Dennis Norfleet To Safety Bothers Me

but faster.  Fred Jackson knows just how to pitch this to Mattison.

I, for one, can't believe that the offensive genius Al Borges can't find a place for Norfleet. 

/s

While I agree that this seems to be an odd decision given the situation, my excitement for Norfleet was tempered as the season went on. We heard about him making people look silly in seven on seven, but as the season progrossed I was hoping for more from his kick off returns. More often than not, he seemed to just run straight into the pile without really doing anything.

One additional observation about kickoff returns / coverage is that it seems like UM uses a rotating cast of guys on these teams, even within a single game. I would think that wouldn't be productive to consistent output.

So where the hell is Norfleet in that video tackling someone?  And to think he is going to ever start at Safety over anyone we currently have or going to have is completely absurd

Could it be that working with the safeties will improve his tackling/reads for the purpose of special teams as a gunner?  Just a random thought...

I'm not going to get involved in this questioning the coaches stuff more than this but I think there is some aspect of the coaches seeing something within Fort Schembechler that we haven't seen which is driving this decision.  

I agree that there's something fishy about this, but Hoke and Mattison seem to be doing pretty well at identifying talent on the recruiting trail, so that aspect of it makes me feel like there MUST be something that we're missing.

Also... damn you GoWings2008 that gif was in the corner of my eye while I was writing this :(

I don't like Norfleet at S either but I think this is a little (a lot) a bit of an overreaction.

Is it that strange that they're trying a guy out at a different position during bowl practice than practicing him at a position he wasn't already getting PT?

Maybe, but it's not THE WORST THING IN THE WORLD as it's made out to be here. Norfleet didn't get much time when Toussaint was out during the Ohio game, didn't get much PT all year outside of returns, what makes you think we're 'taking away' from the offensive side of the ball in the bowl game?

It's like freaking out in spring practice because Gardner couldn't hit a WR to save his life and Bolden was going to be our starting MLB because Demens sucked. You are better than this type of reaction.

This has to be an epic troll by Hoke and co.  a 5'6'' razor thin safety in the B1G is laughable.  This would be a GERG-like move.  There's no way that this is even in the realm of possibility.

Hoke probably went over to Kovacs before the interview, gave him a "RILE EM UP KID" and patted him on the tush.

*For some reason CAN'T get image of Justin Fargas's 1,000 yard NFL rushing season out of head*

Is it possible that Michigan puts additional defensive backs in its secondary in order to make Gardner and Robinson make more difficult decisions in the coaching game?

Is it possible that Norfleet is asked to run through a couple of reps at safety in order to improve his understanding of the offense (surely unorthodox, but perhaps it would help his route recognition and understanding of the blocking scheme how it helped Gardner at WR) and to keep him active while other RBs get the lion's share of carries?

There - two non-nuclear reasons why Norfleet might have repped at safety during one moment of one practice.

You're welcome.

You guys are dumb. Obviously Borges traded Norfleet for Furman and and a running back to be hyperbolized later. Expect Furman to be starting tailback in Bowl game.

Someone had to take the place of Ray.

How did you guys miss this?

There is no way in hell Hoke is burning Drake Johnson's redshirt for the bowl game. He only opined that it would be nice if players could play in bowl games without burning their redshirt and that Drake might play if that were the case.

Hm, let's see.  We've got a redshirt freshman in Justice Hayes, who is considered to be a third down-type back with speed to the outside and not much ability to break tackles.  And we've got true freshman Dennis Norfleet, who is considered to be a third down-type back with speed to the outside and not much ability to break tackles.

Two guys with the same general skill set in the same class.

I've got an idea: Let's keep them at the same position so one can always be blocking the other from playing time, and then they'll both graduate together and *POOF* be gone forever.

I'm not saying this is what the coaches are thinking, but there is a reason that some people were like "WTF?" when we signed Dennis Norfleet and Fred Jackson immediately said he didn't think Norfleet would ever be a feature back.

As long as the kid can still return kicks and punts while playing safety, I don't really care whether he plays offense or defense.  There are numerous guys who never made much of an impact on one side of the ball (Mel Gray, Dante Hall, Eddie Drummond, etc.) but were very valuable as returners.  It's quite possible that Norfleet could be one of those types of players.

Could this just be for certain packages? Doesn't SC have a bunch of fast midgets? Maybe Mattison isn't convinced our current guys are quick enough to hang with them in space.

This is not really a direct rebuttal of Brian's post, but here are my thoughts on why this doesn't bother me:

1.  Dennis Norfleet may not be very good at running back. 

I like fleet, and I think that he has potential, based upon his speed, but being fast does not necessarily equate to being a good college running back.  Oftentimes, neither does being a good HS running back.  I think that we can all agree that our stable of RBs this past year is very week.  What does it tell us if Fleet could barely earn any carries this year, when we were desparate for a productive RB?  Perhaps he fumbles because of smaller hands.  Perhaps he has poor vision (which may be the case, as he does not appear to always make the correct move on returns).  Perhaps he goes down easily on first contact. 

Whatever the reason, the coaches who watch him day in and day out may not believe that he is a capable college RB.  Note: this is not really a "trust the coaches on everything" argument.  Sure, coaches can and should be second guessed, and often make mistakes.  But when numerous coaches - Borges, Hoke, Jackson and Mattison, to name a few, all conclude that he doesn't offer an upgrade over V. Smith or Rawls eeking out 1.5 yards, perhaps there is a reason.

2.  Norfleet may be a good RB, but he does not fit the system that the coaches desire to run.

Borges and company have stated repeatedly that we are going to a pro-style, manball attack starting next season.  They also clearly have a desire for a big, thumping Chris Perry, A-Train type of back.  This is not Fleet.  Does that mean that he cannot be successful?  No, but if he is going to only see 1-3 plays per game as a change of pace back, perhaps his skill set is better used elsewhere where he may see the field.  He is already a special teams regular contributor.

Before someone says that the coaches should adopt the scheme to the talent, keep in mind that we are talking about a 4th string RB.  You adopt your scheme to Denard or Devin.  you don't adopt your scheme just for Norfleet.

3. 

2 seconds of film and an offhand comment. Considering we had a different center playing most of spring and fall ball, this could mean next to nothing (you do try guys out at different positions to see how they'd do without intentions of moving them...that's what extra practice is for). But FREAK OUT is the default mode around here.  Sometimes I don't think football fans read this site; it's more like a gossip fueled circle like this:

Given that we knew Devin's foot and/or ankle got a little banged-up during the Ohio game, did anyone else think he looked fairly uncomfortable running at about 1:00 in the video? Here's hoping that he feels a lot better by Jan 1.

Maybe Brian, South Carolina, etc. are just being punk'd by Hoke & Co.  Seriously, when does Hoke ever give honest information about who is hurt, who's going to start, who's going to play what position, etc. until about 3 seconds before the game starts?

I have no idea what is going on, if anything is going on.  I think that is true of everyone.  If moving Norfleet to safety doesn't make sense, maybe it won't happen.  Kovacs' comments are intriguing, but I think we are jumping the gun on this a bit.

is it next football season yet?

"We're really going to make this move before even trying the guy as a change of pace/third down back?"

Does this mean that we're not going to get to see Dennis in the I-formation on 3rd and short and try to run between the tackles??

Could we move either Hayres or Norfleet to slot receiver?