Nice piece on Speight,

Submitted by MGlobules on

who like a lot of M QBs before him--always under the spotlight--is under-appreciated, in my view:

http://247sports.com/Article/For-Michigan-QB-Wilton-Speight-patience-is…

247 is, to my knowledge, a pay site of CBS Sports; but for some reason it opened right up for me. Hope it works for others.

Article notes that Speight was throwing for 62% before Wisconsin; looks to me like he was right around that the other day. There were a few bad passes, IMO, but you tend to get that with college QBs; the INT, OTOH, was a fluke. Guy kept his poise game-long, from what I saw.

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dieseljr32

October 3rd, 2016 at 10:46 AM ^

Speight was fine. He was going up against a tough D and still dropped a bomb that turned out to be the game winner. Yeah, he's got stuff to work on, but I'll take it.

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mjagger

October 3rd, 2016 at 10:49 AM ^

That was a great effort play on Cichi's part and then the DB made an excellent reaction catch. Some times you just have to tip your cap to the other team for plays like that.

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Double-D

October 3rd, 2016 at 5:25 PM ^

Speight is still ahead of Rudock at the same stage of their 1st seasons as starters for Michigan. Keep in mind Rudock had starting experience at Iowa. Speight needs to clean sone things up but he is heading for a great career at Michigan. I do hope he never misses seeing our WR lined up with no DB on him again. He missed a sure TD on that one.

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noahtahl

October 3rd, 2016 at 2:28 PM ^

We all know Qb's are under the microscope and usually make or break a team...so when Speight throws into coverage...thank you defense.

Okorn's M.O. at Houston, throws into coverage. Tends to run after 1 checkdown.

Remember Tom MFing Brady sat for 3 years. Think about that while eating your jerky.

 

 

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Red is Blue

October 3rd, 2016 at 11:00 AM ^

Nice article.  Not related to the article, but Speight seems to be getting Navarre 2.0 type treatment in some corners.  Not sure why, but then again I never understood why so many folks complained about Navarre either.

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Blue2000

October 3rd, 2016 at 11:53 AM ^

Speight is better scrambler than Denard. There, I said it. 

If you mean "knowing when to scramble," maybe.  If you mean "actually running with the football after having made that decision," um, no.

And Navarre was taking all sorts of shit from the fanbase long before this blog's existence.  

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Steeveebr

October 3rd, 2016 at 12:11 PM ^

I'm not sure that's fair.  I bet that same audience would be very happy with a Drew Henson type of player.  It's more about the outcome than how that outcome is obtained.  There have been a lot of positive comments on this site about Speight and his play so far, much like there were for Rudock during his great stretch.

It's an extremely fickle fan base.  Always was, even before the spread made it here.

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Reader71

October 3rd, 2016 at 12:30 PM ^

I'm not saying the blog is responsible for the fan base's mentality. Michigan fans are fickle and always have been. And the blog is all about Harbaugh and Speight. I'm just pointing out that there is a running QB preference in some fans, and it should come as no surprise if a lot of that shows up in the comments section of this page because it's a popular blog and it was all about the spread until very recently, so it attracted that many of that type of fan.

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MGoGrendel

October 3rd, 2016 at 11:02 AM ^

Rabble, rabble, rabble from his own fans.

For me, I'm thinking about the improvement we will see by year end plus how good we will be next year and the year after.  Andrew Luck indead.

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somewittyname

October 3rd, 2016 at 11:07 AM ^

Speight is a gamer. We've now seen him brush off two ints in close games. We saw him lead a game winning TD drive in his first game last year. And we've seen him display an uncanny ability to extend plays. He's pretty accurate and a pretty good decision maker. How anyone expected more at this point from the position is beyond me.

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Hail Harbo

October 3rd, 2016 at 11:29 AM ^

While I agree with you, as far as other's expecting more, there is the case of two HT winners in the past 10 years being RS Freshmen QBs.  I think Speight will generally improve weekly, especially if he gets better protection, but I can understand why reasonable people might expect more.

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somewittyname

October 3rd, 2016 at 11:41 AM ^

In 2018, when McCaffrey and Peters are fighting Speight for starter, I will expect more. Even next year I'll expect more. But I'm pleased with how the 3* Borges recruit is looking halfway through his first season as a starter with two full years of eligibility left.

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Alumnus93

October 3rd, 2016 at 12:15 PM ^

I thought for certain that Peters would be the QB next season.. now I think it is a complete longshot that anyone other than Speight, is the QB the next two seasons.

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SharkyRVA

October 3rd, 2016 at 11:09 AM ^

Great game by Speight. He has held it together pretty well when facing a rush and seems to be getting better every week. I think the fact that our running game is coming along will give him much easier reads on play action as well.

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MadMonkey

October 3rd, 2016 at 11:20 AM ^

What was apparent to me on Saturday sitting in the stands for the first time this year versus watching on TV, was his timing.  A lot of his passes just seemed to be slightly off.   Numerous times it appeared Darboh, Chesson, Butt, or Perry would flash open . . . by the time Speight made the read and initiated the pass, the DBs had time to close.

Timing -- and quicker reads -- should be among the easiest problems to correct.   The game will continue to "slow down" for Speight with experience.   I think he is going make enormous progress in his progressions this month.

 

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ChuckieWoodson

October 3rd, 2016 at 11:23 AM ^

Well said.  I also noticed that most of his throws were off when he wasn't able to stand in the pocket.  For as big and as lumbering as he is, he actually evades and avoids sacks really well. 

However after he escapes I think he's getting a bit excited and the ball is going high.  Better that then a sack, though.  The 50 yard bomb to Amara - he had time to set his feet and delivered a great ball.  Agree, I think a lot of it is correctable and he's shown good decision making.

 

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KC Wolve

October 3rd, 2016 at 11:30 AM ^

Great post. This was my first attended this year as well. I was in an end zone and I said to my buddy more than once that his throws were late. I know it is early and I'm not criticizing, I just noticed from my vantage point that he was late. I'm hoping this can be corrected as he gains experience. Being on time more with his already decent accuracy % would make me feel a lot better about facing top end defenses.



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huntmich

October 3rd, 2016 at 1:19 PM ^

This was my first game at the Big House in 6 years, so obviously first time seeing Speight live.  What stood out to me was how he stared down his receiver and didn't seem to look for second and third options.  He knew who he wanted to throw to and was pretty obvious about it.

 

I'm not in the doom and gloom category though. I still think he is serviceable and is in a better place than Rudock was this time last year.

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rwilb

October 3rd, 2016 at 11:29 AM ^

While the interception was tipped at first, I don't think I'd call it a fluke. He threw it late into triple coverage. In all though, I agree I think he's very solid

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Gentleman Squirrels

October 3rd, 2016 at 11:40 AM ^

He definitely has things to work on, but I've been highly impressed by Speight's ability to keep a play alive and avoid sacks. He's had a great pocket presence and knows when to throw the ball away.

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NowTameInThe603

October 3rd, 2016 at 11:44 AM ^

We havent had a good passing QB since Henne(Rudock is debatable but for my argument). Thats why the fanbase is the way it is. Everyone was ready for O'korn to light it up with Chesson, Darboh, Perry and Butt instead we have an adequete QB who is a "gamer".

 

I just want to see them win whatever way that is but I was hoping for a better passing game.

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Brewers Yost

October 3rd, 2016 at 11:52 AM ^

First of all I like Speight and wanted him to win the starting spot at QB. That said he is lucky to not have a couple more int's, most notably against Colorado. However, I think he is getting better every week. Seems he has moved away from throwing balls up for grabs when getting sacked and instead just taking the sack and moving to the next play. Hopefully, he starts throwing some of those passes oob. Regardless, his ability to extend plays has been a nice surprise.



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Danwillhor

October 3rd, 2016 at 11:52 AM ^

His stats hide that he's learning the position under live ammo. He's 5.5 games in! He'll improve but right now he's not going to lead a 40 point effort against a good defense. It's not hard to see and ok to admit he's neither amazing or trash right now.

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