Hoke: Denard "should be fine"
During his press conference today (going on now). He says the nerve running down the elbow was numb and tingly but should he should be able to play Saturday. It didn't sound like 100% sure but fairly confident.
Devin will get more snaps this week. More if Denard isn't progressing as well as they think he will. He will compete if Denard isn't ready.
Russell gained a lot of experience during that game. He'll learn from it. They need to do a better job of the blitzes.
October 29th, 2012 at 12:54 PM ^
Also glad to see Devin get some reps.
October 29th, 2012 at 12:55 PM ^
Russell gained experience all right. At least now he has a story to tell in all of those stupid first-day-of-a-new-class-icebreakers where they ask for your most embarrassing moment.
October 29th, 2012 at 1:49 PM ^
I just LOL'd at work reading that one...
October 29th, 2012 at 1:59 PM ^
Yeah because he should be embarrassed that he plays football for the University of Michigan and is getting a free, first class education.
I'm sure that you were doing much better at 19.
Dumbass.
October 29th, 2012 at 2:11 PM ^
take it easy.. bellomy looked terrible. There are true freshman QB's who have done 10x better than him and they were in high school 6 months ago. Shit look at Manziel..freshman and all, he is dominating and he was a 3 star. Bellomy was unprepared and looked poor even on basic throws
October 29th, 2012 at 12:56 PM ^
I do not mean this to be critical of Bellomy here, but I'm wondering how much a kid can learn from playing in that game on Saturday. If anything, his confidence has to be shattered, doesn't it? For the record, it looked like he took it in stride after each series and didn't appear to be shaken, at least from where I was sitting in my living room. I know if it were me I would probably be laying on the ground crying. These kids are pretty damn impressive competitors.
October 29th, 2012 at 1:02 PM ^
We've coined a new term for a less than stellar performance: Bellomy'd
October 29th, 2012 at 1:24 PM ^
No...
October 29th, 2012 at 2:28 PM ^
I just hope he ignores the press.
October 29th, 2012 at 2:33 PM ^
..and blog message boards..."Bellomy'd"? Jesus, lay off the kid.
October 29th, 2012 at 1:05 PM ^
October 29th, 2012 at 2:10 PM ^
And that's why I said I'd be laying on the sideline crying. I said nothing about him not playing well, I said that it would seemingly be very, very difficult for him to not be shaken. Some people learn from those experiences, some people never recover. I think its a little too early to determine if he learned in a positive way.
October 29th, 2012 at 1:14 PM ^
I worry. His mudda worries, too.
October 29th, 2012 at 1:18 PM ^
in the last sentence of your post:
"These kids are pretty damn impressive competitors." He'll be fine. And I strongly believe he'll play much better the next time he's thrust into a non-mop up time of a game.
October 29th, 2012 at 1:51 PM ^
You could say the same thing about Brendan Gibbons' freshman season. Look how far he's come.
October 29th, 2012 at 2:08 PM ^
Not necesarily confidence-shattering; true, it illustrated the degree to which nerves can really interfere with his playing ability, and that's gotta be a little angst-inducing.
But isn't it just as likely for him to think, "I choked in my first clutch game in front of a hostile crowd; now I know what that feels like and I won't do it again." He's been through the worst of it. Onward and upward.
That what I HOPE he feels like, anyway.
October 29th, 2012 at 4:04 PM ^
but from my couch, he looked scared shitless. He was as wide-eyed as you can be and his errant throws were proof that he was way outside of any type of comfort zone. He was handed the ball with the score virtually tied and asked to simply keep them in it. Instead he missed receivers on the easiest and most basic of play calls. He has been practicing all year, and this was game #8. He looked as if it was his first day in pads. I have to disagree, he didn't have a chance out there. Chad Henne found out he was going to start in his very first game in a Winged Helmet hours before the M-OH game in 2004 and looked like a totally different guy. Bellomy is 2 years in the system... no comparison... he just isn't ready.
October 29th, 2012 at 5:23 PM ^
Chad Henne had about the best freshman season ever for a Michigan quarterback. That's not a very fair comparison.
John Navarre, Tom Btady, Brian Griese . . . their debuts didn't go quite as well.
October 29th, 2012 at 6:52 PM ^
October 30th, 2012 at 12:24 AM ^
you could be talking about John Navarre's performance as a redshirt freshman against UCLA and Illinois. This was AFTER two impressive statistical performances in pitch-and-catch games against a couple of MAC tomato cans.
Navarre was scared shitless against Illinois. Anthony Thomas look up in disgust after Navarre didn't come anywhere close on a simple open swing pass. 9,000+ of passing yards later, it seems as if Lloyd was wise not to write him off because of his deer-in-the-headlights games.
October 29th, 2012 at 1:03 PM ^
October 29th, 2012 at 2:12 PM ^
I don't think I'd have phrased it as, "To be fair, [Hoke] said the same thing at halftime [of the game in Lincoln]." Yes; that is exactly what Hoke said. Before a disastrous half of football in which Denard Robinson was unable to play.
It is an obvious thing to say about Hoke; that we've heard it from Hoke before and it wasn't true. And when Hoke commented on Denard at halftime, he was, it turns out, misleading. Hoke could have said that they were still evaluating Denard. He could have said he wasn't sure, but that he planned to talk to the trainers at halftime. Hoke didn't do that. He said Denard would be "fine." So we know what that means now. It means anything. Or nothing.
I don't know exactly who we are being "fair" to, in the case of Hoke's completely uninformative comments on injuries. Maybe we need to be "fair" to the Vegas bookies who really want to know if Denard will be playing next week, or in any more weeks.
October 29th, 2012 at 1:04 PM ^
October 29th, 2012 at 1:05 PM ^
Please be right this time
October 29th, 2012 at 1:09 PM ^
...I should be fine driving home in hurricane Sandy in my 98' dodge neon but I may get a boo-boo.
I think the game plan for Minnesota should be to hand the ball off if D-rob is in there or not.
October 29th, 2012 at 1:10 PM ^
I said it in the other thread, but I'll say it here too. I've had denard's injury before. First there is searing pain, then you can hardly squeeze your hand. The weakness/numbness lasts 3-5 days and then you are normal again. If it was as bad as what happened to me, there is no way he could even hold a football. I coudln't even open a door. 5 days later i was 100%. Denard should be fine.
October 29th, 2012 at 3:53 PM ^
accurately in a lacrosse arm pad ...
October 29th, 2012 at 1:19 PM ^
For the kids in our crowd:
You should compare Bellomy's performance to the first-year performance of sophomore Brian Griese. He STUNK. Couldn't throw more than 5 yards past the LOS. Lost to NW in a low-scoring game where one stinking TD would have won it, but with Griese at QB, we couldn't get first downs.
Sound familiar?
Obv, Griese got better. Now, I'm not predicting Bellomy wins the NC in two years. But, my point is, these are kids. They get older and grow and develop.
October 29th, 2012 at 1:21 PM ^
I would expect to see him wear some protection on that elbow. I know that it's his throwing arm but I have to think that landing on it, again, on a Field Turf surface is going to result in a similar injury. Some type of protection may minimize the effects, of landing on the elbow, thus keeping his time on the sideline to a minimum.
October 29th, 2012 at 2:36 PM ^
October 29th, 2012 at 1:21 PM ^
is the fact that it has happened twice the past 3 weeks. odds are it is something that will happen again givent hat denard has his hands on the ball every play. get devin a small package of plays he is comfortable with so you can at least have a fighting chance.
October 29th, 2012 at 1:25 PM ^
October 29th, 2012 at 1:40 PM ^
this incident illustrates how thin we are at QB, which begs the question:
Who will be the starting QB next year when Denard departs for the NFL?
True freshman Morris? Bellomy? Gardner? Which QB would you like to see groomed to take over? Assuming that Morris is not ready to start, I think I would prefer Gardner. At least he can run better than Bellomy and is a larger body and, hence, more difficult to take down. From what I've seen of him in the spring game and limited appearances in a few games, he can throw the ball, albeit erratically at times. Which QB would the Mgobloggers prefer behind the helm?
October 29th, 2012 at 1:50 PM ^
October 29th, 2012 at 2:07 PM ^
It might be a good idea to start looking around at possible transfers. I'm not sure if I can ever feel truly confident about a true freshman starting at QB.
October 29th, 2012 at 2:15 PM ^
Give him a super intense turnover prevention course and things should be fine. Next year's defense is going to be a beast yet again and the schedule gets a lot easier. If Denard doesn't give the ball away against ND or get hurt against Nebraska this year's team is sitting at 7-1 with a win over a top-10 ND team (that won't be as good next year) even without a super charged offense.
Having another guy defenses really have to worry about in the ground game just makes everything easier on offense. Even if Gardner isn't the best passer (and he's probably ahead of Bellomy and at least even with a true freshman Morris), his margin for error is much better because of his athletic ability. I'll take boring, methodical offense with the occasional first down scramble for 10 wins, Alex!
October 30th, 2012 at 12:28 AM ^
Of course, Gardner, Morris, and Bellomy should all be given consideration (i.e. reps) in camp, and let the coaches evaluate and choose the starter. But if they choose based on maximizing 2013, I think Gardner would be the winner.
October 29th, 2012 at 1:35 PM ^
I'm still not sure why they didn't at least try Devin on Saturday, once Bellomy had gone 0-10. I know he probably doesn't take as many snaps at QB in practice, but Hoke has said he still practices at QB. He certainly couldn't have done any worse, and definitely wasn't helping at WR at that point.
October 29th, 2012 at 1:42 PM ^
I don't understand why Gardner adorned the bench. It's not like he was contributing majorly at the WR position. He is faster than Bellomy and a bigger body. I am sure he could not have done worse than Bellomy.
October 29th, 2012 at 2:18 PM ^
totally disagree.
even with Devin's limited impact at WR, he's still a big body to throw at. Put that in at QB with little to no (im going with literally zero) reps, and who's he going to throw to? any of about 5 tiny slot targets and a freshman tight end that every team has now identified as a guy M will look to throw to. Meanwhile, Nebraska tee's off on this quasi-spread zone read stuff and beats the crap out of Gardner, potentially further limiting his role on the team via injury. I would much rather have at least the hope of a downfield jump-ball drop to Gardner from the actual back-up who may have at least gotten 10 reps at QB last week.
Not a win for M. maybe he does slightly better, with fewer turnovers, but M still does not win that game with Gardner playing QB. Not happening. Brian said it this morning. M offense minus Denard = 2008.
Going forward, sure, I could get behind Gardner actually preparing as a QB in case of emergency, but you have to have a plan and preparation. The situation against Nebraska was going to be a tire fire any way you cut it.
October 29th, 2012 at 2:38 PM ^
I always thought that switching Gardner to WR would be irrevocable; at least on a couple of weeks' notice. I wasn't surpriesed the Gardner was not the second-string QB.
What surprised me, was how totally lost Bellomy looked.
October 29th, 2012 at 2:24 PM ^
I'm still not sure why they didn't at least try Devin on Saturday, once Bellomy had gone 0-10.
Hoke said that he HAS NOT been taking many snaps at QB. There is no confirmation of why, but there is a lot of speculation that Gardner's injury versus ND -- to his throwing arm -- might be effecting his ability to play QB more than his ability to play WR. If that 's the case, then it makes sense that DG wouldn't even be considered as a viable option at QB once Denard went down.
Why are you so obsessed with this issue? Do you REALLY think that if DG was, in fact, a better option that the coaching staff would NOT have played him? Since he wasn't put in, one of two things MUST be true: 1) he's been beaten out by Bellomy as the backup QB; and/or 2) he's incapable of playing QB due to injury. I suspect it's #2 considering if it was only #1, after the 0-10 and INT fest start, as you said, DG couldn't have done much worse.
October 30th, 2012 at 12:30 AM ^
You can't just go out there and draw plays up on the ground. "You do a button hook in front of the red car."
October 29th, 2012 at 1:52 PM ^
Hope Denard get's a nice padded elbow sleeve and get play very limited the next 2 weeks. Get a two score lead and head to the bench and let the defense win it. Let's just hope the two score lead isn't two field goals. Lol.
October 29th, 2012 at 1:57 PM ^
So cutting through the coachspeak here, I would say it's 50/50, at best, that Denard plays against the Gophers.
Even if we're stuck with Bellomy again, it will be after a week's worth of preparation, against a weaker opponent. (Remember how Sheridan looked against the Gophers in '08? Awwww yeah.)
October 29th, 2012 at 2:01 PM ^
Remember how Sheridan looked against the Gophers in '08? Awwww yeah.Wow, that game really brings back some crazy emotions. Sheridan looked like freakin Johnny Unitas in that game. Definitely, his "One Shining Moment" in his UM career.
October 29th, 2012 at 2:09 PM ^
Yeah, I will always remember that game, not just because I remember every single game unless I am blackout drunk, but because I was in Vancouver, BC, and called every bar in the telephone book until I found one that would put the game on for me. I had this whole room, with full bar, to myself. I was expecting a brutal hand-off of the LBJ to those varmits, but the Gophers star receiver was hurt and couldn't play, and Sheridan got REVERSEBODYSNATCHED.
October 29th, 2012 at 4:32 PM ^
If he bruised his ulnar nerve, which is what was said, then Denard will be fine in a couple days
October 29th, 2012 at 5:38 PM ^
So all of this over a funny bone?