The Effort Factor
Forgive the extended quotation from Rivals, but I thought this tidbit from LaTerryal Savoy was interesting:
"Honestly, I think [the outside receivers] were all expecting to make a bigger contribution than we did, and it was mentally trying to go play after play, game after game, without the ball coming our way more often. There were games where it felt like we didn't even touch the ball. I don't know if that was the plan, but it's how things went and it was frustrating. I really don't know how to explain the inconsistency of it all. I'm not someone to complain--I feel everything happens for a reason and I put my faith in God--but we'd go back and look at the film, we saw that we were open. The key was staying patient and be ready when your number was called, but some guys are more patient than others."
This clearly suggests that some of our players weren't giving their all. That's very diappointing. Talent is often the culprit for M's struggles (see Misopogen), but effort is a factor, too. Granted, we didn't have the most talented receiving corps this season, but if we could have had open targets a bit more often later in the season, we could have avoided squandering a lot of third downs conversions. Two things then: (1) RR needs to include more passes to the outside or down the field to keep his receivers engaged throughout the course of the season (talent notwithstanding); or (2) we had character problems among the receiving corps this season, and that may just go away with player turnover. I've suspected that Mathews was a guy who never really bought in to the RR program, and being the senior leader, his passive resistance may have rubbed off.
Either way, this has to be a concern going forward. Effort is usually on the coach. Or maybe having "his guys" in leadership positions will be enough for RR. Although, given that Hemmingway and Stonum are Carr recruits, it may serve the team well to throw the ball to the outside more for morale's sake. Tate's added maturity will help.
December 26th, 2009 at 12:42 PM ^
often alluded to the fact that Tate missed a lot of downfield opportunities. Hopefully this has more to do with a Freshman quarterback afraid to trust his ability than anything else. One has to believe that if players are consistently open -- which, I've never heard a receiver say he was well covered -- the coaches would scheme for it.
December 26th, 2009 at 1:29 PM ^
There were times when Tate looked down field and made awesome quick decisions, but a lot of times I feel like he scrambled in the pocket way too long/freaked out/spent too much time trying to make the best decision possible when he didn't have time.
I attribute this more to experience than anything else, but having Molk back will surely help.
The boy has a helluva arm and Superman powers. Next season will be AMAZING! Tate will be a "force" to be reckoned with to be sure.
December 26th, 2009 at 1:39 PM ^
perhaps you can illuminate us as to the condition of his arm, which seemed to just hang there at the end of some games.
December 26th, 2009 at 2:25 PM ^
is a jersey-chasin' cougar! I was in First Grade when Tate was born and thus he will never be my boyfriend! =)
I suspect his shoulder never had the opportunity to heal 100%. Tate at 100% = pure magic, baby.
December 26th, 2009 at 2:42 PM ^
[mike-leach-joke]
Fat little girlfriends have some obvious advantages. For one thing, their fat little girlfriends are telling them what they want to hear, which is how great you are and how easy it’s going to be.[/mike-leach-joke]
December 26th, 2009 at 1:34 PM ^
I would look to Tate first before Rich Rod on this one. Tate ultimately makes the decision of who's getting the ball on a pass play so to criticize the coach is a bit off.
But, I also see youre point regarding effort by the players, lack of effort certainly helps no one.
December 26th, 2009 at 12:45 PM ^
"Effort is usually on the coach."
I respectfully disagree. I see your point, but motivating unmotivated 18-22 year olds is not exactly an easy thing to do. The coach should be doing all he can to motivate, but ultimately, the players are the ones that have the choice to be motivated or not.
I would like to see more of a down-field passing game develop, but I don't know that I would have wanted Tate gunslinging 30 yards down the field all that often, especially with the mediocre to bad protection he was getting once Molk left.
December 26th, 2009 at 1:22 PM ^
I don't disagree that motivating kids is hard. It makes me think of school teaching: no matter how good your classroom management, there will always be a couple of kids who misbehave. I think some of the players who held over from the previous regime may have been those "misbehaving" kids. I think that the coach needs to work to properly incentivize players, but some of these guys might have had a bad (or not good) attitude regardless.
Still, I think it would be good for the whole team if RR scripted a bunch of outside/downfield passes early in the season next year. You hear this all the time in the NFL regarding prima donna WRs like TO, Moss, etc: "get him involved early." Our guys obviously don't have those kinds of egos, but it might help avoid the Mathews Problem.
December 26th, 2009 at 12:59 PM ^
Hasn't it been mentioned that the outside recievers are equally responsible for downfield blocking,especially in this syatem, as they are for making plays in the recieving game? This could be an issue with recruiting outside recievers who want to get into the NFL. Then again, maybe the outside recievers we have had recently just aren't as good at Edwards/Avant/Manningham ect.
December 26th, 2009 at 1:40 PM ^
Most 18-22 year olds won't try as hard as they can if they aren't getting anything out of it (catching balls). It's not fun to bust your ass to play in games if you aren't getting any action. If you had a class where you knew you were getting a C no matter what, would you study for 5 hours a day, or would you not study at all?
December 26th, 2009 at 5:48 PM ^
we need to find out if Moss has any college eligibility left
December 26th, 2009 at 1:47 PM ^
Where does Savoy's quote say a thing about motivation or effort? It doesn't. It says he felt Tate missed reads and it frustrated WRs.
Am I drunk?
December 26th, 2009 at 2:36 PM ^
It doesn't say anything about a lack of effort on the part pf the WRs. Just because they are frustrated it doesn't mean they stop trying. In fact, Savoy specifically says that they know to always give it all and be ready for the ball because there is always a chance it comes their way.
The biggest negative I take from this is that it seems to be very frustrating to be a WR on this Michigan team, which may play to our disadvantage in recruiting WRs in the future. Its a good thing WRs account for like 99% of our scholarships though. We shouldnt need any for a while.
December 26th, 2009 at 3:34 PM ^
I appreciate you always trying to act the contrarian, but I think it's pretty clear what he's getting at:
"The key was staying patient and be ready when your number was called, but some guys are more patient than others."
He's clearly a smart enough kid to not come out and say, "some guys just weren't trying."
December 26th, 2009 at 4:07 PM ^
I think you're making a mountain of a mole-hill here.
December 26th, 2009 at 10:16 PM ^
Isn't he saying "some guys were pissed off because they weren't getting the damn ball (thinking here of Keyshawn)". I am also missing the effort part of that. Just sayin.
December 26th, 2009 at 1:52 PM ^
Factor in the offensive line's poor pass blocking and a young quarterback, and it's not hard to understand why. The team didn't really have much of a vertical passing game after we finished playing Notre Dame/Eastern etc, it never materialized.
December 26th, 2009 at 10:53 PM ^
I agree about the O-line. It has been a problem for the passing game and not many people have talked about it. Something tells me that Messrs. Moosman, Ortmann, Dorrestein, Ferrara, and Huyge aren't going to play on Sundays. Schilling hasn't set the world on fire, either. We'll see about Molk.
Hopefully Washington, Lewan, and Schofield will pan out.
December 26th, 2009 at 1:57 PM ^
Forcier is good, but he hasn't reached Henne's level yet. Henne could sling it all over the field and had a spectacular O-Line to work with, resulting in 25 TD passes his freshman year. He also had Braylon.
Forcier on the other hand has yet to develop that level of pocket patience, with good reason - the line isn't confidence inspiring yet. Once he develops a rapport working with his WRs this summer (hopefully), I'm hoping for around 21 touchdowns next season.
December 26th, 2009 at 2:04 PM ^
At the end of the piece where Savoy mentions some receivers were more patient than others refers-to me- to receivers that gave up on plays. Is that a morale problem? Close at the very least; certainly an attitude we don't want pervading the receiving corps.
December 26th, 2009 at 2:33 PM ^
...I don't think it is much of a stretch to say that it will be fixed. To slightly rework a popular saying, effort is voluntary, but so is playing time. If any players are giving less than full effort, it should play out on the depth chart. And, of course, by attrition and more open schollies for upcoming seasons.
I do have to agree, though, that Savoy's statement in and of itself isn't an indication of anyone "dogging it," but only an indication of frustration. In an offense like RR's, frustration can easily be taken out on opponents while blocking. Either way, I'm not worried about the future of the WR position at Michigan.
December 26th, 2009 at 3:07 PM ^
I understand how the WRs feel. The starting corp on this team was recruited by Carr, when RR were much more of a staple of the offense than the current one run by young Tate. It will get better, but it's easy to see why the receivers are frustrated. I especially feel bad for Mathews. It looked like he was on his way to becoming a Jason Avant before Nick happened.
December 26th, 2009 at 3:09 PM ^
about a lack of plays to the split ends, but it did seem to me that there was a lack of deep throws later in the season. I think this was directly related to Tate's shoulder injury.