Unverified Voracity Says Duh Comment Count

Brian

Obvious but welcome. Brandon Graham is destroying all comers at the Senior Bowl and appears to be the player helping himself the most with his performance. Scout says he's gone from a borderline first rounder to a "lock"($). Another Scout guy says he's the best DL there($), Bruce Feldman tweeted about his ability to get into the backfield, and so on and so forth:

Michigan LB Brandon Graham is just about unblockable with his speed and spin moves. … Michigan DE/OLB Brandon Graham is causing fits for UMass OT/OG Vladimir Ducasse in drills. Graham is the most explosive defender on the field.

Mike Maycock, who previously suggested that Graham might be available for the Lions at the top of the second round because he does not have crazy gorilla arms, now says Graham will be off the board before the first round is over. The Lions would have taken Drew Stanton anyway.

BONUS! Orson on Graham:

Then, there’s Brandon Graham. There he is, saying “Hi, I spent the entire year getting double teamed on a terrible defense and still wrecked shit like my name was Haitian McSichuan Earthquake.”

Word.

Another chart. Here are all the teams that returned ten starters on offense since 2006:

10returningstarters

Big Red Network is interested in this because their terrible offense returns ten starters. Michigan does better than anyone except Texas A&M's wildly inconsistent bunch, but the those numbers include the game against Baby Seal U and are probably somewhat optimistic. Also, coming up from 290 yards a game is easy. There's nowhere to go but up, really.

Michigan now returns eight or nine starters, depending on how you define things; it's got to be a rare thing to return eight starters a year after returning ten, yes?

So much for that complaint. DeShawn Sims on that jersey tug:

“Yea, a little bit,” Sims said when asked if he was held on the play. “But this is the Big Ten. If I was the other team, I wouldn’t have wanted them to call that.”

That article's headline has a teeny slant: Sims "says he was held on the final play against Michigan State," it reads despite Sims immediately moving on from that and saying he didn't think it was a call and it wasn't the reason he missed the shot.

Redshirt war ammunition. First, let's kick Stewart Mandel since it's been a long time:

Meanwhile, Michigan fans are hopeful Devin Gardner, Rivals' No. 1 dual-threat quarterback, can provide an immediate spark -- but he may be even rawer than one of last year's Michigan freshman quarterbacks, Denard Robinson.

No, he is not. I don't think this is even possible. Denard Robinson wasn't even a quarterback to most schools; Devin Gardner went to the Elite 11, where Rivals guys named him the top quarterback there. Denard Robinson is perhaps the definition of raw.

Anyway, the actual reason to bring up this article:

"After watching him in Orlando [during Under Armour practices], I think he needs a redshirt," said Newberg.

That's a major step back from the aforementioned Elite 11 performance and what we saw from Gardner early in the season; I read it as evidence for my pet theory that Gardner's mechanics degraded severely over the year as he got away from the coaching he had in the summer and slid back into old habits.

Etc.: Hey Jenny Slater kicks off its list of the 50 most loathsome people in college football. Entertaining, but Paul Johnson doesn't come within a half-mile of the list if anyone other than a Georgia fan is compiling it. Also, Mike Patrick is somehow excluded.

Comments

Tater

January 27th, 2010 at 3:59 PM ^

So, besides "Every Spartan Pleads Not guilty," were there any other clever signs at the game? I also hope a few ski masks made it in, but I didn't see any in the photo gallery.

Smitty D

January 27th, 2010 at 4:16 PM ^

Then, there’s Brandon Graham. There he is, saying “Hi, I spent the entire year getting double teamed on a terrible defense and still wrecked shit like my name was Haitian McSichuan Earthquake.”

imafreak1

January 27th, 2010 at 4:25 PM ^

Is 'rawer' even a word? Doesn't 'raw' describe something completely uncooked? Doesn't that make it impossible to be more uncooked? At the very least, 'more raw' is probably a better choice. At least when you say that you don't sound like you're imitating a lion.

Noahdb

January 27th, 2010 at 4:29 PM ^

Rivals Radio had a guy on this morning (it may have been Newberg...I missed the name) talking about how poor QB play has been as a whole in HS football this year. He said that there were no QBs worthy of five stars and there weren't any next year either. He even said that a number of QBs got worse as the year went on (I'm assuming he's thinking of the M. State recruit).

The host asked him why and he said the spread hasn't done much for developing QBs. You take your best athlete, put him in the shotgun and after a three-step drop, he either outruns everyone or makes a short throw. It's not a very good tool for producing quality QBs who can make a difference in college.

MichiganAggie

January 27th, 2010 at 4:36 PM ^

A good parallel between Michigan and Texas A&M* is that they had 10 returning starters and they were both in Year 2 of their respective head coach's offense - both coaches known for being very good on offense. What does this mean? That it's not a complete fluke that Michigan's offense improved dramatically and that there's hope for it to get even better.

*(other than them being my alma maters that make me now cry when I think of college football)

OregonWolverine

January 27th, 2010 at 4:42 PM ^

I've been reading all of this stuff about Graham too, and wondering how this could be surprising anybody who watched film on M this past year. But I also read all of those plaudits like "explosive" and "relentless" and "amazing motor" and such, and I think Mr. Barwis may have had more than a little something to do with those big paychecks Brandon will haul in next year. Not dissing Brandon's raw talent or work ethic, but physical development matters a lot, too.

trueblueintexas

January 27th, 2010 at 5:02 PM ^

Even with Devin's regression, a red shirt would be even worse for Denard's chances at quarterback. How long do you wait to make the switch and really take advantage of his skill?

msoccer10

January 28th, 2010 at 9:48 AM ^

Unless Devin Gardner is obviously better at running the offense by the end of spring practice, Denard stays at qb for this whole year. But since he is a sophomore, I think he could handle some more responsibilities and get a few more reps at other positions than he did last year. His primary position should remain qb this year however.

ijohnb

January 28th, 2010 at 3:13 PM ^

Sims for taking the high road, and I'm not one for excuses, but the sentiment that it was not a foul is absurd. The argument that "the refs shouldn't determine the outcome of a game" does not apply here. That call would have been made at any other stage in the game, hell, the announcers were discussing whether a similar play .5 seconds before should have been called an intentional foul!!!

"Ref went down, crew does not travel with backups, clearly a foul but shit out of luck." I can get on board with that position and have moved on. But it was a foul, it was clearly a foul that likely DID cause him to miss the shot. And it sucks.

jrt336

January 27th, 2010 at 6:00 PM ^

Graham is going to wreck in the NFL. It's sad that we couldn't have had at least an average defense. On a good defense, he could've had about 20 sacks.

Don

January 27th, 2010 at 6:24 PM ^

but I would love to know how many HCs of major programs since 1950 have had to start freshmen with no game experience for two entire seasons in a row. I'd be willing to bet that it has not happened more than three times prior to RR's first two years, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if it had never happened at all.

evilempire

January 27th, 2010 at 6:52 PM ^

taking a redshirt are looking at him in the context of starting. Not, which I think will happen, as part of a Leak-Tebow arrangement that florida had last year. So, you use Tate as the starter, then bring in Gardner as the changeup. Gardner bring something that Robinson and Tate lack...the ability cut it up fied, off the zone read, with speed AND power....

kman23

January 27th, 2010 at 10:12 PM ^

At first I though your post was moronic. I hate rotating QB's by drive and wasting a 5th year of eligibility on 10 plays a game. But then I thought about how Florida used Tebow his freshman year.

For the first 6 games Tebow only came in and took snaps in the red zone. Because defenses tighten up a lot on the red zone having a true dual threat QB really helps. Yes, Tate like Leak can run. But neither can run over LB. Tate, like Leak, are definitely threats to constantly get gains of 4-5 yards and break a 20 yard run per game. But neither can get that 3rd and 2 that is really needed in the red zone. Neither can take the ball on the goal line and fight their way into the endzone. Gardner, like Tebow, should be able to due to their size.

Also, if Gardner is successful in his 10 plays a game he'll build more and more confidence. The one problem is that after year 1 Leak was gone. Tate will be here for 2 more years after next year. What happens when you have 2 good QB who should both start? Rotating can work but neither QB likes, the coaches don't like (because they need to worry about making it fair and ruining chemistry) and the Offense, especially WR and the C, hates it because of different timing.

michiganfanforlife

January 28th, 2010 at 9:12 AM ^

is a beast. I agree that he is the first "byproduct of Barwis" that has used this training to the fullest potential. Just wait until we get a redshirt senior who has 5 years of hell under his resume... For instance, don't you think Campbell will be a one man wrecking crew in a couple years?

I still like the idea of going back to a 4 man line with Campbell & Martin in the middle - and actual defensive ends (not fast smurfs) on the outside of the D line. If the fast end has one on one with the back, and it's a pass play, then two of the three D-lineman get double teamed. I don't like it. A four man front would have also greatly increased BG's stats last year, and might have resulted in more splash plays on D. I guess I need to give GERG some time, and see if his Deathbacker this year can make some plays, but I am skeptical that this system will work in the Big Ten.

evilempire

January 28th, 2010 at 9:44 AM ^

Man, some people must either have short memories, or haven't been around very long. For YEARS colleges ran option offenses, and PLENTY of guys ended up being great qb's coming out of that system. In fact, in the old option days, one of the benefits of guys not throwing much in college, was it forced NFL teams to put them an the bench for a few years to observe and learn. Now if a guy has 1000 pass attempts in college they throw him to wolves and you get what you get. In fact, I see just as many busts now, from guys who have thrown a lot more in HS & College, as when they hadn't thrown much in the option days.

mgovictors23

January 28th, 2010 at 6:33 PM ^

What idiots had him not going in the first round before. The fact he was double teamed every play the whole season and still had All America numbers should quell any talks about him not being a first round talent.