Go look up the word "counterfactual"
I know the word, but I don't know what you're getting at...
I don't think Hoke can take credit for Gallon's improvement; that is almost similar to Hoke taking credit for Denard's improvement as a player.
Ummmmm......what?
First of all, Denard's best season was under Rodriguez in 2010. So I'm not sure that anyone would even consider giving Hoke credit for Denard's improvement.
Secondly, Gallon absolutely improved during Hoke's reign. He barely played when Rodriguez was in town. Gallon had a good second half of 2012 with Gardner at quarterback, and then he had a great 2013 season.
And third, if Hoke doesn't get credit for developing guys like Gallon, then he doesn't deserve criticism for not developing guys like Funchess. If your point is that "Players are who they are regardless of the coach," then...well...you're wrong.
I didn't know about legal troubles or what the truth is on them, but I met Josh a couple of times and he seemed like one of the nicest guys I've met. Friendly, happy, charismatic and smart.
I wonder if Harbaugh came in time to save Dymonte Thomas from a similar fate. By that I simply mean having to transfer out to actually find his talent.
Anyhow the Hoke regime really stunk on position coaching - based on where all these guys landed. Someone compared where Muschamp's guys landed after he got fired v Hoke and it's just sad. We basically had a MAC program ex Mattison, in terms of coaching.
Feel like a lot of players got cheated at Michigan in terms of football development these past 4 years.
From what I was hearing in the spring, when Michigan would go to their nickel package, they were moving Peppers from FS to slot corner and plugging in Thomas at FS. I think that's a bad idea because Thomas is not suited for the free safety position. He ought to be playing down in the box most of the time, blitzing off the edge, etc. I actually liked where Hoke/Mattison were using him as a freshman, although I don't think he should have burned his redshirt that year.
Gold was drafted In 2000 by the Broncos.... didn't have the size of many NFL LBs but had excellent speed and quickness.
Furman was also a RB in high school. I wonder if the M staff ever tried him at RB in practice?? I know he was recruited for D, but we had so many problems running the ball it couldn't have hurt us.
I don't know for sure, but I never heard of him getting reps at running back in practice. AFAIK, he was defense all the way.