FauxMo

October 6th, 2015 at 9:09 AM ^

He's 8 of 33 passing in 4 years of college football, with 76 interceptions (somehow). Maybe it's just time to hang 'em up? Best of luck to the man...

Magnum P.I.

October 6th, 2015 at 9:18 AM ^

I don't intend to be mean-spirited, but I have never seen (nor do I expect to ever see) as hapless a performance by a Division I quarterback as Bellomy in that Nebraska game. I've just never seen anything like it. It was amazing. Like something from a 80s movie where some random dweeb bumbles his way into the football team's lockeroom and mistakenly gets a helmet slapped on him and hurried out to play quarterback in the high school's big game. Or even what you would expect the result to be if you or I won some sort of contest that allowed us to take a snap as Michigan's quarterback for a scrimmage. It was weird and unforgettable. 

robpollard

October 6th, 2015 at 11:51 AM ^

I have no ill-will towards Bellomy, but he just looked completely out of place on a D1 football field. It's not like he was 1-star recruit -- in theory, he should have been somewhat competent. It was a bit shocking how he performed (or didn't).



I hope he has success elsewhere in life, but his football skills were....less than optimal.

sadeto

October 6th, 2015 at 9:32 AM ^

I recall reading in "Endzone" how Devin Gardner came to Bellomy's defense - totally in character for Gardner - by saying it's a huge stage and he wasn't prepared for it, implying that it was on the coaches. But at the end of the day every scholarship QB needs to be prepared to step up, and Gardner and Morris were coached by the same people and didn't have such meltdowns. Shane didn't light it up but he kept his head together under tremendous pressure. Bellomy couldn't do that. 

reshp1

October 6th, 2015 at 9:47 AM ^

For me, the more unforgiveable thing was not being able to find his helmet during the Morris concussion fiasco. Not having the physical talent to play QB at the college level, being thrust into a road night game unexpectedly is one thing, but not even putting in the slightest effort to follow what's going on in the game to know you're next man up is just ridiculous. 

sadeto

October 6th, 2015 at 10:25 AM ^

I was thinking the same thing when I read that in Endzone, once Gardner was in the game why didn't he immediately look for his helmet? Why didn't ANYONE look for it before it got to the point where he was next man up? 

reshp1

October 6th, 2015 at 11:03 AM ^

JUB sort of answered the why no one else did it question... they forced Jon Falk out and with him went the policy of having a student manager stand next to the backup with his helmet.

EDIT: One of my favorite parts of BLL was how Bacon systematically documents all the safeguards to prevent concussion gate that were removed, one by one, by Brandon until the perfect storm came and exposed each and every gap and why those things should never have been messed with.

Bodogblog

October 6th, 2015 at 11:31 AM ^

Falk was not forced out.  He told Brandon a year before he left that he was going to retire.  I've heard him on Sam Webb's show, he's never indicated any animosity toward Brandon.  He explained the reason why he left, was that he remembered a conversation with Bo explaining why he left, and that Bo left on his own terms.  He did it "My Way".  Falk wanted to do the same thing. 

reshp1

October 6th, 2015 at 11:50 AM ^

I'm not sure who to believe on this honestly. On one hand you have it straight from the horses mouth. On the other, Jon seems like the kind of man that would never speak ill of the program no matter what and there was plenty of insider chatter that he didn't exactly leave on his terms (including Brian), and it certainly fits with Brandon's pattern of marginalizing institution guys and "firing Fridays." 

Bodogblog

October 6th, 2015 at 2:12 PM ^

Not clear on what the opposing views are: you have Jon Falk saying it was his choice, he told Brandon a year in advance.  The question wasn't "were you forced out?"  The question was "when did you decide you wanted to leave, after 800 years of doing it?"  There was no talk of Brandon, there was no trace of any ill intent or malice or drama.  Webb asked him when and how decided to retire, which is a typical question of someone who just retired and wrote a book.  

Your putting that view against what?  Did someone else say Brandon forced him out?  Was this in Bacon's book?  Honest inquiry.  If yes, I haven't heard that.  But if no, and the opposition view is just one you've constructed in your mind based on how Brandon treated others, then you need to let go.  Don't get mad at me, I'm not mad at you, I'm just saying you're in way too deep on this.  Step back.  Brandon had Firing Fridays (I'd actually heard that from an inside source early in his tenure, but assumed it was sour grapes and exagerrated), and he absolutely should be admonished for that.  Admonish away.  But when you make up something, it weakens the narrative, and much worse, it discards fact/truth.  There's no need to create a Brandon error, he made plenty of his own. 

reshp1

October 8th, 2015 at 11:59 AM ^

I fully concede that falk's own words are the only concrete info we have on this, but neither am I just making stuff up either. There was a ton of insider grumblings at the time it was announced that this was Brandon's doing. Is that sour grapes as you say? Could very well be, but there was enough of it that the adage "where there's smoke there's fire" likely applies, especially when a lot of the other grumblings turned out to 100%,true. It's not any less conceivable than Falk just wanting to put Michigan, and Brandon by association in a good light, and trying to set the narrative that it was on his terms during his interview.

los barcos

October 6th, 2015 at 10:07 AM ^

that was the turning point of the hoke era. (how prescient that it hinged on QB play?)  but going into that game, we had just beaten MSU, were first in the division tracking to play for the b1g championship, after finishing a year where we just had won the sugar bowl.

but then denard gets hurt and the wheels fall off...

Magnus

October 6th, 2015 at 10:28 AM ^

I agree. He was the worst QB I've ever seen at Michigan, and that includes Nick Sheridan. I think the coaches are probably partly to blame, but regardless, Bellomy looked bad at every turn - spring game, backup duty, not knowing where his helmet, was, etc.