#1 Jersey - Your thoughts?
Who would you nominate for the next player to wear the coveted #1? I would like to nominate Roy Roundtree for this year. No, he's not the tallest, fastest, quickest reciever we have. He simply makes big plays on the field, and he seems to have a knack for coming up with a great catch when the game's on the line.
they look a lot alike, and sometimes the gnomes in my computer get confused about which letter I wanted. Same thing happens with the letter "S" and the number "5."
Wait, how do computers work again?
Mgovictors uses the Q every time he types the name, even after multiple people have corrected him. Browse his recent posts one of these days........
I don't care if it gets issued this year, but it has to be out there at some point. It can't be a museum relic hidden away in the bowels of Schembechler Hall only to be dusted off once in a blue moon. Not every year, but it shouldn't go 6 years in between wearers, either.
When D-Rob throws 3 TD passes to himself against UConn he will have earned the coveted #1! Then Dilithium will rain down upon our enemies.
After he sets the season sack record and the single game record vs tOSU this coming season, you wil not be able to deny the man.
Let the players decide who earns the right to wear #1.
Will eventually make its way to Mr. Conway. 2013.
I say Roundtree is probably the one who deserves it most. But my other idea is to give it to T-Wolf and let him catch everything our opponents throw at him.
Roundtree emerged at the end of last year and looked pretty good in the spring game. I'd like to see them give it to Roundtree.
It is dumb that the #1 jersey has to be earned. Earning the #1 was not a tradition until Braylon Edwards came along. Now it's some sort of hallowed right.
But now that it has been deemed a tradition, nobody deserves it. And honestly, I don't know when we'll have a guy who deserves the #1 jersey again. We don't throw to our outside receivers much, and our slot receivers don't put up huge numbers in the passing game. We also have so many good slot guys that the receptions will be divided amongst several guys (Roundtree, Odoms, Gallon, Robinson).
You're correct, Carr did it as a motivational ploy to get Edwards to work harder when he wanted to change numbers. The player makes the number, not the other way around.
Why is it dumb to make players earn the jersey? That helps us avoid any more Tyrone Butterfield situations that cheapen its importance.
Personally, I think Roundtree's done enough to warrant the jersey (assuming he's doing everything necessary off the field). He was a playmaker at the end of last season.
It's dumb to make players earn the jersey because it's only based on one guy. Braylon Edwards left and he was like, "Shit, I was awesome. My number was so good that I want to ensure that only the greatest receivers get a chance to wear the #1." Thus a "tradition" was born.
What Tyrone Butterfield situation are you talking about? A situation where a player wore a jersey of a certain number? What a travesty!
Roundtree had half of a good season. He didn't even start the entire year. So you want to avoid a Tyrone Butterfield situation, but you think a player who had half of a good year is worthy of the #1?
So what if it's based on one guy? The whole point of the #1 jersey is to honor one guy (Anthony Carter) who raised the profile of the position at Michigan.
Tyrone Butterfield caught four passes in two seasons. Roy Roundtree caught 32 last season as a redshirt freshman. Their careers haven't exactly paralleled. And to put Roundtree's season into perspective, he caught more passes as a freshman than ANY of the players to wear the #1 jersey, save Anthony Carter.
The #1 jersey is not to honor Anthony Carter. I think you're kidding yourself if you think it is. Braylon Edwards set up that scholarship to honor himself, with a cursory nod to Carter.
If 32 catches is the threshold for the #1 jersey, then why not Martavious Odoms? He caught 49 as a true freshman. Why not Greg Mathews? Why not Manningham, Breaston, Avant?
I'm not saying Butterfield's and Roundtree's careers have been parallels. I'm saying you were acting as if Tyrone Butterfield wearing the #1 jersey was some kind of travesty, when it had also been worn by a placekicker in the '80s. When Butterfield wore it, the last few guys to wear it were Carter, a placekicker, Greg McMurtry, and Derrick Alexander. That's a decent list, but it's not exactly a Who's Who of Michigan Football. I don't know why you would consider it some sort of insult to the hallowed #1 for Tyrone Butterfield to have worn it in '94 or '95 or whenever it was.
The #1 jersey is not to honor Anthony Carter.
Wow. You need to study up on your Michigan football history.
I'm not talking about the jersey itself. I'm talking about the scholarship. Braylon Edwards set up that scholarship to honor himself.
Roundtree + 1 = Bad Memories
WE have a group of really talented WRs, but until one of them steps up and becomes a true stud wideout, noboddy gets the 1. Tay and Roundtree have a ton of talent, but the # 1 has been about more than just talent - until someone put the team on his back and carries us to victory, dominates over the course of a full season or does something more than just be a really good WR, the #1 should remain unassigned.
The issue is how high the bar is. If the bar for earning the #1 is too high, then there is an inherent problem. Unless it's relatively early in the player's career, the same level of play that earns a guy the #1 might also help earn him a good spot in the draft, thus he leaves early. Or perhaps only those whose level of play is high enough are seniors - thus they deserve to earn the #1, but have just played their last season.
Thus, I think the bar needs to be lower than it is now. I think earning it has to be based on potential and leadership rather than primarily on production. And the #1 needs to be in use - not all the time - but most of the time. It loses its luster when it sits collecting dust for 3 or more years. It is more forgotten than heralded.
I like the concept of earning the jersey, but we don't have to make it near-impossible to get. Greg McMurtry was a good receiver, but not All-America good. He did well enough that no one looks at his time as a misuse of the jersey. As long as a guy shows that he can basically uphold the tradition associated with the position (unlike Tyrone Butterfield), I'm fine with him having the jersey.
Of course no one looked at McMurtry's time as "a misuse of the jersey." Wearing the #1 wasn't any kind of tradition then. It was just another number. It wasn't a "tradition" until Braylon Edwards made a scholarship for it about 20 years after McMurtry left.
I'm sorry, but you are out of your league here. Bo reserved the #1 jersey for wide receivers after Carter wore it ('79-'82), as a tribute to the way he raised the profile of the position at Michigan. The whole reason Lloyd Carr made Braylon "earn" the number was so that he'd live up to the standards set, on and off the field, by those who'd worn it before him.
but there is not a "written" tradition that wide receiver or receiver has to wear it.
I don't recall Bo saying this in public. Can you cite this?
I'm not saying he didn't say it, but I don't see this in any book or site other than hearsay. When Braylon supposedly set RR straight he did so verbally. This is a question for Lloyd perhaps. It would be nice to have it overtly stated / semi retired.
As to earning the jersey - that is a legacy of Braylon's creation. AC was promised the number when he was recuited (so I have read) - though I don't think that was a show stopper for him.
As other posters have pointed out there have been great non receiver players who have worn this number (before AC.) Ultimately RR and his successors own this until they "officially" semi-retire this number per the "tradition" that is in many fans (and players) minds.
You keep using that word, but I am not sure you know what it means. Tradition is often "codified" in the connections between people over time, not on paper. It is usually a retrospective assessment of patterns of behavior over time. Something does not have to be written down or officially announced to be a tradition (traditionally speaking of course).
know what that means. It's not a tradition, it's an idea, just like awarding the #2. I support both, but only the current coaching staff owns this as is. Just like the team captain tradition it can change on a dime.
There have been great players who have worn #1 before AC. I don't see the necessity to tie it to a position especially if it is an earned jersey which it never has been before Braylon.
Awarding a number is interesting and strange wrt college football and Michigan tradition.
Nobody knew what the Brown Jug was to become before it took on it's current tradition but time has shown it for what it is.