Hating on the Walk-ons
I think all this hating of walk-ons is getting really tiresome. Just because you don't have inside knowledge about these players and can't follow them on rivals and ogle star ratings doesn't mean they are not capable football players. Those of you hating on the walk-ons obviously don't know anything about football.
September 21st, 2009 at 8:11 PM ^
who has been hating walk-ons?
i think most people agree that if they earn the playing time, they must be good enough to see the field.
September 21st, 2009 at 8:15 PM ^
Brian's comments about the number of walk-ons we're putting on the field is more critical of the coaching/recruiting than the walk-ons themselves. If someone Michigan didn't even ask to play for us is apparently better than the people we gave scholarships to (especially when those with scholarships have been with the team for a few years already), then that is cause for concern.
September 21st, 2009 at 8:22 PM ^
My only concern about walk-ons is that too many of them are higher on the depth chart than guys who were actually recruited to fill those positions.
It's not a knock against the walk-ons at all, it's more disappointment that the guys with more upside haven't stepped up as quickly as we hoped.
Let's hope that starts to turn around over the next several weeks.
EDIT: Brhino makes the same point.
September 21st, 2009 at 8:22 PM ^
It's nothing against the walk-ons personally. It's just a program of Michigan's caliber shouldn't have many of them getting significant minutes. Hell, no Big Ten team should.
(It's really hard to say that without sounding arrogant)
Big props to the walk-on program though. Those kids truly want it bad enough to play for the love of the game. I wish them nothing but the best.
September 21st, 2009 at 8:26 PM ^
I would like to know if you misunderstood Brian's comments earlier or if there was somewhere else that you sensed hostility.
September 21st, 2009 at 8:27 PM ^
If there's someone in particular you want to call out please do so, but this post is so vague it's borderline straw man.
September 21st, 2009 at 8:42 PM ^
It starts with Brian
Man, I do not like the fact that Michigan has scholarship players who aren't true freshmen at DE and LB but chooses to play walk-ons over them. No offense to those guys, but they were walk-ons for a reason.
September 21st, 2009 at 8:42 PM ^
"Hating" is very vague. I don't know if what Brian says qualifies as hating by Impaler's definition.
I haven't seen anyone say directly that walkons can't be capable football players, so who/what are we talking about here? It's an argument against something that may not have any proponents.
September 21st, 2009 at 8:51 PM ^
I don't know who Impaler is talking about specifically and "hating" may be too strong. But that's pretty much exactly what Brian is saying:
Unless they are spectacularly advanced thinkers at the game, their ceiling is lowHe's basically advocating that unless they are great thinkers their ceiling is low. He doesn't even concede the fact that they might actually be more skillful too.
September 21st, 2009 at 9:05 PM ^
Maybe I'm being nitpicky here, but "their ceiling is low" is also vague. It's a leap to infer that having a low ceiling means they can't be capable football players. I'd say an at least equally reasonable interpretation of that is that while a ceiling for a 3-star player may be 1st team All Conference, the ceiling for a walk on is capable starter.
September 21st, 2009 at 9:09 PM ^
That's a fair interpretation and I can see what you're saying.
September 21st, 2009 at 9:12 PM ^
recruiting isn't an exact science. Maybe the walk-ons aren't all that bad. They wouldn't be playing if the coaches didn't think they were at least somewhat good.
Mike Hart was a 3* recruit, Kevin Grady a 5*, right?
On the other hand our Defenders may not be nearly as good as they appeared to be as recruits, in which case, uh, yeah.... not good.
September 21st, 2009 at 8:37 PM ^
maybe some of our highly touted young guys (specifically secondary) aren't losing time to walk-ons because they've only been on the team a few weeks. Many of the ones that enrolled earlier are making significant contributions so far. As the season wears on we may see a few more players break through, maybe not players from the 2009 recruiting class but perhaps some of those from the 2008.
September 21st, 2009 at 8:54 PM ^
Maybe the scholarship players should do a better job if they don't want to get beat out by walk-ons?????
Just a thought....
Anyway, I don't think Brian was being critical of the walk-ons or the coaches... just displeased with the implications of the situation in terms of our D's future
September 21st, 2009 at 8:53 PM ^
Listening to Rich Rods presser today on Mgoblue.com...and a big part of it is him raving about the walk ons...he is also talking about how he announces to them personally when they earn a scholarship and told a story about how Neilan gave him his scholarship when he was a walk on at WVU and how much it meant to him.
September 21st, 2009 at 8:58 PM ^
Personally, I love it. If a walk on is playing it is because they damn earned it against all odds. Recruit 5 and 4 stars. If a walk on beats them out, I feel sorry for the other team.
September 21st, 2009 at 9:04 PM ^
I'm interested in seeing Brian's UFR for Leach vs. Obi. Not exactly apples to apples, but will be a good indication of how much a drop it is from starting linebacker to walkon backup.
September 21st, 2009 at 9:06 PM ^
Making the team after an open campus-wide tryout, actually getting on the field when it counts. More power to them.
September 21st, 2009 at 9:11 PM ^
I appreciate the increased competition your post engenders.
*2 Star, admittedly.
September 21st, 2009 at 9:24 PM ^
I had scholarships for chemical engineering. No company should ever hire walk on chemical engineers.
September 21st, 2009 at 9:22 PM ^
sheridan was a walk-on and he turned out fine for us......right
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:01 AM ^
HAHAHAHA You made a funny.
Fail
September 21st, 2009 at 10:39 PM ^
to want to avoid playing the college football equivalents of Nick Punto and David Eckstein?
September 22nd, 2009 at 5:43 AM ^
Where pretty much everyone who has any talent what-so-ever can have their film seen by coaches walk-ons never be an important part of football except for in the kicking game.
There is just way too much information out there with the internets to miss these kids if they are such high level players.
When Brian says "He has a low ceiling" there is a reason that these kids were not scholarship players it could be any of these things:
1. Too small
2. Too slow
3. Not correct frame
4. etc
Which all contributes to them having a low ceiling. Now this is not a knock on Tate but Tate is a better quarterback now and this is because he has had all of the coaching in the world for his whole life, so he is already pretty maxxed out on his potential. Whereas a player like Pryor, Denard, DG, have a higher ceiling but are currently worse players than Tate at the QB position.
Walk-ons will ALWAYS have a lower ceiling than scholarship players and while it's great that we have some pushing the starters/back ups for playing time we cannot field a team of walk-ons and win.
None of this is "hating on walk-ons" it's just how recruiting/football is now-a-days and impaler if you cannot see that and call this hating... I don't know what to tell you but in general.
Scholarship players>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Walk-ons
In General Sheridan=death and Tate=Not Death
September 22nd, 2009 at 9:01 AM ^
But (insert All-American player who started as a walk on here) was a walk on, so star ratings don't matter!!
September 22nd, 2009 at 10:32 AM ^
are giving significant time to walk-ons. so either we've discovered the hidden jackpot of "should have been on scholarship" walk on talent, or we're at a competitive disadvantage.
it has nothing to do with disrespecting the talent of our walk-ons compared to the other players on our team.
September 22nd, 2009 at 10:52 AM ^
How is anything Brian said crossing the line? He said they were walk-ons for a reason. And that's 100% true.
The reason was that no Division I school (probably) offered them a scholarship.
I hope Kevin Leach, Jordan Kovacs, Jared Van Slyke, Jon McColgan, Bryant Nowicki, etc. all become All-Americans. But since they didn't earn a scholarship as high schoolers, chances are slim. So our hopes mostly rest with the young guys who have been given scholarships.