EVER had a player like Denard........NOPE, NEVER, he is one in a million, no a billion
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Has Michigan ever had a quarterback like Denard Robinson?
I just find it amazing to think that at the time of Denard's recruitment that RR was the one who saw his extreme potential as a QB. And I can't say enough how impressed I am with his humbleness and attitude towards the spotlight.
Yes, and no.
Jim Harbaugh and Rick Leach were tremendous scrambling quarterbacks (Not that Robinson is in that elite company yet), but Michigan has never had a QB with that kind of speed.
He was not nearly as effective as Denard, but they won a lot of games with him under center.
Michael Taylor and Demetrious Brown.
Not that I can remember. Frankly, there aren't a whole lot of people with the talent level that Denard possesses. Pat White is the closest QB I can remember with similar skills and he didn't play for Michigan. We have had other QB's with great scrambling ability but no one with Denard's all out speed..
he's a great ball player, exciting to watch and already puttng up gaudy numbers. It doens't mean anything, however, if it doesn't translate into big things - b10 titles, bcs bowl games, etc. - for Michigan. It's all about the team. Go Blue!
Did you see his interview after the game? Mostly it was thanking everyone else for blocking and doing their jobs so that he was able to do what he did. I don't think Denard needs any reminder that it's all about the team, he seems to have a good grasp on that.
Jim Harbaugh! was a better scrambling quarterback than Robinson! Really
he was referring to their overall success at QB and not just scrambling ability.
was a player we had here who's career was cut short due to injury; I don't know if he was 'dilithium' good, but I would of loved to have seen him give it a try...
Bass wasn't a QB. He was a WR that we were planning to use in occasional wildcat packages, à la Percy Harvin.
A better one than Denard was in high school. Probably closer to Devin. He just wasn't going to play much QB in our old system. They were going to develop a whole package for him; he was that good. And who knows with our dearth of back-up QBs what might have happened. He certainly would have been a QB in Rich's system.
I think you're confusing Bass with Jermaine Gonzales, who was actually recruited to play QB here. Gonzales put up huge numbers in HS and might have done well in RR's system. In Carr's system he ended up being a square peg in a round hole.
Bass played QB in high school, but was not a good passer (like 35%, IIRC) and everyone recruited him as an athlete. (The same was true of Steve Breaston.) Bass came here explicitly as a WR and that's what he played in 2005. He was never going to be more than a wildcat option at QB, but might have been a great wideout.
Bass was a QB in high school, and no he didn't have a Forcier like completion percentage, but he would absolutely have been a QB in RR's system. I've had the same though many times, and I had the conversation with Bass's father as well. In Rodriguez's first year, the family believed that he would be able to return.
Are you dealing in hypotheticals or facts? If RR had been here when Bass was in high school, maybe he would've come here as a QB. But that's a hypothetical. The actual fact of the matter is that, with Lloyd Carr here, he came here to play WR. He is not a "former Michigan QB," which the OP was looking for.
Regardless of what the OP was looking for, Bass had an offer to play QB at Virginia Tech.
But he was better as a senior. He set school passing Touchdown records, and was the top rated player in the state, a Super-Prep All-American. Schools used the fact that Michigan wasn't going to use him as a QB to recruit against us, so there was interest in him as a QB. Because they were right, he was never going to play regular QB for Lloyd. But could have for Rich, if he had been healthy. And they were designing a package for him to play QB, out of the wildcat. He actually had more carries than he did catches at Michigan. His talent was going to force them to use him as an Athlete, not just a WR. He was more of a QB in High School than Breaston, and Denard, frankly. Gonzales got some token depth chart time at QB, and played for a better high school team, but never really was super athletic, and was switched to receiver too. (If you don't count trans-continential plays and the like).
Everyone always seems to forget the greatest scrambler of all time, John Navarre.
First time I have read this comparison on this board or anywhere. Certainly hope it is not the last. You have made me forget my hangover for a glorious minute. Thank you.
"Like one day waking up and instead of looking down and seeing a six-incher, you've got a donkey dick."
Wait he's a quarterback? Brian Kelly said he's a running back... I'm just so confused.
/suck it Kelly.
No Michigan QB that I've ever seen has had wheels like Denard.
Rick Leach was before my time. Harbaugh could scramble a bit, but was primarily a passer. Michael Taylor was more athletic than Harbaugh, but still not in the same league with Denard. Demetrius Brown was too busy throwing interceptions to run the ball. After that we had all drop-back passers until Lloyd retired.
John Navarre. That is all.
Right now Denard looks Desmond good, he looks Charles Woodson good. And here's the thing: he has the ball on every offensive possession. So with that being the case the question should be whether Michigan has ever had a player as good as Denard - period. I sure as hell am looking forward to seeing how the rest of this year plays out.
totally agree
He is not as good as Woodson or Howard, not at this point in his career.
can you elaborate...are you saying woodson and howard were better players 2 games into there sophomore seasons?
Brandstatter was on Huge this week and he said that Smith was as fast or faster from the quarterback position. That suprised me. I remember Smith as being the quarterback in the late Anthony Carter era when I first started watching. He was real good on the option, but I don't remember him running like Denard. But I was 8 too.
I don't think he was as fast as Denard, but close. He didn't run as much, averaging just under 600 yards a year as starter. The most Denard-like moment I can remember was against Illinois in 1981, when he ran a quarterback draw for 40-45 yards for a touchdown right before the half.
As a passer, though, he never got beyond being adequate. He started out poorly, with turnovers and poor offensive play contributing to all three losses in his first year as starter (1981). He improved as time went by, but he was never a great passer.
It makes me laugh to think back to us trying to run this offense with Threet and Sheridan two years back. I guess it was important for RichRod to get people started right away getting ready for his system, but it is a joke to think that we tried to run this offense with those guys, especially now that we know what it is capable of.
In your post, there's a vague suggestion that the offensive scheme was the principal problem that year. I certainly agree that Threet would've been better off impersonating John Navarre, but I think seasoning (above all) and talent level were the issues in '08.
This is the kind of lazy analysis that this site tries to dispel. What we ran two years ago was very different than what we're running with Denard. Threet and Sheridan only carried the ball once in a while. They certainly weren't the featured ballcarrier.
STFU Antonio Bass will be back for UMass. Stop spreading rumors.
But Michael Taylor was close. Unfortunately, his hands were so small that he couldn't pass the football effectively. He had a rocket arm from the outfield playing baseball for Michigan, but he couldn't grip a football well enough to get any "zing" on his passes. Bo's offense didn't create the kind of spacing that this one does, and Taylor wasn't enough of a dual-threat, but he could run.
When it comes to Denard, though, there is nobody like him. He is a QB from the shoulders up and Jeff Demps from the waist down. A talent like this comes around once in a lifetime. It's even more rare when he is in an offense that fits his skills perfectly.
Hopefully, we get three full years of this.
setting a qb rushing record in week 1. No, they haven't had anyone like him ever.
Also 502 total yards yesterday. No, I don't think we've had someone comparable as a dual threat like him. Obviously we've had great quarterbacks in the past, but none like him. In other words, I'm not saying he's the greatest QB ever, but he's unique.
The school records he's smashing to pieces for rushing and total yards against two legitimate opponents should give that one away.
y asking this stupid question?!i
Welcome to the Big Ten Chicago Red! We had some great running QB's when Bo was coach -- Dennis Franklin, Rick Leach, Steve Smith, Mike Taylor and Demetrius Brown could all run the ball effectively. We went to a more pro style offense over the next 18 years or so and as you probably know developed some great pro style QB's -- Elvis Grbac, Brian Griese, Tom Brady, John Navarre and Chad Henne all played or are playing professional football. That said we have had nothing to compare with what we're seeing right now with Denard. He's easily the fastest player I have ever seen (at any position) and what has really impressed me about him this season is his grasp of the offense and his passing ability. The way I see it is we are looking at the combination of a great talent and a coach who understands how to use that talent for maximum results. It will be fun to watch what happens over the next few years. I'm looking forward to going to a game at Lincoln in a few years. I'll have to start following your team a more closely this year to get ready for it. Good luck this season!
Broke the B10 QB rushing record week 2...
Dennis Franklin, Rick Leach, Steve Smith, Michael Taylor all come to mind. Though the game is also really different.
The Bo Schembechler of the 70s-mid-80s would love what's going on with the Michigan running game today.
and Rick Leach.
All had decent footspeed and some could throw the football better than others, but like Denard Robinson?
No. Absolutely not.
Michigan football has not seen anything quite like DRob before at the quarterback spot.
But it's not like I ever saw him play.
Ole' Number 98!
Denard is like a really tan, dreaded, ridiculously fast version of Tom Harmon.
I always thought coner looked like a runner, but was stereotyped as a rapper-student-athlete instead of an athlete-rapper-student, and therefore never really got the chance to showcase his speeeed
A lot of peeps here whose view of MICH football is limited to the past 20 years.
Michigan essentially ran the option from 1969 to 1978 and infrequently thereafter until 1989. None were quite up to Denard's standards, but Rick Leach was generally considered one of the best QB's in the nation in his day.
this one is kind of depressing
Has college football ever seen a quarterback like Denard; that should be the question. The answer is NO!
The Huskers' own Tommie Frazier might be the best comparison. Frazier had crazy speed.
Michigan has never had someone so electric under center. Denard Robinson is a once and a lifetime athlete that doesn't come around very often. He is such a hard working, humble young man with a very bright future ahead of him.
The most dominating speed and quickness I have ever seen in a Michigan uniform belonged to Ricky Green, but he played basketball, though he did lead Michigan to a Final Four championship loss to undefeated Indiana.
For many reasons.
First, was the national sensation over a Michigan coach (in 1947 it was Fritz Crisler and the Mad Magicians; in 2010 it is Rich Rodriguez and the Spread Offense) putting in a new offense that had defenses frustrated and grabbing air, while Michigan grabbed headlines.
Then, the comparison of two tremendously attractive, genuinely good-natured guys who were beloved by everybody on campus. Bob Chappuis in 1947, and Denard in 2010.
Chappuis essentially ran Crisler's dazzling offense. He was labeled a Halfback; but he was about as much of a quarterback as Denard is now.
If you don't think Bob Chappuis and the Mad Magicians of '47 were a big deal, they put Chappuis on the cover of TIME magazine:
Indeed, when you look at how Chappuis' Wikipedia page sums up his credentials (a Big Ten total offense leader, 2nd in the Heisman voting in '47, after leading Michigan to an undefeated season and a 49-0 win over USC in the Jan.1, 1948 Rose Bowl), it is a 60-year old blueprint of a Denard Robinson in the 21st Century.
Steve Smith (QB from 1981-1983) was probably the closest. He was mobile, ran the option and had a decent arm. But he was probably our least popular QB of the 80's.
In this clip from the 1983 Minnesota game, Smith ran 75 yards for a TD. This was the longest TD run by a Michigan QB in school history until Denard came to town.
37 seconds in...
"Smith has 4.6 speed, so he's able to go the distance."
And to think 4.6 speed is average by today's standards!
Brandy is so young... and a Stroh's beer ad! This shit was before I was born.
Obviously.
Chris Zurbrugg had mad skills. Don't forget it.