The Light at the End of the Tunnel?

We had the youngest team in the Big Ten last year. Not only do we only lose a handful of guys on either side of the ball, but we also have more first and second year contributors than any other team, and those guys are likely to improve more than the 3rd and 4th year guys that other teams are returning. Look for our O-line to be better, our D-line to do a surprising job making up for BG, and enough young guys stepping up in the secondary to make it an improvement over last year. Because of the youth we had this year, we very well could improve every single position group on O and D despite our losses to graduation and the NFL.

Ok, I'll try (if for no other reason than to convince myself): 1. Tate will be a year older and more experienced. Traditionally, QBs show their greatest improvement from the first year to their second. 2. Denard may actually, you know, throw the ball and when he does, he may actually throw it to one of OUR guys. Joking aside, but for Sheridan being the only other QB on the team (no offense to the Coner), Denard would have red-shirted. He is totally raw, and a full year of studying the playbook and working with the coaches may make a huge difference. Even if he is able to be a change of pace QB, it will be a huge asset, and if RR gets creative with his two mobile QBs (see the first offensive play of the OSU game), we may be in for some excitement on offense). 3. The O-line loses virtually nobody, regains Molk, and ages by another year. Most successful teams have largely junior and senior O-lines. Not us. Next year, we will finally have upperclassmen at those critical positions. And, while I know that the Eeeeee Barwis excitement has dulled, all of those O-linemen will have had another year with him to get bigger and faster. All of those points focussed on the offense, which I expect to be pretty damn potent next year. How about the . . . special teams: 1. The fumbles were still there, but were way down from lasy year on special teams. I would expect this to lessen even more. 2. Stonem has shown some big play return ability. I would expect that to continue, especially as the guys who are blocking for him gain more experience. 3. While we lose the mighty Zolton, we do have a pretty highly rated punter / FG kicker coming in, and frosh kickers do not do appreciably worse than more experienced kickers. Ok, time for the defense - hard to find too much positive here, but: 1. We have a TON of young D-backs on the roster, and while we lose Warren, we will at least have more than 1 actual scholarship CB on the roster. This position will still be a liability, but less so. 2. We also have a ton of young safeties on the roster - this was a position of need, as well. 3. Linebackers. Thety were so bad last year that this position alone cost us a game or two. They CANNOT be any worse (although they can remain horrendous). But, Ezeh and Mouton are athletic and talented guys. They are also upperclassmen, so they will have some experience. Their mistakes were almost entirely mental. If those can be corrected, this may turn into a position of relative strength. 4. The defense pretty much gave up 7 points every time they were out there. How much worse can they be?

We won't be starting a freshman at quarterback.

10 years from now, when you go to marriage counseling, make sure you wear a Michigan jersey. The counselor will be like 'ohhhhhh' and recommend she go to Ross for an MBA so she learns what a real school is.

As bad as it has been I would not trade places with ND. Even if they get Kelly they are still 2 years behind us in the development of a similar transition. As for getting engaged to a Buckeye...Have you considered self casteration?

Crap. How did that happen? Posted on the wrong thread.

Just strike a deal with her. When UM wins you go down on her and when OSU wins she has to go down on you. She will be a UM fan before you know it.

Solution. Get her the Pryor jersey. Have his "everyone kills people, murders people (etc)" quote embroidered into it. Win-win.