Elite Players
We lack elite Players at the skill positions. Players that can dominate a game and swing in their favor consistently. We haven't had that type of player since Woodson... Maybe Brady?
OSU has them year in an year out at just about every position. Fields, Haskins, Barret, Braxton, Dobbins, Eziekiel, Weber, Young...
Our wr Corp should have been the strength of the team this year, and they pretty much were. Collins is a beast, but OSU locked him down... wtf.
Go Blue!
November 30th, 2019 at 9:14 PM ^
Peppers is about all we have had at that level under Harbaugh and he was a Hoke recruit. Brady was not elite in college in my opinion. Mike Weber was not elite. Good but not elite.
November 30th, 2019 at 9:26 PM ^
Brady was clutch af in college his last year wtf you smoking. Orange bowl ring a bell? Without the Henson bs that team was a title contender.
Denard was the closest thing we’ve had since given his ND heroics
November 30th, 2019 at 9:19 PM ^
The WRs this year were mediocre relative to the hype. Today there were 8+ WR drops. That is a C- minus rating. Shea was dealing it today and the WRs were just a huge disappointment.
November 30th, 2019 at 11:07 PM ^
I partially agree, if you looked at a lot of his throws in the second half they were late and behind or low. He slung it in the first half but second was not nearly as good
December 1st, 2019 at 1:03 AM ^
1st half 14-29. 250 yards and a TD
2nd half 4-24 55 yards and an Int
For recruiting, I still don’t understand how UM didn’t even get an official visit from Cameron Martinez. He visits OSU, NW and MN and goes to OSU. Whether they just couldn’t interest him or didn’t make him a priority, IMO it was a big mistake.
December 1st, 2019 at 8:08 AM ^
Henning is better.
November 30th, 2019 at 9:20 PM ^
Edit - double post
November 30th, 2019 at 9:31 PM ^
One area of glaring weakness is a complete difference maker at running back. Haven’t had one in forever. Who was the last NFL caliber running back we had?
November 30th, 2019 at 9:35 PM ^
Well, Karan Higdon is in the NFL but you're right that we haven't had OSU's level of RBs. And worse, OSU also has the Oline to block for these RBs.
November 30th, 2019 at 11:51 PM ^
Higdon is on a practice squad...
November 30th, 2019 at 9:39 PM ^
Fitz Toussaint
November 30th, 2019 at 9:41 PM ^
I struggle to find a position group of ours that is as good as OSU’s.
November 30th, 2019 at 9:53 PM ^
Punter
November 30th, 2019 at 10:18 PM ^
I get you're joking, but their punter is much better than ours. Hart get benched or is he injured now?
December 1st, 2019 at 2:50 AM ^
I was being completely serious.
Punting was a strong suit all season.
Hart has a 44.8 avg this year. Chrisman has a 43.8 avg.
November 30th, 2019 at 9:43 PM ^
See my post below.. it looks like we don’t offer some of the elite talent in the country. Only answer Im getting is the same old “player doesn’t fit” or the “our academic standards” blah blah blah.
November 30th, 2019 at 9:54 PM ^
"player doesn’t fit" = bagmen
November 30th, 2019 at 10:22 PM ^
Which is odd because Michigan has bagmen and doesn't have the heightened academic standards for football players.
November 30th, 2019 at 9:43 PM ^
Giles Jackson is a guy that can do some things with his speed
i am curious to see what kind of recruiter Gattis will be.
November 30th, 2019 at 9:47 PM ^
Gary was supposed to be that difference maker on D but his college career was average.
Shea and DPJ are to inconsistent
November 30th, 2019 at 9:57 PM ^
Fix the lines first. Dobbins wouldn't have gained much running behind UMs line today. Defensive line was also atrocious today. I looked at Ohio State's recruiting rankings for their lines. A bunch of 5 stars. There is your difference.
November 30th, 2019 at 10:12 PM ^
O Line has improved a ton and we have a good coach there. Recruiting on the O Line is lacking though and if Ruiz leaves early it’s a rebuild year on offense IMO assuming Collins and DPJ also leave.
November 30th, 2019 at 10:08 PM ^
Nothing to do with skill position players.
Their O-line destroyed our d-line which lacks any penetrating DT's. They saw what Wisconsin did to us and replicated it.
Our O-line actually played well. Our receivers played like shit, but they are actually all top recruits....just choked as usual against OSU.
You win from the inside out. Clemson has won national championships because of dominant D-lines. Our best team of the Harbaugh era, the one robbed in 2016 in CBus had that type of D-line.
We need to dominate in the trenches. O-line has been built back up with Warriner. I like the developments with Gattis. Hinton and Smith really need to be hits and we need to find some more corners, but our issue today was the inability to stop the run or get pressure on Fields.
November 30th, 2019 at 10:14 PM ^
The O-Line only played well in pass protection, they were terrible in the run game but this has been consistent over the past few weeks. The O-Line clearly has had problems run blocking in RPO sets. It made the team one dimensional and put more pressure on Shea.
Still, this game wasn't on the offense. This team should be competitive scoring ~30 points in this game. This is all on the defensive line, which was pretty clear was going to be poor when they couldn't stop the dive play against a bad Army team and then Taylor later in the year. Brown said he wants a "fast defense" but I think that is just code for "I can't recruit any real defensive lineman". Once Mattison whiffed on all the big D-Line recruits last year he moved on to greener pastures. The writing was on the wall.
November 30th, 2019 at 10:16 PM ^
Could not use wideouts today as we chose to get ball out quick to avoid pass rush. No time for deep routes to develop.
December 1st, 2019 at 12:11 AM ^
We always have a few great pieces but never enough to compete with teams that have talent at every position. Collins is elite. DPJ is elite. McGrone, maybe Lavert Hill, maybe Ambry Thomas too. Not sure who else.
Meanwhile OSU has five stars on the bench behind other five stars.
More than anything, we need a five-star stud RB who can bust open big runs. Not the RB-by-committee thing that JH seems contented with. Especially if we are going to be such a run-heavy team.
But for me, the bigger issue is how we use the talent we have. Collins' talents were wasted.
December 1st, 2019 at 12:32 AM ^
Take a look at this list of Michigan Players in the NFL. There aren't a lot of skill position players there. I didn't look at OSU but off the top of my head, Michael Thomas, Zeke, Denzel Ward, Terry McLaurin, Curtis Samuel are all better than our skill position guys.
We have a thread talking about how we've wasted a rare talent Collins (who is no doubt a great player), but would merely just be another good receiver for them. The talent differential is insane at the moment.
People have been saying it around here for years. We aren't going to beat them with 6th round DBs and WRs. Especially if they're left alone 1 on 1 with them.
December 1st, 2019 at 12:32 AM ^
Double
December 1st, 2019 at 4:24 AM ^
Elite coaches is more of a concern right now. Not sure we have one.
December 1st, 2019 at 5:58 AM ^
We had a good game plan for the game... We just didn't have the execution that OSU has. Look at Mattison right now: OSU players making him look like a god.
If Don Brown were the DC at OSU, you know how much havoc that would be?!?!?