Here's the dilemma with QBs

Submitted by oakapple on

Anyone that Hoke signs at this late date will be (at best) a mid-level three-star — someone totally unready to play Division I football. If said QB sees the field in 2011, it will only mean that both Devin Gardner and Denard Robinson are injured, and it won’t be pretty.

For the 2012 class, I am sure that Hoke will be looking for a 4+ star kid with a much higher ceiling. With a year to work on it, he is probably going to find that kid. That means the QB he signs this year, if any, will be a transitional figure: a David Cone type who is unlikely ever to see substantial playing time in a Michigan uniform.

The thing is, most recruits are going to look at the depth chart and see these same facts, which limits the kind of QB that Hoke can hope to get — basically, those who realize that in exchange for a Michigan degree, they are probably going to spend four years running the scout team and holding a clipboard on game day. That's not a bad deal, but a kid who wants a serious likelihood of starting will probably choose to go elsewhere.

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January 20th, 2011 at 10:29 PM ^

I still have four years of eligibility left and can manage a clipboard like nobody's business. Not much of a rapper so the Coner's got me there. Boom. Dynamite exploded.

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DGDestroys

January 20th, 2011 at 10:30 PM ^

Quarterbacks are arrogant. High school kids are arrogant. Even if we take out the mighty presumptuous part about 3*s not having a high ceiling to one day start, in his mind, he's not going to be a transition guy. We'll find a QB, I can almost promise you that much.

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Blazefire

January 20th, 2011 at 10:31 PM ^

The thing is, most recruits are going to look at the depth chart and see these same facts, which limits the kind of QB that Hoke can hope to get — basically, those who realize that in exchange for a Michigan degree, they are probably going to spend four years running the scout team and holding a clipboard on game day. That's not a bad deal, but a kid who wants a serious likelihood of starting will probably choose to go elsewhere.

Because playing time is always guaranteed at other schools.

Seriously, do kids LOOK at the playing time thing? Yes. But no coach is ever going to sign a kid he thinks he can't or won't play, and no kid is ever going to sign with a school EXPECTING playing time.

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Blazefire

January 20th, 2011 at 10:35 PM ^

Yes. But none of them expects to walk in and be handed anything, so none of them is going to be steered away just because there's competition. That may be an ASPECT, but they know they can compete and each school will present an equal chance to play. Just because one school has less competition at a position doesn't make starting there MORE likely.

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DGDestroys

January 20th, 2011 at 10:42 PM ^

But schools DON'T present an equal opportunity to play. If you've got returning starters at that recruit's position, then it's less likely they'll start. 

"Just because one school has less competition at a position doesn't make starting there MORE likely." It does in the mind of a recruit.

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twisted monster

January 20th, 2011 at 10:36 PM ^

If we have a coach that can develop the qb's i wouldn't worry about how many stars are by his name. The stars to me can be deceitful at times.

The question is, do we have the right coach to develop these qb's no matter who is on the roster. We need to get at least 2  qb's on the roster. The loss of tate hurt. But we cannot go with only 2 qb's on the roster.

Bring in Scott Loeffler and he can develop these qb's like he's done in the pass.

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Blazefire

January 20th, 2011 at 10:43 PM ^

But you carry three QB's as an insurance policy against catastrophe. I don't care if your third string QB is a five star freshman, if you get down to third string, you POUND THE ROCK with the occasional 2 yard sideline pass. Kennedy WAS an HS QB. He can throw at a dude standing still on the sideline.

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DGDestroys

January 20th, 2011 at 10:52 PM ^

One of my cousins was good friends with Jack in high school. This is what they told me.

Anywho, as a junior in HS, Jack was the starting QB. He came back in his senior year and either there was a new coach..or something, and the coach didn't like him..or at least his ability, so he got benched. Anyway, the slim shot Jack had at playing D1 ball seems to evaporate, right?

Well Jack enrolls as a freshman at UM, paying his own way, obviously. But he really wants to join the football team. He knows he's been out of it for a while, though, and there's no way he's going to get on without practice. So, at night, after the team's gone back to their dorms/etc, and the practice field (my cousin said the field..as in the Big House but I don't think that's what he meant) is empty, he hops the fence or whatever and sneaks onto the field. Every night. He uses practice equipment, footballs, etc, anything he can get his hands onto. For months and months, every day he snuck on and practiced in the dead of night.

Eventually, the cops caught him one night. He thought he was screwed, but instead, the cops set him up with practice stuff at Pioneer (I think my cousin said the Pioneer coach worked with him too) and when walk-on tryouts come around the next year, he goes for it. He leaves everything out on the field at the tryout, and makes the team.

He knows he'll never start, he knows he'll rarely play, he knows he'll probably never get on scholarship. But he loves Michigan football so much that none of it matters to him. He worked on all of that, so hard, just to suit up for the maize and blue on Saturdays. Now it's been about a year since my cousin told me about this, but I think I got all my facts straight.

You want a Michigan man, whatever the hell that means? There's your Michigan man.

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TXmaizeNblue

January 21st, 2011 at 8:42 AM ^

What a story that would be if Michigan somehow miraculously made it to the NC next year and Denard goes down in the 3rd quarter, only to have Devin taken out by concussion late in the 4th with Michigan down by 5.  Then the Jackster drives 74 yards for a last second 26 yard TD to Stonum for the victory.  That woud be movie material right there.

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