QB - Morris embracing the competition

Submitted by The Mad Hatter on

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.

funkywolve

April 6th, 2015 at 11:42 AM ^

The oline was a decent unit towards the end of the year.  2013 is/was hopefully the bottom of the barrel when it comes to the oline's performance. 

In 2013, UM averaged 125.69 yds rushing/game which put them 103rd in the country in that catagory.  they averaged 3.28 yds/rush attempt. 

They gave up 2.77 sacks/game, which ranked 109th in country.

In 2014, UM averaged 162.8 yds rushing/game, which put them 62nd in the country and they averaged 4.6 yds/rush attempt.

They gave up 2.17 sacks/game, which ranked 76th in the country.

 

2014 wasn't the type of oline that's going to be in the conversations of best UM oline's ever.  Heck, it was pretty below average compared to most UM olines, but it was better then the 2013 oline. 

RobSk

April 6th, 2015 at 12:30 PM ^

if we can keep the attrition on the o-line down to one more major loss this season, I think we will have an above average Big 10 o-line. Not criticizing Miller, but from a winning games perspective, I wish he'd stuck around. :) But I think we're ok for the first 7 guys.

   Rob

Achilles

April 6th, 2015 at 10:50 AM ^

I like that we have depth, but I really fucking hate having a QB competition. I like knowing who the guy is. There are just too many unknowns at the most important position in football on our team and it's really annoying. While we have a good problem having so many QBs, it's worse when no one is really standing out. OSU has three guys who can start and that just pisses me off.

Sauce Castillo

April 6th, 2015 at 11:09 AM ^

I don't have a strong opinion either way on who will start come Utah, but I will say this.  I've watched very little film on Rudock, and he does look like he would be an adequate starter, but the thing I like about Shane is he gives you a huge downfield threat.  I don't mind that he's throwing some of those bullets in the middle of the field on slants, our receivers have to step up and make some of those catches cause Shane is making sure he gets it through the coverage.  Does Shane need a little more touch? Yes, but when are we going to start putting some more resposibility on the receivers to make some damn catches.

 

UMxWolverines

April 6th, 2015 at 10:56 AM ^

He certainly had the best looking passes overall at times on Saturday. Still has problems with being consistent. Receivers didn't do him any favors though. That's what scares me the most.

the real hail_yes

April 6th, 2015 at 11:31 AM ^

I agree that the WRs are more of an issue than QB, but this plays against Morris...  Those bullets that they're dropping or tipping over the middle are more likely to get picked off, resulting in turnovers that are going to get blamed on Shane.

the real hail_yes

April 6th, 2015 at 2:40 PM ^

I did too, and I'm legitimately excited to see what Shane is capable of. I was actually pretty impressed with his overall performance (although I watched on DVR and already knew about the drops, so maybe I was cutting him too much slack).

Either way, Shane is certainly going to be better than any version of him we've seen before, just a matter of how much better.

late night BTB

April 6th, 2015 at 11:07 AM ^

here, we are always too optimistic, have been the past 3 seasons.

Our QB play will be very bad at the start of the season, will likely contribute to a couple losses since our WRs and running game are poor, and not good, respectively.  Morris will start and not show anything you wouldn't expect after seeing him play seasons prior.  Rudock will do what he at Iowa, game manage, and we'll have an offense that needs to score 21 a game, possess the ball, and rely on our D to keep us in games. There'll be a lot of close games. 

sadeto

April 6th, 2015 at 1:59 PM ^

What you describe would be an improvement. But I disagree, I believe Rudock will start and Morris will challenge him for playing time. And I think we'll see a different Shane Morris when he does get on the field, I trust Harbaugh to get better results out of him. 

HarbaughorBust

April 6th, 2015 at 3:38 PM ^

Shane can make throws right now that Ruddock will never be able to make.   Ruddock has the experience but he's very limited in what he can and cannot not do.  Ruddock's best attribute may be understanding his limitations and playing within them.

Shane's Ceiling is far and above Ruddock's just like his floor is far and below Ruddock's.

Harbaugh has his work cut out with both kids.  

As a former Michigan WR told me over the weekend, this WR crew will make or break this team, not the QB.  Shane is plenty good enough to win games.