Missing Denard

Submitted by michiganman01 on

So now, Hoke is 20-4 with Denard and 12-11 without him as our QB. I remember back when it was senior day vs Iowa and a friend and I were talking about Denard. He said that 10-15 years from now Michigan fans will say "remember when we had Denard Robinson, that guy was special." Obviously we both expected to have better 2013 and 2014 seasons and therefore thought that Denard wouldnt be missed much. However, 2 years later, I already miss Denard.

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winterblue75

September 21st, 2014 at 12:30 PM ^

Dude, kids graduate from football programs every 4-5 years, he was here, he played, he graduated. Stop lamenting in the past, that seems to be one of the main obstacles that this program has/had for almost a decade now.

Joined: 09/05/2009

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Wolverine Devotee

September 21st, 2014 at 12:35 PM ^

Yeah, the fans are what's holding this program back.

Has nothing to do with the dipshits in the administration who fucked around with coaching searches (twice), pissed all over the last coach and refused to give him $ for a DC worth more than two bags of rice and a PlayStation 1. 

Joined: 06/29/2009

MGoPoints: 31528

J.Madrox

September 21st, 2014 at 12:53 PM ^

Well you did tell a fan on a blog to "stop lamenting the past" and his (the fans) lamenting is one of the main things holding this program back. You will have to excuse him, me and others from interpreting that as blaming the fans for some of the struggles of the program. Even if you claim that its not "just the fans" holding the program back, it is not at all the fans holding the program back. Try to be more clear next time, or not be so defensive when your vague statement on a message board isn't interpreted the way you want it to be.

Joined: 03/15/2013

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Windy City Blue

September 21st, 2014 at 12:31 PM ^

Under RR, the guy was unstopable. 2012 was rough, mostly Denard chucking the ball 400 ft in the air toward hemmingway and hoping for the best. Similar trajectory for DG; they're forcing a round peg into a square hole. Guy's not a pocket QB, and never has been.

Joined: 09/22/2013

MGoPoints: 85

alum96

September 21st, 2014 at 1:13 PM ^

Let me preface this by saying I think Denard was an exciting and very good college player.  I think if he had a RB like Pat White had at West VA (and the UM administration did not f*** RR with no budget for a DC) he could have made UM a very good top end Big 10 team.

That said a sober analysis of these major wins are

  • That was OSU's worst team in 15 years, led by a coach of Hoke's coaching acumen.
  • That was MSU's worst team in 5 years, led by a guy at QB who was not a gamer and a very bad OL.  And it required some big breaks at the end of the game to drive the field just to win.  That said Denard found a way.
  • That ND win was a friggin miracle.  But Denard made plays and thats why we won, it was a pretty horrid first 3 quarters.  Likewise if Denard played average rather than very Devin Gardner like in the 2nd quarter in SB we'd have beaten them - so he tooketh and gaveth.
  • To this day I have no idea how we beat VATech.  We were so outplayed.  But kudos.

Also even with all those caveats I dont see the current offense winning an of those games.  So that sucks.

So let's celebrate Denard but  honestly threads like this I agree with the second guy on the thread who got downvoted - its what we get made fun of a lot by other fan bases.  We are stuck in the past so much and romanticize is.  Teams lose great players and move on and find new great players.

Joined: 04/28/2012

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Blue2000

September 21st, 2014 at 1:21 PM ^

  • That was OSU's worst team in 15 years, led by a coach of Hoke's coaching acumen.

Agreed.  We should totally downplay the program's only win over OSU in the last 10 years.  Denard in that game had arguably the best performance by a Michigan player in the game since Biakabutuka in 1995.  

Joined: 01/06/2009

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goblue16

September 21st, 2014 at 12:34 PM ^

2011 and 2012 were lucky seasons. They did not represent Hokes coaching ability because of the freak athlete in Denard Robinson. As much as some people were sick of him and wanted to play a real QB we could've easily won 4 games both seasons had Robinson not been with those teams

Joined: 03/28/2010

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Tater

September 21st, 2014 at 1:03 PM ^

2011 was the year that Rich Rod was finally going to get to coach a team that was predominantly upperclassmen for the first time in his tenure.  Enter David Brandon: exit reason.

If Rich Rod had been given $1 million to hire a DC instead of $350,000, Michigan may have gone 14-0 in 2011.

Joined: 08/13/2008

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MBloGlue

September 21st, 2014 at 2:48 PM ^

Serious Question.  Did RichRod attempt to bring in a quality DC at a respectable salary but was rebuffed?  Or did he mismanage the hiring process?  Is there evidence for this or is this just speculation?  I didn't follow the issue closely at the time.

Joined: 01/09/2013

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LSAClassOf2000

September 21st, 2014 at 1:06 PM ^

I believe it was the person who was actually officiating the opening of the Ark who said it, and to be fair, the Nazi dude was looking at something rather pleasant that turned out to be not so pleasant. I can't say that this hasn't nearly happened when reading a few threads in the last 18 hours or so. 

Joined: 01/07/2011

MGoPoints: 130603

Cali Wolverine

September 21st, 2014 at 12:44 PM ^

Sundays...that threw bombs to an arsenal of WRs...that had a wall of an O-Line, a stud running back and NFL caliber tight end and fullback....oh yeah and a defense full of NFL talent. So I pretty much miss pre-2008 Michugan Football (minus that loss to App State). Sigh.

Joined: 01/13/2013

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michiganman01

September 21st, 2014 at 12:58 PM ^

Well ofcourse when it comes to being a prototypical QB, Brady, Navarre, Henne are much better and Denard did have his 2010 MSU, 2012 ND games when everyone would be like WTF are you doing. However this guy had like 5 games in which he was over 90% of the offense, and one game when he was 102% of the offense. The think i miss most about him especially with the way the teams of 2013 and this year was that he never gave up. Like ND and NW in 2011 when he would throw 3 picks and the game looked lost and somehow he would bring it back.

Joined: 08/27/2013

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Cali Wolverine

September 21st, 2014 at 2:56 PM ^

Denard was a great guy and an amazing athlete....and he had to do all of those Denard like things because the rest of our team sucked. So while I enjoyed watching him play and hope he does well in NFL...I preferred more balance on my Michigan teams. I do not want to be in a position where the only way we can win a football game against a mediocre team is when out QB has to account for 90% of our offense.

Joined: 01/13/2013

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reshp1

September 21st, 2014 at 12:46 PM ^

You might as well make a missing Borges thread too. When Denard was here, there was a huge part of the fan base that couldn't get rid of him fast enough. It funny how quickly people forget the threads calling for Gardner to play QB and moving Denard to RB.

Joined: 10/31/2011

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cp4three2

September 21st, 2014 at 2:33 PM ^

the most frustrating thing about not giving Rich Rod a 4th year (prefably with Casteel) against that weak schedule. I think Denard would have won the Heisman and put up incredible numbers. That he singlehandedly was our offense for 2 years under Hoke really is a testament to him.

Joined: 08/03/2009

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Windy City Blue

September 21st, 2014 at 1:07 PM ^

2011: Denard/Borges fusion cusine. Put up gaudy numbers, DRob gets to run around. 

Passing: 2173 YDS, 20 TDs/ 15 INTs,   Rushing: 1176 YDS, 16 TDs

2012: Time to start installing MANBALL, regardless of roster. DRob must stay in pocket because we don't want him to get hurt.

Passing: 1319 YDS, 9 TDs/ 9 INTs,      Rushing: 1266 YDS, 7 TDs

In 2011, Hoke knew that he basically had to work with what he had...a spread offense. In 2012 they decide to be stubborn, and the offense falters. Point being, when coaches run the scheme that best fits their players (and the most important player, the QB) things generally work out better than when they try to force their system onto a guy that wasn't recruited for such a purpose.

Joined: 09/22/2013

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