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...
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blueblueblue

October 12th, 2014 at 12:06 PM ^

That list and his performance still suggest you are over-reaching. That is a MAC-level offer sheet. You basing yoru case on two offers from non-MAC schools amidst a sea of MAC schools. There is a reason many kids who have offers from upper-level programs choose to go to MAC schools - they know they can compete at those schools, and develop on the field. You are basing your argumet on two outliers - Michigan and Purdue, while also ignoring his performance on the field here. It's weak.  

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Yeoman

October 12th, 2014 at 12:12 PM ^

Agreed, "MAC quarterback" turns it into something personal.

But it's just an objective fact that his evaluations in high school were consistent with someone who had a choice between (1) going to a non-power school like Texas State and having a good chance of playing or (2) going to a lower-end power-conference school and having an uphill struggle in the competition for a spot. And then, out of the blue, he gets (3) an offer from a traditional power.

He chose (3), which is fine. He's still competing, which is great. But what's happened so far is so much in line with reasonable expectations that I don't think there's any justification for fans to even be disappointed.

Is it mean-spirited to say that?

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Yeoman

October 12th, 2014 at 11:37 AM ^

But even at Purdue, his recruiting ratings would put him fourth on their depth chart. Close behind Appleby who now has the job, well behind Blough and Etling.

We were desperate for a pocket QB in January of 2011; we took a flyer on someone that was going to be a marginal prospect at a low-end B1G school (well, to be fair, Purdue was three games ahead of us in the standings during Bellomy's junior year but you know what I mean).

It was always a coin flip, and with a weighted coin. If the coin came up tails it's not really a knock on the player or his coaches.

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pescadero

October 13th, 2014 at 12:53 PM ^

It wasn't teaching, because he was a great teacher. For whatever reason, it just didn't work.

 

Then it was teaching, by definition.

 

It didn't work because he wasn't a great teacher for your learning style.

 

I'd argue that if he didn't realize that and suggest you move to a different teacher, he wasn't that great of a teacher in general either.

 

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Yeoman

October 12th, 2014 at 11:00 AM ^

I doubt there's a single program in the country that doesn't have a player on scholarship that isn't ready for non-garbage-time action. And unless they're churning their roster SEC-style, they still have somebody like that as an upperclassman.

Nobody has a 100% hit rate. Picking out one player and using him as ammunition against the coaches is like finding one student that did badly in a class and claiming it's proof that the teacher can't teach.

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mgeauxblu85

October 12th, 2014 at 5:17 PM ^

The bigger issue isn't just that Bellamy looks so bad but that Morris looked just as bad. Sometimes you'll get a player that just isn't good, somehow he got through the recruiting process or maybe he parties too much or whatever. To me Morris v. Minny looked shockingly similar to Bellay v. Nebraska. Unprepared, scared, & lacking intensity. Another thing: these backups look like they expect Gardner to play the entire year and haven't prepared like a QB should. One of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen on a sideline was Bellamy (the next QB to go in if ANYTHING happens) couldn't even find his fucking helmet. I could deal with one QB on the roster that wasn't ready to play but two seems like a coaching issue. Maybe it isn't fair because Morris could have had a bad bad game but I have little faith for next years QB

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BlueMan80

October 12th, 2014 at 9:42 AM ^

Bellomy was not a highly ranked recruit and every time he's been on the field he plays like the stage is too big for him. So fortunate of him to get thrown into big night games like 2012 vs. Neb and last night's game. He's probably feeling cursed by the football gods.

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MichiganTeacher

October 12th, 2014 at 9:42 AM ^

True, but you can recognize Bellomy's complete lack of ability to compete at this level. Then you can do something about it in the two years since Bellomy proved his lack of ability. For example: JUCO transfer, grad transfer, recruit an extra QB one year, convert a player, pull in a preferred walk-on, not waste other QB's development time at WR, etc.

The Bellomy Situation is an indictment of Hoke as much as anything else. He's worse than Bauserman. At least Bauserman could put it in the stands. Bellomy can't throw past the d-line.

Also, doesn't he practice as the scout team QB? That can't be helping the team.

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Mr Miggle

October 12th, 2014 at 11:27 AM ^

There was no reason to assume he was talking about cutting scholarships rather than allocating an extra one for QBs. That's just not a fair inference to make. Overweighting one position group to address a weakness is something coaches have to deal with all the time. There's a bit of leeway to do so without cutting players.

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J.Madrox

October 12th, 2014 at 1:46 PM ^

You are really hammering this implied cutting thing. The only person who has said it is you. You are right, there are no free lunches, but there are ways to get another QB instead of cutting the current one. Maybe not take 4 LB's last year, maybe keep Pallante on a grey-shirt. Maybe get another QB in 2013 instead of a long snapper or your 6th OLineman. Or how about another QB instead of a pair of fullback type guys in Shallman and Houma.

But you are right, everyone who says they should have attempted to address the QB issue is just a Hoke hater who wants SEC style cuts. Keep beating the drum against the cuts though, it realy makes you look reasonable and a person who actually takes the time to understand others points instead of simply attacking them. I can't wait to see you twist my point into how I want Bellomy cut.

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MichiganTeacher

October 12th, 2014 at 8:18 PM ^

Sure there's a cost. But as others said, picking up another QB can be done without cutting Bellomy. FWIW, I'm in favor of four-year full cost-of-living scholarships, guaranteed (and I'm in favor of a lot more player compensation than that, actually, but that's for a much different thread).

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Mr Miggle

October 12th, 2014 at 11:20 AM ^

some of your solutions were not practical. Recruiting JUCO QBs is a complete waste of time if you can't get them into the school. Grad transfers aren't so easy to get in either. Apparently that was an issue with the center from Bama. Beyond that, there are very few grad transfers available. You can be lucky and have one come up at a position of need, but no credible QB was going to come here to be a backup to Devin. They're transferring because they want to start in their final season. We should be looking in that direction for 2015.

The biggest problem is that there was no good solution for this season, probably not since that Nebraska debacle. The mistakes were made too long ago, they had to be addressed much sooner. Not taking a QB in 2012 was the biggest culprit. Taking two QBs in 2014 might have helped for next season and beyond, but was a tough call with such a small class.

Agree that it is an indictment of Hoke's coaching. QB is obviously the most important position and multiple roster mistakes there has been a major failing.

 

 

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MichiganTeacher

October 12th, 2014 at 8:25 PM ^

Yep, we agree on that. I certainly don't think that getting another QB would have been easy, but I think it should have been made a much higher priority than it appears to have been, and I think it could have been done.

Actually, I think the best solution would just be to coach the QBs we have. I really don't think that Gardner, Morris, and Bellomy are as bad as we have seen. Or, maybe a better way to put it, I think that with better coaching they would all be better players right now. It's just that our coaches don't seem to be all that good at coaching. Or maybe they are, and it's just Hoke and/or DB interfering. I don't know. I don't hate Hoke - I think he's a good guy, and I know he tried very hard to win here. But I think it's time for him to move on.

 

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GoBLUinTX

October 12th, 2014 at 9:49 AM ^

There is absolutely nothing Hoke can do now that the ankle biting minions won't be in attack mode.  

Hell, if he announced his resignation during tomorrow's press conference, the Haterz would be attacking him for either taking too long to announce, or announced too early, or he wasn't man enough to stick out the season.....

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bacon

October 12th, 2014 at 9:19 AM ^

Clearly they heard the message about playing people with injuries and decided not to play Morris. I doubt espn heard anything from this coaching staff about the status of Morris. They flat out refuse to talk about injuries every time the question is asked. Whoever they heard that from clearly did not know whether Shane would or would not play.

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jls1144

October 12th, 2014 at 9:34 AM ^

Espn also said Green was our ground and pound back not Green. They get a few game notes and many of these announcers no little about the teams they are covering.

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LKLIII

October 12th, 2014 at 10:53 AM ^

I'm no connoisseur of football game announcers, but even I could tell the crew was pretty lame.  

They kept repeating the same few data points over & over again (no doubt leaning heavily on the handful of game notes they were provided ahead of time).  They kept saying once Gardener was out that the only explosive player on the Michigan's offense, when Funchess, Norfleet, etc. were still in the game.  They spent an amazingly long time later in the game NOT announcing the game in front of us but simply speculating about teams that should be in the top 4 playoff spots, etc.

I've gotta say, the App State game with Beth Mowins and Joey Galloway that everybody was dreading didn't seem half as bad as the guys last night.

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MaximusBlue

October 12th, 2014 at 9:41 AM ^

It looked bad when Hoke said after the game that Shane could've played, hinting that he'd been cleared. If he was cleared, he should have been the second qb. Idk, but I'm pretty sure that's another question tomorrow for Hoke to answer, or not answer.

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GoBLUinTX

October 12th, 2014 at 9:58 AM ^

This blog site, just two weeks ago, pronounced that the Head Coach, not the doctors had last say.  Just because the medical people cleared Morris to play doesn't mean Hoke should be playing him.  Isn't that the message the Intelligentsia proclaimed two weeks ago?  

WTF do you want from this guy?  I mean damn, had Morris gone out there and shown the first hint of a limp you'd be excoriating Hoke for endangering his physical health if not his life.  

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falco_alba15

October 12th, 2014 at 9:42 AM ^

Okay. So you think the coaching staff is going to be transparent with ESPN? You have a lot of faith in humanity. Does it really matter? We won. Let's tie a bow on that for this week, we have enough grey hairs from this season without speculating over what ESPN has to say about who is going to play.

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