Ryan After Panic Report Comment Count

Brian

WEEKS OF BREATHING IN A PAPER BAG HAVE PASSED BEFORE OUR PROTAGONIST FINALLY RAISES HIS BLOODSHOT EYES FROM THE TABLE WHERE HIS FOREHEAD HAS POUNDED A DISTURBINGLY DEEP GROOVE OVER THESE LAST, TERRIBLE HOURS. A RAGGED BREATH, and then…

Freshman safety Cameron Gordon plays in Michigan's spring football game on Saturday, April 17, 2010 at the Big House.  (ARIEL BOND/Daily)

CAM GORDON INNNER MONOLOGUE: YALL READY FOR THIS

IT COULD BE WORSE. Hello Cam Gordon, you senior you. You guy who has been playing SAM or its rough equivalent since Rich Rodriguez executed the last of his ill-fated in-season defensive rearrangements. You four-star athlete kind of without a position previously, now a strapping 233 pounds who saw plenty of time last year. You fellow who was getting a level of spring praise that might mean something even before this incident:

"Jake [Ryan] and Cam [Gordon] -- Cam’s had a tremendous winter. It will be exciting and fun to see the different things that we might be able to do with both of them on the field. Jake is one of those guys with his hand on the ground can rush the passer sometimes. It gives us some things that we can do.”

Can Jake and Cam be on the field at the same time?

“Can be.”

You're going to be okay, you Cam Gordon senior you.

IT COULD NOT BE WORSE. aaaaaah not Jake Ryan, destroyer of all things.

What with the 16.5 TFLs and the 4.5 sacks and four forced fumbles and being the leading tackler in both solo and assist terms and also playing pass-rush DE quite a bit on a team that badly needs pass rush.

Damn you, cruel fate!

I GUESS I HAVE TO TALK ABOUT SOMEONE MOVING TO SAM NOW. Less than ideal, this, but there was always a hole behind Gordon and Ryan in the SAM pecking order that got worse when it turned out that none of the four guys from last year's freshman class seemed big enough to hack that spot. Brennen Beyer started there, was moved to WDE last year to platoon with Ojemudia and Clark, and added a couple pounds only as Clark hulked up to 277. Gordon now has no backup save true freshman Mike McCray, and WDE has three or four plausible bodies in the aforementioned three and early-enrolling, 265-pound Taco Charlton.

Beyer or Ojemudia, likely Beyer, is headed to the other side of the line.

WHAT ABOUT NICKEL PASS RUSH. Well… Hopefully Clark can make a leap. Even in that case, Michigan lifted the NT and moved the SAM down to that spot. Gordon has experience doing that; he has not produced. Ojemudia may step into that role, or Charlton. Freshman edge terror in the nickel package is a spot at which freshman errors are not that lethal if said freshman is also turning in the proverbial Plays.

COULD THE DUDE RETURN? It was about this time last year that Branden Dawson tore his ACL and he returned in time for Michigan State's basketball season. Will Heininger tore his ACL on March 30th and dressed for six games the following season, but did not play until November 20th, the week before OSU. That season started in November; that sport does not feature guys trying to cut-block you except when you play Wisconsin. ACLs are no longer yearlong injuries… but this one is cutting it too close to count on the guy at all.

If you can get him back, you might as well play him. IIRC his redshirt was not injury related. You may as well put him on the field since it'll take another catastrophic injury for him to get a sixth year.

BALLS. balls balls balls

Comments

evenyoubrutus

March 20th, 2013 at 2:58 PM ^

You know this season he was going to be a RS Junior? 2014 would be his 5th year, and you're talking about a 6th year in 2015.  I don't think the NCAA approves those very often, and they would have to go back and prove he was injured during his freshman season that held him out of the entire year.  So if they don't have medical records which suggest he not play football in 2010, they would have to commit fraud to produce evidence to the NCAA for something they may not even know is approved until well after 2013. 

Yeah, if he's ready I think I still would rather he just come back for the tail end of the season.

StateStreetApostle

March 20th, 2013 at 4:08 PM ^

I would agree with you--ten or so years ago this was a zero-chance.

But things have been opening up gradually at the NCAA--Scott Martin (ND basketball) transferred from Purdue, which cost him a year redshirt.  Then he had horrible knee issues and multiple surgeries, costing him the following year.  He came back and played two more, then was granted a third (this year) for a total of four years playing, spread over 6.

(In short, this is how a guy who was playing college basketball while Z-Novak was still playing high school is STILL playing college ball while Z has gone to Europe.)

EDIT:  of course, he's not really "playing" for ND this minute, having had to shut his season down last month due to said knee problems.

There are other examples (Greg Tonagel, Valpo basketball, comes to mind), but you're right, usually both redshirts are really medshirts, not one of each.

Then again, ask a Sooners fan about Jason White!  (If there were Houston fans, you could ask one about Case Keenum too.)

So don't give up the 'ship!

DOUBLE EDIT:  http://www.sundaymorningqb.com/2008/3/21/12258/5402

Dated Matt Hinton article on redshirts/medshirts

orangeda

March 20th, 2013 at 3:40 PM ^

and there was a always a chance that he could leave after this season anyway, he's already  pretty awesome at football, this just means that he'll be back for his 5th year for sure, at which point he'll hopefully be back to destroying people every weekend in the fall of 2014. 

If they can get him back to help at the end of this season, that'd be great, they may as well use him, as the odds of him not only getting a 6th year med redshirt, but also needing to use it before getting drafted by the NFL are pretty slim.

DelhiGoBlue

March 20th, 2013 at 6:46 PM ^

I don't see him coming back for just a couple of games.  I think he'll be encouraged to fully heal and be prepared to have a monster season in 2014.  And if he doesn't have that monster season, he can always petition for a 6th year. 

I love watching him play, so I'm hoping he comes back strong next year but believes he has an even better year inside him and so takes advantage of a medical 6th.

maize-blue

March 20th, 2013 at 2:27 PM ^

At 6'3" and 241 lbs., Jake Ryan was literally our biggest LB. Darn. I think the post alluded to this but Beyer might be able to add some reps at this position to add size.

FreddieMercuryHayes

March 20th, 2013 at 2:49 PM ^

I'm gonna not go out on a limb here at all and say even if we would have had Woolfolk in 2010 we still would have seriously sucked.  Problems that bad are deeper than a cornerback who turns out wasn't even all that great once on the field.  As for Denard...yeah, that cost us a spot in the BCG, but has also set us up very well offensively for the next two seasons.  I just keep thinking that if Martin or RVB went down in '11 we would have been totally boned.  And luckly, neither did.

IncrediblySTIFF

March 20th, 2013 at 2:34 PM ^

Good news: ACL recoveries are faster for football than basketball.  This is because planting your foot on grass does not require as much stress on your foot as jumping up and down on hardwood.

I mean, and also, Blake Countess went down against Alabama and the general reaction was "OH NO DOOM THE SEASON OVER."

DENIAL: I don't really think that Jake Ryan is actually ACL torn.

ANGER: Why can't Braxton Miller tear his ACL or someone else that is not from Michigan

BARGAINING: You can have Mike Jones, and WIll Hagerup if you just give us back Jake Ryan. I will even throw in whatever pint-sized DB from Cass Tech that you require.

DEPRESSION: We should not even have a football season anymore until Jake Ryan is back, we can never win without him.

ACCEPTANCE: Remember, this is not about feeling "okay" that Jake Ryan is injured.  This is about having the knowledge to understand what can and cannot be changed.

 

Mostly though, this is just me trying to make my feel better by sharing thoughts that are probably not even worth reading.

WolvinLA2

March 20th, 2013 at 2:38 PM ^

I bet JMFR can be back for the last month or so of the season. Lucky for us, the Big Ten sucks except for the team we play at the very end. ND, however, will be harder now. At least we have lots of time for guys to get reps and we'll have a 5th year senior with plenty of PT taking his spot.

Erik_in_Dayton

March 20th, 2013 at 2:44 PM ^

Have any of us examined Ryan's knee ourselves?  How can we be so sure that he tore it?  Maybe this is a conspiracy to distract us from some yet-unknown global conspiracy that only we - the readers of Mgoblog - could have stopped.  Yes, that seems like the more reasonable answer...

TheDirtyD

March 20th, 2013 at 2:53 PM ^

He should get the medical redshirt. Aleast this happened now vs a week before the season starts so the staff can try out all options on defense. It sucks yes major blow yes but, the defense will be okay. If anything there is depth at the LB spot. Maybe someone will rise to the occasion and step up. 

Soulfire21

March 20th, 2013 at 2:58 PM ^

He's already been redshirted for a non-medical issue, so it is highly unlikely the NCAA will grant a 6th year of eligibility.  The staff would have to go back to his freshman season and prove it was an injury that kept him out for the season then as well.

WolvinLA2

March 20th, 2013 at 3:01 PM ^

Like many have said, he's not getting a redshirt, so stop it with that.

That said, are you seriously suggesting we hold out a star if he's good to go to redshirt him? That's ridiculous. Michigan fans overdo the redshirt thing. If a kid can play, play him. Especially if that kid is Jake Ryan.

turtleboy

March 20th, 2013 at 3:00 PM ^

It sucks so much dong that Ryan will miss next season, as he likely would've been one of (if not the) best linebacker(s) in the B1G. 

However, what we lose in his individual ability, I have faith that the coaches can make up for through scheme. We should also have several young players emerge this year to pin our hopes on. Our pass coverage should improve with Countess returning, and our defensive front should improve too, with Washington and Black showing they can play consistantly well, and players like Pipkins, Wormley, and Ojemudia taking the next step from their freshman year.

WolvinLA2

March 20th, 2013 at 3:38 PM ^

But that's because he chose not to have it repaired. That will not happen with Jake. He will have surgery since it's the offseason and he'll need some months to recover.

You don't need a good ACL to play QB if you aren't moving much. You need one to play linebacker.

Blarvey

March 20th, 2013 at 5:22 PM ^

Lack of depth and need for experience on the strongside of the line. Heitzman and Strobel/Godin are it at SDE and they have a combined one year of real-game PT. Cam has played four years but it has been all over the place and really only has about 11 games of experience as a SAM. Plus, McCray is a true frosh, Beyer would be learning the position, so the whole strongside would have little experience, both on the line and with the backers. 3-tech is not much better, but there are some bodies there and Q. Wash has played both that and NT, I think.

WolvinLA2

March 20th, 2013 at 7:58 PM ^

The coaches are going to put the best guys they can at SDE regardless of who is playing SAM.  If they feel, like you said, that Heitzman, Godin and/or Strobal can't cut it, they'll move someone over, but that would happen even if Ryan hadn't gotten hurt.

That said, I bet either Black or Wormley will be a 5-tech this fall, since they'll want both of those guys getting in and that might be tough if they're both 3-techs.

Boom Goes the …

March 20th, 2013 at 8:39 PM ^

Jake.  Everyone just has to carry a little more on their shoulders.  Still expect us to have a great D this fall

dragonchild

March 20th, 2013 at 8:47 PM ^

It may not be time to panic just yet.  All I saw was, "Jake Ryan is out indefinitely with a torn ACL" or something to that effect.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH

Whew.  OK.  The thing is, that doesn't mean a blown out ACL.  There is such a thing as a partial tear, which you mitigate by yanking the guy off the field so he doesn't blow up his knee entirely.  The recovery is much faster, but it's still called a torn ACL because that's exactly what it is.

One can hope, anyway.