Pipkins is a manchild. A summer in the weight room and hard work on the practice field and we'll be okay. He won't be Mike Martin, but he's got the physical tools to be better, eventually.
Denard threw too many interceptions, he needs to throw less this year to be better. M lost two games last year, to be better they should try losing either one or zero. Hardaway has struggled from behind the arc, for him to average more points he should shoot better from downtown.
I really think the key to next year's team will be the ability to score more points than their opponents.
I just don't see that happening. We got the same "he's going to start" vibe last year and he only ended up making one tackle all season. Fool me once, and so on.
Roh, Black, Campbell, Ash, Washington, Beyer, and Clark offer a lot of talented options. Add in what Ryan/Gordon can do off the edge at SLB, and I think we'll be just fine up front, especially rushing the passer. If the freshmen can add anything else to the equation, that would be another nice ladle of gravy as well.
Not only did Brink only make one tackle, but he wasn't really close to making many other plays, either. He wasn't one of those guys who was playing well but forcing the action elsewhere. He was just a guy. And whenever I noticed him, he was getting pushed around. Which is understandable for a 263 lb. redshirt freshman walk-on, but he's just not the impact player that the coaches wanted us to believe. Maybe he will be when he gets older/stronger, but I'll believe it when I see it.
I don't really remember seeing him much at all after the first few games, though a quick glance at the player participation charts indicate he was backing up RVB up until he got hurt. I the preseason hype was more motivation tactic than anything (and also probably a reflection of the guy's work ethic), but I think people took any praise from Hoke as a clear indication that this guy was going to be a big part of the defense and I just don't see that being the case, especially going forward with all those guys ahead of him on the depth chart getting another year with the staff and in the weight room.
Sounds like Bleacher Report quality analysis. I don't want to be dumber, so I'm not clicking the link. Thanks for the break down fellow mgobloggers.
BR is a bunch of fans who are being taught how to monetize and promote their blogs. From their come-on, I am guessing there is some kind of revenue split. Since they have waaaay too many posts where you have to click twelve times to read the entire post, I am guessing that they are focusing on the Google metric of time spent on the blog and pages read on the blog. Basically, anyone here could start a "blog" on BR.
Mandel, OTOH, is a decent writer. While the analysis is a bit simplistic, it is a good thumbnail sketch of what each team is losing and what each team is bringing back. There are a lot of articles that are a waste, but this one at least has some info in it.
You might want to go check it out for yourself.
I'm familiar with Mandel's work. I didn't know it was him, but I've read a half dozen of these already and the only ones that were insightful were Rothstein's loss analyses over on espn insider. Bottom line for me is that I'm not reading more of these until after spring ball is over.
My ten year old reads B/R and tends to regurgitate its content because it "looks" like real news to him. He's told me basically that 1) Denard needs to improve under Borges in his second year. 2) Losing Molk = Miller needs to step up. 3) Wideouts need to step up 4)Losing Martin/RVB = BWC / ??? needs to step up. I'll have him post a link when I get home. /s
on Sparty, noting that Arnett has not yet recieved a waiver to play this year. I somehow thought that had already been granted but I guess not.
There was a big question about whether UT would release him from his scholarship to go to MSU and Dooley refused to grant it until public pressure mounted. That is different from the NCAA allowing him to transfer without sitting a year, which usually only happens if they see some kind of hardship involved and they grant a waiver.
It boggles my mind how every 'Expert' (mainly on ESPN multiple times) thinks msu is just going to win 11 games and compete for B10 ship again without missing a beat. Do they realize that they just lost the most successful class in school history!?!? Along with their QB, All Time Leading WR, K. Martin who was their return man and big play guy, best OL, Nichol & 2 back up TE's. Also lost Edwin Baker, 1st round impact DT & leading tackler (S). This QB has never played a down of meaningful football. Sorry for the rant, that's WAY too much to lose from any team unless your Bama, LSU, UT, FSU, UGA, UF, USC...They're also getting cleveland steamered in recruiting; so there goes the talent pool that helped them win.
The streak is done this year. I can't wait, because I get harassed on a daily basis from obnoxious sparty friends
GO BLUE
One interesting piece from the article was the table showing first practice and spring game dates. Hoke's decided to compress the legal number of practice hours into an 18-day schedule, the shortest in the conference. (Assumes they don't go on and practice after the spring game.) Don't know what the dates are for spring break... maybe that's got something to do with it.