SDSU playing without two top recievers
Via Dr. Saturday :
Ailing Aztecs. San Diego State receivers Dominique Sandifer and Jay Waddell are both out for the entire 2011 season with knee injuries, further depleting a corps already suffering from the loss of the two most productive receivers in the Mountain West to the NFL. Sandifer was only the Aztecs' fifth-leading receiver last year in the shadow of soon-to-be draft picks Vincent Brown and DeMarco Sampson, but was expected to take a much larger role this fall as the most experienced wideout on the team — as was Waddell, a redshirt freshman who came out of the spring as a likely starter. [San Diego Union-Tribune]
Not that I think we needed a ton of help to begin with, but it certainly doesn't hurt our chances on September 24th.
I feel sorry for the guys that got injured, I don't wish harm our opponents. It might make SDSU offense less threatening, which might give Michigans new defense some confidence.
I dont think we needed this to help us win and I don't like seeing kids get hurt especially in areas where it could ruin their career. I hope they recover well from these injuries.
Poor guys. I wish life was like Xbox and that injuries didn't happen. It ruins everything.
theres more injuries in video games ! I cant make it through a game without loseing a starter
Who the hell are they going to throw the ball to?
Kovacs, hopefully.
If I had my druthers it would be BiggW…. Would love to see him dish out some stiff arms while storming towards the endzone at 3.2 mph
rather face a team at full strength, and it is terrible to see guys go down like this. Really sad news.
One upside to this, both of them will have eligiblity left when they recover (Waddell is a RS frosh and Sandifer is a Jr who still has a RS available, I believe). You never want to see kids injured, but I am glad to see that they should be able to come back and play.
I think those of you who are saying we don't need help with this are nuts. This team is dangerous. They almost beat TCU who beat Wiscy last year - and are returning almost their entire team.
Also, their coaching move could be seen as simply a shift in staff rather than a whole coaching change, as opposed to ours who is integrating a whole new system.
and yeah, it sucks for those two guys and it is good to hear they both will have eligibility left. Wish them a full recovery.
Agreed. They are a passing team and we had one of the worst pass defenses last year. I've been counting them as a toss-up game until I see how we play in our first 3 games.
Be careful with the "they almost beat X and X almost beat Y" logic. We almost beat Utah in '08 and Utah beat Bama, but I don't think anyone thinks that 3-9 Michigan team would have stood a chance against Bama.
That state is crawling with talent and Brady and staff were able to get a hell of a lot of it there.
Brady has never really had time to rack up the wins vs. losses because in both cases where he had completely turned around programs, he was hired immediately to greener pastures.
That whole frickin state is crawling from talent, and you can judge for yourself what relentess recruiters this staff is comprised of.
Also recall how half-hearted we played them last time they visited, barely escaping without another nationally publicized embarrassment. This will be a good squad with a new staff wanting to keep the mo rolling. Set down expecting to see a damn good game. We have weaker teams on our schedule.
they lost their two top wide receivers, who were really good players. There weren't going to be nearly as dangerous without those two guys this year, even before the injuries happened to their expected top wr's this year. SDSU literally has no proven receivers on the roster, with the exception of their TE Gavin Escobar. Lindley and Hillman are good, but this game is definatly not a toss up. Lindley is only dangerous if he has somebody to throw the ball to, and at this point SDSU doesn't have viable receiving threats.
And too big TEs in Gavin Escobar and Bryce Quigley. Escobar was the go-to TE that Hoke loves.
Not to minimize this article, but Waddell had zero stats last fall, and Standifer had zero TD catches, so this is not a big loss by itself. Besides WR Dylan Denso is back next fall and he played well last year.
I'm more concerned about TB Ronnie Hillman. He is a durable all-purpose back, not to mention a home-run threat on ever down. He had 1,500 yrds and 17 TDs last year. SDSU has 4 of 5 starters returning on their OL this fall. They're good-sized, experienced and talented. They gave up only 9 sacks over 13 games last year.
LT Tommie Draheim, 6-4, 300 lbs, Sr.
LG Emilio Rivera, 6-4, 305 lbs, Sr. (newbie)
C Alec Johnson, 6-3, 295 lbs, Jr.
RG Nick Embermate, 6-4, 305 lbs, Jr.
RT Kurt Gunther, 6-8, 290 lbs, Sr.
I would not be surprised to see true-frosh WR Jemond Hazely hit the field early. He's out of Santiago H.S. in LA area (Corona) - small, but with 4.4 speed.
Also new under Hoke: the Angry Michigan Opponent Hating God
Two receivers, hope all the best for their recovery. That being said, it's a big help to us. Just stack the line.