Bellomy over Morris?

Submitted by imdwalrus on
This has been bothering me since last night... ESPN said repeatedly in the broadcast that they'd been told by the coaching staff that Morris was ready to go and would back up Gardner if need be. He didn't. Morris never saw the field and Bellomy went in instead. This wouldn't have bothered me if ESPN hadn't made it crystal clear they were expecting Morris to go in. They almost seemed surprised he didn't. All I want to know is, what happened? Yet another injury? Did they lie about his status? Missing helmet? Given how Bellomy had played previously and did play last night, I can't imagine they thought he'd be more likely to contribute than Morris...

Unicycle Firefly

October 12th, 2014 at 9:08 AM ^

Well, we know that this coaching staff is A: very competent, and B: would never be dishonest or withhold information on anything. Therefore, Bellomy must have beaten out Morris in practice this past week.

MayOhioEatTurds

October 12th, 2014 at 5:42 PM ^

Allow me to translate the saracasm into direct speech:

Morris was indeed severely concussed.  More severely concussed than any coaches, players, doctors, or AD personnel were willing to admit.  As a result, Morris hasn't practiced as much as we might like to believe since the Minnesota incident.  So in the Penn State game, while theoretically #2, Morris wasn't ready to play. 

Furthermore, protocol for serious concussions demands keeping the concusssed from being re-concussed in the near future.  In an effort to protect Morris from further damage (or to further conceal culpability for Morrisgate, on the off-chance Morris was re-damaged) coaches kept Morris out of the game.  Even though theoretically--i.e., if healthy and not so badly damaged a couple weeks ago--Morris remains #2. 

Mr. Yost

October 12th, 2014 at 11:55 AM ^

I don't understand why this bothered so many people...

Literally everyone is pissed the fuck off at the announcers and how BAD they were all night. Everyone is tired of Rod Gilmore. Everyone wants to punch him for the two stories he shared of when he ran into a fan.

Yet, now we want to hang on this tidbit about what the announcers said.

He's the #2, that could mean a number of things.

It could mean "yes, when healthy, Shane is the #2 QB, not the #1...he started the previous game and got hurt, but when he's back, he's now the #2..."

Why is that so hard to believe? The last time we saw Shane Morris he was the starter.

How many times does a starter get hurt and coaches say "player X is still our starter."

Who knows if that's what the coaches really meant.

Here's another answer:

He IS cleared to play and is the #2.

That doesn't mean Hoke is ready to play him. That means, medically, he's cleared. All being "medically cleared" means is the doctors aren't going to stop you if you put him in the game.

That doesn't mean he still doesn't have an ankle sprain. That doesn't mean Hoke wants to deal with the media circus if he puts Morris back in this season. We now have 2 weeks before our next game, 2 weeks for him to get better and for the media circus to move out of town.

Here is a third reason.

So he's medically cleared, but what if he's not prepared to play? What if Bellomy took all the practice snaps in preparation for PSU?

Florida just had their backup QB miss a week of practice on a rape allegation, when it was dropped. They STILL said he's not going to play because he didn't prepare/practice for LSU all week. Even if Driskel got hurt he wasn't going in the game. But he WASN'T inactive. He could've played and they could've changed their mind at any point during the game.

...think about all these things before you grab your pitchfork - yet again.

Yeoman

October 13th, 2014 at 12:29 AM ^

That's true but the argument's still valid. It's mentioned elsewhere on the thread that not only was Bellomy clearly #2, Speight and Cleary were 3 and 4 with Morris just making a few throws at the tail end of the drills.

WineAndSpirits

October 12th, 2014 at 9:15 AM ^

Surprise!

It's always interesting when an injury points out a glaring omission from the coaching staff. You have to believe that they wanted the Morris situation to be pushed under the rug.

mgowill

October 12th, 2014 at 9:16 AM ^

They used Bellomy so they could evaluate Gardner, without risking further injury to Morris. I wasn't really bothered by this that much. The announcers trying to stir the pot bothered me more when Gardner came back in. "Oh look they're playing an injured player again!" Those announcers were terrible.

MGoBrewMom

October 12th, 2014 at 9:16 AM ^

You can't hang your hat on what ESPN says. Also there is a well known lack of transparency of the coaching staff regarding someone's status when it comes to injuries.

michiganfanforlife

October 12th, 2014 at 9:17 AM ^

I would have liked to see Speight last night. I realize that would have burned his redshirt, but we need to figure out who is better between Morris and Speight for next year. I don't expect Malzone to just take over as a frosh either. This will probably not be a popular idea, but we need to focus on now and worry ably the future three years from now, IMO. --- Random thought - Brown Bear walked right past me at the game last night and went down on the field. I didn't realize he was a player for Michigan but he was one of the alums honored for playing at Michigan in the beginning of the game. Pretty cool. He was wearing exactly what his avatar looks like!

Brown Bear

October 12th, 2014 at 9:18 AM ^

What's more disappointing is that Bellomy, a junior on scholarship, looked like he has never prepared to play in a game. How can he look so shell shocked and Unprepared? Oh yea....coaching.


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blueblueblue

October 12th, 2014 at 9:38 AM ^

I dont think whether Bellomy gets it or not is the piont. The point is that we have a kid on scholarship who is only a liability when his number is called. Its a problem with recruiting as well as development. 

blueblueblue

October 12th, 2014 at 10:07 AM ^

Your straw men are weak and exposed. Nowhere did I say Hoke shoulld cut him. In fact, I explicitly said the problem is with recruiting and development. Perhaps Bellomy should never have been offered a scholarship. Perhaps he has not been well-coached. Perhaps both. But he's here, and he's what we got (again, due to recruiting and develpment issues). 

bluesalt

October 12th, 2014 at 10:48 AM ^

I'll try from a different discipline.

I used to be a classical singer, and went to a very renown music school (not UM.) My teacher was widely regarded as one of the best -- I know of many of his students who've gone onto great success. He was also a really great person -- probably the most kind and sincere instructor I've even had.

However, despite that, he was a terrible teacher for me. I don't know why, but it just didn't work. I switched to another teacher with a good, but lesser, reputation, whom I did not like as much personally. And my singing took off. I was able to have a solid career, including performing on a Grammy-winning recording, before retiring/switching careers, due to persistent medical issues not conducive to singing.

For me it wasn't recruiting -- I was talented and got scholarships to every school I auditioned for. It wasn't teaching, because he was a great teacher. For whatever reason, it just didn't work.

Now, I grant there seems to be a pattern here, specifically with a couple of positions, but at the same point, don't call out a specific kid and think you know what's going on. Because, quite frankly, none of us do.

blueblueblue

October 12th, 2014 at 11:01 AM ^

I appreciate the analogy. I agree there are non-measurable issues in terms of a kid's fit in a specific program. But, like you said, player development seems to be a common issue here. Its an issue of imposing the general on the specific. So you are right, we cannot know. But we can speculate - as long as we realize that that's what we are doing. And in terms of keeping that in mind, you are completely in the right. 

bluesalt

October 12th, 2014 at 11:22 AM ^

I had a great baritone voice for a teenager, but there were always the physical concerns.

But the kid was initially well-regarded enough to get a scholarship at a solid school. Not the best school ever, but one that's had success at putting QB's into the NFL. And when you think of how many high school quarterbacks there are in this country, that's saying a lot. And then he was deemed good enough to be a fallback option at a better school -- sort of like he was wait-listed. In terms of high-school quarterbacks, he was still very, very good.

blueblueblue

October 12th, 2014 at 11:28 AM ^

Your point about being wary of our assumptions about Bellomy is well-founded. But you are reaching when you try to convince us that Bellomy was a high regarded QB out of high school. He would have been a good recruit for a MAC-level school, but he was not a good recruit at Michigan. We were all hoping that Borges had found some diamond-in-the-rough that the coaching staff would polish into something at least serviceable. We were wrong.  

bluesalt

October 12th, 2014 at 11:36 AM ^

No, never said that. Given the circumstances (lack of time and desperation for a warm body at the position) was he the best Michigan could get (with only high school level information available)? Certainly he was in that top group. Calling him MAC-level is revisionist history. According to this blog's recruiting profile, in addition to Purdue, his other suitors were Michigan State, Minnesota, USF, and Boise State. That's not MAC. Best thing ever? No. But someone who exhibited a decent amount of talent in high school? Absolutely.

bluesalt

October 12th, 2014 at 11:57 AM ^

Just went to his recruiting profile on this site. Regardless, while it may not be typical of a Michigan offer, it's also above "MAC". Furthermore, it just comes off as mean-spirited, as the very strong implication is that Bellomy's lack of success here has been because he's undeserving of being Michigan QB. My original analogy was to say we have no clue why it hasn't worked, and that's where it should end. And I stand by that. Can we be disappointed? Sure, but once we start saying he's a MAC QB, which is patently false, we move beyond disappointment and towards insults. We should all be better than that behind out anonymity.