Concerned about Tate's decision-making
Before I explain myself, I want to clarify some things to preempt the inevitable responses:
- Tate should continue to start. DRob is our backup and Sheridan should never see the field unless necessary (injuries)
- Gardner should redshirt unless he is some sort of a freak, once in a generation athlete, leaving no question that he is vastly superior to our other options
- I understand Tate is a freshman and will undoubtedly improve as time goes on. I'm not asking for perfection or flawless performance.
- I know he is injured. This thread is not about physical shortcomings.
OK, that said - I think Tate's decision-making is by far his weak spot and needs a LOT of improvement. I know that's not shocking or groundbreaking since he is a freshman, I'm just surprised because I never thought it would be the mental aspect that would be his downfall. He has been coached to be a QB since he was in diapers, most likely. I always thought his size would be his biggest issue.
Mental issues:
- very often making the wrong read on our bread-and-butter play, the read option. He has gotten better, though.
- taking too many sacks
- unnecessarily scrambling
- shitload of fumbling
- not taking the shorter passes when they are wide open
- throwing into coverage
- similarly, trying to be a hero on every pass. While sometimes exciting, this is a recipe for disaster in the long term.
- biggest issue IMO: never EVER throwing the ball away. Football 101. I know we all rip on Jimmeh for tossing it OOB everytime a defender gets within 10 yards, but Tate could learn something from him in this regard.
Luckily, these are all things that can be improved over time. I, like many others, was lulled into a false sense of security after the first 4 games. He has looked awfully human since then. Coach him up, coaches.
November 1st, 2009 at 1:08 AM ^
I've seen him miss wide open recievers as well as miss lanes where he could have run the ball for positive yardage.
November 1st, 2009 at 1:09 AM ^
Unfortunately, he rarely has much time in the pocket to demonstrate how good his decision-making skills could be. Much of his scrambling is by necessity. He is also pressing too hard to try and compensate for a porous defense, dropped passes, etc. Even good freshmen sometimes play like freshmen.
Too bad we will never know what we could have accomplished with a healthy Molk. MSU and Iowa may have been much different, and we probably at least punch it in from the 1 yard line today. I hope he is good and healthy for next year, and Tate/Denard/Devin will actually have some time to find receivers.
November 1st, 2009 at 6:39 AM ^
It's easy for many of us to say he had this and that from our vantage point. Let's see if the same people would see the same thing when you are in front of a collapsing O line with defenders in your face. Tate will have his ups and down this year, as we have already seen. The problems with this team are many and they are getting worse as the season goes on. Tate can only be successful if the rest of the team does their job and so far they are not. But it's always easy to blame one person in a team game.
November 1st, 2009 at 8:53 AM ^
You are off the mark. Whether or not the rest of the team is playing poorly, that has nothing to do with his own mistakes. The point of his post was that Tate has some major improvements to make in the mental aspect of the game, which as a freshman is understandable but still somewhat a cause for concern. I particularly agreed with his thought that Tate needs to learn how to throw it away sometimes. There have been plenty of times that he has taken a sack when he could have just thrown it away. And your comment about whether or not we could all do any better is also totally irrelevant, I am not the starting QB of Michigan and have never tried to be. Tate also could not do my job, but no one is asking him too so who cares.
November 1st, 2009 at 9:08 AM ^
I mentioned in my original post Tate will and has made mistakes his Freshman year. All I am stating is that not all is his fault and as football is a team game, others have to do their job to help him do his. Tate's biggest problem is he thinks he can ALWAYS create something out of nothing. That's going to be a hard habit to break for Tate.
November 1st, 2009 at 1:10 AM ^
than 1 second on most plays to make a decision because the oline cannot pass protect 9 out of 10 plays.
November 1st, 2009 at 1:15 AM ^
back to the "throw the damn ball away!" and "don't be a hero!" comments. I'm not asking for flawless production. I'm saying if the line doesn't do its job, then its Tate's job to manage the game - throw the ball away. Take a sack without fumbling if it's necessary. I'm fine with those things. When the line fails and Tate's mind fails at the same time by refusing to make the higher percentage play, we can't just blame the line. They are both at fault.
November 1st, 2009 at 1:13 AM ^
Tate has been coached up since he was in diapers, he's been in the system for almost a whole calendar year and he's started 9 games. I'm afraid he's a lot closer to his ceiling than the average freshman.
November 1st, 2009 at 1:22 AM ^
You can't just "teach" someone to face college-level defenses. Defensive schemes are more complicated, receivers take longer to get open, the pocket is collapsing far faster, and defenders are faster and stronger than they were in high school. You can't just tell a guy, "Defenders are fast." Learning how to deal with that only comes through experience.
November 1st, 2009 at 1:30 AM ^
November 1st, 2009 at 7:49 AM ^
Some of our D is not D1 talent.
November 1st, 2009 at 11:23 AM ^
Like all QBs, Tate is very rarely exposed to contact in practice. And as they can't hit him, defenders can't really go all-out to stop him, either. Under those circumstances, it's very difficult to simulate a real game situation.
If coaching QBs were as simple as you make it out to be, we'd be seeing a lot more true freshman QBs - and we wouldn't see so many QBs improve dramatically with experience.
November 1st, 2009 at 6:04 AM ^
What from our defense makes you believe he has been practicing against D1 level athletes for a year?
November 1st, 2009 at 1:25 AM ^
than most freshman. But not for the reasons you suggest. Look, decision making will improve. He has been, and will be "coached-up". He's a freshman in college, and prone to mistakes as a result. His reads are not horrible. He does miss open receivers now and then. He does hold on to the ball too long. He doesn't throw it away soon or often enough. He likes to use his feet to scramble instead of stay in the pocket and look downfield. But, you know what, these are the same things we complained of about Mallett when he played for Henne. Or, but for scrambling, for Henne in his first and second years. I don't think he's reached a ceiling from that standpoint at all. Height, well I'm not sure he can actaully reach a ceiling at all.
November 1st, 2009 at 1:21 AM ^
We may have been fooled a little bit about Tate after the first 4 games. He looked great but the entire team (including Forcier) has slowly reverted back to last year's ways. At the same time he is a freshman, but it's hard to tell how much upside he really has. Time will only tell how far he really will go and it will be good to have DG to push him next year. Good things will come from that QB competition, somebody will step up and lead this team.
November 1st, 2009 at 1:24 AM ^
for all our away games next year. After this year he should be a pro at away games...
SARCASM, people. Put away your negsticks.
November 1st, 2009 at 1:28 AM ^
Sarcasm only slightly needed maybe? the guy has put up a couple of pretty nice away performances (obviously all away, but work with me here it sounds good). Pending early enrollment, lets see what the guy can do. LOTS of upside
November 1st, 2009 at 11:04 AM ^
I don't think we can compare road games in high school with road games in college.
November 1st, 2009 at 1:26 AM ^
Tate is the real deal, he just needs to put on some weight and get some experience. He is only a true freshman. Also, he was pretty much 100% in those first four games, ever since he got dinged up, he's played sub-par. It doesn't help that recievers are dropping balls and we have a broken O-Line.
November 1st, 2009 at 1:30 AM ^
good point. maybe fooled is the wrong word. i just want to see improvement, instead of the opposite
November 1st, 2009 at 6:03 AM ^
As someone who has had three concussions, one of them extremely serious, I can tell you that there is a point in recovery where you can pass every medical test, but you still have "cobwebs." This has lasted anywhere from one month to six, depending on the grade of the concussion. What's worse yet is that you think you are fine, but only realize that something was wrong in retrospect when they finally go away.
I'm not a doctor by any means, but I do know first-hand about concussions, and I am about 99 percent sure that Forcier's concussion and the "cobwebs" is why he has lost the split-second decision-making that made him so great the first four games. Without that time advantage, Forcier is suddenly a prototypical "freshman QB." Also, the longer you wait, the "worse" the decisions end up because things that were open suddenly close.
What really sucks is that there is no better option for UM right now than a seventy-percent Forcier. Maybe by next year that will change. It either needs to, or they have to keep him healthy next year.
November 1st, 2009 at 8:30 AM ^
The only thing that needs to be said:
HE. IS. A. TRUE. FRESHMAN.
Re-read this article: http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/blog/dr_saturday/post/Good-luck-w…
His performance this year is nearly comparable to one Chad Henne (at an efficiency rating of 127.6, he is 3 points of QB efficiency behind) and substantially better than NFL first round picks like Matt Stafford, Josh Freeman, and Brady Quinn, a future NFL first round pick like Jimmy Clausen, and roughly equivalent to successful college players like Henne, Eric Ainge, and Chris Leak.
I'm not saying "TATE IS GOING TO BE BETTER THAN MATT STAFFORD", because that would be retarded. What I'm saying is that you should note the enormous disparity in performance level between freshman and senior year for most of these guys. Stafford and Freeman had INT rates nearly double Tate's. The true freshman year is not indicative of what he'll end up being. Period.
November 1st, 2009 at 10:11 AM ^
Tate's performance still remains a pleasant surprise. Did you see the commenter on that article who said Tate couldn't hold TP's jockstrap?
November 1st, 2009 at 9:24 AM ^
to Henne but Tate doesn't have the level of players Henne had around him.
November 1st, 2009 at 10:47 AM ^
While I share some of the concerns about Tate does it really matter when you have NO defense? This year is no different than last with Graham being the only defensive player to show up week in-week out.
November 1st, 2009 at 2:47 PM ^
We need a defense over all, and i want someone to tell me where to find one. I just don't see a good one for about 3 years
November 1st, 2009 at 2:08 PM ^
It appears the injuries and banging has taken away some of the moxie.. Against Illini, he appeared unwilling to pull the trigger on some throws in the red zone to get the ball to receivers on time. Waiting enough to either take the sack or let the defenders get position.
And, unfortunately, Tate and the entire offense likely does not get tested enough against our D, which makes every qb a Heisman candidate.