Pretty good info/Epinion on Spring Practice
From hailvictors.
http://www.hailvictors.com/showthread.php?2835-A-Little-Birdie
I thought it a good read, FWIW.
"Our little birdie says that for the first time in several years (even going back to Carr) he’s “optimistic about Michigan football again.”
“David Brandon is one of the best things that’s ever happened to Michigan, and his leadership is going to have an impact on football, too. I talked to him about Rodriguez’s future, and I didn’t get the sense from him that Rodriguez was on the hot seat so many others believe he is. And the coaches are more confident, too. They’re saying we’re going to win this year, no more excuses. Rodriguez was telling some of the coaches at the clinic he doesn’t need protected from anyone or anything on the inside, he knows what he’s doing and they’re going to win.
“The talent level compared to what it was Rodriguez’s first year is much better, and the quarterback play is like night and day compared to year one. I think the defensive improvement will be the story of the season, and we’ll be at least seven points per game better on that side of the football this season.
“I’m looking for 9 wins.”
Oh yeah, 6 - midnight.
It was very interesting to see the high reviews DG is getting. The way it sounds is that he could make an impact very early this year. Maybe a red-shirt is not in the cards for him after all.
Gardner is going to be a good one. I believe it's only a matter of time before he takes over.
If this is the case, and it sounds like he most likely won't start against UConn, then it makes even more sense to redshirt him if possible, in order to maximize his time as a starter.
If Gardner is as good as we're reading, or as good as you and I hope he can be, there is little chance of him staying at Michigan for what would be 5 1/2 years.
If he helps Michigan win now more than Tate and Denard at ANY POINT this season, get him on the field. Don't worry about 2014 - I imagine either Conelius Jones or some other QB can handle the job at that point.
Well, if I were Tate, I'd spend any vacation time this summer at a QB camp working on my pocket presence, then. Sounds like that's what they really want, if they could just get it.
Or, he may spend his time shopping other programs, which would be a shame.
if he did that YET. I mean, shoot, dude still has the inside track for starter, spring practice notwithstanding. The season carries way more weight. Like most people, I think he'll start against UCONN.
and I don't think he will, but if he does, that wouldn't be a huge loss to the program. If his attitude is that he'd rather transfer than learn to have pocket presence, he won't be successful here or elsewhere.
I'm in no way convinced that's what will happen though. I think he'll continue to grow, and I'm hopeful about our passing game with him at the reigns at least this year and next year.
i agree that devin gardner is going to be a stud at michigan, but 6 months ago we were calling tate the Savior. If tate needs to work on his pocket presence, then i'm sure the coaches are working on it with him. The kid is only a year removed from high school. I disagree that his potential is much lower b/c of his training in high school. You can't really simulate the speed of the college game and being comfortable staying in the pocket while you're in high school. Spring ball is going to help him, but don't forget they still have fall practice for him to continue to get more comfortable.
I'm with everyone that Tate will be the starter come the opener, but I think he'll be our starter next year also...come 2012 that might be a different story.
Awesome read. Sounds like a lot of what we've already heard, but I'll never complain about too much info.
Word for word... originally posted by Steve Deace.
...this bit on the secondary was noteworthy, especially the effusive praise for Troy Woolfolk.
“I think this year’s Brandon Graham is Troy Woolfolk,” he said. “He’s the best player in the program right now. He’s playing like a first or second round NFL draft pick.” Makes you wonder what might’ve happened had Donovan Warren wisely decided to stay for his senior season to pair with Woolfolk, but moving on. Like many others, our little birdie is also raving about Cameron Gordon at safety but thinks highly-touted redshirt J.T. Turner is still a work in progress. “He needs to get consistently tough,” he said. “Some plays he just comes up and lays the receiver out, and then other plays he lets up which really upsets Rodriguez.”
This is 100% copied verbatim from a post from Steve Deace on GBW.
Interesting. I smell a scandal.
I was skeptical about the insider status of a guy with a "peeing Calvin" avatar.
I made one with Calvin pissing on the freep logo for a tshirt.
Nothing wrong, except that the creator of Calvin and Hobbes hates how his artistic creation has been stolen and redistributed (and in an extremely trashy way, no less).
"I may get burned for this but I received an email today and wanted to share it with my fellow Michigan fans. I don't have a link nor do I know if this is 'priviledged' information. If so, moderators just go ahead and delete it. It does have some good information about Spring Ball so here goes nothing..."
I copied his intro to his post verbatim. He's not saying he knows the little birdie or talked to the little birdie. He's saying this was emailed to him. He's not taking any credit for anything - just passing on an interesting email he received.
is passing this off as his content.
1. Steve Deace who posts premium content for GBW posted this word for word. BTW, it wasn't an email, it was a phone call and he didn't get it.
You are innocent but the other guy isn't.
That you are trying to justify him stealing premium content is laughable. You should wear a green ski mask when you type.
Even on the premium boards? Do they have to sign any "do not disclose" before the coaching clinics?
would an opposing coach do with this information? It's not like they said:
"In a new play this spring, Michigan has been lining up in X formation, and then executing what appears to be a double reverse, with the second handoff a well disguised fake. This play can be identified pre-snap if you see X player a half yard up from normal, and Y player two yards towards center."
This is all just fluff to get fans excited.
especially hearing about the defense. we get so enamored about offense potential, but that's not the problem; if richrod is going to have success he's going to have to field an upper-echelon defense - it sounds like we may be on our way to that...
i did not like reading this though:
"'I think games like Michigan State , Iowa, and Wisconsin could be telling.' " (in that we may not be able to defend the pass)
could be key to how far this team goes, the difference between 5-6 wins and 8-9.
Updated Odds to start the the opener
Tate: -140
Devin: 3/1
Denard: 4/1
As much as I want Devin to redshirt, if he really is the best frosh QB ever at Michigan.....then how far behind can be truly be of the incumbents.
Loooooong way to 9/4. This is wide open.
In 2011 watch out, would not be surprised at all to see him get the starting job.
Someone needs to find this guy's epinion following last year's scrimmage so we have a baseline. It dampens the optimism if he had similar praise prior to last season too.
Touche, Wile, touche...
Agreed, he could be like Fred Jackson, who only speaks in superlatives.
Good stuff, though not quite as cool if taken directly from the premium boards.
That said, it sounds like the team will surprise people next year, especially on defense. Clearly I'm not excited about Gardener starting next year - I do not care how good he has looked in practice, the step up to him from Tate/Robinson is not worth burning a redshirt when he can guide this team for 4 more years. Otherwise, the WRs sound a little inconsistent but young, the RB stable should be at least adequate, and the secondary sounds improved enough that I expect TEs to remain in front of our safeties on 99% of the plays.
Had friends join osu's premium to get the inside scoop there, couple joined nd for the same....I does nothing for football coaches making gameplans at all.
Fall reports could confirm player strength or weaknesses but game film does that all on it's own....
Admit it though, this is far better then the days of the fort where you got nothing other then the common "He's making strides" 85 times in fall camp...pretty much all 85 players on the team made strides under LLoyd!
I just thought it was funny that HailVictors was linked. There are maybe 3 posters over there worth a damn thing.
Will Campbell starting to really stand out.I was excited about his recruitment and now it seems he is strongly on the right track.
I had a feeling that Troy is going to be much improved, but to hear that he could be "the Brandon Graham" of this year is more than I had expected.
Reports are overwhelmingly positive every spring. Take what you read with a grain of salt.
Last spring Tate Forcier had the same (or better!) arm strength as Chad Henne.
It's the nature of the beast, but spring ball ain't fall ball. I'm optimistic that we're moving in the right direction, but expecting some kind of quantum leap is probably begging for disappointment. We're still very young at most positions.
That would be Magnus taking the wind out of my sails... Another dose of reality and you will find me dead on the toilet like Elvis.
To be fair, that was a Fred Jackson quote. The same Fred Jackson who claims that every year that someone is either the best or the fastest that he's ever seen!
I actually read it in a couple separate practice reports from observers/reporters/insiders.
April 13th, 2010 at 11:38 PM ^
I think the same thing about how the coaches supposedly have to "kick Gardner out of the film room". Wasn't Tate supposedly known for watching film non-stop? Whatever, I guess it's better to hear fluff than nothing at all.
Hey Mags, remember when Kevin Grady was gonna take Mike Hart's Starting job? I do.
when everyone fell in-love with kevin grady after he ripped off an 80 yard run at one of the rose bowl practices when he enrolled early... sadly the only time we saw some of that brilliance was against DSU...