Question re: QBs and 2008 Season

So you want to play the what-if game to events that happened two years ago? This may have been a relevant post last season, but now... Pass. Contrary to your post, I believe Sheridan was already coming as a walk-on under Carr. And I don't mean to sound like a d*** but there are quite too many variables to calculate in this one. What happened, happened, let's worry about next season.

And yes, I do believe Threet would have been a decent substitute under a pro-style offense. Just young and inexperienced.

Scot Loeffler would have stayed therefore (IMHO) Mallett would have stayed. Loeffler leaving was an unknown piece of the puzzle that was missing for Ryan. The lingering residue from the fired coaches is a big reason why we have sensed mutiny inside the Michigan program. Lets move forward!

Canada planned to invade Michigan unless Carr retired.

it's behind a pay-wall or i would link to it.

...

i'm mocking you

Let's not play this game.

There is no way that Mallett would have left with Lloyd still in the picture. I'd consider you a heretic right now.

For anyone who was around campus during his time in A2, stories of Mallett either making an ass of himself at any number of opportunities and/or being completely miserable with the weather and his situation at Michigan were a dime a dozen. There were too many of them out there not to think there was a strong element of truth running through the whole thing. I don't think it's a fair assumption that under most any situation he would have been back in 2008. At the end of the day, though, nobody knows the full situation but Ryan, his family, and the coaching staffs at both schools.

I will say this, though: For all the talk about Ryan not getting along with his teammates, he voluntarily came back up to Ann Arbor for his spring break in March of 2008, and came along with all the football players to Dance Marathon, looking to me like there was no visible tension or ill will amongst any of them. Just looked like one of the guys. Take that for what it's worth...

Mallett was as good as gone eventually. He had wanted to commit to Arkansas all along, but chose Michigan in large part because he figured Mustain was going to be a huge impediment in getting PT. Once Mustain bailed out to USC, the way was open for Mallett to go back home.

There is an alternate universe in which Pat White doesn't get hurt, WVU beats Pitt, RR goes to the NC game, gets a 10-yr extension, and Michigan hires Les Miles, who had just missed out on getting into the NC game. Miles tells Mallett that he'll tailor the offense after his skills, and Michigan goes 8-4 and 7-5 in the 2008 and 2009 seasons. The Michigan fan base is thoroughly disgruntled with The Hat, and Miles is generally judged to be "on the hot seat."

And Justin Boren still bails for OSU after Miles tells him the Mr. Plow crap has to end, and his brother doesn't get a Michigan offer. Mike Boren blasts Miles as a "traitor" to the Michigan brotherhood. Some things are universal.

starting his Sophomore year (2008) under Carr, no matter how shaky that year might have been in terms of wins and losses. But I suppose he might have left when he did, after the 2007 season.

If we are talking about an alternative universe where Carr decides to stay and Mallett still leaves, then what the OP is not accounting for is the strong probability, really almost a certainty, I would think, that Carr brings in one of the nation's top quarterback recruits in the 2008 class if Mallett leaves when he did. So you're looking at a two-way competition for the starting job in 2008, between Threet and the unknown recruit, with a good possibility that the recruit ends up starting. 2008 is probably still a tough year (due to an inexperienced quarterback), even with Boren in place and no change in the DC.

Speculating beyond that is pointless, because Lloyd's 2009 recruiting class is going to look very different from Rich's.

I know it's a popular belief that Mallett was out the door regardless of who the coach was, but I have never heard that from anyone other than Scout board people. AFAIK, Mallett has never said it and neither has Rodriguez or anyone associated with the program.

I think that's the easiest thing to believe for Michigan fans. They like to believe that the outcome of 2008 was inevitable, but oddly, this whole theory didn't really seem to take hold until 2009.

Anyway, I can't picture Mallett leaving Michigan if Lloyd Carr was still the coach. Carr churned out NFL quarterback after NFL quarterback. The best QB to come out of Arkansas in the last 20 years is probably Matt Jones, whose 6'7", 240 lb. frame simply allowed him to do more coke than your average-sized 6'3", 215 lb. quarterback . . . and he was so good at the position that the Jaguars were forced to find another position at which he could fail spectacularly.

If Carr were still the coach, Mallett would probably be in the discussion for the 2nd best quarterback on NFL draft boards right now. It would be Bradford and then an all-out battle between douchebags Mallett and Clausen to be the Rams franchise QB.

RR ruined any chance David Cone ever had at being a HOF, NFL Superbowl QB.

We already lived through one scenario that sucked. Why must we also live through other hypothetical scenarios that would suck?

"Sure, your wife was cheating on you with your boss. But what if your boss had been a woman, and your wife slept with the neighbor instead?"

I know we played football in 2008 because I have a t-shirt that says we did and I have ticket stubs. But I just can't remember any of the details. I can't explain this.

then Savage? Or am I in the wrong year?

Just because Mallet's unhappiness with the weather, with Carr, with being away from home, etc. made his decision to leave easier after the extreme regime change does not mean the decision was inevitable. Those factors made the decision easier once he knew a new coach was installing a system that would not showcase his talents. But minus the systemic change, you only have ancillary factors that many college kids far away from home go through (the difference is that he was in the spotlight). Don't confuse contributing factors with inevitability. The idea that Mallet would have transferred anyway is, to me, quite weak.

All this time, I had convinced myself the 2008 season never happened, that it was an anomaly. I know something happened, but I convinced myself the team was on vacation that year.

... Hot Tub Time Machine 2008.

(I think the bald guy on the right is Ryan Mallett from 2050).

Were there any other recruiting targets that could have come in once Mallett transfered?

Yes. There was the #1 prospect in the country. Unfortunately, he picked OSU over us.