Next Year's SR Class
I think we all agree that this team was very young last year and very young this year as well. I was just glancing at the roster and it really surprised me how many seniors we will have on the team next year.
Not counting walk-ons and players who probably won't get a 5th year:
Schilling
Warren
Woolfolk
Ezeh
Mouton
Rogers
Moundros
Ferrara
Dorrestein
Webb
Banks
Patterson
Sagesse
That's only 3! certain starters (Schilling, Warren, Woolfolk).
Two points:
1 - The incredibly small senior classes of 08,09,10 show how badly attrition (injury, transfer, dismissal, etc.) has afflicted the program since Lloyd brought in his last 2 or 3 recruiting classes and should serve as one more nail in the coffin of the ridiculous argument that Coach Rod took a great program and ruined it.
2 - Some may disagree, but if I was in charge, I would give RR and staff at least 2 more full years regardless of what happens in 2010. My reasoning is that the team should be absolutely loaded in 2011 (Seniors - Odoms, Hemingway, Stonum, Shaw, Fitzgerald, Molk, RVB, Martin, Huyge, Koger; Juniors - Tate, Denard, V. Smith, Roundtree, Stokes, Omameh, Barnum, Emilien, Roh), and that it will take at least this recruiting class and the next one to get the roster to the point it needs to be with regards to talent as well as depth.
Basically, if RR is let go after next year, it would sabotage a potentially great 2011 primarily by pulling the plug on the offense just as it is about to hit its full stride and potential.
November 22nd, 2009 at 4:21 PM ^
Cosigned. I would give 4 years in nearly any circumstance. Only if next year is a clear regression would I consider a move.
November 22nd, 2009 at 4:22 PM ^
Well, in addition to Warren, Woolfolk, and Schilling...
Moundros will almost certainly start at FB, and at least one of the Ezeh/Mouton combo will start. I have a hard time believing that two fifth-year senior inside linebackers will ride the bench, and I think Mouton still has a lot of potential to be great. I thought he played pretty well yesterday, and he's not as limited physically as Ezeh is.
November 22nd, 2009 at 4:27 PM ^
My impression of Mouton from yesterday was the he kept getting caught inside and was at fault on the ZR plays where Pryor picked up mad yards, unless Mouton DIDN'T have scrape responsibility, but given how BG just attacked the RB each time, and Mouton looked lost, I don't think that's the case. Either way, Mouton got pulled for Fitz after this happened twice in a row.
November 22nd, 2009 at 6:08 PM ^
You're right. Ezeh and Mouton don't play down hill, or react in pass coverage. I don't care what year you are, if you can't play your position you can't play.
November 22nd, 2009 at 6:14 PM ^
Mouton is a hell of a blitzer though.
November 22nd, 2009 at 6:35 PM ^
Yeah...he had a problem with the zone read option, but who for Michigan hasn't? Also, I have to admit that Pryor had me fooled on a couple of those runs, too. Usually I can read those handoffs pretty well when watching on TV, but I had a hard time with him AND with Masoli in the Oregon/Arizona game last night.
I think part of it is that Pryor is such a smooth runner that when he's SPRINTING with the ball, it looks about the same as when he's just jogging to carry out the fake.
November 22nd, 2009 at 6:43 PM ^
Have you ever seen an up close shot of him running? It's freaky how fast he looks up close as compared to press box view.
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I kind of felt like OSU was running the zone read partly as a joke because of the recruiting battle, I don't remember them running that play very often before. And, obviously, because it worked.
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:13 PM ^
I think the whole problem is that Mouton never seems to stick to his assignment, and that's why he was much better at OLB than ILB. Correct me if I'm wrong, but ILB relies more on reads than OLB.
Mouton and Williams being irresponsible time and time again, and Ezeh not being able to decide anything seemingly ever, were the biggest problems this year, at least to me. I don't know how much of this is on coaching (look at Crable, irresponsible his entire tenure) and how much is on the player.
I expect to see starting ILBs of Mouton and Fitzgerald next year. I just can't see Ezeh starting, barring a miracle. He's to LB what Stevie Brown was to Safety last year.
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:22 PM ^
For what it's worth, I think Ezeh has been playing out of position his entire career. I thought he should have been a SAM in English's and Shafer's defense, and now he would probably make a better Quick.
I wonder if it's possible that Roh could move to DE and Ezeh could move to Quick next year. It's not likely, but something to consider, I guess...
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:42 PM ^
id like to see ezeh move. i think he can still be productive at another position perhaps a la stevie brown. i guess we'll see what the offseason holds...
i really like the kid and think he could provide some good leadership next year as well. like the op said, we've really got a dearth of seniors again.
November 22nd, 2009 at 4:30 PM ^
More good news. We're going to have some serious stores of multi-year starters pretty soon.
November 22nd, 2009 at 4:56 PM ^
Replacing RR would result in a best case scenario of things not getting any worse, with likely scenarios of things getting worse to various degrees.
November 22nd, 2009 at 5:30 PM ^
When looking at RichRod's time here so far, I consider this past year his first year because 2008 was not his players who could not run his scheme. There was little he could do to make that team successful. So I'm counting three years or four from the 09 season.
November 22nd, 2009 at 6:41 PM ^
Next year's senior class is still not RR's recruits so you can't really judge him on them. I see a lot of production out of the juniors next year starting with Martin and VB. Stonum, Shaw, Odoms, and Roundtree are going to blow through a lot of secondaries. Good luck stopping the running game if Molk can stay healthy. I also think V. Smith is going to be the next generation physical RB. He reminds me of Hart with his abilities despite a small package and can run through tackles much like Minor did.
God I can't wait until next year!!!
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:00 PM ^
Okay, let's not get crazy here...
At some point, Rodriguez has to be blamed/credited for the team's performance. I'm a Rodriguez supporter, but we can't keep saying, "These guys weren't recruited to Michigan by Rodriguez, so they have no bearing on his ability to coach." Because if we had been good this year, people would be saying, "Rodriguez has done a great job!" instead of "Look how great Carr's recruiting was!"
Some of the guys who committed to Carr in the '08 class will still be here in 2012. Do we have to wait until 2013 ends to judge Rodriguez?
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:08 PM ^
Sure you can judge him on player development, but until all of the players are ones that fit his system then you can't be 100% sure that it's working. By the way, I'm talking about the offense. The defense, yeah, no excuses whatsoever!!