Has Michigan ever had a quarterback like Denard Robinson?

EVER had a player like Denard........NOPE, NEVER, he is one in a million, no a billion

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.

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!

Jim Harbaugh! was a better scrambling quarterback than Robinson! Really

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...

Everyone always seems to forget the greatest scrambler of all time, John Navarre.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Chappuis

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...

Obviously.

Chris Zurbrugg had mad skills.  Don't forget it.