Sam Webb Believes Morris Starts Saturday?

Submitted by FreddieMercuryHayes on

Listening to WTKA during their MGoBlog roundtable segement, and unless I didn't hear him correctly, but Sam stated he believes UM goes with Morris (well, I believe he said 'the backup' I think) to start on Saturday.  Anybody else hear that, or am I just hearing things?  We all know Webb is really plugged into the program, so I somehow think this is unlikely to be a guess unless he's purposefully sandbagging or something.  Anyway, passing along some info for those not listening; the future is now I suppose.  And the future better start winning or the next few months are going to be, ah, trying.

Seth

September 26th, 2014 at 1:15 PM ^

They were the Mad Men of brokerage.

EF Hutton bought by Shearson to become Shearson Lehman Hutton, which bought more things to be Shearson Lehman Brothers, which was bought by American Express, which sold it to Smith Barney. My dad was at Hutton (Southfield office) from 1986 to when he left to start his consulting firm.

FreddieMercuryHayes

September 25th, 2014 at 10:39 AM ^

When it comes to this kind of stuff, Sam Webb's 'guess' isn't really a guess.  I don't think there's any UM insider out there who actually knows what's going on in the program more than Sam.  If he's putting his opinion out there publically, that's about as close as we're going to get for confirmation that Morris starts Saturday.

michiganinmd

September 25th, 2014 at 10:14 AM ^

From Brian this week:

 

"In most things you should listen to Sam, because Sam is plugged in to the point where he can't say half of what he knows. You have to read between the lines sometimes because he is in a spot where his access depends on his discretion, but if you get a vibe from him there is a reason for that vibe."

JHendo

September 25th, 2014 at 10:16 AM ^

Seeing as there's no point in building suspense and waiting until game day if the guy who has been your starter for the past 2 years is going to keep starting, I think a predicting a Morris start is a safe bet.

Blue Mike

September 25th, 2014 at 10:56 AM ^

Unless Gardner is hurt and they won't know until gametime whether or not he'll be good enough to go.  That seems like what this has been about all along.  If Gardner is healthy and starting, you don't mention anything about naming a starter.  If Gardner is benched for performance reasons, say it early in the week so he has time to process it in practice and respond.  If both QBs are really so close in skill that you can't make a decision, then go with the starter.

 

JamieH

September 25th, 2014 at 1:11 PM ^

He probably got hurt on that last play of the ND game.  You know, when we were already down 31-0.  Another piece of brilliant coaching by Hoke, managing to get our starting QB and best WR both seriously injured long after both of them should have been standing on the sidelines since the game was well out of reach.

ypsituckyboy

September 25th, 2014 at 9:52 AM ^

Morris deserves the start if only because Gardner won't stop making mistakes. Backups deserve, at the very least, an in-game shot at outperforming a starter whose play is consistently sub-par.

Class of 1817

September 25th, 2014 at 12:34 PM ^

Starting Shane "fixes" nothing for us.

We're playin' sub-optimal ball, folks, and Shane won't change that.

Unless Devin is hurt, I really don't understand this. We've seen him bite it, but we've also seen greatness out of him. Everything we've seen out of Shane says that he isn't ready yet.

Regardless...if this is just because Devin's performance hasbeen sub-optimal...that reeks of desperation and all around "We're-screwed-ness."

Class of 1817

September 25th, 2014 at 1:17 PM ^

Including Shane's performance.

Hey, don't get me wrong, I'll jump on the optimism train with the best of 'em and hope that starting Shane somehow magically transforms our offense into a scoring juggernaut...

or at least just a scoring.

Not that this is what you were saying, but I'm surprised at the unabashed positivity for Shane starting as if all we had to worry about was QB play. The problems with this team aren't just QB play.

And yeah, I'm not saying we're not screwed already...I'm a realist here. I'm just hoping we're not.

The fact that this season already feels longer than the 2008 season does not bode well. I'll have the game on, hoping that starting the conference slate somehow galvanizes this team. Or at least starts that process.

schreibee

September 25th, 2014 at 1:53 PM ^

Look, we don't KNOW yet who's gonna start, or if they'll both play, but we actually KNOW that one is a 5th yr and the other a 2nd yr. With no trips to the red zone or TDs vs ND or Utah, it just feels like there's no upside to sticking with the guy who's eligibility is expiring, and who's clearly regressing over time. And yes I'm completely willing to grant DG all the excuses of system change and horrendous OL play. But I'd be just as happy to see Speight out there Saturday, this is not a pro-Morris stance, this is pro-change.

umumum

September 25th, 2014 at 2:40 PM ^

and if this was Hoke's 1st or 2nd year, it would make more sense.  But Brady needs to play whoever gives us/him the best chance to win now--or he's likely out.  I personally think that remains DG--as he has proven himself in the past, albeit not this season--and Morris hasn't shown even that.  As there is nothing near a consensus to change QBs--as there often is on struggling football team--any decision to change will be Brady's alone--and he will bear the consequences one way or the other.

snarling wolverine

September 25th, 2014 at 5:15 PM ^

You seem to be discounting the possibility that Gardner is injured.  I don't know if it's his foot or his arm, but he was laboring to get the ball downfield Saturday.

A healthy Morris who can chuck it vs. a gimpy Gardner who can only dink and dunk (and even then has accuracy issues) is different than what you're talking about.

 

schreibee

September 25th, 2014 at 5:08 PM ^

Sorry Mat, I get your attachement to Devin, he's a GREAT Michigan Man! Admirable in so many ways, a fantastic role model. No doubt about anyu of those...

Howeva - as a QB he's regressing, to the point where we can actually have this spirited debate about whether you'd rather see a guy who hasn't proved anything in very limited opportunities, or stay the course.

Sad, really. I'm ready to see if there's a brighter future, not dwell on a brighter past.

Bodogblog

September 25th, 2014 at 10:41 AM ^

I'm not sure an actual start, with practice prep as the #1, would have mattered on the types of mistakes Morris has made.  If he made some bad choices due to a unique defense a particular team ran, you could make that argument.

But I still point to the App State game, where he did throw a mind-bogglingly bad ball to a receiver who was never open for a moment.  It was a simple deep out, he looked at the WR entire way, and still threw it to a completely covered man. 

Lots of things going on in his head, I'm sure.  As he plays more those things will start to slow down.  But that will require in-game experience.  It's going to be rough.

Rougher than a clearly-not-right DG?  Who knows.  My point is that you shouldn't expect a better performance b/c Morris practices as the starter for the week.  Growing pains won't get significantly better.

reshp1

September 25th, 2014 at 10:55 AM ^

The App St INT was mostly on Darboh not coming back to the ball, something he did to Gardner and got him an INT too against ND. The throw was late too in both cases, but running a lazy route on a long hitch like that is asking for the DB to recover and jump your route.

He looked fine against Miami, his numbers suffered because of the two drops.

Utah INT was mostly due to weather IMO. The ball just slipped out of his hands, Chesson was open. The fumble was in fact a true rookie mistake that they'll have to fix before he starts.

I agree with the poster above. Getting a start with a week of prep and a game plan tailored to you very different than getting throw in mid game in garbage time or in tire fire time.

I do think you're right that people should temper their expectations and not expect a complete transformation of the offense, but at the same time, he deserves a shot and at this point Michigan has to take that chance.

Bodogblog

September 25th, 2014 at 11:04 AM ^

Love your posts and have a healthy respect for your opinions, but I disagree on the App State throw.  I was sitting on the east side of the stadium and saw that the whole time - I audibly (and involuntarily) yelled no as he wound-up.  It's probably much easier to see from the stands, but the defender was on that the entire time.

Feel so bad for DG if this happens (terrible OL, 3 OC's), but he knows the best player has to be in.  I'll be excited for Morris if he gets the opportunity.