How to use Shane Morris

Submitted by oakapple on

On various message boards, I've seen two widely divergent strategies for how to use Shane Morris in 2013.

One school of thought is that his potential fifth year has far more value than occasional spot duty as a freshman. Therefore, it would be better to hold him out of action unless they're forced to play him — i.e., Gardner is out with the game on the line, and Brian Cleary can't get it done.

The other school of thought, is that as starting QBs seldom make it through a full season without being knocked out of a game (or games), the coaches ought to assume that'll happen, and therefore get Morris into the action as soon as possible. This strategy assumes that Cleary could never play acceptably against a serious opponent, and that a prepared Morris is bound to be better.

For example, suppose Michigan is up on Central Michigan 34-6 after 3 quarters. If they're pursuing the first strategy, the coaches would play Brian Cleary for the 4th. If they're pursuing the second, they'd play Morris, or perhaps a mixture of the two.

Devin Gardner is the textbook example of what can happen when you burn a promising QB's redshirt. He saw only meaningless action as a true freshman, but fortunately was able to get that year of eligibility back, due to a back injury. Of course, Michigan had Tate Forcier that year, so they never really had to use Gardner; burning his redshirt was elective.

The real question, then, is whether you think of burning Morris's redshirt as inevitable (therefore, you might as well burn it immediately), or possibly avoidable (therefore, you should avoid it as long as you can).

eamus_caeruli (not verified)

May 27th, 2013 at 1:05 PM ^

The title is a bit risqué, don't ya think!



Let the coaches decide rather than people who won't even see him practice or get a feel for how he grasps the offense make any more moronic comments about anoint him the chosen one.



I know everyone likes the young man, but he is 18 and needs time to mature as a human and player. Lets give him that. He is not, and I repeat he is not Drew Henson or Chad Henne. Ceiling, possibly better, but only with time and reps. He will look pretty rough come August 15th no matter what.

alum96

May 27th, 2013 at 2:41 PM ^

I will give you Drew Henson but no one saw ahead of time what Henne would do.  He was not a super duper type recruit that everyone was talking about.  If not for the Guiterez (sp?) situation Henne would have never seen the field his freshman year.   You just never know with these kids how they will react and perform.  Oregon and other teams are now regularly throwing out frosh QBs with decent success.  

EGD

May 27th, 2013 at 3:36 PM ^

I disagree that Henne wasn't a big-time recruit at the time.  I know Gutierrez was expected to start in '04 because he had already been on the team for a couple years and probably would have started but for a nagging injury.  But Henne was a 5-star QB and the headliner in the 2004 recruiting class.

Buck Killer

May 27th, 2013 at 1:32 PM ^

Best kids on the field and burn through the recruits. The team needs to win as a team. Alabama plays the best kid always and creates a winning attitude. The Big Ten Championship should be a consolation prize in the next couple of years. We need to aim high and go after the top goal. The one thing Bo didn't do was set a higher goal than reaching the Rose Bowl. He was the best coach ever, but I wish he would have been more aggressive setting goals. We reached the Rose Bowl a lot, but that was the goal.

gwkrlghl

May 27th, 2013 at 1:38 PM ^

maybe Shane will be epically amazing by then, but we'll also probably have a Sr/RS Jr Wilton Speight behind him and possible another highly rated Jr/RS So QB behind that. It may be worth it to play him as the #2 this year vs struggling now for the hope that he will save us all 3 years down the road.

There's also the possibility that Cleary is just better in Borges' offense this year anyway which would negate all this discussion

Blue boy johnson

May 27th, 2013 at 2:52 PM ^

I would be surprised to see Shane Morris redshirt in 2013. Morris will be the second best healthy quarterback on the roster when he arrives in the summer, therefore I think the coaches will get him ready to play, and will play him early on in the season.
As Brady Hoke likes to say, what's best for the team is usually best for the individual, and in this case what's best for the team will be Shane Morris on the field getting experience in the case of an unfortunate injury to Devin Gardner

RioThaN

May 27th, 2013 at 3:33 PM ^

We should just dress Morris with Bellomy's uniform (and a dark visor) and dress Bellomy with Morris' uniform, and just let it slide...

ca_prophet

May 27th, 2013 at 3:36 PM ^

The choice is between a hyped freshman coming off a debilitating illness who steps onto campus in the fall, a three star recruit coming off a horror show and knee injury, and a walk-on with experience. My guess is that it will take most of the year before Morris can demonstrate that he's clearly better, at which point the coaches will only burn his redshirt under emergency conditions.

Btw, if Gardner chooses to leave for the NFL after 2013, we will have likely not had an emergency. Vaulting into the first day will almost certainly require 11+ games and good to outstanding performances against Notre Dame, OSU and a bowl opponent - if he gets hurt or we fall on our faces against good competition he's not getting drafted on the first day.

I suspect we have the choice between no Gardner and no game-experienced QBs in 2014, or both :/

Zone Left

May 27th, 2013 at 3:42 PM ^

Morris won't play unless he's number two and needed. The few snaps he might get early on probably won't be worth the loss of a year of eligibility to him or to the coaches. Frankly, it seems like he'll need a year anyways to work on mechanics and strength anyways.

pbmd

May 27th, 2013 at 3:56 PM ^

very hard  to project 4 and 5 years out.

if morris is 2nd best QB he should prepare and play QB.  

last year's nebraska loss became inevitable because of backup QB play. all made worse when gardner showed his level of play the next week.

EGD

May 27th, 2013 at 8:00 PM ^

Why would DG avoiding injury mean that this thread wouldn't matter?

The fact is, the coaches have to make a decision before the start of the season as to whether Morris redshirts or not.  They have to make that decision without knowing whether DG will stay healthy for the entire season. 

This is kind of an interesting game theory problem.  I think you try to redshirt Morris, because it gives you the only chance at the best outcome, and because I don't think garbage time reps will significantly improve Morris's chances of playing well in the event he has to come in for an injuryy to DG.  But other people might put different numbers in the boxes:

 

DG stays healthy

DG does not stay healthy

Morris redshirts

5

2

Morris does not redshirt

3

3

 

Mich1993

May 27th, 2013 at 6:41 PM ^

We need to factor in how competetive Morris is.  He's going to come in with the goal of beating out Gardner (not that it's going to happen).  I think by the end of fall camp that Morris will have shown enough that it will be clear that he will be a much better back-up as the season goes on.  I haven't done any research on this, but I don't think you redshirt your back-up QB.  Also, Morris is competetive enough that if he is the second best QB that he won't want to redshirt. 

My guess is that Morris won't play in the CMU game to give the coaches a chance to see how things are going (Morris progress, Bellomy injury recovery and Cleary readiness), but he will play against Akron. 

We are helped that other than against Notre Dame, we shouldn't need him to be very good to win until the PSU game in Mid-October.  That gives him an extra month and a half to learn the offense.  His arm is strong and accurate enough that Borges can put in a package that he can run successfully without knowing the whole offense.

Blue boy johnson

May 27th, 2013 at 6:42 PM ^

Chad Henne.
Jason Forcier.
David Cone.
Ryan Mallett.
Justin Feagin.
Tate Forcier.
Denard Robinson.
Devin Gardner.
Russell Bellomy.
Shane Morris.
Michigan football, since the days of Chad Henne has been a little unstable, leading to the inability to redshirt quarterbacks on a consistent basis. Although we would all like Shane Morris to redshirt, the likelihood of the opportunity presenting itself is slight. Since the recruitment of David Cone, only Russell Bellomy was afforded the opportunity to redshirt his freshman season. With Bellomy's knee injury I don't think the opportunity will be presented to Shane Morris.

MosherJordan

May 27th, 2013 at 8:16 PM ^

I want Shane to have as much game experience as possible entering the 2015 season, as I think it sets up best for a NC run. Green will be a junior looking towards the NFL, our OL and DLs will be experienced and deep. Funchess and Darbough will be seniors. No ND. Ohio and Sparty at home. That year sets up better than 2016, and if DG stays for 2014, Shane needs meaningful snaps ASAP.