
August 31st, 2010 at 7:45 PM ^
I heard this on one of the premium boards, and I think it's the best way to look at Gerg's situation.
Someone asked, "Has RR finally given Gerg control of the car (defense)?"
The answer was, "he's finally given him the keys, but he can only drive the car".
August 31st, 2010 at 8:07 PM ^
One of the few things that I feel you can personally blame RR for is occasionally getting overly meddlesome in the defense. I feel like RR was hired primarily because he's a spread option genius, so things like his attempt to quick install a 3-3-5 prior to Purdue and some other meddling annoyed me. I saw that as just disrupting the defense for little gain.
One of the best ways to judge GERG is how the LBs play. He's supposed to be a front 7 guru kind of guy, so let us see what he can do with the LBs.
August 31st, 2010 at 8:37 PM ^
According to his bio on Wikipedia (yes, I know, caveats, etc.), Robinson was DL from 1982 through the 1988 season under HC Terry Donahue. During those years,
UCLA went 10-1-1, 7-4-1, 9-3, 9-2-1, 8-3-1, 10-2, and 10-2. They pretty much were the big team in the PAC 10 during that span.
In 1989, GERG was elevated to DC. UCLA went 3-7-1, the single worst year Donahue ever had.
Robinson was gone after that to the Jets where he was not a success, then to Denver where he got his Super Bowl rings. He then goes to KC where he was a failure. Then he goes to TX as Co-DC and parlays that single successful season into the disaster at SU.
It would be hard to imagine a resume more filled with high peaks and deathly-low valleys.