Oregon Duck spread offense vs Michigan
I live in Oregon so I get a heavy dose of the Oregon Ducks and their spread offense. Last night I watched them literally destroy another opponent with 700 yards of offense. Two weeks ago they again wracked up 700 yards against Arizona. They have scored 68 and 55 points respectively. Oregon does not have any tiny little slot receivers or tiny to mid sized running backs. They certainly have skill guys with speed but they are all huge. When they get into space against corners and safeties they break tackles. I then watched West Virginia and their version of the spread which RR built. Yes they are all fast but do not have the power to break many tackles. Just wondering if Michigan will try to mimic Oregon and Texas and Oklahoma and recruit some speed with size. I love the McGuffies and Odoms of the world- I get to watch Jacquizz Rodgers every week at Oregon State, but, I would like to see the beef.
November 30th, 2008 at 3:35 PM ^
obvs Michigan will run the Rodriguez type with the micron-sized water bugs.
Also: That's what she said.
November 30th, 2008 at 3:53 PM ^
I actaully don't think that Michigan will necessarily do that. You have to remember that Rodriguez was at a distinct recruiting disadvantage while at WVU simply because it's WVU and where it's located (among other factors). Thus he ended up taking players that weren't being highly considered by other programs. For example, players that were extremely fast but couldn't catch (the MO for his receivers at WVU), players that were extremely fast but were small (the MO with his receivers at WVU), and quarterbacks who could run but weren't regarded as particulary good passers, etc. That will change at Michigan simply because of the recruiting dynamic. As I have said in other posts, I watched a heck of a lot of WVU games under RR when I lived in western Pennsylvania and it really is a credit to RR as a coach that he accomplished as much as he did with the players that he did.
November 30th, 2008 at 4:08 PM ^
I'm gonna go ahead and sort of disagree with you there.
Here are the water bug types Rodriguez has recruited to Michigan:
Freshmen this year:
McGuffie (granted he was recruited by Lloyd): 5-11, 185
Feagin: 6-0, 190
Odoms: 5-9, 171
Robinson: 5-9, 170
Roundtree: 6-0, 75 (ha ha..154)
Shaw: 6-0, 185
Recruits:
Beav: 6-2, 179
Forcier: 6-0, 184
Gallon: 5-8, 165
Jones: 5-8, 186
Peace: 6-0, 177
Smith: 5-6, 159
Toussaint: 5-10, 185
So, not exactly a bunch of burly dudes. I guess you could consider Cox a bigger RB, but Lloyd recruited him. Thomas Gordan, a 2009 commit from Cass Tech is fairly big compared to these guys at 5-10, 199.
Pat White was 6-2, 185 coming out of high school, pretty close in size to the Beav and Forcier.
So, the "recruiting dynamic" you imagine might be there, but Rodriguez is signing his type of guys still.
November 30th, 2008 at 5:06 PM ^
Yeah, you're right about that. It's actually something I waas going to address in my original post, but didn't (mainly out of laziness, but partially out of it being purely speculative). My thought on that is that it will take RR to realize on the recruiting trail that he doesn't need to only go after that sort of player (which heretofore has been what he has been able to get). I also think there is a factor of those type of players feeling that they can contribute to RR's offense. I think the success of Minor this season should somewhat set the tone in that respect. I know what you are saying and you are totally right.
November 30th, 2008 at 4:26 PM ^
Urban Meyer is contemplating suppuku at the revelation that his players are too light to be successful.
There was literally nothing informative about this post, except the fact that Oregon is pretty good.
November 30th, 2008 at 4:36 PM ^
I think it's a valid question, and I think eventually both the type of offense Rod runs and the type of recruit he gets will evolve, to bigger, faster guys instead of the all smaller fast guys, and to a more vertical passing attack integrated with the triple option. He's never had the opportunity to recruit those players, and thus had things he couldn't do in his offense- which resulted in more guys that didn't want to come there. It was a cycle.
November 30th, 2008 at 4:47 PM ^
One more thing to consider is the Oregon players probably aren't true freshmen. They've had time to bulk up in college. If it weren't for a lack of depth of the players RR wants, I'm sure there would be little chance for a player like Odoms to start as a true freshman or be our top receiver. Plus, while those bigger guys can break tackles, they probably can't make the same cuts that smaller players can. This means the smaller players are more open and don't necessarily need to break as many tackles.
November 30th, 2008 at 5:09 PM ^
Urban Meyer would disagree...
Jeffrey Demps - 5'8"
Brandon James - 5'7"
Chris Rainey - 5'9"
Percey Harvin - 5'11"
November 30th, 2008 at 5:12 PM ^
I'd be surprised if some of those guys are even that big. James looks like he's 5'5" in heels. I have the pics to prove that to. And no, you don't want to know how I got them.
November 30th, 2008 at 5:17 PM ^
For the record, Oregon's players that the OP is talking about aren't really that big except for one of the running backs and two of the receivers/tight ends:
QB - Masoli - 5'11", 201, Sophomore
RB - Blount - 6'2", 229, Junior
RB - Johnson - 5'10", 205, Senior
WR - Scott - 5'11", 170, Senior
WR - Maehl - 6'1", 178, Sophomore
WR - Williams - 6'5", 240, Senior
TE - Dickson - 6,5", 240, Junior
They are also predominantly upperclassmen.
November 30th, 2008 at 5:45 PM ^
because he's a good player, not because he's some arbitrary 210 lb player.
November 30th, 2008 at 8:04 PM ^
The goal is to get the players that are big AND fast. That, however, tends be very difficult. In the spread if you're going to take one over the other, a guy who is fast but undersized is going to get the nod over a guy who is big but not fast.
RR went after pryor hard and he's huge. It's a matter of who you can get. I would rather take the small/fast guys and build them up to be big (most players will gain significant weight in college anyway) than take a big guy who is only going to get bigger.
But I saw trindan holliday work in space this weekend and it was ridiculous. He's only 5'5".
November 30th, 2008 at 10:04 PM ^
What about 2010 commits Jackson and Miller. Jackson is 6'4" - 182 lbs. Miller is 6'3" - 208 lbs. Another year for Jackson and I'm sure he'll be near 200 lbs.
Also, I heard recently that Shavodrick is around 190 lbs. Mike Shaw is gonna be a good size RB in a couple years. I guess what I'm saying is give them a couple years to put some weight on.
Like others have said, RR's recruiting will evolve. He has more recruits available to him than he did at any other point in his career.