Denards Arm

They showed him throwing before the Iowa game and it looked awful. He was basically just sitting the ball on his palm and throwing it, nothing on it at all. No idea this week.

And Iowa games, watched him throw and honestly it looked like my 3 year old son, okay, that is a stretch but the point is, he looked VERY uncomfortable.

Honestly, didn't even see him attempt a pass in warmups... if he did, as mentioned earlier, it was just a couple of palmed short tosses.  He was definitely not in any of the passing drills.

I know this would be a stretch for Al, but what about a QB draw for Denard then? At least pretend he's passing right?

I was hoping Borges was saving a QB oh noes for a critical 4th quarter play out of that diamond formation but unfortunately it never happened.

Situations ? If he can't throw. Advantage D loading up the box.

At the Iowa game, he didn't take any of the usual offensive warm up throws.

He probably sustained a neuropraxic injury to the ulnar nerve - often these take 6-8 weeks to recover fully. He could probably do simple light like hold a pencil after a week or so, but clutching a ball firm to avoid fumbling or throwing with velocity is probably unlikely. The good news is that if he was cleared to play, he probably doesn't have an injury which could be aggravated by contact.

I'm sure he did what he could. That run was terrific and it will be one of the highlights of his career to score in the shoe against the bucks.

I got to the Iowa game very early and did see him briefly attempt a few warmup tosses.  He was laboring badly.  It was pretty clear that he was not going to throw any passes in that game.  He could not throw as hard as Bellomy or Kennedy - forget about Gardner.  He only threw a couple and then stopped.

The stuff about him throwing passes in practice was probably just gamesmanship by Hoke.

Hopefully he'll be good in time for the Bowl game.  If he can throw I say give him the start.

When he's had the ball the past couple of weeks, he's ALWAYS ran with it in his left hand. In addition to his lack of throwing during warm-ups, I have to believe that his right arm is still experiencing a lot of problems. I can only wonder if this has also compromised his ball security if he is always carrying with his less dominant hand. 

Denard has an arm this is true. 

What happened to that dude who ran into Denard after physics class?

the Iowa game. During warm ups he did not throw at all. FWIW.

Hoke said in the post game today that he can apparently throw...sighh

So if Lewan is a top 10-15 pick in the draft, why did we NOT run right over him for the short yardage plays ala Jake Long?  I just do not understand how you do not run over a first round draft pick if your interior line is so weak?  

Also, the fact that they could not use both QBs on the field at the same time is possibly the worst misuse of talent since the year of the Horror.

"Giving them more to prepare for" ala the Iowa game

Well if you're never going to use it but once all fucking season, how about you save it for the big game Al?

Denard threw maybe twice and they were 3-5 yard throws and they were weak.  Then he just moved with the rest of the QBs.  I'm no doctor, but my guess is he has surgery either now, or right after the bowl game and probably never throws a pass again.

Too bad really.  He's a great kid with a huge heart and a lot tougher than he's given credit for, but he's just not a throwing QB.  Round peg-square hole.

wise guy comment not worth its own thread

Well, considering we needlessly played him against Iowa (a game we would have won, anyway) and he left that game after tweaking his elbow injury, I imagine some of our hopes for Denard throwing the ball were dashed.

But hey...we'll always have that Iowa game, right?

Get over it.

If 4 turnovers are not committed by Michigan, this game does not end a 5 point loss.

So lesson learned, again, for like the billionth time -  Hold on to the goddamn football.  Particularly in rivalry games that you know will be tight.

I'm convinced that all of Michigan's players played their asses off in this game and Denard made some huge plays while injured. It's not Denard's fault that Michigan's OL didn't run block well in this game on critical plays.  The UM OL didn't run-block well most of the year, as indicated by two TBs with only 187 carries and less than 600 yards rushing. Rememebr - outside of Denard, Michigan had no running game this year.

For those pissed off that Borges called plays to run right at the strength of the Ohio defense, just what in the hell do you think MANBALL is?  This is EXACTLY what Schembechler espoused going into the 1969 game - "run right at 'em". Attack their strength.  Carr/Debord was much of the same.  While you are complaining, Hoke is applauding this playcalling by as "very Michigan".

Moreover, now that most of Rodriguez's spread and shred cruits are all but graduated out of the program- there's going to be a hell of a lot less counter, misdirection, and zone read option going forward.

Michigan has one more year of a mobile quarterback in Devin Gardner. Starting next year Michigan will probably be 90% NFL pro-set offensively, which means we're going to see a lot more telegraphing of what play is coming and a burgeoning insistence on brute-force attack by out-executing our opponents vs. deception.

In summary, get used to manball. Because there will be more where that came from.