JT Daniels to UGA?
A lot of smoke coming out that he's going to UGA. I would think this would help them win the east if he is eligible. I like the kid but i'm happy to roll with what we currently have.
Not sure if he's a shoo-in to be the starter even if he is instantly eligible. UGA landed Jamie Newman from Wake Forest as a grad transfer, and he's a good dual threat option.
Yeah considering Newman was getting some preseason heisman hype, I don’t think Daniels is guaranteed as a starter. Not even sure if Daniels is sitting out one or grad transferring. Either way, probably good news for them a year from now at least
He just finished his true sophomore season. Football players are regularly finishing in 3 years if they early enroll, but I would be shocked if he’s done it in 2.
Newman tore it up on a bad Wake Forest team. He has a chance to make some serious noise in the Heisman race
I wasn't even aware we were taking a look at him. I think we are pretty stacked in the QB room, and the last 5 star QB transfer we took worked out... meh.
Didn't you know every QB on the transfer market for the past five years automatically becomes a serious candidate to come to Michigan?!?!
I wouldn't want another transfer. At some point you've got to let the guys you've actually recruited get a crack at starting.
A Harbaugh-recruited QB has started all of four games here in the last five years.
Why though?
Not that it wouldn't be a good thing and I can see why the recruited player would care, but why would a fan care?
Is that notion only for the QB position?
Because some fans worry how badly it looks to recruits long term when the head coach has four straight high 4-star commits that he never gives a chance to show they can play—and he instead settles for another team’s back-ups/non-stellar starters that comes in after the you gets sign on.
Burrow was not the fourth QB grad transfer recruit for Coach O, nor was Fields for Day. And why did Burrow leave—because his coach gifted the job to Haskins despite Burrow outplaying him in spring. Fields left for the same reason—coaches were committed to Fromm since they dumped Eason for Fromm.
Every transfer situation is unique. Unlike Oklahoma, we’ve not had as much success with the guys coming in. Riley is finally going to have Rattler get a chance because he doesn’t have three straight Heisman caliber guys come in.
I wouldn’t mind if JT came here and wasn’t given preferential treatment, if Harbaugh thinks he would improve the QB room. But he has two upperclassmen guys who’ve barely been given a chance in games. It is time for JH to focus on the guys he has had years to mold and help them maximize their potential. He doesn’t have time room go with another reclamation project.
So you would turn down a Justin Fields or Joe Burrows type talent because....
That's like people making a big deal out of locking down the state in recruiting. The point is to get as much high end talent as possible or you are never going to have a chance to win jack. Yeah, its great if they are on your roster/in your state...but if not..you go and get it elsewhere...just like every serious playoff contender.
I think it's becoming clear that Harbaugh can't bring in and groom (high school recruits) or utilize (college transfers) QB talent. Seems like soon guys are going to stop coming.
What’s the scoop on Dwan Mathis?
IMO, Mathis is not good enough to be the starter of an upper tier power 5 program.
I was very surprised Ohio State offered him and accepted his commitment. I was hoping he would stick because he would use up a scholarship for a few years before OSU fully realized he simply wasn't good enough.
He went through emergency brain surgery last year I think and is fine now. It’s crazy to see how much better Fields is vs Fromm. What happened at Georgia that he regressed so much?
I can imagine the discussions on why Fromm was ahead of Fields. His play up until Fields transfer didn’t warrant losing your job to an unproven Freshman but wow.
Honestly, Georgia now has the same problem Michigan did (pre-Gattis).
Georgia is stuck in the past. It hasn't modernized its offense and Kirby Smart isn't maximizing the talent he's brought in on offense.
Kirby Smart's staff would not have maximized Justin Fields' talents. James Coley is a mediocre OC and that was apparent in the offense's struggles which is reflected in the declining stats.
But if Smart does wise up and get an up-and-comer who specializes in spread principles, then UGA will be bitch to play against. However, there are persistent rumors that UGA's AD imposes his vision on how the offense should look and play.
Jeff Moncken. Coley is now a position coach at A&M.
"Jeff Moncken. Coley is now a position coach at A&M."
No, you mean Todd Monken (former OC of Bucs and recently Cleveland Clowns). Jeff Monken is the HC of Army who gave us all we could handle in the Big House last season.
In 2018, Jim Chaney was UGA's OC. He helped bring the spread to the Big Ten at Purdue. He left to become Pruitt's OC at Tennessee (which was frankly a weird decision imo).
So Smart supposedly did an extensive search and promoted Coley from within. I was familiar with Coley because I follow the FSU-Miami rivalry closely. Because he was completely unimpressive (at both schools), I knew 2019 UGA would struggle.
Sure enough, Smart got rid of him and hired Todd Monken. I think Monken is a pretty good coach. (I remember him from his time at OKSU OC under Gundy. Monkey had some explosive offense for Oklahoma State Cowboys.)
And yeah, Coley was rehired at TAMU by his former FSU boss Jimbo Fisher.
I see what you’re saying here but fields is a transcendent type player. As much as it pains me to say he’d make any offense look damn good
And yet, UGA didn't realize it had a future top 5 pick in Field and went with Fromm because Fromm had 1 more year of experience. (Look at how UGA used FIelds in his freshman season. It's clear neither Smart nor Chaney realized what they had.)
It's the same thing that Saban did in 2017. He kept playing Jalen Hurts despite having a transcendent talent in Tua until he was out of answers against Georgia with Hurts.
Even great coaches can fall prey to inertial thinking.
True. But a True freshman over incumbent starter who took you to the playoff is a impossible decision to make, I guess unless you are Trevor Lawrence. I think the fact they used him at all shows you what they thought of the kid. I bet they would have gave him a shot last year with Fromm kind of sputtering.
Also Saban gave tua the keys at halftime of the national champIonship game with hurts/offense struggling. That was a super gutsy call and won him the title. Pretty hard to make that call earlier in the year with a true freshman.
This is where I fundamentally disagree.
I think Saban turned to Tua out of desperation. Tua could do things in the passing game that Jalen Hurts simply and very clearly could not do. For Saban to not make that switch sooner shows a clear blindspot. From reports, Alabama's OC Brian Daboll (now Buffalo Bills OC) lobbied for the switch earlier in the season but Saban would not budge. After the national championship game, Tua admitted that he was going to transfer after the season. (I wonder if Saban was aware of this and if it influenced his decision to give Tua a chance.)
In any case, I'm from the new generation of young coaches who grew up playing and learning the spread. (I'm in my mid 30s.) The spread is more than just (1) spreading defenses out, (2) putting defenses in conflict, and (3) playing basketball on grass.The essence of spread is largely a repudiation of the old guard's well-entrenched traditions and beliefs. We didn't believe that we needed upperclassmen QB or lots of high quality inputs across the board to have a scorching offense and light up the scoreboard. (Ex: Joe Paterno famously never had a true freshman starter at QB until the late 2000s iirc). We had to make do with what we had in our public schools. Hence, the spread was borne out of necessity and was implemented to "do more with less" whether that means lesser talent and/or lesser experience. (This is something fans don't seem to understand. The spread isn't just a formation or a philosophy. It's a direct, innovative response to the old guard. It's a haymaker to the face. Think of what 07 Oregon with Chip Kelly did to Michigan after The Horror. That was one of the most embarrassing losses in Michigan history.)
Hence, we don't care what the incumbent did last season. If the back-up is outperforming the starter this season, then the supposed back-up deserves to start by virtue of meritocracy.
This is why I've always admired Harbaugh's decision to stick with Colin Kaepernick in the 2012 season. People forget that Alex Smith was having a career year in 2012 prior to his injury. IIRC, Smith was passing at a career high 70% completion percentage. But Harbaugh realized he had an up-and-comer in Kaepernick and altered the offense to accommodate Kaep's talents. Keep in mind there was an entire promising generation of young QBs in the early 2010s. That group was included Cam Newton, Andrew Luck, Russell Wilson, Robert Griffin III, and Colin Kaepernick. While Harbaugh didn't win a Super Bowl (though he came very close), he helped break the stale nature of the NFL by using a lot more college-oriented concepts and plays that have since spread through the NFL. Remember the pistol formation based offense? Harbaugh and Greg Roman helped popularize that with Kaepernick.
But I have to give Saban some credit. He realized the game was changing and got rid of Nussmeier and hired Kiffin (who is actually a pretty good OC). And Saban did make true freshman Jalen the starter in 2016 after 5 star QB Blake Barnett looked lost out on the field.
I’m prob younger than you based on your stated age, not sure what that has to do with this
Also I’m not sure what you fundamentally disagree with. That it’s hard if not impossible to go with a true freshman after the incumbent starter at qb took you to the playoff? I mean You can disagree but I can’t see any world where that’s the easy decision. Your point about Harbaugh making that tough decision is another good example of making the tough choice, but outliers don’t make a rule.
lastly hurts was somewhat limited as a passer compared to tua, but I’d say he’s very much a modern day spread qb
Hasn’t started in over a year. His tr fr year was inconsistent completion % and a bad td to int ratio. Slovis as a tr fr the next year was far better. It was easy for USC to send Daniels on his way when he asked for his release.
It's amazing the narrative around this. Smart is being praised for bringing in JT Daniels even though he already had a grad transfer QB. If Harbaugh had brought in another transfer QB, then the narrative would be completely different
Seriously, great point. Imagine if Jim let fields walk to keep fromm and then brought in JT. The irrational Jim Harbaugh hatred is so irrational and extreme. I guess it’s easy to hate umich
I hadn't even realized how little flack Kirby gets for letting Fields go to OSU until now
Why would he get flack after fields cited racism as his reason for leaving?
Fields left because he wasn’t going into the season as the named starter. If Athens was this unsafe racist campus then why did his sister who was the primary victim in this stay put. You’re being naive or perhaps sarcastic
He cited it as his reason because it helped his eligibility case. He left because he wanted to start and UGa was sticking with Fromm. In fact, Fields even considered transferring BACK to Georgia at one point.
This is the new normal in college football, and the trend will continue. Good QBs that are at less successful schools OR good QBs that get passed at top-tier programs will transfer more and more to find situations that they hope will get them drafted. Michigan would be wise to embrace the trend.
I'm not suggesting that McCaffrey and Milton aren't good enough--I don't know. But UGA just added two grad transfers. Basically, if you can improve your roster with a transfer, you do it.
I never thought UM was seriously interested or in the running, so this doesn't surprise me.
Agreed. Doesn't appear we were in the transfer market. And Harbaugh has certainly shown a willingness to go after transfer QBs.