Denard Robinson = Juice Williams?
I'm not off the Denard bandwagon. I know a lot of people have started to turn on him, but there are worse people to be compared to.
After showing signs of being something special during his freshman year, Juice followed it up by a largely injury plagued sophomore season. Throughout those first two years, he had only one more TD pass than interception but it was clear he had a spark that most QBs did not have.
Williams made a huge impact in his junior year. He came out of his shell and combined for 3,900 all purpose yards. At this time, he was considered a groundbreaker at the position, as he was just HARD to contain. We all know that to be true, as he torched us for the most yards in Big House history. Despite this, he did have some glaring deficiencies that were largely overlooked, because.... did you SEE that? First and foremost, his accuracy was questionable. He seemed to get hurt a lot as well.
Fast forward to his senior year. He was on every watch list you can think of. He came out of the gate and sputtered. Was this due to regression on his part, or did DC's focus in on him more closely? Did they gameplan strictly to stop his skills?
It seems like during his senior season, opposing defenses put just enough pressure on Juice to expose and open the cracks in his armor. The regression may not have been actual regression, instead it was the defenses who tipped the field on its axis slightly enough to reveal his flaws. Juice was relegated to second string midway through the year after throwing 2 INTs against OSU.
I think that the new regime would rather have a pocket passer, obviously, but we do not have the players to accomodate that. I still think that if Gardner gets his act together, he may end up starting at some point next year. I love what Denard has done and I hope that this is not the case.
November 7th, 2011 at 2:49 PM ^
2006 Texas vs. USC disagrees with you.
November 7th, 2011 at 4:19 PM ^
That SC defense was not very good. They gave up big plays all that year.
November 8th, 2011 at 11:08 AM ^
Nick Saban & Les Miles & their multiple NC's disagree with you. As well as the 30 teams playing on sunday, not to mention a certian 7-1 coach in the bay area.
Spread & shred to college football what the deleware wing T is to high school football. Both win a TON of football games and overall have tremendous success until you run into a HS team with some division 1 level talent on D or a college team with future NFL talent on D.
November 7th, 2011 at 3:26 PM ^
Denard is an accurate passer....within 10 yards of the LOS. I dont understand Borges love association with the 40 yard deep ball that Denard cannot seem to throw to save his life (bless him at least he just chucked it this game).
We the fans know this.
The game film is there.
The coachs should know this.
When do we seemingly run our best offense and seem in rhythm? During the 2 minute drill when Denard is making quick short throws that are less than 10 yards.
Do MANBALL and short routes and watch our offense profit from it.
November 7th, 2011 at 3:43 PM ^
Get a life. That saying never gets old. But seriously.
November 7th, 2011 at 4:19 PM ^
is pretty good actually. See chitownblue's quick recap up there, sums it up.
Where Dernard is absolutely terrible is on long balls. There was a PI on a long one called back, refs probably decided it was uncatchable. But that was the only one close.
Juice was a different QB. I don't think Dernard will go through the massive drop-off he did if he sticks to it. He has the character to work hard, get comfortable with Borges' schemes and go out next season and lead us well. He will not be a pro QB - so what?
This was alwyas going to be a tough transition year. Borges' potential stubborness worries me more than Dernard's arm. Dernard will be fine in an offense that gets him throwing in that 10 to 20 yard range, slants, curls, screens, whatever.
November 7th, 2011 at 5:32 PM ^
Seriously.
November 7th, 2011 at 5:04 PM ^
"And Shepherds we shall be ..."
November 7th, 2011 at 5:13 PM ^
I got a lot of my buddies to really like it, before it became such a cult classic. Now almost everyone likes it (except my wife, she only likes really crappy romantic movies).
November 7th, 2011 at 4:50 PM ^
seem to have turned from being critical of the staff (paid), to being critical of 19 to 20 year old players (student-athletes).
Any quarterback is going to make mistakes. Hell, Rodgers had a near perfect game for Green Bay with one slightly mis-thrown ball that almost cost them the game. The key is to put your players in a scheme that allows for production without having to be perfect on every single down. It feels like this offense is always trying to play 'catch-up' with down and distance. Maybe due to the ill-timed, momentum killing DG insertions, or the designed QB runs that fool no one (I thought this staff was going to 'protect' Denard?).
It just seems to me that the 'home run' potential our offense had, has been replaced by a series of plays that never really seem like a threat unless the defense misses an assignment. I'm sure that's an over-simplification of things, but let's be fair and pass some blame around to the other position groups and the coaching staff.
Denard is, and will be, one of the finest ambassadors of Michigan that has ever had. Without him, we're bitching about a 4 win season, at best.
This thread sucks ass.
November 7th, 2011 at 4:54 PM ^
in a picture form.....
Bombs Away!!!
November 7th, 2011 at 5:43 PM ^
Well put!
November 7th, 2011 at 6:26 PM ^
Over-under on how many neg votes the OP ends up with?
November 7th, 2011 at 7:23 PM ^
Denard Robinson = "Engage!"
November 7th, 2011 at 8:24 PM ^
Denard is becoming a better passer week by week. The coaching staff just needs to let him scramble a little more. I don't really know how they will get him to do this, but I propose Inception.