Kennedy = Sheridan?

Submitted by tacar on
Just a thought I had while watching the Spring Game: Is Jack Kennedy (4th string QB) comparable (not exactly - I don't know how their respective pedigrees compare) to Nick Sheridan 2 years ago? In other words, if Jack Kennedy ends up being the starting QB against UConn, would that be equivalent to Sheridan starting against Utah in '08? If so, holy crap!

mikefromaa

April 19th, 2010 at 1:07 AM ^

He was probably better in that first year when Kennedy didn't make the team as well. In a tight spot Kennedy would probably fare better than Gardner if pushed into action right now. Time on task. Lets pray we do not see either.

RioThaN

April 19th, 2010 at 1:39 AM ^

Well, i think it shows us how bad our situation at QB was in 2008, i don't know if Jack Kennedy is better than Sheridan as a QB overall, i do remember Sheridan improving a tad last year, he threw a nice TD pass against WMU in the opener last year, but there was a flag in that play and later he threw an INT.... I guess i'd rather play Keneddy than burn Gardner's RS right now, i do think also that Kennedy is a better QB for this O than Sheridan was, not to mention that back in 2008 Sheridan had to learn the offense in about 8 months, Jack Keneddy has more mobility and has been in the team for over a year now, he at least knows what is going on, i think he'd move the offense better than Sheridan for sure

MGoViso

April 19th, 2010 at 2:00 AM ^

My interpretation of your post is that you're trying to put the situation that forced RichRod to start a walk-on in another perspective. Here's an AnnArbor.com fluff piece on Kennedy after he got some yardage against Baby Seal U. This is his MGoBlue bio. A path to U-M similar to Sheridan in that he was a good high school athlete who wasn't going to get much D-I interest but got even less due to a senior year injury. AnnArbor.com says Kennedy got into U-M purely on academic merit; I believe this is mostly the case with Sheridan as well (not sure if he secured "preferred walk-on status or not). In terms of "pedigree," well, Sheridan's dad is the ILB coach for the Dolphins, and coached at Michigan for three seasons before Nick got there. Basically, yes, starting Kennedy would be somewhat analogous to starting Sheridan. Except that in this case three good quarterbacks would have to go down, which is (knock on wood) unlikely. Unless Denard moves so fast he tears apart the space-time continuum and causes the universe to bleed dark matter, which is within the realm of plausibility.

jmblue

April 19th, 2010 at 8:02 AM ^

In other words, if Jack Kennedy ends up being the starting QB against UConn, would that be equivalent to Sheridan starting against Utah in '08? Assuming you're not hinting at some kind of injury/eligibility issue for Tate/Denard/Devin, if Kennedy were to somehow be the starter, that'd be far more impressive - he'd have beaten out some real competition (with apologies to the 2008 version of Threet).

Magnus

April 19th, 2010 at 8:05 AM ^

I have been somewhat impressed with what I've seen from Jack Kennedy in the past couple years. No disrespect to Sheridan, but I think Kennedy is probably a better QB. I don't want him to ever see a meaningful down of football, but it would be pretty awesome if he got mop-up duty in the fourth quarter of...I dunno...about 13 games this year.

ontarioblue

April 19th, 2010 at 9:10 AM ^

He reminded me of Sheridan. When he entered the Spring Game, the vast majority of people took off for the exits, similar to when Sheridan played last year.

Plegerize

April 19th, 2010 at 10:16 AM ^

Kennedy was Coner 2.0 before Conelius was Coner 2.0 He's that 4th string QB that everyone loves for his humble attitude and hard work ethic. Sheridan never really got that respect, perhaps when Henne and Mallett were around, but the last two years he didn't. They are two different players and you can't really compare the two.

oakapple

April 19th, 2010 at 10:18 AM ^

Yeah, their skill sets are probably comparable. Kennedy might even have the advantage right now, as he's been in the system longer than Sheridan was. And unlike Sheridan, he didn't come here expecting to play for a different coach. It's academic, as Kennedy is unlikely ever to see meaningful playing time: an awful lot of bad things would need to happen to the other guys. You will probably see him on the sideline doing what Sheridan did last year: holding a clipboard and signaling in plays.

Steve in PA

April 19th, 2010 at 11:42 AM ^

If he can bust rhymes and carry a mean clipboard he could be the incarnation of Sheridan + Coner. That's 100% win IMHO. I still don't understand why some bag on Sheridan. He did his best in a bad situation and someday I think we're going to think of him as one helluva coach that learned the trade at M.

tacar

April 19th, 2010 at 11:50 AM ^

I was tired when I originally posted - didn't make my point well at all. A few of you got it. I'm NOT trying to bash Sheridan - he gets a ton of respect from me. I was just trying to point out what Rodriquez was up against two years ago. I'm a bit happier with our QB situation now. And I hope things go so well that Kennedy gets a lot of mop up time. And then Furrha.