Adam Rittenberg at Michigan
Adam spent the day at Michigan and has posted an interview with RR and a couple articles on Denard and Kelvin. Link is here:
http://myespn.go.com/blogs/bigten
August 24th, 2009 at 11:09 AM ^
Just read it. It looked to me like Rodriguez almost said he himself didn't work as hard as he might have last year because he was just "expecting" to win. No more, thank God.
That's the Big 10. If it is the Big 2(now 3) and Little 8, it's because the Big 2 work hardest.
August 24th, 2009 at 11:12 AM ^
I think most of us got caught up in the "expecting" to win mindset last year. I think we should have known when a walk-on was competing for the job that we were in trouble. It's one of those things that when you look back at it you go - "oh yeah...should have seen that". I feel good about this year if nothing else other than when RR said there have been more big plays these past couple weeks than all season last year.
August 24th, 2009 at 11:21 AM ^
"It looked to me like Rodriguez almost said he himself didn't work as hard as he might have last year because he was just "expecting" to win."
I didn't interpret it that way at all.
August 24th, 2009 at 11:35 AM ^
I suppose you can neg me for having an opinion in contrast to yours, but I don't think that's what the point system is for. At any rate, to specify:
"Did you expect it to be more ready-made here?
RR: I didn't look at the depth chart. I didn't see that there were eight or nine starters leaving on offense and the recruits, what was coming in, what was committed or what was on defense. Or looked at game film to see what the struggles were in the games that they won. I saw the [Capital One Bowl] where they played great against Florida, but the Appalachian State game, the Oregon game, I didn't see those games. It didn't really matter. I figured, 'Once we get there, we'll figure out what we have and go from there.' Were there more issues than I thought? Sure. But I think every new coach coming in would tell you the same thing, at any program."
I just get the impression from that that coming in, he didn't go over everything with a fine tooth comb he might have at other schools, assuming somewhat that things would be at least okay.
August 24th, 2009 at 12:31 PM ^
I didn't neg you, but feel free to make assumptions and lecture me about the point system any time you want.
Also, I understand what you're saying there sort of but I don't see how any of what he says has to do with how hard he may or may not have worked once he arrived on campus and actually took charge of the program. You said it seemed as though he were almost saying he didn't work as hard last year. I still don't see any of that here.
August 24th, 2009 at 12:46 PM ^
I interpret that quote as being more along the lines of.. "when we struggled the year before I got here, I wasn't really paying attention since I had my own team to coach. I didn't go back and then examine the problems the previous year's team had since I was installing a new offense and defense and in working on those, the problems would be apparent. Therefore, I didn't realize just how rough of shape we would be in before starting spring practice."
I don't see any way to interpret Rodriguez's quote as admitting to not working hard because it was Michigan. I also don't think he would have approached the situation any differently at any other school. He watched practice before the capital one bowl, he started recruiting, and prepared for spring practice. Maybe he assumed the talent level would be higher than it was, but even if he had known better, I'm not sure he does anything differently. The only way I see his approach being different is if he was taking over a team not in a bowl game, he would at least have to watch significant tape to see what areas of need to attempt to address in recruiting.
August 24th, 2009 at 3:00 PM ^
the quotes from RR were with regards to what he did before he was in AA, not his approach after taking over the program. He decided on taking the position under the assumption that whatever was in place at Michigan would be sufficient to continue winning.
When he saw the Cap1 Bowl, he was not the HC, LC was. When he was able to take over the program, he realized all of the deficiencies that were in place.
There is nothing in those quotes that indicates a lack of effort or hard work. Rather those quotes indicate the general assumption held in the coaching community that Michigan offers greater opportunities than were in place upon taking over the program.
August 24th, 2009 at 11:09 AM ^
The only thing I think that was missing was that he was there for Saturday's scrimmage and gave really no real information on what happened. All he did was basically mirror all the information we already know from the local papers and such. I wish he would have done a more detailed description about plays and who looked good - that kind of stuff. Since we don't get to watch a lot of the practices, only seeing clips, it would be nice to hear an unbiased observer's opinion. It's hard to see through some of the fluff you get from Rivals articles and Mgoblue because in the end those guys are Michigan fans.
August 24th, 2009 at 4:11 PM ^
U thought it, I said it.
August 24th, 2009 at 11:28 AM ^
I think he has basically repeated everything that he has said so far. Maybe he is holding out on saying certain things to surprise people on September 5th.
August 24th, 2009 at 12:10 PM ^
q=/=g
August 24th, 2009 at 12:59 PM ^
Rittenberg was also on SportsCenter this morning. He says that there isn't much separation between the QBs. I would think that Tate is significantly better than Sheriday, but I haven't seen them play...
Anyway, it was nice to see U of M on Sports Center.
August 24th, 2009 at 4:27 PM ^
FWIW:
Doug Karsch said this morning that, after sitting in on a few pratices, it is evident to him that Sheridan makes fewer mistakes than either Tate or Denard. That's probably the biggest reason why he has a chance to play this year, especially early on in the season.
August 24th, 2009 at 7:12 PM ^
I would not be surprised to see Sheridan run the first series or two against WMU. The first series is likley to start around our 20. Rodriguez is not going to have a freshman throw down field in that situation; first series, first game. WMU knows that. If we can get 2 or 3 first downs, use Zolton to trade up field position, then bring in the freshmen.
God, guess I watched Bo to many years.
August 25th, 2009 at 2:44 AM ^
It's easy to get caught up in the Tate/Denard show. Although I think one of them beats out Sheridan sooner than later, I'm curious to see how playing time is divided in the first couple of games.
It's looks like our RBs are going to be key, especially early on.