Blake Countess visiting Arizona
Blake Countess is officially visiting Arizona. In case you don't remember, he committed to Rich Rodriguez at Michigan shortly before Rodriguez got fired. This seems like an apt landing spot if it does indeed happen.
As far as I can tell, Arizona has one returning corner (Jarvis McCall, Jr.) with a battle between Cam Denson (two starts) and converted wide receiver Davonte' Neal for the other spot. I would think that Countess could go in and win the job opposite McCall.
fade away when a Harbaugh coached Michigan team curb stomps a RR coached team in a playoff game.
So probably never.
I think it goes away once we start kicking ass and make it into the playoffs regardless of what Arizona and/or RR are doing. So, 3 years give or take.
Now that Harbaugh is here, I can't imagine people (any sane people) will still be pining away RichRod. Rodriguez fans had a point when Michigan was sending 10 guys out to cover a punt. Now, not so much.
even when we had 10 guys covering punts that was on Hoke not a pining for RR when we had other issues like making McGloin look like a heisman contender.
made Gary Nova a Heisman trophy contender and Nova is worse than McGloin. McGloin at least started for a NFL team albiet on an awful Raiders team.
Healthy senior Denard under RR with a competent DC and nonzero OL recruiting would have thrown for 5,000 yards and 40 TDs, rushed for 4,000 yards and 30 TDs, beaten Staee and OSU by a combined score of 105-14, won a national championship, made the leap to the NFL, shocked the world by going 4-12, then run for president and not won but done well enough at the Iowa caucuses to worry Obama.
This I believe.
I do.
I want Rich to do well cause I think he's a pretty good guy & coach and despite his failings record-wise, got royally screwed here.
So Arizona is now my second favorite team.
Nopey nope nope. First of all, living in LA I am around a lot of U of A grads who are all of a sudden super cocky about their football team, telling me how stupid Michigan is for firing RR so that they can win 11 games. And I hate how Michigan gets run through the mud every time RR wins a game at Arizona. So, no. I do not root for them. I don't need them to be awful, I just want them to look about as mediocre as we did.
Let's be honest. We lost every game by about 50 at the end of the RR tenure. The problem was hiring Hoke not firing RR. We should have gone to JH right away.
We wouldn't have gotten JH right away after RR, in my opinion.
Harbaugh would never have come to Ann Arbor if he had to report to Dave Brandon. Those two would not have meshed at all.
I live in LA too and my U of A friends are right, very disappointed in how RR situation was handled.
That said, I couldn't be happier we have Harbaugh. We are having as much fun making fun of the 49ers for giving us Harbaugh!
I have no connection to Arizona other than a trip to the Grand Canyon and the fact that a failed Michigan coach is coaching their program.
Have his teams learned to play defense yet?
2014-2015 season
FEI: 27
S&P: 40
2013-2014 season
FEI: 19
S&P: 31
2012-2013 season
FEI: 68
S&P: 56
Mike Stoop's last year (2011-2012 season)
FEI:110
S&P: 88
Rich Rod got his DC in Casteel and has the defense playing solid in his tenure. Arizona defense has dramatically improved from Mike Stoop's godawful defense in his last season in which Stoop is supposedly one of the better DC in the country.
I honestly didn't know. The only Arizona game I've ever watched was the Pac 12 championship game last year.
You're obviously a big RR fan, and I'm whatever the exact opposite of that is. So we're going to have to agree to disagree about the awesomeness of his coaching abilities. I don't wish him ill, I just don't care one way or the other about what he does.
What's he going to do when his DC gets a HC job?
and has never been mentioned as a HC candidate. Apparently, Casteel does not want to be a HC.
Judging by when he went to HS, so you're probably right.
It's too bad he didn't come to Michigan with RR as they seem to work well together. Maybe things would have turned out differently here.
2014-2015 season
FEI: 27 (Michigan #41)
S&P: 40 (Michigan #37)
2013-2014 season
FEI: 19 (Michigan #37)
S&P: 31 (Michigan #50)
2012-2013 season
FEI: 68 (Michigan #26)
S&P: 56 (Micigan #29)
...
So, better than Michigan 2 of the last 3 years.
who wouldn't follow him from WV to Mich.
involving money.
Yes, I do. RR's WVU teams were the closest thing I've ever had to a 2nd team, mainly because they were really good but weren't a traditional power.
FWIW, RR did get screwed here but he also screwed up enough himself. I wanted to keep him for another year. Not sure now if that was a good idea or not. Would have been better than Hoke though.
I knew when RR got fired he was going to end up at a middling school like Arizona and jump up. In a couple years, or maybe after next season, he'll be at a big-time program again and I expect him to do much better next time around. Not gonna root for the guy if he's at USC or something though lol.
Arizona is basically the Michigan St. of the PAC-12 with obnoxious fans with major chips on their shoulders and a terrible stadium and home atmosphere. Rodriguez is a good coach who will do very well there and while I like Rodriguez, I really want 'Zona to be no better than perenially 6-6 to 8-4(and thats only because of Rodriguez).
Probably, but you can be sure that it would be entertaining.
I'm still dumbfounded that he left.
I cannot imagine a world where he doesn't start every game at Michigan.
Maybe the Stanford CB is that good?
I am dumblosted.
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
My random, NO KNOWLEDGE, off the wall, behind the computer monitor, guess is that...
- He just didn't mesh with the new coaching staff
- He was told Lyons would start and he'd be the nickel or 3rd CB
- Or they tried to move him to FS and he wasn't a fan
...maybe he just wanted a change? Who knows, I wish him well and still wish he was at Michigan. He would've been a huge contributor regardless of whether he was starting or not.
Maybe.....and I'm just spit ballin here.....but, maybe he wanted to go play for a better team?
Like it or not, Arizona is much better than us at this moment and probably for the next year or 2 until we have an established proven QB and system in place. Maybe he thinks his best shot to make it to the next level with only 1 year of eligibility left is to go play on a team that should make some noise THIS year and get some attention from scouts.
His other option is to play on a team coming off a 5-7 year, going on its 3rd OC in 3 years, with an unproven QB and a potential repeat of the D having to bail out the O every game which just doesn't work long term.
I don't blame him one bit and thank him for his hard work and dedication while here. Good luck to the kid.
If they make their conference championship game or the playoffs, they won't get more attention than Michigan? If we make it into the B10 championship game, you're right. If we got 8-4, no one will pay any attention to Michigan.
EDIT - I think you are living in the past....we haven't put very many guys into the NFL over the last 7 years. We don't warrant the kind of attention we used to take for granted.
in the Pac 12 championship game last year.
No one gave a shit.
That's a completely disingenuous comment and not true at all....they got tons of media exposure. A lot of articles about what a great job RR had done, how he might be considered for openings at other institutions and, unfortunately, a lot of talk about us not knowing what we had when we let him go.
And they were ALL over the place when they beat Oregon.
Maybe you didn't give a shit, and a lot of people on this board didn't give a shit, but they definitely got national attention.
More importantly, their players got a lot of national attention. Or did you miss out all the love for Scooby?
You have some really high standards if making it to Pac 12 conference championship game is considered "not great". I don't know how you've survived the last 7 years of Michigan fandom.
And I don't think Arizona going back to the championshop game is "crazy"....I actually think it's the expectation given they lost very few players and the ones that are back will have 1 more year in the system. Which is probably a big deal for their RS Soph QB who was pretty good last year but definitely inexperienced and undersized.
Meanwhile, there is a good chance we have another terrible year. We've lost a lot of players, are bringing in guys of unkown potential to replace them (with some exceptions) and for us to have success, Harbaugh has to get unproven QB's and our OL to come together almost immediately while vastly improving our skill players somehow. It can happen but should be considered a pleasant surprise, not an expectation on our part.
Arizona and UM have had the same amount of players drafted - 24. That's from the 2008 draft through the 2015 draft.
Since NFL scouts are assigned in their region and scout every school possible that has NFL prospect.
Saying Arizona don't get more attention than Michigan is in fact false.
Also, Harbaugh.
I cannot imagine a staff who competes on everything including how many breaths you take in practice telling a player he won't start 7 months before the first game. So I cannot believe that as a reason - this is supposed to be a mantra, everything is earned every day. That would be giving Lyons a handout.
Unfortunately, I don't think Wayne Lyons is *that* good. I think he will start, and I think he will be fine. But I've always viewed Lyons as probably a better fit as a safety, so I think he'll be playing a little out of position. He might be better in this defense becaus he'll be more physical, but I think Countess is a more talented athlete.
Free Safety or Strong Safety? Only wondering because if Lyons doesn't work out at corner, do you see a scenario where the coaching staff slides Peppers back to corner and put Lyons at safety?
I think the more likely scenario would be for Peppers to stay at safety, a guy like Stribling or Watson come in at CB and Lyons play nickel. I don't think they're moving Peppers from his spot.
I thought strong safety would suit him coming out of high school, but we're set there with Jarrod Wilson. I think he could handle free safety, too. I just don't see him as a quick-twitch guy who can hang with wideouts, and I don't see him as a long and physical guy like Richard Sherman who can push wide receivers around.
I was hoping Brandon Watson would beat out both Lyons and Countess. So now I just hope he beats out Lyons.
Lyons is a solid depth player on a very good D - but he should not be a front line starter if you are truly a very good defense. He lost his starting role as the year went by at Stanford despite starting across from a 3rd round NFL draft pick at the other corner and a very good front 7.
I don't think they intended to displace Countess by bringing Lyons in. I think Countess has an eye towards the NFL draft and wants a situation where he can be a full time guy to maximize his exposure. I don't think UM/Harbaugh would guarantee him that.
He had played here 4 years and I agree with you that it's a little weird he leaves now, especially with re-newed optimism surrounding the team. At the risk of sounding like I'm dogging him, I suspect he didn't fit JH's culture or directness.
I'm o.k. with his decision as it probably is best for both parties.
and got moved back and forth between corner and nickel. Even if he did start this season, he would playing a system that doesn't suit him best.
Jourdan Lewis and Jabrill Peppers are ahead of him.