Blame Rodriguez for Special Team Play
I am in the category of bloggers who give Rodriguez (and by extension, Greg Robinson) a pass for the play of the defense this year.
- We lost Woolfolk and Jones and Van Slyke to injury, Warren to the draft, Cissoko to sad stupidity, Turner to laziness and a following transfer, and Demar Dorsey to the NCAA clearinghouse. Add these players, and the defense looks very different.
- We went from the Carr regime to Scott Shafer to Greg Robinson as Defensive Coordinator in three consecutive years, a recipe for disaster.
- We had a disaster with Hopson as position coach with the linebackers.
- We have a lack of experience throughout the defense, witnessed by all the true freshmen getting playing time.
- We have a lack of depth in much of the defense.
All these things should be better next year. The freshmen and sophomores being baptized by fire will be seasoned vets next year. We have more defensive recruits coming on board. We will be in our third year under Gerg, with greater familiarity on schemes, and less thinking, more reacting instinctively. We also will see continued improvement in the linebacking corps.
I think Brian is exactly right in suggesting that 2011 is the critical year for evaluation of Rodriguez as Michigan's football coach.
My one complaint: I lay responsibility for special teams play this year on Rodriguez. To my way of thinking, this is a coaching issue, and less one of experience and depth. Our kicking game and return game and coverage on punts, field goals, and kickoffs all leave a lot to be desired. With Gerg working with linebackers, (and hence, no problem with NCAA coaching staff restrictions,) there is room on the staff for a coach dedicated to special teams play. While player stupidity occurs at every level from PeeWee to the NFL, I just don't see an adequate excuse for how special teams have performed in 2010. For this one area, I hope that Dave Brandon meddles and gets on Rodriguez to improve.
October 19th, 2010 at 1:50 PM ^
The worst part about kicking the ball out of bounds on kick-off's is that it is no one else's fault but the kicker's.
October 19th, 2010 at 12:06 PM ^
And yet we still have coaches that are paid to train them out of mistakes like that (On top of that, to also train the team how to block for a FG attempt). Using that logic as defense, Rodriguez, or anyone else for that matter, can never fail as a coach, because "a kid did it." I guess college football just has a wealthy-welfare program going on to support 'coaches.' What exactly does a coach have to do around here to fail at their job? Punch a kid?
October 19th, 2010 at 12:14 PM ^
So everytime Pujols doesn't get a HR his coach has failed him? Every time Denard doesn't hit Tree in stride RR failed? The kid missed the ball and kicked it out of bounds. It didn't help us and it was a rough situation as a fan to watch, but coaching isn't going to change the fact that the kid had a bad day. I am almost positive RR didn't tell him to aim for the stands. If you want to blame that mistake on RR then you just don't want him here and you can simply type that instead of a page long rant about how everything is RRs fault. I am beggining to realize that the Michigan fan base is the most annoying fan base in the world. This is really getting quite insane.
October 19th, 2010 at 2:23 PM ^
The bottom line is some "fans" want RR gone. They comment about every little thing the guy does. These "fans" truly believe they represent the Team or something. It makes them feel important, when in fact, they can't take the harassment from a buddy who is a State or Buckeye fan when Michigan gets beat. Let's make up some excuse. The easiest thing to do, which is what they have done their entire life, is to blame someone else for their own "boring" existence.
I started coming to this blog to read about recruiting, the players, the breakdown of the games, etc. I think the guys that run this site do a great job of this. But, I agree with "His Dudeness", these "fans" that complain about every little thing RR does and says are a joke. Please, do us all a favor, the next time you are ready to post about Coach, because he made a comment, about HIS team, do it in the mirror.
October 19th, 2010 at 2:23 PM ^
The bottom line is some "fans" want RR gone. They comment about every little thing the guy does. These "fans" truly believe they represent the Team or something. It makes them feel important, when in fact, they can't take the harassment from a buddy who is a State or Buckeye fan when Michigan gets beat. Let's make up some excuse. The easiest thing to do, which is what they have done their entire life, is to blame someone else for their own "boring" existence.
I started coming to this blog to read about recruiting, the players, the breakdown of the games, etc. I think the guys that run this site do a great job of this. But, I agree with "His Dudeness", these "fans" that complain about every little thing RR does and says are a joke. Please, do us all a favor, the next time you are ready to post about Coach, because he made a comment, about HIS team, do it in the mirror.
October 19th, 2010 at 2:36 PM ^
No actually I do want him here. I, however, hate hearing this logic for their defense. But since my post didn't contain "It clearly can't be the coaches fault, clearly has to be youth," I can see how you made that interperetation. Your counter point completely ignores how big of a mistake was made. Getting a field goal blocked is a major mistake, and having it happen two weeks in a row suggests that the coaches are not doing their jobs correctly. Are the coaches absolved from the field goal team not covering the kick too? Because they weren't on the field to cover it? No there not, they clearly didn't coach them what to do after a kick has been missed and falls short in bounds. Which is shocking considering they had a kick blocked last week.
October 19th, 2010 at 4:34 PM ^
So rather than preparing for the next opponent (a top 15 team with a top 5 defense in the nation) you would have the team chasing blocked field goals around. I am pretty sure that the "complete disaster" that was that single on field mistake by the FG team probably wasn't the focal point of the weekly practices.
Insetad to prepare for a team with such a great D Rich installed a midline, he installed an I-form, he completely changed up the look of the O in one week. not to mention RR isn't even the special teams coach. You can continue finding reasons to be pessimistic and I will continue to find reasons to be optimistic about this team and this season and every season for that matter.
October 19th, 2010 at 10:36 PM ^
don't give RR any credit for the success of the offense either. Because he's not the one actually running for touchdown's or throwing the passes. It never ceases to amaze me that when the offense plays well, it's a testament to RR's coaching, but when it produces turnovers everyone says "well RR didn't make him throw it into coverage!!" Likewise, when ever the defense fucks ups everyone says "well GERG does not tell them to blow coverages!" You guys are just assuming that coaching only has a positive effect on player behavior. If the coaches get credit for the good things this team does (and it does do many good things), then they should get some criticism for the bad things this team does. For example, when the fucking players don't know that a blocked FG is live, that looks like something the coaches screwed up. I don' think that coaches told the players just to stand there and thumb their assholes, but they clearly did not train them to go down the football.
October 19th, 2010 at 12:15 PM ^
October 19th, 2010 at 12:56 PM ^
Most of these players have played since they were kids. Like all the rest of us that ever played football, they learned along the way that that the ball is live on a blocked FG. I think they must have been brain-washed into forgetting it. Clearly, something is afoot in Schembechler Hall. That is just UNACCEPTABLE!
/s for the detectors that are on the fritz.
October 19th, 2010 at 2:30 PM ^
...an NFL kicker shank a kickoff out of bounds.
Never.
Ever.
Not once.
They're professionals.
With great special teams corches.
And they have enough dough to afford offseason workouts with kicking specialists.
October 19th, 2010 at 12:10 PM ^
I will mock you if you post anything negative about RR. Derp Derp Derp. I wonder what he would have to do for some of you to post anything questioning him.
October 19th, 2010 at 12:20 PM ^
Punting against MSU in the fourth quarter didn't make me happy. That's valid criticism.
October 19th, 2010 at 3:16 PM ^
and I was just wondering what he would have to do to get you to shut your negative ass up.
Seriously, I have tried to stay out of these conversations but I have read all the threads and in each one you get on here and spit the same crap. It should have become apparent to you by now that most people here support the coach and are of the belief that things are going to get better.
If you aren't of the same mind that is fine, but stop trying to convince everyone that doesn't agree with you to change their mind. It's pointless.
October 19th, 2010 at 11:44 AM ^
I mean, you have to "blame" somebody, right?
Seriously, though, I am willing to put the kicking game woes in the "shit happens" file. Sometimes you can coach players all you want, and they just don't execute. I'm pretty sure that RR is more frustrated with the way the special teams are playing than any fan is, and I'm pretty sure he is using everything he has learned in his coaching career in an attempt to correct it.
RR has had to put up with sabotage from within the atnletic department, formerly outdated facilities, and he sustained two losing seasons, all of which affected recruiting. Also, there were too many defections when he ended the "country club" culture that had infected the program.
Also: did I mention that he had to work through all of this while trying to totally rebuild a team that was fifteen years behind the current era?
RR's situation is like the fabled Little Dutch Boy trying to plug fifty leaks in the dike while realizing that he only has ten fingers with which to do so.
October 19th, 2010 at 12:40 PM ^
So RR took over a team that was 15 years behind the current era? A team that was used to a "country club" atmosphere..had outdated facilities and he was sabotaged from the inside?
What program are you talking about..because that is definatly not Michigan you described.
Yes the Big House needed some updates..but overall our facilities were still some of the best out there. Just because they did so much.. doesnt mean it needed it all. And running a pro style offense does not make you behind an era..much less 15 years behind. Is Jim Tressel 20 years behind an era? And where the hell did you get this idea that LC ran a country club atmosphere. This is not the Lions were talking here. LC won a crapload of games with that country club atmosphere, outdated facilites..a team that was 15 years behind the current era. If what you said was true then I would expect RR to go undefeated for the next 20 years.
I'm all for supporting the coach, but all of you that will say anything..even attack Loyd Carr in attempting to defend RR...need to get your head out of your asses.
Bottom Line.. Loyd Carr won games. Conference Titles..a National Title...where the hell do you get off insulting the guy.
October 19th, 2010 at 10:39 PM ^
RR with at least 5 or 6 NFL prospects at kicker. What a jackass.
/s
October 20th, 2010 at 1:17 AM ^
That's some nice backhanded Carr-bashing there. I support RR, but I also appreciate Lloyd Carr and the success that he had. Maybe the program stagnated a bit at the end, but that doesn't negate the National Championship, the five Big Ten titles, his .75 winning percentage, squeaky clean NCAA compliance record, etc.
Saying that the program was "fifteen years behind the current era" and that a "country club culture" had "infected" the program before RR arrived does a great disservice to a man who represented the University with class on and off the football field for 13 years.
October 19th, 2010 at 11:45 AM ^
stimulating.
October 19th, 2010 at 11:48 AM ^
October 19th, 2010 at 11:51 AM ^
I blame Rodriguez for the lack of world peace and for the existence of the hunger and homelessness!
October 19th, 2010 at 12:01 PM ^
That's ridiculous. We're fielding a freshman military out there. What we need to do is give the more time in the system and then we can take on anybody, anywhere.
October 19th, 2010 at 2:58 PM ^
No way can we attack anyone anywhere in the World. I mean, we don't even have space covered anymore!
October 19th, 2010 at 11:48 AM ^
Opponent Kickoff Return - UM is actually #11 in the country
Hagerup is the #29 ranked punter based on average.
UM is #42 in net punting.
Kick return and punt return have been bad. FG kicking is bad.
Not sure you can classify special teams as horrible when half of it is doing good/great.
October 19th, 2010 at 11:51 AM ^
Lack of depth, youth, and experience is effecting the special teams
Redshirt Freshman walkon kicker Seth Broekhuizen
True freshman punter Will Hagerup
Redshirt freshman Punt returner Jeremy Gallon
And if you take in the fact that the team, besides the offence has limited depth, this translates into the special teams. Quality teams have upper classman starters playing on special teams, let alone freshman and redshirt freshman like Michigan does.
October 19th, 2010 at 11:55 AM ^
October 19th, 2010 at 11:55 AM ^
tl;dr
October 19th, 2010 at 11:57 AM ^
He also needs to find a prescrpiton to Bieber Fever!
October 19th, 2010 at 12:09 PM ^
Michigan has returned 9 punts for an average of 5.1. This is a fairly small sample size and I see Gallon gaining confidence each time. Once HOLD ON TO THE DAMN BALL is a given, which I feel it is becoming one, then the returns will come with more opportunities. Michigan averages 19 or so on kickoffs, neither bad nor good, and it only takes one or two great returns to up that average and those returns will eventually come - lots of skill back there with Stonum and Gallon. As far as the field goals, much of that seems to be on the inexperience of the kicker kicking the ball too low, which will improve with more game attempts. The out of bounds kickoffs were an anomaly and I would be very surprised if it happens again this year. Hagerup is fine and getting better. There have been some negative things said about Gibson, and this could very well be the case, as both the secondary and the special teams have struggled at times, but I expect both areas to improve because both areas are very inexperienced overall. In short, blame is a slippery creature and not to be scooped out because of assumption. RR is ultimately liable for that all transpires negative or positive with this football team, but he is by no means solely and directly responsible for all that has taken place on special teams.
October 19th, 2010 at 12:02 PM ^
blame canada.
October 19th, 2010 at 12:03 PM ^
I don't know what you expect David Brandon to say to RR?
"Hey Rich, tell your kicker to stop kicking the ball out of bounds on kickoffs when we're trying to mount a comeback in the 4th quarter" or "Hey Rich, tell your kickers to stop missing FGs" or "Hey Rich, tell your return men to run farther before they get tackled" or "Hey Rich, tell your special teams players to learn the rules of football such as 'the defense is allowed to return blocked/missed FGs so make sure you go and cover them' or 'you can't block from behind or hold on kickoff/punt returns'".
I don't know how much coaching really goes into any of these problems. I'm pretty sure that Seth (I don't know how to spell his last name) doesn't need to be reminded before every kickoff to keep the ball in bounds; he's a walk-on meaning he got into umich normally so its not like he's dumb. I don't know what RR can do when a return man catches a kickoff 5 yards deep in the endzone and gets tackled at the 15 or when the blockers fail to make or stay on blocks.
Usually the answer to all of these stupid errors or ineffective play by our special teams is to bench the offending player; we unfortunately don't have the luxury.
October 19th, 2010 at 12:05 PM ^
1. Hiring Schafer
2. Hiring and keeping Hopson
3. Focussing madly on Slot Ninjas and not bothering with uncool positions like safety, LB's etc
4. Not being able to convince Jr's to forego the draft etc
SHould absolutely not be blamed on RR. I am sure Carr is to blame somehow....just trying to figure out how.
October 19th, 2010 at 12:14 PM ^
The discussion is special teams, not defense. RR recruited a punter and kicker instead of more slot ninjas, and Schafer and Hopson didn't coach special teams. But I guess blame is blame.
October 19th, 2010 at 12:17 PM ^
Oh my God. I'm not going to comment on 1-3 because there is merit there (although I will say that hiring one coach for one year and one coach for two years and then canning them when they don't work out seems either like a good move or a rash move, in which latter case you would be criticizing the firing, not the hiring).
But #4. Oh my God. Here's a great conversation:
- RR: Hey Donovan, you should play for us next year.
- DW: Well, Coach, I didn't sign to play for you and I was a 5-star and I always thought I'd play 2-3 years and then make a huge amount of money and I have people in my ear telling me I will so I'm gonna say no.
- RR: Please?
- DW: No.
- RR: Pretty please?
- DW: No.
Exeunt.
October 19th, 2010 at 12:11 PM ^
Argue around it all we want, but in the reality of the final product, Rodriguez is responsible. He would be the first one to admit it too.
It absolutely needs to be way better in the coming seasons. The guy is a quality head coach and you gotta figure it will greatly improve.
The eyeball test told me we weren't prepared for covering that blocked field goal and it appeared that they didn't know the rule. That adds to the negative perception among fans, but way more importantly it added to Iowa's odds of scoring points easier.
Stop basic and embarrassing stuff like that from happeing and it is less likely we'll see more blame posts that inflame a lot of the members.
October 19th, 2010 at 12:17 PM ^
you've changed that pedobear picture you used to have, you've really started to get much smarter.
and no, im not being sarcastic.
October 19th, 2010 at 12:18 PM ^
Give the OP a fucking break. What's far more annoying than people posting decently thought out criticisms of the coaching staff? People that feel the need to attack him. Who gives a shit if you agree with him or not....he's not posting in a malicious manner and has at least ample ground to form some kind of argument based on the play of our special teams. Give him a break.
October 19th, 2010 at 12:30 PM ^
Except how maliciously stupid it is to my Brain.
<br>
<br>Brain.. Hurt
October 19th, 2010 at 1:02 PM ^
is the special teams coach but, given some trends we've seen in recruiting and other areas the past couple years, seems to have traditionally focused on the offense. Perhaps a bit disproportionately.
It's certainly not unreasonable to assume he wasn't spending enough time on special teams over the spring and summer. But, given the struggles of late, I can't imagine he would continue to neglect this crucial area of the game. I don't think Brandon would need to inform him of that -- it's pretty obvious and RR has brought it up repeatedly in press conferences.
Remember, coaches are people too. They have to prioritize within a context of limited time and resources, observe areas that need more attention, and adjust accordingly. This is the way things work.
October 19th, 2010 at 1:22 PM ^
I was at the game last week. I sat in section 18 row 23 before the game watching the field goal kicker make 45 yard attempts before the game. The place kickers were booting the ball up the field in a normal fashion.
The issue seems to be that they cannot take the pressure during the game. It's like RR said, they do it in practice but during the game it is a dirrerent situation! Like turning a light switch on and off.
October 19th, 2010 at 1:26 PM ^
kicker, but the line blocking. I didn't notice, but the BigHouseBlog guy says that Will Campbell was blocking on the FG unit (maybe other non starting OL as well, I don't know). If so, then why not have the 1st team OL block?
October 19th, 2010 at 3:38 PM ^
Man the out of bounds kicks were the real killers! We made it easy for Iowa to add points at critical spots in the game.
October 20th, 2010 at 5:58 AM ^
You normally have your whole FG team practicing together, and you block using different techniques on FGs and punts compared to normal O-line play. With limited practice time, you use your backups on ST so they can practice while the 1st teamers work on other aspects of the game.
I'm not saying this is the right thing to do, but this is normally the reason for using backups on ST. In the NFL it's more about protecting starters from injury and keeping them fresh (a 100 yard sprint on kickoff coverage makes you a little winded even if you're super-fit).
October 20th, 2010 at 6:01 AM ^
You don't normally have your whole FG team practice together, but you practice FG blocking or punt blocking as a unit. Hence, the players on that unit need to dedicate practice time to working on this. That's what I meant, even though I wrote something a bit different.
October 19th, 2010 at 1:52 PM ^
I just don't see how RR gets a "pass" for the play of the defense.
We went from the Carr regime to Scott Shafer to Greg Robinson as Defensive Coordinator in three consecutive years, a recipe for disaster.
RR chose to hire Shafer and replace him with Robinson. If that's a recipe for disaster, it's the cook's fault.
We had a disaster with Hopson as position coach with the linebackers.
Who put him there? Is the guy who made the decision not responsible for the "disaster" you note?
October 19th, 2010 at 3:03 PM ^
Do you really think Ron English wanted to work under the guy that beat him out for the job he wanted? Shafer was considered a genius at the time of the hire for the defensive job he'd done with Western and with Stanford (the first year they knocked off USC if I recall). It didn't work out (especially in terms of player-coach dynamics and coach-coach dynamics) but he rectified it by bringing in another proven defensive coordinator who fits better with the DNA of the team. Hopson was moved on as soon as it was clear he wasn't a good fit.
October 19th, 2010 at 3:11 PM ^
When did Ron English come into the conversation? Or is it that you think the only two options for DC were English or Shafer? My point is that if Shafer was a bad hire, it was RichRod's fault. He is the one who made the hire. I didn't mention English and realize that there are countless options beyond those two.
As a side note, what gives with folks who (and I don't know if you fit this category or not) defend RichRod as needing more time but easily dismiss coaches like Shafer or Hopson by saying "he wasn't a good fit" or "it didn't work out"?
October 19th, 2010 at 3:30 PM ^
Thanks for clarifying. I jumped to conclusions re: Ron English. My apologies.
I still don't think that RR could have foreseen Shafer disaster and I'm also not sure that he didn't pull the trigger too fast in letting Shafer go. The chatter on here that I remember was that there wasn't a good relationshp with Shafer and the rest of the coaching staff or between Shafer and the players. People were calling for heads for 2008 and Shafer was the scapegoat in many people's minds. I think those two factors accelerated RR's decision to let Shafer go.
I don't think RR would deserve more time if it wasn't for a set of extraordinary circumstances (decimated roster, decimated defense, disastorous injuries, FPress Jihad, etc) that have made this a very difficult transition for everyone involved. As it is, despite these setbacks, we see consistent improvement on the offense even if it's not slot ninjas assassinating DBs. Special teams was improving last year and then we had to start over with freshmen punters and kickers.
The defense... well it has 8 freshmen seeing significant PT and as much as we hoped it would be better this year, that hope died with Troy's ankle and Turner/Vlad's transfer papers.
On the flip side, does canning RR, or even GERG, at the end of this season help the program in the least for next year or even the year after?
October 19th, 2010 at 3:44 PM ^
Until the end of this season (unless things slide even faster downhill), I won't have a position on the firing of RR. I did want that at the end of last season (for purposes of full disclosure).
Anyway...If Shafer was a "disaster", what is Robinson? Shafer's D was indeed terrible, but it was still better than what followed. Again, I don't get into deserving more time or not as I think the NCAA needs to make a final ruling and we need to see how the season finishes, but I'm not a fan of excuses. He hired his coaches, recruited his players, and ran his team. Injuries are indeed unfortunate, but they happen and coaches shouldn't use them as an excuse. Let's see how the season plays out, but those who were happy to see Shafer bounced after one year need to stop asking for more time for RR. Consistency is sweet.
October 20th, 2010 at 5:53 AM ^
The main difference between the 2008 D and 2010 D is the talent level. That year we expected our D to carry us to mediocrity while our offense struggled to put points on the board. Ref. the Wisconsin game. The offense lived up to its promise (of suck), while the defense matched the performance of the offense.
Of course RR made a mistake with the Shafer hire, if not, Shafer would still be here. Maybe GERG was a mistake, too, in terms of not being the best man for making our D as good as in '97, but at least he can work with the other coaches, which it seemed like Shafer could not. This is obviously hard to judge from the outside, but that's what we're reading, sometimes between the lines.
People were pimping that Georgia Tech dude as a potential HC, and he ended up lasting two seasons as Notre Dame's DC (didn't survive the coaching change). It's hard to predict how different people are going to mesh. Shafer was a mistake, caused by the fact that WV's DC wouldn't make the move with Coach Rod. Personally I would've preferred English to stay on, but we don't know that that was a possibility and he may not have worked well with Coach Rod either.