Rittenberg B10 Best of Spring: Best Performance = Denard
Very fluffy. But there it is. Cam Gordon position switch gets a fluffy nod too (edging out Keith Nichol to receiver at MSU! ... so yeah, grain of salt and all that.)
It was a pretty big surprise, leading the offense to scores on 5/6 drives. Legit.
Sweet. Hopefully he plays as well against first team defenses, because, let's face it, our 2nd team D will be like playing Mass/BG.
context of Denard going up against the 2s and Tate facing starters for the most part is missing in that adulation. Still, I saw enough of Denard to want the ball in his hands a lot in the next three years. Top end speed is great, but the burst of quickness past the first level on several plays in the spring scrimmage really impressed me. I don't think there are many teams that will be able to shut that down consistently.
We know Denard is much improved, but we won't know how much until he plays in an actual game. He should be hard to stop.
Another interesting bit in the article is the fact that Kevin Newsome struggled for Penn State. Looks like we came out on top with Tate and Denard.
I really wasn't disappointed when Newsome de-committed to PSU. He never impressed me as a QB at all and I always thought he would be a better fit at LB. I was more upset about losing Shav Beaver who I think has decent potential at QB.
I know right. We never wanted him. He is such a scrub? Wait, what guy are we talking about that was offered and didn't come to Ann Arbor?
-Kirk Ferentz
From Rittenberg:
Best quote II: "My name's Tucker, not sucker, so we're not going to have him get hit this spring." -- Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz, on holding running back Jewel Hampton out of contact.
If by "Best quote" he means corniest quote, then I agree. Quite cringeworthy for Iowa fans.
Rittenberg is a good writer, but seems like kind of an odd guy with his weird sense of humor.
A sports bloger is an odd guy....True. True
Wisconsin returns 16 O/D starters. Michigan and OSU return 15. Everyone else returns fewer. Hopefully this will translate to wins.
Unfortunately the 2 starters we lost on defense were our 2 best.
didn't we lose three starters on defense: brandon graham, donovan warren and stevie brown?
1-2-3 and 1-2-3 and just like this and watch my feet.
Yes... Shocker ahead; SPOILER ALERT:
2010 Offense will be better than last year's Offense (which was pretty good); 2010 Defense will be....... who knows? Defense to determine type of bowl game for Michigan.
What usually happens is that a squad will lose it's best players each year. No surprises there.
Seniors and players good enough to enter the draft are usually the best on the team? In what universe....
Woolfolk is better than Donovan Warren...as J.T. Floyd is better than Cissoko...Graham was our best defender, but we won't have too many problems up front. I'm serious BTW about Woolfolk being better than Warren based on watching them play last year. Warren gave up alot of big plays and didn't play as physical. Whether or not Warren has more physical tools idk but Woolfolk outplayed him. Also, 4.65 40 for Warren vs. 7.00 60 meter for Woolfolk. In case you were wondering why I said that.
This is kind of random, but remember Shavodrick Beaver? Whatever happened to that guy once he went to Tulsa? It feels like forever since we were all getting excited about him...
The Tulsa spring game writeup is here:
http://www.tulsahurricane.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/041710aaa.html
Guess who's coming to dinner!
you are the shit for this post
Didn't mention Dilithium, tsk tsk Rittenberg. How can you fail to mention something as important as this?
Defense to determine IF there's a bowl game for Michigan.
I believe QB play and turnover margin will determine whether or not this team goes forward in 2010. The defense may improve but won't be very good. The main thing with the defense is avoiding giving up cheap plays like a QB draw on 3rd and 15 by a guy who isn't that fast. So yeah...1) QB play...score more points and 2) don't turn it over. If Michigan does these two things they'll win at least 7 games. They'll need a very good defense to win more than 8 games and they'll probably not have near that. I expect a defense that has better faundamentals but QB play and offense to be more consistent.