Borges: Gardner Plays Like RGIII and the Offensive Line Situation
Tom Dienhart interviewed Borges about this upcoming season and Borges had some good things to say about Gardner and updated Dienhart about the state of the offensive line, amongst other things. Link to full interview: http://btn.com/2013/06/12/qa-al-borges-sees-a-lot-of-rg3-in-gardner/
Best parts:
Q: So you finally get to use your full playbook, right?
A: ......our plan was to install our offense and do what we did at San Diego State and Auburn and those places. We have studied some stuff and have some things that will allow us to spread the defense out.
Q: Who does Devin Gardner remind you of?
A: He’s not really like anybody I have had. I’ve had so many prototype drop-back passers. He isn’t like (former Auburn quarterback) Jason Campbell, who was athletic but he really wasn’t a runner. I haven’t had a lot of real runners. He’s different. He’s hard to compare to someone else. He’s more like an RG3 type of guy. He’s a little taller than RG3 but plays a lot like him.
Q: What would you like the run-pass percentage to be?
A: We’d like to be around 50-50. Maybe favor a little more run than pass....
Will the interior of offensive line be ok? Three starters are gone.
A: It’s a little concerning but not that much. Jack Miller has been here a while, knows the system and has pushed for that position (center). He’s ready to take that step, I think. Ben Braden, Kyle Kalis and Graham Glasgow, those three inside guys are kinda fighting for those two spots at guard. And Graham is still fighting for that center spot, too. It isn’t like we don’t have good candidates. And the difference now is we have more of them. Before, we were shorthanded. There weren’t enough players you could put in the game and feel good about it. But I think we are much better off.
Q: Roy Roundtree is gone. Who do you like at receiver?
A: Jehu Chesson and Amara Darboh had very good springs. On a daily basis, they demonstrated some big-play ability. Going up to get some high balls or running by some people. Run after catch. It was nice to see them take that next step. You don’t know if they can do it with the lights one....
I'd definitely recommend clicking on the link and reading the rest of the interview as I didn't include it all.
Devin is going to have a big year and if the interior of the OL holds up, watch out!!!!
Go Blue!
Noticed he didn't mention Bryant in that race. A little surprising to me; did we learn anything in the spring hinted toward that?
It seems like he is constantly battling injuries and I've never really heard him being mentioned as a potential starter.
but seeing Graham Glasgow still being mentioned as a possible starter makes me nervous
Well, sometimes walk-ons have a surprising jump in ability. The coaches on this staff have also been known to throw out the name of someone who is doing everything right in practice and in the off season as a possible starter, even when that's unlikely, as a way to encourage those guys to continue battling. I wouldn't read too much into this at this point. I do think Borges is being straight forward, though, with his comment about there being more guys competing for starting positions on the OL this year than last, and that is a definite improvement.
Plus you have to look at coaching. Players can get much better with solid coaching. IE: 2010 D vs 2011 D.
Like the Rickey Powers ND jacket story. D. Green quote sums up the team core values.
Q: Are we getting too excited about incoming freshman Derrick Green, considered by some to be the top prep running back in the nation?
A: I don’t know. We tell them all that once they get here we are starting over. They are all Wolverines now. There are no three- and five-stars or any of that. We are excited about the whole recruiting class. He’s been a guy who has gotten a lot of publicity, and justifiable so because he has done a lot. But they all start at Ground Zero.
Huh?
Tried to google the story but when Ricky arrived at UM for camp he wore a ND jacket and Cam Cameron basically told him "You’re the number 1 back in the nation, and do you know what were going to do next year? Were going to recruit the number 1 back in the nation, take off that jacket."
What I'm trying to get at was, UM is back to cut throat as far as playing time, I know Hoke is not taking Bo's/Moe's style of discipline but he's going to have the same kind of team attitude with "everyone is at zero"....without running around with the yardstick beating OLman.
That's just what we did....
I've heard Fitz is looking a lot like Adrian Peterson coming off of his injury. Gallon can be that Steve Smith type. I think you'd be mistaken if you can get past Joe Thomas on the left side of the line. Oh, and Jake Ryan still plays like Ryan Matthews, just wait until he gets healthy. This whole team is like an All-Pro team, except, you know, they play like they do during the regular season and not during the Pro-Bowl.
I have a feeling it's going to be a good year, you guys.
But have you ever seen Jake Ryan at RB? He's pretty good at that too.
I am just really excited to see DG run playaction off a legitimate threat to run. It was always strange to see that last year when there was absolutely no reason to think that he would hand it off as the run game just wasn't there.
Is The Situation a 4 or 5 star? I love that he will be on our OL!
provide some depth(?) Lewan-Kalis/Bryant-Miller/Kugler-Braden/Glasgow-Schofield/Magnuson should be solid depth no? There's also Bars and isn't Burzynski still on the roster?
Tom D. sure likes to use the word Heck.
This did not help diminish my craving for the start of the season. With a solid group of guys competing for the OL spots (sans Lewan), an athletic QB, and a stable of running backs, this season is, at the very least, going to be exciting. Thanks for posting!
It will be fun watching this team develop! They have a lot of young depth and if Hoke keeps recruiting classes like he has in 2012 and now 2013, in due time we will be a perennial top 10 team. Even if we lose some of our close games this season and finish with a record of 8-4, I know in 2015 and beyond we will only lose one or two games per season! So, I'm very optimistic about Michigan football in the coming seasons. I'm predicting a 9-3 record and a share of the legends division. I think we will win the tie breakers (home win against NE, but worried about NU) and play in the B1G championship game!
I think 9-3 will be very reachable, but would not be surprised at 8-4, but basing that on experience. I think if we get some breaks in the first part of the season and finish at 5-1 after the line develops we could even hit 10, but just like we'll get better this season as more experience is attained, so too will we just get better and better each year until BH has us winning at a Bo type %. Although the athletes Brady will be bringing in are going to be much higher rated than were those that Bo brought in -remember he never had as many AAs in a collective five year group than those he inherited from Bump- the BIG has become a lot more balanced and although I think it could return to the Big2, Little Rest, although I have my reservations about two other members of the top ten winning programs of all time, minus those taken away due to the Lions becoming sodomites for a bit, succumbign so easily. Bo won with kids full of character, intelligence and damn fine coaching. He won with kids named Cannavino, Mallory, Hammersteins, Dufeks and the like, all solid and not prone to make mistakes, but not many who became household names in the NFL. ^Brady will win the way Carr, learinging from Moeller won, with greater athletes, and if early patterns are an indications of future rosters, we're talking a dramatic increase in talent. I recall coming up no. 2 or 3 going after the best of the best for a long time. Now BH, in his first trip to the big time is pulling in kids wanted by all the major players in the land and in some cases two years prior to their graduation from H.S. Very impressive stuff. How do we continue this trend. I think Al Davis would give the best answer to that, and anyone of you ever saw Davis speak about football, you know exactly what his answer would be.
So, Devin plays like RGIII if RGIII played in an offense that deployed the I-Form in a critical moment and handed to the third down undersized back on a dive play that got stuffed?
Still not over it....