Does size really matter?

To me it seems that the smaller athletes definitely serve a purpose on this new offense and we lacked that type of player before RR. To fix that, RR has recruited more of them then he usually would. We will still have taller players at the positions that matter, and we seem to still be bringing in some tall WRs for deeper passes. If he keeps bringing in this many small guys I might get worried in a couple years, but for now I trust Rodriguez to know what he needs.

Pro offenses do morph, maybe not as quickly as college, but it does happen. Look at New England last year. A lot of its offense was based out of the shotgun with multiple wide receivers. One may conclude that the Capital One Bowl offense is the next logical evolution of the pro-style offense. Look at the draftnik chatter about Jake Long before and after the draft. The discussion revolving around Jake was that he is better suited for right tackle because he is a dominant run blocker who lacked the better developed foot work of a Joe Thomas. Jake weighs roughly 315 lbs at 6'7". From my recollection, that seems light for a lineman of his height. It appears that there is more of a demand for more nimble offensive linemen who move well than there was in the past. This may suit us well as our offense under RR seems to be shifting towards more nimble linemen. And if RR is sincere with his statements about adapting his offense to the players he has (and I have no reason to doubt his statements, even if the MSM seems intent on assuming RR only wants Pat White behind center), we will properly utilize tall, mis-match generating outside receivers. Continuing to draw the Braylon/D. Terrell/D. Alexander type outside threats to AA. These lighting-in-a-bottle type slot receivers/running backs make short passes very dangerous to a defense, making a well-block flare pass with a slipped tackle worth six points. While taller than 6'0", Breaston had the running characteristics of this bread of receiver. And as a freshman and sophmore, I remember thinking every time he touched the ball he had a real chance to score. This will force defenses to roll-up to protect against this threat, providing greater opportunity down the field.

Agreed mjvancam. I am excited to see if RR can combine his offense with the type of talent Michigan usually has to make a team that is a threat to run, take a short pass to the house, or throw a deep bomb to a more typical WR like Edwards. If we have all three of those threats, we can open up a game with three different styles, allowing us to shift to a different plan of attack once the defense makes its changes. If the other team is forced to stop our run/short pass game, it will be tough for them to try and double team a good tall WR, and that should make the deep pass much easier. And the reverse as well, we come out trowing rather deep and it creates tons of space for our little fast slot receivers and RBs