If You Could Add One Rodriguez/Hoke Player to This Team

Submitted by SF Wolverine on

Who would it be?  Who would most improve this team?  Brandon Graham was great, but we are loaded at that position.  I don't think Denard, b/c not clear how he fits.  I'd go for either Jake Ryan (big upgrade over big question marks) or Taylor Lewan, who is perhaps not as big an upgrade over who will play there, but certainly better and gives O-line better depth.  

Discuss.

Space Coyote

August 23rd, 2016 at 6:11 PM ^

And physically he had absolutely everything Harbaugh would want in a QB, I would worry that even with Harbaugh coaching him, it would be difficult for DG to grasp what is a very complex offense to read (route concepts are simpler than Borges but QB reads are therefore more important) and the need for a high level of accuracy and timing on short and intermediate passes; neither of those were areas where DG was the best.

hazardc

August 24th, 2016 at 1:04 AM ^

logged in just to say almost exactly what you posted.   Gardner was a STUD before he got the living shit beat out of him almost every week without the coaching staff seeming to give a damn. Look what happened when he went out and our southpaw went in for a series. 

 

The level of damage gardner took on the field is absolutely insane and i was getting pretty upset about it.  He was also an amazing ambassator for the team and the school. 

 

Look how long it took Denard to recover enough to get a shot in the NFL from all the nerve damage in his hand. They were both hung out to dry and were both excellent players.

 



One thing ole richrod had a nack for was finding hidden gems (though gardner didn't exactly fit the super-underrated-3-star mold that richrod seems to be good at.  

 

Harbaugh coming in back then would have been amazing, even hoke was able to pull great recruits, just developed them at a middle-MAC-level.  had a knack for turning 5 star talent into "not playing football as a career" 

 

 

CorkyCole

August 23rd, 2016 at 9:24 PM ^

No NFL team also thought JaMarcus Russell was a good QB. I was going to say Vince Young, but he did get a shot at least. I have a feeling Harbaugh would have turned DG into a draftable unbroken QB.

Space Coyote

August 23rd, 2016 at 6:55 PM ^

All that is very different then being able to process defenses quickly on a football field. I'm very proud of what he accomplished in his time at Michigan, but he would have had his challenges with certain aspects of Harbaugh's offense. People forget that even pre PTSD Borges highly simplified his offense to suit the fact that DG didn't have great vision and timing. All reads were pre snap half field 2 progression reads for the most part, which was outside the norm for Borges's offense.

Kaep is a decent comparison, but was a better pure runner and had a slightly stronger arm (Gardner had a quicker release and was probably set up to be more consistent underneath because of it). Harbaugh simplified the offense as well, but I don't think that's a sure thing for DG.

It's more than just the physical measureables, Morris is probably the best athlete with the best arm among the QBs on the roster right now and is 3rd on the depth chart due to accuracy issues and the fact that he processes things too slowly and he's had the advantage of Harbaugh as a coach. I loved DG as a player, but he was a flawed player even before his OL broke down, and some of those things Harbaugh may not been able to fix. Nothing against DG personally, he represented Michigan and sacrificed more for the football program than most.

UMinSF

August 23rd, 2016 at 8:11 PM ^

You make great points, but I disagree with one very relevant one - the comparison with Kaepernick, to me, is more than decent. 

Kaepernick played in a mid-major pistol offense in college. Harbaugh turned him into an effective, dangerous NFL QB overnight.

Kaep isn't as bright as Gardner, nor apparently as studious. Yes, he's faster, and has a cannon for an arm - but wow he slings it all over the place. He's never been known for his field vision or decison-making either (unless tuck-it and run every time is deemed quick decision-making) 

Sure, Kaepernick's a demoralized wreck now himself, but under JH he was dynamic. I firmly believe JH would have mitigated Gardner's flaws and maximized his potential.

Such a shame.

FatGuyTouchdown

August 23rd, 2016 at 11:52 PM ^

hasn't had a good quarterback that he personally developed as a QB Coach. With the schools he's been at, he's had some pretty damn impressive athletes and kids to deal with. Borges aint exactly a quarterback whisperer. You don't think Jim would've implemented spread offense into the gameplan to adjust for having such a great player? Look at what he did with Colin Kaepernick. That was a very pro style team with Alex Smith and he turned it into a team that ran a lot of spread concepts with Kaep. 

Space Coyote

August 23rd, 2016 at 8:23 PM ^

It doesn't make the joke make sense unless it's along the lines of the "thanks Obama" jokes. People continue to make every complaint about the guy three years later including complaints that contradict each other. And yeah, execution still matters. I'm glad Michigan has the coaches in place now to teach the players the details they need in order to execute. I remember you being one of those people that joked about the importance of execution... I'd like to ask Harbaugh his feeling on the importance of execution.

Space Coyote

August 23rd, 2016 at 8:56 PM ^

Resorting to pointing out typos someone makes from a iphone. And double posting in the process because you were in such a hurry to try to one up when you had nothing else to contribute. You're wrong here as you were then. I'm done arguing it with as Borges is long gone, I just still don't approve of jokes that make no sense regarding him as I feel with any coach that coaches at UM.
By the way, it's amazing to me the number of people that bring up Borges sucked to me that talked up how great Michigan's offense was going to be under Nuss and then in proceeded to go to a top 50 offense to barely a top 100 offense and those people still point out how awful Borges was. Oh and Nuss isn't a terrible OC either, the problem as I pointed out at the time was almost blindingly obvious to be elsewhere. But yeah...