On Woolfolk: Soup, Hats, Hugs

Good take. People are making a mountain out of a mole hill.

played on WTKA this morning the "not as consistent as Denard" part and the "a lack of respect" comment were about a half an hour apart in a 2 hour long exchange between Woolfolk and a group of reporters, IIRC.

So,  the "a lack of respect"  comment was not necessarily directed 100% at Tate alone, and Woolfolk was directing his comments at a larger group of players - which is good and bad.

WTKA is blocked by the fun-police here at work (but not MgoBlog , go figure) so I don't know if the podcast from this morning is up or not.  They played the actual audio from Woolfolk's interview.

The play of Sean Hunwick rallied the team as they accomplished one hell of a feat after they had dug themselves into one hell of a hole.

You go with the guy the team believes in. The are 10 other guys on the field, and if their performance, as a unit, is greater than the performance delta between the two players in questions, that is the direction you must go.

That's about how I feel about it as well. Thanks again, Brian,  for hitting the nail so squarely on the head.

this is not what we want or need to happen going into a crucial year. Come on Tate, change the the talk back to how good you are.

 The worst thing that's happened this offseason is the sturm und drang about Demar Dorsey and his eventual rejection by admissions;

So this needs clarification: should I mentally add the phrase "other than being served with MAJOR VIOLATIONS(!!!) and having a lotta 'splainin' to do in front of a long green table at the end without the coffee," or is this in fact to indicate that not having one of our top recruits at a position of major need really is worse than the pissant shit the NCAA found and wouldn't have cared about if not for a couple of jerkoffs with a typewriter and too much time on their hands?

If the QB largely responsible for four wins is "diseased" I wonder what term he's using for the defense that gave up 500 yards back-to-back to Illinois and Purdue.

Edit: added a "for"

Great. We don't need players calling out players. 

Guess What? Monday morning Good ol' Mr. Forcier gets to hit the practice field with the coaches and begin to get control of things. I think Tate learned last year what happened when he talked to the media. He's not going to say anything and just add more fuel to the fire. I think Tate will let his game do the talking. This still doesn't mean that he might lose the starting spot to Denard, but I really think he's going to bring it.

Damn I wish it was September.

And I'm happy to have them!

Your Dust Bowl metaphor is giving me the willies. I know what people were saying about the crash in '8 and how in four years everything will be hunky dory again under the Great Engineer.

Fuck, I done gone and extended another anology.

Care Bears. Michigan is like Care Bears....unghhhhhh

Benedict Boren?

Edit: that was the year before

If this pressures Forcier to step up his game it will all be for the better.  That means both sophomore quarterbacks have elevated.  I'd rather have some squabbling breed competition than everyone be happy and get along all the time.  This kind of thing happens on successful teams all the time.  The winning will silence any naysayers.

about Forcier's sometime lack of "maturity" both on and off the field.

Tate has clearly made some poor decisions if a player like Woolfolk, a senior from a family with both Michigan and NFL experience, is questioning his behavior. Troy may regret some of the words he chose, but the message remains the same.

If he can't throw any better than he did last year, that trust will evaporate real fast.  Spring games are no match for an oncoming blitz of Buckeyes or Spartans or even Huskies.  Tate showed in the real games that he can make lots of plays.  Here's hoping that both Tate and Denard are better than Tate was last year!  It will take a lot of pressure off an already weak defense.

I think it is great that DROB may have improved during the off season to challenge Tate. It will give us two QB's who can run this offense.  We'll see who performs the best during practice leading up to the start of the season. May the best QB win the starting position. Who ever is backup will also see a lot of  playing time this season.

I think this violates at least one commandment:

In case anyone's living under Charlie Weis*, the full monty:

Never, EVER, mention Charlie Weis and the full monty in the same thought.

When I go home people'll ask me, "Hey Hoot, why do you do it man? What, you some kinda war junkie?" You know what I'll say? I won't say a goddamn word. Why? They won't understand. They won't understand why we do it. They won't understand that it's about the men next to you, and that's it. That's all it is

~Eric Bana aka Hoot (Blackhawk Down)

the facts.  This is called leadership.  But i'm sure people will miss the point ... people that don't have a UM degree.  Go Blue !!!

Think he turned out alright.  

I think Tate will get it turned around.  If he doesn't, so be it.  He'd have nobody to blame but himself.  It's overused but we're talking about 18-22 year old kids.

"Eight(teen) year olds dude..."

 That said, I think this is being blown way out of proportion.  

I buy Woolfolk's explanation, especially after hearing that the reports left out the half hour and the fact that it was an answer to a different question.  It would be difficult to believe those statements were made with regard to someone who said the following at the end of last season:

"I lost that game," Forcier wrote in a text message to The Associated Press about an hour after the game. "This offseason, I'm gonna make sure myself and every single person on this team works the hardest we have ever worked.

"We're gonna come back a a new team. I'm not going to let this happen again."

I forgot about McGuffie.  I liked that guy.

Thanks Brian for the bit of sanity.

I will still hold to my original comment that while it is certainly appropriate for a coach and a senior to call out another player, at some point the effect goes from motivation to confidence-shaking.  We all saw last year that Tate can lead this team and, when healthy, can win.  I understand that he is probably somewhat immature, but since the middle of last year (when RR clearly yelled at him on the sidelines) he has been consistently "nicked" in the media.  His coach has questioned his maturity a number of times, a couple of players have taken shots at him in general terms, and the media and blogosphere have presumed that he would be replaced on Denard learned the offense and Gardner improved.  

Now, I'm sure most of these comments were made without malice, but at some point you have to remember that this is a kid coming off the first major injury in his life, who has been in the limelight since he stepped on the field, and who clearly has some maturity issues to work through.  Push anyone too far, and at some point his confidence is not going to fully recover.  I know people like to argue this is like the Braylon treatment by Carr, but I don't remember anyone other than Carr really calling him out, and most were structured with a "we still believe in him, he just needs to get on the same page" vibe.  It wasn't popping up on numerous high-profile blogs, across Twitter, and leading various sports sections in newspapers.  

I like that RR and co. are more open than Carr when it comes to discussing the team in general terms, but right now it is getting to the point that a single player is being held up as an example of someone who doesn't "get it", and that is not fair.

Is the consistancy in the Coach's statements between an article in April and the Big Ten Media Days in August,

Michigan Daily article, 13 April 2010, Rodriguez: Forcier knows he can't be average and expect to start"

http://www.michigandaily.com/content/rodriguez-forcier-knows-he-cant-be-...

<“Tate knows he can’t be average and expect to be the starting quarterback,” Rodriguez said on Tuesday’s Big Ten teleconference. “He has to get better. Some of that is maturity on the field, and some of it is off the field, as well. I think Tate is starting to get that. Competition is helping him in that regard, both with Denard Robinson and Devin Gardner.”>

From the Media Day hallway transcript of Coach Rodriguez

http://mgoblog.com/diaries/rich-rodriguez-media-day-transcript

<we'll find out at the end of the week. I'm hoping that everybody - they grow and mature, not just on the field but off the field as well. You know, until we're allowed to do things with them you really don't know. I'm anxious to see how Tate responds to that. I know he's getting a challenge and I talked to him this spring about this: "You're getting a challenge from Denard, you're getting a challenge from Devin, and if you're a true competitor we'll see how you respond." That challenge will continue in August.>

I know it's tempting to try and out think the head coach, but it seems like we'll all have a chance to continue reviewing this issue under the microscope once fall camp starts next week.

Hurray!

Based on his on the field performance last season, Tate wants to win and he has sacrificed his own well-being to do so on many occasions.  I think he is using all this jibber jabber as motivation and will come out slinging against UConn.  He will solidify his #1 status in that game.  At that point we will have two capable QB's.  It's going to be a great season.

As other's have pointed out here, Troy's two separate comments were strung together by the Daily and other publications to make it appear as though his comments were far more pointed at Tate than they probably were. If you listen to the actual audio, he was not angry or upset, but was pretty soft-spoken and matter-of-fact in his tone of voice, none of which comes across in a written transcript.

Troy was also somewhat baited by the initial question, which made a direct reference to Tate not attending some workouts; as Sam Webb pointed out yesterday, Troy would have been better served by deflecting the comment rather than implicitly acknowledging the questioner's premise. However, Troy is now learning some tough lessons in dealing with the media, which will serve him well in the future.

I think Woolfolk would have been wiser to not name any names when making criticisms or observations that can be interpreted as critical; that sort of calling-out is necessary, but should be handled in the locker room, so to speak. Putting it into the public arena serves no good purpose, and I'd guess Troy has already learned that.

Having said all that, this is basically on Tate. If there were legit reasons (school, injury/rehab/family obligations/etc) for him to miss some workouts, he needed to communicate them to the seniors. He apparently did not do that.

If he's simply not showing up, then he's basically in danger of ceding the starting position to Denard through insufficient dedication.

The QB on any team, regardless of his class ranking, has to be a true leader in these situations. That means being the first one at the workout and the last to leave, and taking an active role in getting the whole squad involved. A QB who does not do these things risks losing the respect of his teammates, especially if another QB is doing these things.

There's plenty of time for TF to mature, but that process has to start more or less immediately.

if he harbours those thoughts about tate....HE better perform on the field this year as well. HE was hardly the rock of Gibraltor himself last year. And twinkle,twinkle little 5 star who plays like 3, steve schilling better back it up as well .......

This is why I think all players should record their interviews and post the audio files online so that people can get a sense of the context of the questions and answers.

One thing we all know about Tate, he is affected by things that happen around him.  It's likely that Denard's acclaim since the spring has gotten in his head.  I think he is much better when he is in the light and not forced to fight for a job he might not win.  I think it's a case of RR pushing him harder because he was the starter last season and it doesn't seem like Tate is answering the bell. 

As far as Troy's comments are concerned...I love it.  The seniors have had the worst UM career in about 40 years and they are responsible for this team. If you're a partner in a law firm, you most definitely call out the hot shot new Harvard grad getting complacent.  Tate can either respond by stepping up and showing his maturity or he can concede. 

It has also been mentioned that BOTH of his brothers transferred schools as they fell down the depth chart...