Rodriguez on Denard

Submitted by Tagg on

A nice little article by Angelique Chengelis (UofM beat writer) about Denard through the perspective Rich Rodriguez. 

Remember, this is about Denard and not Rich Rodriguez so lets all keep the RichRod flaming out this. There are few people who can talk about Denard as a player and as a person so I found it nice to see the love that Rodriguez still has for him even though he is no longer here.

 

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20121114/SPORTS0201/211140327/Rich-R…

pasadenablue

November 14th, 2012 at 5:41 PM ^

seriously, instead of bitching off the bat OMG RICHROD FUUUUUU, read the article, and try to gain some appreciation for how far this kid has come, and what a great human being he is.

 

and it does seem quite fair and journalistically sound to interview the coach who recruitied the kid, as he'll have perspectives that the rest of us may not know about.  there was nothing even remotely controversial or flameworthy in the article, just mounds and mounds of denard-y goodness.

justingoblue

November 14th, 2012 at 5:44 PM ^

surrounding M football, it's really easy to forget how human these relationships are. I'm sure any one of us would love to hear those words from a college mentor, or be able to say them about a protégé. Feel good story all around.

snarling wolverine

November 14th, 2012 at 6:48 PM ^

He's a coach.  When you're a coach you don't want your guys to get too high or too low.  If he had a guy like John Navarre as his QB, who was constantly criticized, he'd be praising him all the time.  With Denard, who has gotten mostly favorable press, he tries to downplay it.   After Denard's final game, I guarantee Hoke will gush over him.

Also, it's a team game.  It's not all about one guy.  All of our senior class stuck it out through some difficult times.  They all should be celebrated.

FrankMurphy

November 14th, 2012 at 7:28 PM ^

I don't have a problem with the way Hoke handled that question. Senior Day is for ALL of the seniors, from the starting QB all the way down to the walk-ons. It wouldn't be appropriate to elevate any one of them above the others. Also, the question was worded so as to imply that the program is Denard and Denard is the program. I'm glad Hoke didn't take the bait. 

LSAClassOf2000

November 14th, 2012 at 6:10 PM ^

"I know he's been a little banged up now, but his career has been phenomenal, and I'm really, really proud of him." - Rich Rodriguez, in the story

These are the sorts of things you want to hear from  the coach who  recruited you regardless really, that they recognize your contributions and are proud. He'll definitely hear this from Hoke, but  it is very appropriate and great to hear it from the coach responsible for Denard's presence in Ann Arbor. This is a nice piece by Chengelis and thanks for posting it. 

Tagg

November 14th, 2012 at 9:37 PM ^

I thought it was good to hear as well. Personally, I think its great to see Rodriguez supporting Denard and can only help him as he moves to the next level. Whatever a Michigan fans opinion is about Rodriguez, he is still a well respected and especially in the coaching fraternity. So who knows, maybe those words from Rodriguez could give a team the green light to pick Denard a little sooner come draft day.

micheal honcho

November 15th, 2012 at 8:23 AM ^

For all his accolades, putting players in the NFL is not one of RR's strong suits. He is well respected in the college coaching ranks but I think the NFL probably tends to look upon players from his and similar systems with caution. Mattison will have more players going to the next level from his defenses alone than RR would have from an entire team. I was nice to hear(read)the positive things he has to say about Denard. The kid deserves every word of it.

mackbru

November 14th, 2012 at 8:23 PM ^

Really? I mean, she's fine, I guess. But she's really just a mouthpiece for the team/program. It's not as if she does much investigate reporting, or comes up with much fresh material, or dares criticizes the program. She's pretty much just a punch-in, punch-out beat reporter. Sometimes, I think, people mistake being agreeble with being good.

BlueHills

November 14th, 2012 at 8:46 PM ^

Well, we have the always disagreeable Drew Sharp, the "investigative journalism" of Snyder, and the refreshingly straight reporting of Angelique.

Let's face it, unless you're into stretching violations, there hasn't been much to investigate at UM. And Hoke isn't exactly a source of big stories. So...

I'm pretty happy with Angelique's more traditional sports reporting approach.

D.C. Dave

November 14th, 2012 at 10:09 PM ^

They ran a series riddled with errors and ignored requests that the paper run corrections. Even the report the NCAA produced noted the newspaper was in error.

Drew Sharp hates the state of Michigan and everything about it.

I would ask, why hasn't Drew Sharp or any of the others written about the rampant oversigning and fraudulent medical exemptions handed out by the SEC over the past 10 years? Or ripped the SEC coaches for voting unanimously against ending oversigning, while the university presidents in the league voted unanimously to stop it? Why has he not written that Urban Meyer's departure from Florida came soon after the university hired a new president who said he did not like oversigning and would no longer allow it?

No, instead we see him constantly rip the Big Ten even as he praises the number of consecutive years the SEC has won BCS titles, with no discussion that the run by the league started with Nick Saban's arrival at LSU, where he commenced to blow open loopholes in NCAA rules, to the point that even the most shameless conference in the history of college athletics finally had to do something about it.

I'd rather have a journalist who investigates legitimate stories worthy of investigations than to criticize the Detroit News for not making the same mistake the Freep did -- launch a U-M investigation without really even understanding the concept of countable hours, spend reams of time and ink on a series of stories that essentially detailed nothing more than a paperwork violation by the coaching staff, and then not have the decency to correct the errors in their report.

 

jscbus

November 14th, 2012 at 6:11 PM ^

FWIW, Rich Rod got us Denard. I can respect that, along with many of his opinions and perspectives of college football, and would thank him for it.

Wolverine Devotee

November 14th, 2012 at 7:15 PM ^

Thanks for these great players you signed and Coach Hoke & staff developed.



I don't know what I'm gonna feel like when Denard plays his last game. Maybe like I did with Hunwick. Really sad to see him leave but will love to tell his story many years from now to my grandkids.

pasadenablue

November 14th, 2012 at 8:24 PM ^

in terms of what they meant to their teams?  in terms of their personal character?  in terms of the way they've represented the university?  yeah, i can definitely see the comparison.

 

though kovacs might be a better one, cuz of undersized walk on blah blah while still being just as strong of a leader, student, and citizen.

 

look beyond the stats.

FrankMurphy

November 14th, 2012 at 8:18 PM ^

For people who follow hockey, that seems like a reasonable comparison. The disparity in name recognition between Denard and Hunwick (which due mostly to the fact that hockey doesn't have the same following as football or basketball) has nothing to do with how football and hockey fans view Denard and Hunwick, respectively. 

Glen Masons Hot Wife

November 14th, 2012 at 8:36 PM ^

there's that annoying cliche again.  I hear that shit constantly in some form or another.

Can we switch it up?

Jesus.

And if you're saying Hunwick is nowhere near to his team what Denard is to his, your lack of an original vocabulary only adds to the argument that you are ignorant.  I would assume you didn't see Hunwick in the Frozen Four a couple years back, where he stood on his head to beat a NoDak team that had nearly dominated us in every way except goaltending.  He got us into the title game.

If you're "wow... really"ing for the opposite reason, I still think you are ignorant.  Both guys have an argument for being the franchise player so-to-speak.

 

IowaBlue

November 15th, 2012 at 10:59 AM ^

If he's ok/healthy enough to play, do you hold him out for Ohio next week?  We should be Iowa either way, and one shot to that elbow the wrong way he'd surely miss the game a week later which should be a tougher one for us w/o the threat of his legs on the field? 

Not sure what I'd do as a coach, I suppose I'd ask Denard what he wants to do...

MGoClimb

November 14th, 2012 at 8:24 PM ^

This was a pretty good article.  As fans we often forget the human element that every athlete has with their coach.  Whether you agree with Rodriguez or not, he is probably one of the most influential people Denard has had in his life.  To see that Rodriguez still holds Denard in such high regard is nice. 

YoOoBoMoLloRoHo

November 14th, 2012 at 8:34 PM ^

Good to see a former coach praise DR's character as much as his f-ball skills. A whole article without direct reference to his speed is hard to fathom, but then so is the whole DR body of work.

Glen Masons Hot Wife

November 14th, 2012 at 8:42 PM ^

Our D went to shit under his watch, but he gave it his all to make this work.  I still like the guy, and some of our best players come from his regime.

I wish him the best.  I can't help but root for Arizona in those Saturday night shootouts.

mgoSk

November 14th, 2012 at 9:36 PM ^

While no one can ever replace Denard, I do hope that Rich gets a chance to coach another great talent at quarterback, and see them through to their senior year. It's gotta be hard to have a special relationship with a person like Denard and have things get cut short. I still remember Rich and Denard hugging before their last game together in Jacksonville. As posted earlier by others, let's remember that these are real and strong relationships between people, not simply coaches and their players.

goblueva

November 14th, 2012 at 10:24 PM ^

Give RR some credit for being classy here. This isn't article about Michigan or his thoughts on the program, but its about his thoughts on a charismatic young man and terrifc athlete we have all had the pleasure watching over the last couple years. There probably is great respect both ways.