Darboh Out for the Season
It wasn’t just a booboo:
Sophomore WR Amara Darboh will miss the 2013 season with a foot injury that will require surgery. #Team134Camp
— Michigan Football (@umichfootball) August 21, 2013
So much for Michigan’s best shot at a dragon target, a thing Borges missed since Hemingway graduated and which is probably not replaceable with anyone on the current roster. Michigan still has Gallon and Chesson and Dileo, and supposedly Joe Reynolds can produce, but Darboh was the guy on everyone’s list for non-Kalis breakout offensive player. It sucks.
Silver lining: more targets for Dileo and tight ends. Gold lining: your 2016 receivers could be senior Darboh and Chesson, junior Drake Harris and sophomore George Campbell.
August 21st, 2013 at 10:37 AM ^
August 21st, 2013 at 10:40 AM ^
What do you know about it? What are you, some kind of...oh.
August 21st, 2013 at 10:15 AM ^
...and injuries can occur doing the most innocuous things, but you'd think by now there would be a better way to teach, train and assess players while mitigating the risk associated with pre-season, full contact drills and scrimmages that all but guarantee injuries while the players are trying to get into "football shape."
Then again, maybe not. Just venting I guess.
August 21st, 2013 at 10:51 AM ^
The answer is lot's of depth, ala Alabama.
You have 85 guys on scholarship, but only 11 play at a time. Somebody in the group of those other 74 players has to be able to step up when an injury occurs.
August 21st, 2013 at 3:36 PM ^
The expectation is for the position.
August 21st, 2013 at 10:21 AM ^
August 21st, 2013 at 10:51 AM ^
August 21st, 2013 at 3:38 PM ^
WAS he even hit? He could have just got it running. And if anyone is saying they need to practice football without running...well....
August 21st, 2013 at 10:16 AM ^
Switch Gardner back to WR, start the Morris era early. Problem solved.
August 21st, 2013 at 10:43 AM ^
lol'ed on this one. Thanks.
August 21st, 2013 at 10:17 AM ^
Lock Devin Gardner in a rubber room, NOW.
As soon as the first TD is scored against CMU, put him back there until ND. Defense takes it from there.
August 21st, 2013 at 10:18 AM ^
More targets for Dileo is a silver lining in this?
August 21st, 2013 at 10:21 AM ^
Do you really derive this much pleasure from abject trolling?
August 21st, 2013 at 11:47 AM ^
August 21st, 2013 at 10:21 AM ^
Having mediocre talent at receiver is getting really old. If you're an opposing defense, does anyone on this offense scare you other than Gardner and maybe Gallon?
August 21st, 2013 at 10:24 AM ^
I really don't care at all what opposing defenses think of us. Especially not when we drop 40 on them.
August 21st, 2013 at 10:27 AM ^
I don't actually care what they think. I was just illustrating the fact that we don't have a lot of playmakers on offense right now.
August 21st, 2013 at 10:29 AM ^
Somehow I doubt his concern is with what other teams think, as opposed to the question as to how exactly Michigan will "drop 40 on them" if they have talent that (in his opinion) is mediocre.
August 21st, 2013 at 10:33 AM ^
We didn't have world-beating talent at receiver then, either, and Gardner still lit the sky on fire.
August 21st, 2013 at 10:39 AM ^
Are you arguing with me about his opinion?
And FYI: for the 5 games Gardner started, Michigan averaged less than 35 points/game and only cracked 40 once (Iowa).
August 21st, 2013 at 10:47 AM ^
It's more of a continuation of criticism of the post. Just did it vicariously through my reply to you.
We also played generally better defenses under Gardner with the exception of MSU. This loss is a bit of a blow, but I'm glad most of the "meltdown" responses are sarcastic.
August 21st, 2013 at 10:59 AM ^
Those defenses, while the better of last year's schedule, weren't exactly world beaters. Outside of S.Car., none of them were ranked higher than Minnesota (33rd). And that comes against a pretty offensively animic Big10, who had no teams crack the top 25 in total offense and only two teams in the top 50.
Gardner played very well, but saying he "set the sky on fire" seems pretty generous.
August 21st, 2013 at 10:50 AM ^
You're not allowed to point out defeciencies in our team. Some around here can't handle it.
We now will have two WR's under 5ft 10inches on the field the majority of the time versus sparingly, and somehow, people around here are excited about this?
You don't win B1G championships with our current WR corps and their size.
Darboh allowed Gallon to play slot, a position where Gallon could utilize his talents to the fullest. We need an outside WR badly and have no proven or highly recruited player ready to fill the void.
This is a big loss. There's no sugar coating it.
August 21st, 2013 at 10:58 AM ^
You're going to be sent to Bolivia, and I'll be satisfied.
This is why negbangs need to be brought back.
August 21st, 2013 at 11:07 AM ^
You can neg away until you're blue in the face. Doesn't make anything I just said less true.
If you're excited about Dileo getting more targets, you're meant for a blog that thinks an egraph is the end all be all on what makes an effective offense.
You're at home here blastbeat.
August 21st, 2013 at 11:28 AM ^
You really don't like Dileo.
August 21st, 2013 at 11:09 AM ^
Why does he deserve to be sent to Bolivia? Because he isn't as effusively positive about the team as you?
(Though, he's totally wrong about the Gallon-slot thing.)
August 21st, 2013 at 11:12 AM ^
Because he's a troll. Check his posting history. He makes shit up, talks smack for no reason, and is a general nuisance.
August 21st, 2013 at 11:18 AM ^
And your posting seems noticeably aggressive and confrontation with people who disagree with you.
August 21st, 2013 at 11:06 AM ^
Gallon was never going to play slot?
August 21st, 2013 at 11:08 AM ^
TwoFiveAD is a troll, and as such he says stupid-ass things just to get responses.
August 21st, 2013 at 11:27 AM ^
Having Darboh on the outside, allowed Gallon to get more reps at Slot, his true position.
With Darboh out, Gallon is all but forced to move to flanker a majority of the time, especially early. It just limits the amount of looks Borges will be able to give defenses.
I'm a troll though because I'm not on the Norfleet or Dileo bandwagon that is so popular around here.
August 21st, 2013 at 11:30 AM ^
Gallon was never going to move inside. Last season he was far and away Michigan's best down field threat. With Dileo and the TEs, there's no reason to move Gallon inside. Even if Darboh was healthy, Gallon is still the most proven option on the outside. Just because he's short doesn't mean that he needs to be or ever was going to be moved into the slot.
August 21st, 2013 at 1:05 PM ^
Gallon wasn't moving into the slot, he was and likely still is getting more reps at Flanker (Z). Now he probably won't play as much at Z, but he'll still likely get the majority of his reps there.
August 21st, 2013 at 11:36 AM ^
How many career receptions does Darboh have?
August 21st, 2013 at 10:56 AM ^
In defense of the "lighting the sky on fire" comment, we did score more points against Northwestern, Minny and Iowa than almost anyone else on their schedules. Even against S. Carolina, we scored more than any other team that they faced other than Tennessee and Florida.
August 21st, 2013 at 10:50 AM ^
A few points to consider re: Gardner lighting the sky on fire last year:
1. I am not debating that Gardner played amazingly last season, but Going into OSU, Devin lit the sky on fire against Minnesota, Northwestern and Iowa. Of the three, the only one with a defensive pulse was Northwestern. He did struggle against OSU and S. Carolina, although (a) both of those teams were stacked with superior talent; (b) Devin's interior line didn't give him much protection, (c) our lack of a credible running game certainly didn't keep teams honest, and (d) Devin had not practiced at QB for quite some time.
2. When Devin made his first few starts, he had something of an advantage, because there was no film on him or our offense with him at QB. Teams could study the Denard offense, but that was a very different offense. Now, there is ample film on Devin at QB, and as the season goes on, there will be even more.
3. Even the best QB needs someone to throw to. I think that the point being made was that other than Gallon, we don't excellent receivers who can get open consistency, beat the DBs long and gain enough separation to consistently give Devin targets. While I am optimiatic about our receiving talents, losing our top long threat certainly hurts, especially since Borges' offense likes to feature a regular dose of long throws, to force teams to respect the verticle elements of the offense.
All of that said, to some extent I agree with you. Gardner should be able to make due with Gallon, DD, Reynolds, Chessen and the rest of our receivers.
August 21st, 2013 at 11:00 AM ^
August 21st, 2013 at 11:02 AM ^
"Top long threat?" I don't care what kind of praise someone gets in camp; this isn't a title you give to someone with 0 catches and precious little playing time.
This is a chance for Chesson and Reynolds to really step it up. This isn't a good thing, but after an initial sarcastic reaction from the board, it's getting into overblown territory.
August 21st, 2013 at 11:37 AM ^
Yet, somehow Norfleet gets treated like Reggie Bush around here the past 1.5 years with 2 career carries for 0 yards and a long kick off return of 38 yards.
Now you know what gets under my skin. ;)
August 21st, 2013 at 11:39 AM ^
His 2 carries went for 13 yards. Also, he averaged 23.6 yards/return on kickoffs that were moved up from the good ol' days. That's pretty damn good.
August 21st, 2013 at 11:51 AM ^
23.6 is pretty average It actually ranks him 46th out of 105. Basically, the definition of average.
14 yard gain and a -1 yard gain against Umass. I forgot about the 14 yard gain. My apology. I was honestly trying to give him the benefit of the doubt with 0 yards. Still, not sure either stat warrants the hype he gets around here.
I'm in the sit and wait camp with him before I demand he gets targeted X amount of times.
August 21st, 2013 at 11:22 AM ^
I would suggest that the guy who was Michigan's top "long threat" last year and the guy who was on pace for 1,331 yards with Devin Gardner at QB would be a superior "long threat" to Darboh.
August 21st, 2013 at 11:53 AM ^
August 21st, 2013 at 10:24 AM ^
Blerg.
So... medical redshirt then? Is there a chance any of the freshman who may have redshirted now get playing time (Dukes, Jones)? Weren't there a few guys we recruited at DB with some WR hype (Jourdan Lewis, Stribling)? Please Brian (EDIT: Seth, anybody), tell me it's going to be ok.
August 21st, 2013 at 10:31 AM ^
This news is a real slap in the face.
August 21st, 2013 at 12:01 PM ^
August 21st, 2013 at 1:03 PM ^
My favorite part of this thread so far.
Here are my rational takeaways:
- Gallon wasn't going to play in the slot. Dude is more Steve Smith than Wes Welker.
- Darboh is a big loss, and anyone who doesn't think so is kidding themselves. He was going to start opposite Gallon.
- The sky is not falling. Chesson appears to be ready to contribute, even though Darboh will be out for the season.
- Reynolds and Jackson will play more.
- It's likely that at least one of the true freshmen will play; my guess is Jones.
- I do believe this means more catches for Funchess. I think it will affect him more than Dileo.
This is bad, but not "season is over" bad. Gallon is a solid #1, Dileo is good slot, and Chesson will probably be a serviceable #2. Reynolds and Jackson are decent depth. And we still have Funchess.
I am looking forward to more depth/talent at the WR position.
August 21st, 2013 at 10:38 AM ^
This definitely sucks, but to me, this is not the end of the world. Sure, Derboh was LIKELY our best verticle threat, but Chessen may be able to fill that role, as well, and we have a ton of decent depth at WR and pass-catching TE. Also, note that Darboh, despite good practice hype, was still going to be an untested soph - if our hopes for the offense rested on him, we were in trouble.
Also, considering our youth and lack of depth at so many spots, this is actually an area that hurts the least. Would take this over, say, Devin, one of the two tackles, Fitz or maybe even Funchess.
I am not saying that this doesn't suck, but we should be ok at this position with Chessen, Gallon, Dileo, Reynolds and even Jackson.
/optimism
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