Do we finally have a fast team?
I remember many season previews mentioning that the team has "gotten faster" or "this is the most athletic" group to attend the university. Usually we were embarrassed by some speed team the previous year which would prompt the mention, for all I know it could have been real occasionally (I am not collecting individual 40 times).
However, with the teeth gnashing over recruiting rankings and we are now getting RR's guy that fits or GRob's guy that fits, I assume that we should about have the fastest team in the Big Ten even after two years. We are not the biggest, maybe not the strongest, but can assume we will field the fastest in this league, right (yes that may not be saying much)? A bunch of smallish dudes that get caught from behind don't amount to alot so someone is going to tell me we will actually see what appears to be chaos as blurs move about the field, because that is the plan. We have collected underpants, the second step of has been completed and profit or touchdowns will result. Right?
I'd hazard to say that with our slot ninjas, Smith at RB (I know he's buried on the depth chart but a short guy in Rodriguez's offense is money), and track champ Denard and Tate who is no slouch either, we'd be the fastest offense in the Big Ten, maybe one of the top ten in the country (I have no idea how to determine this though.)
Run on sentence not intended.
Even us bloggers are getting faster...gotta go.
The speed is joining the team in flocks from all around the country. How weird is it that our fastest guy will be a backup QB? Gone are the days of slugs who sling the football. Now we will stockpile agile, quick gunslingers who can just take off and do it themselves if needed. These type of players can also usually use their feet to buy some extra time in the backfield to allow receivers to get open. I'm not sure if they are the fastest in the Big Ten right now, but they've got to be close.
Denard will prob start off getting packages at QB, the first few games. Soon to realize we need him in the game more, so by big ten games he will probably be alllll over. BACKUP QB, if all comes to worse and Tate gets hurt.
Not mine. My eyes exploded shortly after viewing, preventing my brain from having to try and process that.
R_Mahorn, if your name weren't derived from Rick Mahorn (I'm assuming), the former NBA player from the '80s and early '90s, I would assume you were a high schooler. I'm not saying this to be mean, but I think you should spend more time reading/understanding and then editing your posts before you post. A lot of times I have a hard time understanding what you're trying to say; then when I do understand what you're saying, it doesn't make sense.
I'm willing to bet he's a high schooler.
+500
One of my favorite plays in Michigan history was during the third quarter of the 2003 Minnesota game, which we would go on to win, 38-35, in the biggest comeback in school history. We ran a double pass play--John Navarre to Steve Breaston back to Navarre--for a 40-yard-touchdown. I loved this play partially because it was perfectly executed, but mostly because it honestly took Navarre the better part of seven or eight seconds to get into the endzone.
Defense and Offense seem to be getting smaller and faster, the Offense places a premium on quickness, especially at Slot.
Stamina and tempo are also major factors in our gameplan. Rodriguez wants to accelerate tempo to an uncomfortable level for the opposing defense. If we have 8 WR's in our rotation playing at our pace, it will place great pressure and stress on the opposing DB's to keep up.
The team should be better physically equipped to play at a fast tempo this year, and if we can improve our execution offensively it will be an exciting season.
I have a different view of a "fast team". Its not all about how fast your players are. It is about their insticts and intelligence. Sure there is a significant upgrade is Speed of the QB position, but is there really a drastic change in the other positions?
The offense should all be quicker because they won't constantly be thinking about the "new" offense. This will allow them to react first instead of think and then react. A split second can be the difference between a long gain or being tackled at the line.
The defense will be learning it's third scheme in hree years and we can only hope that an attacking style will negate the think before you react delays of another scheme.
From a pure speed aspect there is no doubt the team is rapidly transforming into RR's mold, but remember this group coming in is his first full recruiting season. It is not fair to say he is two years in yet.
It is great to have speed, but those speedy players need to understand their assignments and move in the right direction for speed to be effective. It may take the defense some time to learn the new system, but we will hopefully see improved execution and, therefore, more useful speed on offense this season.
(IMO) You are not looking at speed in the right places. The SEC has a lot of speed in places like WR and slot but what people don't realize is that what makes them so tough is the speed at places like DE and LB. Think about guys like Glenn Dorsey. Not only was he strong, but he was very quick for his size. having a fast offence will help there is no doubt but think about the way that the FL defence was all over Troy Smith in 06. tO$U was very fast that year as far as the WRs and the slot guys but FL was so much faster that tO$U never stood a chance.
Speed, yes, no doubt we will be one of fastest teams. I worry about how many of the young guys we will need to rely on.
most of the speed is still young. Probably won't see the full potential, speed wise, for a couple of years when RR has a team full of his style of players.
but offensively, at least, i think we could see the young guys make an impact pretty quickly; chiefly because the o-line will be more experienced and can give the offense more time to execute. of course, we will still need to rely on the decision-making of a true freshman qb.
my new team started off fast...really fast. but then it was only kind of fast.
what's that URL i should look at? Finallyfast.com Hey! My team is fast...finally. Finallyfast.com!
I'm sorry.
+1000000 for watching cable tv at all hours of the night!
And Finallyfast's social media monitoring mechanism just went abuzz with some new interest from the sports blogging crowd. All win.
particularly at outside reciever. Stonum may be our only legit speed threat on the outside (Stokes should upgrade that as well). I think rest of the offense -at least at the skill positions do possess speed.
Our D line is not there yet, although this "deathbacker" position will seek to insert some. Graham has excellent quickness as does Martin. RVB and Campbell have decent quickness as well. Roh and Lalota are reportedly pretty quick as well, so I think an upgrade in speed/quickness is in the cards for the near future.
LB - we will have speed on the outside, and Ezeh's problem is not really speed but technique and reading the plays.
Same goes for secondary. Steve Brown is consistently in off season tabbed as the fastest player on Defense, but speed alone has not saved him from making too many game changing mistakes.
In short, I think our speed will be pretty good next year, and even better the year to follow, but as other have stated above, it takes more than speed.
Rocketship.