Left handed QB's
January 5th, 2017 at 9:07 AM ^
January 5th, 2017 at 9:21 AM ^
Jared Lorenzen
January 5th, 2017 at 9:19 AM ^
You're asking abou the nuances of lefty QB development and playcalling and offensive scheme, when the guy in the above picture couldn't identify a possible onfield concussion of said QB.
I think we all know where the Shane Morris express got derailed. And to that point, Devin Gardner was cheated out of competent coaching as well.
January 5th, 2017 at 9:39 AM ^
Had every opportunity to win the job (just as Speight did against OKorn, Malzone, and Peters). HOKE/Borges didn't do him any favors, but he had 3 full years in a college s&c program and a full year under Harbaugh/Drevno/Fisch. He has a hell of an arm, he's a solid athlete, and he's tall enough. On th other hand, he doesn't seem to have any touch, his field awareness is sorely lacking, and his accuracy is inconsistent. He's just not good enough to beat other guys o the roster and that has little to do with Brady Hoke.
January 5th, 2017 at 11:14 AM ^
Oh come on ...
Every smart person on this board knows that every problem Michigan has had in the last few years has been the fault of Brandon and Hoke! Where have you been??
Hell, some are complaining that the Russians were behind the hacking of the DNC and Clinton campaign, but I think Brandon and Hoke might be to blame...
January 5th, 2017 at 11:43 AM ^
starting quarterback is operating in a predominantly righthanded world.
It's the same problem at the dinner table. Everyone mostly eats with their right hand. And then there's me, who does everything righthanded except that. And it makes for a problem sitting next to a righthanded fork lifter.
When your offense is geared to righthanded players from the line to the running backs and even the wide receivers, everything is different when blocking, handing off and throwing to your teammates. The ball spins differently, it's handed off differently and the blindside blocking is also different. It's simply an adjustment but a physically concious one for all concerned.
January 5th, 2017 at 9:55 AM ^
Pool Hoke. If you look close, you can still see all the rope burns from David Brandon pulling his puppet strings...
January 5th, 2017 at 9:10 AM ^
I think the primary reason is that coaches aren't used to coaching lefties, so it's harder to correct any flaws in their throwing motion.
I don't think it would take long for a defense to adjust to a lefty.
January 5th, 2017 at 9:11 AM ^
January 5th, 2017 at 9:19 AM ^
Thought we were cool, bro.
January 5th, 2017 at 11:02 AM ^
But Vlad, you wear your watch like a left hander!?!?
January 5th, 2017 at 11:37 AM ^
January 5th, 2017 at 9:45 AM ^
left handed gingers.
January 5th, 2017 at 1:34 PM ^
Each ones a Blessing.. hA ha
January 5th, 2017 at 9:11 AM ^
It's a two-way street. You have to put half your playbook in a mirror. That muscle memory goes both ways and screws with the offense, too. Your left tackle is now your right tackle. He has to get used to moving the opposite way.
Also, my suspicion as to the rarity of left-handed QBs in football is that left-handed kids with an arm direct themselves to baseball, where the advantages of being a left-hander are tremendous and come with far fewer disadvantages.
January 5th, 2017 at 9:38 AM ^
I'd say it's the baseball thing. A big-armed lefty can go sign a million $$ contract at age 18 while an equally-skilled righty is probably a dime-a-dozen at that age. In football, a lefty has no advantage over the competition.
January 5th, 2017 at 9:29 AM ^
An example from our backyard. Leftie Clayton Richard was Chad Henne's backup, and played well when he got the chance. But pitching in MLB was just a much more promising career option, and so he took that path. Since he's still pitching there, it seems to have been the smart move.
January 5th, 2017 at 9:11 AM ^
Ken Stabler
January 5th, 2017 at 10:48 AM ^
Steve Young
January 5th, 2017 at 9:12 AM ^
January 5th, 2017 at 9:14 AM ^
Has Harbaugh ever had a lefty starting QB? Seems like he's only recruited right handed QB's here at Michigan, which makes me happy.
January 5th, 2017 at 9:24 AM ^
Not sure why that makes you happy, but I highly doubt Harbaugh would pass on a great talent for a dumb reason like that.
It's just a numbers game. Only 10% of the population is left handed, and as someone above pointed out a lot of lefties with good arms get steered toward baseball where they can be a bigger asset.
January 5th, 2017 at 9:15 AM ^
Shane Morris is the poster child for "Camp QBs" He looked amazing as a 16 year old playing 7-7 and could throw it 65-70 yards. Top QB prospects flame out all the time. Look at Phillip Simms, Gunner Kiel (at ND), David Cornwell, for all accounts Max Browne, Cooper Bateman, and the list goes on.
Throw some terrible coaching his first two years with Hoke, Borges, and Nuss, and you have a kid who had a strong arm and a lot of bad habits that were not fixed in his first two years. Most schools recruit a QB every class, so if you do not have those flaws fixed by year 3, the chance of playing a huge role or even starting, diminishes rapidly.
January 5th, 2017 at 9:21 AM ^
He's mos def a "What could have been?" guy.
January 5th, 2017 at 10:16 AM ^
January 5th, 2017 at 9:18 AM ^
requires mention of Jared Lorenzen aka The Hefty Lefty, aka BBQ (Big Beautiful QB), aka Quarter(got)back, aka The Pillsbury Throwboy, aka He Ate Me, aka The Abominable Throwman, aka The Round Mound of Touchdown
January 5th, 2017 at 9:23 AM ^
Abominable Throwman is great.
January 5th, 2017 at 9:46 AM ^
I prefer The Hefty Lefty, although I think my favorite is He Ate Me. Can't go wrong with any of them.
January 5th, 2017 at 10:13 AM ^
for the win.
January 5th, 2017 at 9:20 AM ^
However I watched Morris in HS his Junior year a couple of times and could not understand what all the fuss was about.
His footwork seemed good and he had a cannon, but he had zero touch on the ball. I realize he was a 5 star at one point and gurus saw talent before his senior year. However, from the games I saw I knew he'd never compete to start at Michigan under Brady hoke and certainly not under Harbaugh once he came. . He has more issues than being a lefty and I think he'll struggle to start whether he lands at a MAC school or a power 5 program.
January 5th, 2017 at 10:20 AM ^
He obviously improved his touch if you watched the spring game & a few passes this year.
Playing, experience, reps, and getting used to game speed and situations and getting comfortable all make you better. If you judged Rudock by what you saw in the first 60% of last year it was worse than what Shane has done in his extremely limited time, but then he blossomed.
If Shane blossoms, with his physical skills and arm, you'll have a superstar.
I would've loved to have seen him play last year with the way the line was protecting Rudock all year. The only games he could've lost during the period where Rudock sucked were the games we lost anyway and if he had been able to click by the end of the year anything close to how Rudock did then we'd have had a great quarterback this year.
If he becomes the Rawls of qb's I'll be anxiously awaiting your comments.
January 5th, 2017 at 11:06 AM ^
January 5th, 2017 at 9:25 AM ^
Well to use the advantages a lefty would give you you need a good quarterback.
Also, I mean only about 10% of the world population is left handed. Finding a good quarterback out of 100% of the population is hard enough.
There are also some disadvantages for receivers too. Opposite rotation on the ball, ball comes out at a different spot than expected.
January 5th, 2017 at 9:22 AM ^
January 5th, 2017 at 9:35 AM ^
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January 5th, 2017 at 9:24 AM ^
I think a part of what made Shane ultimately overrated by the services was the extreme weakness of the 2013 QB class. Take a look at the 247 composite for 2013 quarterbacks:
http://247sports.com/Season/2013-Football/CompositeRecruitRankings?Inst…
Out of all 4 and 5 stars (the top 34 QBs), the only players who weren't relative failures were:
#2 Christian Hackenberg: I only include him here because he was a 2nd round pick. He was a bad college QB
#10 JT Barrett: National Champion, hasn't progressed hugely, will not be an NFL QB
#13 Josh Dobbs: JT Barrett but worse and without a championship
#19 Mitch Trubisky: Good player, will be a high pick most likely
#21 Jared Goff: 2016 top overall pick, NFL career off to poor start
#30 Austin Allen: Decent starter for Arkansas
That's it. Everyone else either transfered from their original school or has not produced anything of note, including "can't miss" top QB Max Browne. It's easier for a marginal recruit to stand out in a year like that compared to a year where there is a lot of legitimately strong QB talent.
January 5th, 2017 at 9:31 AM ^
January 5th, 2017 at 9:40 AM ^
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January 5th, 2017 at 9:59 AM ^
I was only talking about the 34 four and five star players. Once you start getting into 3 star QBs it's a crapshoot, but you'd expect a much higher percentage of the higer rated guys to produce than what ended up happening.
January 5th, 2017 at 9:25 AM ^
coaches dont like left handed qbs because it messes up the mechanics of the snap and while there are fixes it increases the risk of a fumble on every play
January 5th, 2017 at 9:25 AM ^
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January 5th, 2017 at 10:09 AM ^
First off, you're talking about a guy who threw 90 passes in 4 years, so you don't know shit about how he can play. Look at Rudock's first 90 passes and it makes your assessment that of an ass's. Let alone his first 7 games or so.
Speight had several bad games and many terrible throws all year. Morris never had a fraction of a chance to make mistakes and still keep playing to see what he could become.
I believe if Morris had started and played every game this year, barring injury, the same way Speight did, that he would've had a better year, been able to throw the long ball and other balls Speight can't, and do much more damage and salvage with his running.
He's also a threat on trick plays as a receiver, which could've been used creatively with Peppers so that there was another possible passing threat on the wildcat if Shane was also in the backfield or coming across on a sweep or reverse from WR/Slot.
He would've gotten better and better if he didn't have to feel the pressure every play of being afraid of being yanked if not perfect and had more confidence with the confidence of the coaches to let him fail but recover and get in a groove.
I spoke to one of the redshirting freshman defenders about Shane and how his career had gone when the first story of his transfer came out and how I didn't think he had ever had the right circumstances or a real chance to prove himself. So he's only seen him and played against him for this year, and his immediate response to what I said was that "Shane was great in practice" His emphasis.
January 5th, 2017 at 9:25 AM ^
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January 5th, 2017 at 9:25 AM ^
I used to find my left handed QB's at the Leftorium but sadly it closed down.
January 5th, 2017 at 9:25 AM ^
Tell me again, why is the timing between receiver and QB disrupted when the ball comes from a lefty? 3 seconds is 3 seconds.