Practice Time (Countable Hours, etc)
I have been thinking about this lately while watching this team struggle all year as well as in big games in prior years under Harbaugh. I haven’t seen any stories about this but wonder if Michigan is practicing less than other teams (pre-season, Spring, and in-season)? Is that why Michigan seems to always look so unprepared and sloppy, especially in big games? Is Michigan’s compliance department monitoring every countable minute since our egregious (LOL) practice violations were uncovered during the Rich Rod years? Are our players doing as much “unsupervised” and “voluntary” practicing as other teams are? Does Michigan have to go to extreme lengths to tell players that any activities beyond practice are truly not compulsory? I am at a loss for why a coach like Harbaugh who has been successful everywhere is struggling at Michigan and wondering if there is something structurally wrong at this point with the program as a whole.
I don’t post much here, sorry if this sucks, but I was hoping maybe someone with insight into the inner workings of the program might be able to compare Michigan’s policy versus the elite programs like OSU, Alabama, Clemson, etc. Why are young players seemingly so unprepared to play at Michigan while other schools start multiple young players and win titles? Why can Alabama have a new OC every year and the players pick up the offense quickly?
October 14th, 2019 at 5:15 PM ^
Yeah this post does suck.
October 14th, 2019 at 5:25 PM ^
Thanks. I appreciate the feedback. Have an excellent rest of your day.
October 14th, 2019 at 5:35 PM ^
Stupid is as stupid does......sorry for the post, it was just a thought and hoped someone might be smarter than I apparently am and know whether Michigan is operating under more restrictions that others. Have a great one. I will now go back to reading the more thoughtful posts of others and leave this to the professionals like yourself.
October 14th, 2019 at 5:48 PM ^
C'mon Naija. Don't be like that - just a joke.
If actually attending classes falls under "restrictions", then I guess Michigan probably does have more than Alabama. Alabama also has - well, ya know - NFL caliber players at almost every position (w a few backups), which helps in that whole athletic execution thing. And after watching Alabama-Texas A&M, I am not sure what Alabama is playing, but it appears to be a level or two above Div 1 college football. It is men against boys...
October 14th, 2019 at 5:23 PM ^
I think it's just the right fit sometimes. It clearly worked right away with Don Brown. Look at what passing coordinator Joe Brady has done at LSU if you want to feel ill.
Rich Rod was a terrible fit. I'd give Gattis another year then pull the plug.
October 14th, 2019 at 5:58 PM ^
Reasonable take. 6 games is a bit early to declare him a failure.
October 14th, 2019 at 6:05 PM ^
Especially since it's a 5-1 record, and there HAVE been glimpses of a good passing offense at times (albeit inconsistently).
October 14th, 2019 at 6:07 PM ^
Careful. Citing evidence in support of your statement is dangerous around these parts.
October 14th, 2019 at 6:57 PM ^
To be fair, Don Brown walked in to an entire starting 11 of NFL-bound talent returning from a top-10'ish defense from the year before.
Wormley, Glasgow, Henry?, Hurst, Charlton, Freshman Gary, Gedeon, Peppers, Lewis, Clark & Stribling, Hill, Thomas...
I think Stribling's bouncing around the secondary leagues, but everybody else is in the league. Brown is good. That roster made it a little easier.
October 14th, 2019 at 5:33 PM ^
Nice thread. Jackhole.
October 14th, 2019 at 5:45 PM ^
Go build a dam. You're (possibly) better at that.
October 14th, 2019 at 5:42 PM ^
Shea spent the summer at Bushwood instead of practicing football.
Also Gattis might suck.
October 14th, 2019 at 6:54 PM ^
Okay! You can owe me!
October 14th, 2019 at 5:42 PM ^
I have the same questions. Why does a 5* Michigan player underwhelms compared to most other 5* commits at other schools? I don't question their heart and effort. Something else seems missing. Not sure what it is. Practice more of course makes a play/action more effortless to perform. May be they are not working together as a unit as much as other schools might be doing.
October 14th, 2019 at 5:57 PM ^
Roids.
October 14th, 2019 at 6:45 PM ^
This is best answered by Occam's Razor. The simplest answer is probably the right one.
We have QB coaching that doesn't develop our QBs through their college careers, probably by making them so risk-averse that they second- and third-guess their own talents and can't just play. Little development for the most important position on offense.
The RB coach is the head coach's son. If you think that's the best option, I disagree.
We don't seem to have much WR coaching at all, since we have the OC supposedly doing that and trying to figure out.....how to be an OC.
Our OL coach seems to be doing a decent job given the fact that we're starting OTs that aren't seemingly that good, since we don't seem to recruit those. Tons of guards though....
Add to that we completely changed our run game to a read concept, and then we tied one hand behind our back by starting a QB that can't make reads.
So yeah, coaching.....and to a lesser degree recruiting, done by the coaches.
Before you shit on this post, look at what our defensive coaches are doing, keeping that side at a high level (yes, I know, not against OSU) despite losing most of the starters every year.
We returned 9 of 11 starters on the O, and plugged in a 5* RB in place of Higdon. And we continue to shit the bed.
Coaching, for the most part.
October 14th, 2019 at 8:51 PM ^
That's the inference i am trying to avoid. Somewhere I keep expecting this team to figure it out and just demolish any and all comers. They have done that. But not regularly enough. That's what's so puzzling.
October 14th, 2019 at 5:42 PM ^
You forgot about the weather. We have weather too. Don't forget injuries. Yes, we have injuries. And the start time of the games !! My God the start times are always changing. And some of the players get depressed because some fans are critical of the teams performance.
October 14th, 2019 at 5:45 PM ^
Yep, sucks
October 14th, 2019 at 5:50 PM ^
What the other guy said
October 14th, 2019 at 6:02 PM ^
I'm with you, naijablue. I've often thought about Auburn's true freshman QB this year, and Tua and Trevor Lawrence playing as true freshman. And many many more. And then I think about Dylan McCaffrey, with his bloodlines and a lifetime of football experience, still not quite ready as a Junior. Jealousy creeps in.
Other programs do seem to let their athletes, even if not quite "ready", sink or swim in a game situation if they have an "it" factor. e.g. Player A might perform slightly worse in practice than Player B, but maybe A has a higher ceiling. Maybe A performs better on Saturdays.
Or more likely, maybe it's out of necessity (like Auburn), or maybe it's b/c they have nothing to lose (Saban with Tua in the national championship game), and in that case, it's hard to complain about not HAVING to play true freshmen.
October 14th, 2019 at 6:06 PM ^
I still wouldn't piss on Michael Rosenberg if he was on fire.
October 14th, 2019 at 6:54 PM ^
This is not a bad, dumb or pointless post. I am not saying Michigan runs the perfect program in every facet. However, I really think Michigan trying to run a clean program with practice, recruiting, school, grades and behavior hurts the teams success on field. For example, there are definitely players Michigan won't take if there are serious character concerns, grade concerns and such. We have all read stories about shady recruiting practices by other teams and/or players being accused of serious issues and they still play.
If Michigan has to break rules, take unsavory characters and/or cheat in school to win it all then count me out. That said, Michigan's problems on field this year has more to do with coaching then your premise. I do think coaching has a lot to do with fumbles, penalties and mental breakdowns.
October 14th, 2019 at 8:42 PM ^
Love the positive energy out there last couple of days. Hope it lasts!!!
October 14th, 2019 at 9:18 PM ^
lol. No.
October 14th, 2019 at 11:43 PM ^
I seem to remember that once Harbaugh took over the players at the time (and maybe him) talked about how they used every second of the 4 hours practice time and that it was a huge change from Hoke who routinely only used about 2.5 hours or so. Something about 'you only get better at football by playing and practicing football."
If that is still the case then I would imagine they use every second allowable.
Anyone else remember this or is my old age catching up with me?
October 15th, 2019 at 8:21 AM ^
I assume Alabama, Clemson, Gerogia, OSU, etc, all practice as much as they feel like without any concern at all that their local papers will out them over it. Michigan has that exact scenario in our recent history, although they're probably safe now.
Who knows how Michigan does it now, but you are certainly correct that it doesn't look like they take unlimited extra time to put polish on.