QB - Morris embracing the competition
No job is promised. Morris knows this. He wants to embrace it. Harbaugh didn't recruit him, he didn't bring him here. But, ultimately, Morris says it's his job to prove to his coach that he's his quarterback.
"I'm going to compete like it's my job to lose every day," he says. "I'm just going to keep doing that."
http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2015/04/shane_morris.html
Nothing much new, but the article does have several quotes from Morris himself in it.
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That Rudock will start the season, but Morris will be the starter against Ohio St.
I lean towards thinking the exact opposite. As is noted below, Rudock will have a lot to learn about our offense and not much time to learn it in. I wouldn't be surprised if Morris starts at Utah almost by default, only to lose the job to Rudock once he's up to speed with the playbook.
That said, I'd like to see Morris win, and keep, the starting job. He has a very high ceiling and I'm glad to hear that he's finally receiving the coaching he needs to live up to his potential.
See that point of view as well. I just think in fall camp they are mostly even, with Rudock being more consistent and Shane having more upside. Harbaugh wants the consistency and goes with Rudock to start, but Shane gets a few snaps a game and ultimately takes over.
I hope you're right, and I'm wrong. I also wonder if JH ever used two QB's per game on any kind of a regular basis? Even if it does end up being Rudock winning the job, I'd like to see next year's starter get some playing time. As a junior, Morris should have seen the field a lot more than he has so far. Of course for that to have happened, we would have needed to have a big lead at some point during the games.
Ruddock will have a lot to learn, but I think some of the writers associated with Iowa have said he's extremely intelligent and hardworking, basically saying he would be ready to go day 1.
But whats the precedent here, did Russell Wilson start the opener for Wisconsin?
And not that Wilson was as good at NC State as he was at Wisconsin, but I think Wilson was more dynamic that Rudock was. Wilson was a borderline NFL type and then flew up the draft boards at Wisconsin.
But, in 2011, the backup to Wilson was FR Joe Brennan (who went 6/15 and never played Division 1 football after that season). Montee Ball was the only other player that threw a pass that season. The next year, Stave would start as a FR (though two other guys got 80+ attempts, one a transfer from Maryland and the other I think was hurt in 2011). Needless to say, Wisconsin's QB situation outside of Wilson was awful. Like, if Michigan's is not good, Wisconsin's was horrid even by comparison.
Yes he did, granted it was vs UNLV. Add to that the fact that Wilson had Montee Ball and James White in the backfield along with Nick Toon and Jame Abbrederis at receiver.
I don't think Wilson can be used for comparison. Regardless of his production at NCSt his upside was way higher than Rudock.
I agree that its probably a poor talent comparison, but I think its fair to compare them in terms of rediness... maybe I'm wrong.
In the 3 years that Wilson played at NC State, he was 1st All ACC, 2nd team All ACC and Honorable Mention ACC. Wilson was a stud QB at NC State. While Rudock isn't a slouch, his accomplishments at Iowa pale in comparison to what Wilson accomplished at NC State.
I tend to agree. Unless Rudock craps the bed or Shane lights it up in the preseason, the staff is going to go with a two year starter in the Big Ten over a guy who has never thrown a TD in an OPENING THURSDAY night ROAD game against a competitive Utah squad. Maybe Shane will see some snaps, but you got to believe experience will be served in that game. If Shane keeps improving though, he will see time and possibly supplant Rudock by season's end.
When does it ever happen that way? Guys don't get supplanted at QB unless they're not playing well. At most I can think of teams working in talented young QBs in certain situations, but it's not like Morris is a freshman who is ripe to develop quickly. If Rudock starts, he's going to keep starting unless he's not playing well or gets injured. With a spring and fall under Harbaugh, I really doubt something is suddenly going to click mid-season for junior Morris.
Rudock last year in Iowa. Happens all the time. Most teams have two guys who are close at the beginning of the year, and one emerges as the stater after the first month.
If Shane is showing progress and Rudock is just managing games, Harbaugh is going to want to get him some playing time for the following year. Now, if Ruddock is a revelation, I doubt Harbaugh will sit him. However, you never know with Harbuagh. Just ask Alex Smith. Best case scenario if Rudock is the starter...the team exceeds expectations early, and we blow out a few teams early..thus getting Shane some playing time.
I think people are under-estimating the transition he has ahead of him. He was a pretty decent QB at Iowa, but not a standout by any means. Now he has to learn a very different offense, with very different progressions, with a different set of guys he has no rapport with, and has to beat out a guy that has been in practice with Harbaugh and had lots of reps with these WRs and has hopefully gained a bit of their trust.
I think it's going to be difficult for Rudock to step in and just win the job. He might. He's accurate enough on the underneath stuff and has proven he can play QB effectively at the B1G level, but it's going to be a competition, there is no doubt in my mind. I'd put my money on Morris still, frankly. I know Rudock isn't coming to Michigan to sit the bench, and the fact that Harbaugh convinced him to come aboard likely says something more about what they've seen in practice (more so than just a single spring game), but I think Rudock has just as much ground to make up as Morris does in other aspects of the game, and Morris has the much higher upside of the two (and is frankly a better athlete).
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I think Rudock has a chance to start, or he wouldn't be coming in, but it'll be far from easy. He sets a nice floor and has a good chance to start, certainly, because he knows the speed of the game and has proven he can make the passes he needs to make to work an offense down the field. But Iowa is a much more vertical, deep to shallow progression based offense (which is major reason why Iowa coaches were willing to replace him) and soem different concepts overall. Iowa is pro-style, but they are not a West Coast Offense based passing attack (they are closer to Air Coryell, similar to what Michigan ran from 2006-07).
He's apparently very bright and a dedicated student of the game. He'll still have an adjustment, of course, but he seems to be a guy who can pick things up as well as anyone.
We have a Junior who isn't looking too great with a true Freshman breathing down his neck and we're hoping a castoff from another mediocre program can save the Michigan offense.
Time to look back to 1997 for answers, a very simple offense bolstered by a world class defense.
I like the fact that the QB job is going to be a real competition again. I really hope that Morris comes through; he has been through a lot at Michigan. I have never been among those writing him off. Harbaugh does seem to be bringing back the era when, for the most part, QB's worked hard, competed and emerged as juniors or even seniors to be "the man."
I think the information age has greatly influenced our expectations and those of the players themselves, especially at QB. Everyone thinks a four or five star is a "bust" if he doesn't come right in and play like a star as a freshman or a sophomore. I still think Morris will show us why he was a five star.
I do think it's Morris's job to lose, even over Rudock, but it's a job he very well could lose if he doesn't treat each day, each time he works with his WR, each rep he takes, like he has something to prove.
I like a lot of what I saw from Morris in the Spring game, and everyone on the team needs to get more comfortable with the offense (from the QBs, to the WRs, to the OL and RBs). Morris needs to have a chip on his shoulder, and hopefully bringing in all these guys gives him that chip and that drive to live up to his potential. He still has a long ways to go, and his performance Saturday wasn't good enough yet. But it showed improvement and hopefully he can grow from that.
From what I saw of the kid I will not question his ability to get up off the matt.
But he has to do the things away from the field and live action to continue to improve. It's the offseason where he's going to have to prove how much he wants it. I hope things are starting to click for him and I hope he's starting to see that time is running out (he'll be a JR and he has a lot of people gunning for his spot), hopefully that drives him to work on his game how he needs to, because the raw talent he has is rare.
These things are easy to say, but hard to follow through. It's not that I don't believe him, but I honestly want to see him succeed because of how pure his arm talent really is. If it can come together for him, he has as much potential as almost any other QB out there.
His maturity is what I think pushes him this offseason. His words indicate he does not feel like he is entitled just because he was the backup to Gardner. He's grown and I think understands that Harbaugh is all about competition in ways he never witnessed before. Evary start must truly be earned.
His toughness is not in question but that the way he was handled in the Minny game was a total indictment of the previous regime. You should not have to prove your toughness in that manner.
My one concern about Morris, other than modulating his velocity on certain passes, is that he continues to have periods of inaccuracy every time I have seen him play. With an offense that doesn't seem to have the horses to play catch-up, at least not yet, getting picked once or twice a game can be an absolute killer.
We are all speculating, but whatever QB can play in a manner to eliminate mistakes, I think that will be huge in winning the starting job.
SC...what is your thought on Green's performance. Is his weight a problem again?
I think most of Morris's accuracy issues come from his footwork. When he gets square and gets his feet set, and can throw dimes. But sometimes on the short passes he gets lazy because he trusts his arm to get it there. That obviously needs to be corrected. And the spring game makes it very difficult to judge what his improvement was in that regard. While I think he needed to step into some hits in the spring game, he had a DT in his face almost every time he threw the ball. Yes, he has to be able to step into that hit, but he rarely was poor mechanically the few times he had time and a pocket. I also very much disagree with those saying the first INT he threw needed less velocity. That was a perfectly thrown ball to give a WR the YAC he needed to get a first down with that concept.
I'd also argue trajectory, not velocity for Morris. You saw even on his fades how fast the ball gets on WRs. That's a great attribute and really speaks to his arm talent (not just arm strength or throwing velocity). He spins the ball extremely well. On one fade he beat a two-high safety from getting over the top on a boundary throw; just a great throw.
I still think Green is the best back (we haven't seen enough of Ty yet) as an all-around back. He has the best speed to get to the outside out of the other two that are healthy. I think it's pretty difficult to tell, but I'm not as down on him as some others on the board are. His blocking gave him very, very little help besides the one G Lead play.
I do think he still needs to be better at breaking tackles. I think the move to power O helps some of his vision issues, but he isn't an extremely patient runner and doesn't have great feet. I still think he's a guy you can lean on and possibly even be a 1000 yard back as he was essentially on pace to be last season, but I don't think he'll be a standout, etither. I think he probably is what he is at this point, a guy that can take what is given and has some athletic ability to be an all around type RB.
I meant he was the best back in an all-around sense, in that he can actually threaten the edge a little bit. This is why Green ran G Lead instead of Smith. I don't think Smith or Shallman have the speed to be every down backs and threaten the width of the field. Where Green can separate himself is in the fact that defenses can't constrict between the tackles and take away most of the run game. That's what I mean by "Best RB All-Around". I think Smith is, right now, ahead of Green as a between the OTs runner, which makes up the majority of Michigan's offense.
I think Michigan has found their guy, but that guy's ACL doesn't like to make hard cuts.
Drake has been a revelation whenever he has had a few carries. His bad luck with the ACL makes me ill; I really hope he can come back and play.
Who are you referring to as the 'little trackstar'? Whitfield?
Green as the best back? Have to disagree with you there. For as big and as strong and he is, he should be breaking tackles (as you mentioned). I think Smith is a much better back and I think he'll be the feature back this year. Seems to have much better vision and explosions into the gaps.
Edit: looks like you answered me indirectly above. Although, I haven't really seen breakaway speed from Green yet, though.
But he at least has enough speed/burst to threaten the edge, something the other RBs (still don't know about Ty) don't have. I don't think Green will every turn into the 5-star type people are hoping for, but even without great balance and an ability to break tackles, he was on pace for nearly a 1000 yard season last year with some areas that he should be able to improve on. I think he can be a steady back even if he doesn't make the most of what he "should be" (for the record, I predict he'll still split carries so will probably never be a 1000 yard back at Michigan).
Glad to hear. Time will tell if he can put it together. I really hope one of the QBs besides Rudock wins the job; gives the program a higher ceiling for this year and the years to come. I think the success of the offense is really going to be determined by the running game. With Rudock now, the floor is much higher, so terrible QB play won't tank the team, but the running game is probably going to determine the ceiling of the offense (I'm assuming no QB will turn into Peyton Manning over the summer/fall).
I just want to know if he's good enough to play the position.
(From someone other than "you know who")
I think Shane will grow berry much.
#1 in Gif's on MgoBlog.
Dude, you are a superstar in rent-a-car. As OJ would say, you're pretty sharp.
It amuses the heck out of me, and apparently at absolute minimum, he's WAY better at using google than I am, and his feel for "that's the perfect image" is dang good. If he's creating them...well heck. That might be worth TWO upvotes. :)
Rob
b/c his success depends very much on their hard work as well.
With Rudock coming in, I think WR is now a bigger question mark than QB.
Agree. The receivers and passing game as a whole definitely need some work. There seemed to be a lot of missed opportunites for catches, or drops flat out. The secondary looked like they were out working them on occasion. Also, I don't think anyone can catch a bullet pass from Morris.
However, I think once a #1 QB is in place and the #1 O line is in place, the passing game will improve. I actually think the O line will be decent, if not pretty good, this season. The receivers and QB just need to get more on the same page. I think the talent is there.
I'll feel condifent with whoever emerges as the starter. I think the O line is going to be better this season and the run game will be decent. This will help whoever is named the starter.
It's probably going to be Morris or Rudock. Malzone looked o.k., but maybe still a little too green. I do like Malzone's future though. For depth reasons, I could see Malzone or Gentry not redshirting this year.
has to get better this year. It would be almost impossible for it to get worse.