Any word on Denard?

Denard is a transcendent talent. He has the ability to thrive in virtually any offense.

Hoke is getting a bit of a raw deal here, because if you watch video of his offenses at SDSU and Ball State, you'll see that Hoke likes to use multiple sets. His offense is different from Carr's, as Hoke does open things up a bit more, by spreading the field and utilizing roll outs.

Nate Davis ran for over 300 yards his junior (and final) year at Ball State, and he was not someone you would describe as a mobile QB. So the opportunities are there for the run, granted there are only going to be a tiny fraction of the designed run plays that Rich Rod's read option offered.

Mike Vick didn't run a read option offense and was as dangerous a runner at the quarterback position as anyone in the history of college football. IMO Denard is every bit as explosive running the football as Vick (probably more), and while he doesn't have Vick's arm, Nard Dawg's passing stats from this past season easily beat anything Vick ever did at Va Tech.

While the read-option probably fits Denard best, I don't think it's wise to make the assumption that Denard won't produce at a high level in another style of offense. I'm sure Hoke will tailor his packages to fit Denard's skill set.

I don't understand why Denard would leave. First off there is no read option QB starting in the NFL. So in order to play at the next level, Denard will either become:

A) Proficient passer, good at reading defenses while utilizing his speed. (Mike Vick/Pat White hybrid)

B) All around athlete AKA Brad Smith, Antwann Randle-El, Percy Harvin.

Michigan would serve him well either way.

I will be the first person to say that I loved watching Denard last year, I mean I often screeched over his electric runs, but its not armageddon if he doesn't stay.  We have a more than capable qb on the roster in Devin Gardner, and yes he  will be raw, but hes the better passer of the two anyways.

I'm not diminishing what Denard has done, but can he play qb outside of Richies system?  Didn't we say goodbye to him when we fired Rich Rod?  I fear that if we keep trying to put the square peg into the round hole we will be replaying the Masoli situation all over again, and I think my eyes may melt if I have to watch that unfold.

that Brady will adapt to his talent, unlike his predecessors.  I really liked RR, but his refusal to slowly faze the spread in at the begining (when we didn't have any spread type guys), and his refusal to develope any special teams or defense did him in.  Hopefully Brady will realize that this is a spread offense and run a few spread plays until he gets "his guys".

A QB that specializes in the spreadnshed...A coach who thinks the spreadnshed is a joke.  I think we all know the answer to this one.

development as a passer.  Hopefully we can land  a top QB coach.

playbook. If he can quickly get somewhere and use that accumulated knowledge, we know it best fits his skills. I would cry but watch him every chance I get. This has been another painful gd stretch for Michigan football, though--just ouch. 

Denard stays through spring practice and then makes his decision. What difference does transferring now or in 4 months make to when he can play again? Since San Diego State ran a spread offense and Tate may not have the grades, I'm thinking Denard stays as one of only two scholarship QBs. Did Denard say that he wanted to be a QB, or did he want to be an RR style QB? I think it was the former.

Regarding Denard, he is impossible not to like...obviously a great talent and as nice a person as we have seen around Michigan for a while.

I took a look at his last seven Big Ten Games, when we started playing some serious teams.  Realizing that he was only starting as a QB in his first year, the numbers suggest that there is definitely a lot of room to get better. I just can't see him surviving as a running QB in the NFL He and we were fortunate he didn't have a long term injury last year.  I have seen the numbers showing the differences between spread and drop back QB's, but what those numbers don't take into account is the size of the QB. 

Then you have the performance numbers.  Starting with Michigan State and ending with OSU, Denard had a 57 % completion percentage and had 9 TD's against 9 INT's.  He averaged 187 passing yards per game.  Rushing, he averaged 105 yards per game, which figure was aided by a huge game against PSU. In the seven games, he had two runs greater than 20 yards.  I don't know how many fumbles Denard had, but there were a ton.

Make of these numbers what you want, but you would think he might want to listen to someone else before leaving,

As far as Gardner goes, there was a reason why Tate was the number 2 last year once Gardner had a chance to play.  From having gone to every home game and getting there early enough to watch pre-game warmups, Gardner has a big arm, but he is totally unproven.  My guess is that Tate is gone.

Bottom line, I sure hope to hell Denard stays around. It might be the best thing for him, and it sure would be a good thing for us.

Denard must be feeling like Mallet did when RR was hired.  I hope Hoke sits down with him right away and and has a candid conversation about how he WILL fit in with the new system.

From what I've heard he was smiling yesterday at the team meeting and threw the ball around a little bit.

The one thing that hurt Denard more then anything is the tailbacks were so average that they just keyed on him and said  lets see what you can do. 

I'm kind of baffled as to where this "Denard is not a good QB" business comes from.  He is the first player to ever rush for 1,500 yards in a season and throw for 2,000.  In his true sophomore year, first year as a starter, he completed 62.5% of his passes for 8.8 yards per pass attempt.  This was with absolutely no help whatsoever from his receivers in the final three games of the season.  Roundtree probably accounted for 150 yards of drops against Wisky, OSU, and Miss State.  His 18/11 TD/INT ratio isn't great, but it's not terrible, and Christ sakes, folks -- he was a first year starter.  Even with his mediocre TD/INT ratio, he ended up ranked #20 in the nation in passing efficiency.  Ahead of "real" quarterbacks like Landry Jones, Stephen Garcia, T.J. Yates, Matt Barkley, Nick Foles, and Taylor Potts.  He was a significantly better passer than Brian Griese, John Navarre, and Tom Brady all were in their first year as a starter.  Yes, I said Tom Brady.  In his redshirt junior year, he threw 15 TDs and 12 INTs.  The offense sucked most of the year and he averaged less than 8 yards per pass attempt.  But people didn't say he didn't belong at QB, because he was tall, slow, and white.