ldevon1

February 6th, 2020 at 9:51 AM ^

He doesn't have a spot on that team. Both RB's in front of him had great years last year. I'm not sure if he is a good enough receiver to move to the slot. I hope you aren't taking a shot at Frames, we've have had our slew of transfers. It's the current state of football. I find it more entertaining when coaches get pissed off about kids leaving. 

UConn’s Randy Edsall, who has made a habit of throwing around the word commitment during his career but only applying it in one direction, said Wednesday that he didn’t want to take transfers into his program. According to the Hartford Courant, his reasoning was that players who enter the transfer portal often “think they’re enabled and entitled” and “they’ve got issues.”

What most people remember about Edsall, if they remember anything, is that he took UConn to the Fiesta Bowl almost out of nowhere in 2010 and then abandoned ship literally as fast as he could, calling Maryland his “dream job.”

Meanwhile, Virginia Tech’s Justin Fuente said that any of his players who entered the portal — which only means they’re allowed to talk to other schools, not that they’re definitely transferring — wouldn’t be allowed to come back even if they wanted to.

Of course, Fuente has that right within the rules. But coming from the guy who negotiated his current employment while there were games left in the 2015 season at Memphis and just a few weeks ago came back to Virginia Tech after interviewing for the Baylor job, let’s just say a little self-awareness would go a long way.

 

Joined: 09/09/2015

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befuggled

February 6th, 2020 at 10:07 AM ^

That UConn Fiesta Bowl team was a mirage, though, and everybody knew it at the time. They won some close games against WV, Pitt and South Florida teams which ended up with similar records and went to the Fiesta Bowl pretty much by default with an 8-4 record. Where they were pantsed by Oklahoma.

They also only managed 10 points against THAT Michigan defense.

Edit: Meant to say I agree with you about the transfers. So many kids transfer because of playing time, so it's hard to tell from the outside when it actually indicates a problem with the coach or the program.

Also, I hardly need to point out the great luck Michigan has had with 5 star running backs. 

Joined: 07/01/2008

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lhglrkwg

February 6th, 2020 at 11:59 AM ^

The irony of prohibiting guys from entering the transfer portal and coming back to VT, but also interviewing for Baylor and coming back to VT as HC is incredible. That kind of thins makes me want to change it to a transfer free for all just so I can be amused at these millionaires whining

Joined: 07/03/2008

MGoPoints: 87934

cornman

February 6th, 2020 at 12:07 PM ^

Edsall is mostly right, though. Save for the few players who grad transfer when they have no shot at playing time, most of these guys are just whiny entitled losers. Tell me Justin Fields, Shea Patterson, and Aubrey Solomon are not "enabled and entitled." Transfers are often the biggest brats in the country.

Joined: 12/17/2018

MGoPoints: 639

Frank Chuck

February 6th, 2020 at 9:51 AM ^

I'm surprised neither Justin Shorter (5 star WR from NJ) or Ricky Slade worked out.

Michigan isn't the only program with underachieving 5 stars (like Aubrey Solomon).

Joined: 05/01/2015

MGoPoints: 15858

Jmer

February 6th, 2020 at 10:00 AM ^

The PSU game was the only game I could get my 6 year old son to actually pay attention to because of Ricky Slade. One of his favorite movies is Teen Titans Go the Movie and the bad guy is Slade and when they say his name in the movie, they move their tongue like Shakira during the halftime show. So every time Slade got a carry, my son would go s-la-la-la-lade.

Joined: 12/26/2014

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tspoon

February 6th, 2020 at 1:14 PM ^

"Tackle Shoelace" was a game we played around the house when my oldest were two and four. No better chance of beating/evading Dad (or favorite uncles) than imagining you were #16.

You can imagine their thrill when they got to meet Denard in person at the team hotel the day before his last game in a winged helmet.

Joined: 07/30/2008

MGoPoints: 3814

stephenrjking

February 6th, 2020 at 11:47 AM ^

Time to start drinking bleach. Well, keep drinking bleach.

What's just as interesting is that there really aren't any "well, they coulda been first rounders" after the 2007 season (when we had Henne, Arrington, and Manningham, as well as an excellent college RB in Hart). Denard was electric, but nobody mistook him for a draft prospect. Our RBs have been mediocre. Our receivers have occasionally flashed talent, but none of them have had great seasons that scream "draft me." Or even, really, "double cover me every time I line up." And of course our QB situation has been a Shakespearian tragedy as played by a high school theater troupe with actors that don't understand half of the words. 

So we don't have near-miss talent. We don't have talent, period. The program of Desmond Howard and Amani Toomer and David Terrell and Braylon Edwards now turns DPJ into a decoy pumpkin. The program that sent Elvis Grbac, Todd Collins, Brian Griese, Tom Brady, and Chad Henne to the NFL (with cups of coffee for Scott Driesbach, John Navarre, and Drew Henson after he quit baseball) has landed exactly one QB on an NFL roster as a QB (Jake Rudock; Denard obviously played for the Jags for a couple of years as an RB) since 2007. 

And RB? Fitz Toussaint kicked around the Steelers for a couple of years. Denard, obviously. Deveon Smith is in the XFL. Karan Higdon didn't get drafted. 

Even our OL has been pathetic. 

It's no wonder things have been so bad. Our offenses have been terrible, and it starts with the talent that's on the field, and the guys coaching that talent to perform. 

Joined: 03/15/2012

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ThisGuyFawkes

February 6th, 2020 at 1:58 PM ^

Come on man, that's such a cherry-picked statistic. Oh and by the way, using that same logic OSU has produced exactly 2 over the last decade plus -- Haskins last year and Ezekiel Elliott back in 2016. So remind me again, how this statistic indicates why we've struggled to beat OSU?

If you said overall talent disparity, coaching, recruiting, scheme or a host of other reasons are why we struggle to beat OSU -- I would be nodding along with you. But instead you've given us this random stat, which is just that... a random stat

Joined: 09/16/2019

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Frank Chuck

February 6th, 2020 at 2:30 PM ^

1. There's nothing cherry picked about it.

Ezekiel Elliott was the best player on the field in a game against Alabama. His game-clinching long TD run through Alabama's defense showed he was an elite next level player.

Do you think it's an accident that Clemson has become a dominant force in college football? Dabo's coaching staff has sent players like WR Sammy Watkins, QB Deshaun Watson, WR Mike Williams in the 1st round.

Btw, pre-saban Alabama had the same problem Michigan does now. From 2001 to 2008, Alabama had zero - ZERO - 1st round draft picks.

Here's Alabama's 1st round picks after Alabama won a MNC in 2009.


2009: 1

2010: 2

2011: 4

2012: 4

2013: 3

2014: 2

2015: 1

2016: 1

2017: 4

2018: 4

2019: 3


Talk about a change in culture.
 

2. Do you want to do a side-by-side on 2nd and 3rd rounders as well between Michigan and Ohio State?

Ohio State had stars like Michael Thomas in the 2nd round. Curtis Samuel, Devin Smith were also picked in 2nd round.

Do you know the highest non-OL offensive drafted from Michigan in the past 10 NFL Drafts (re: since 2010)?

2015 NFL Draft - Devin Funchess.

The next highest? Amara Darboh near the very end of the 3rd round in the 2017 NFL Draft.

That's 10 freaking drafts. 0 1st round picks. We need to target better talent.

NFL is always hungry for talent. It's not like the NFL has recently been wrong about any of the M players who were drafted low (like it was about Tom Brady).

Joined: 05/01/2015

MGoPoints: 15858

canzior

February 6th, 2020 at 1:08 PM ^

My 2 cents...Ricky went to a good high school with 2 D1 tackles as a freshman. He had a huge FR year and was cast as a 5 star immediately. He continued to put up good numbers his next 3 years, but he started out so high, he wasn't going to drop very much as long as he produced and camped. 

Michigan said he was too small, Bama said they would offer if he got up to 200 lbs, and he wasn't very interested in Ohio State. He was close with Devyn Ford and Blake Corrum in high school as well and from what I've been told Corrum is every bit the back that Ford and Slade are.   

 

Edit: The right coach, with the right connections can get a 4 star kid a 5th star(or a 3 star a 4th star) if they play the game right. I don't "know" Ricky but I'm familiar with him, and my opinion is that he was always a 4 star back, but never an elite, top 30 players in the country kind of player.  

Joined: 05/28/2010

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MRunner73

February 6th, 2020 at 11:49 AM ^

Not all 5 stars succeed. Michigan had it's share of 5 start busts. Is it under development by the coaching staffs at the collegiate levels or overrating these HS athletes? Could be both.

Joined: 11/11/2018

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