SI.com article on Borges, Gardner & Lewan
"feel good" article. Nice to see some national love...
Link:
Makes me want to irrationally punch you in the face. No hard feelings.
I really love Game of Thrones, but man...that blonde headed son of a bitch brat king. I fucking hate him. I know we as the audience are supposed to hate him, but I'd love to kick that kid in the balls 54 times.
March 27th, 2013 at 10:22 PM ^
Who is the chode with the one comment on that article? Devin's arm strength looked pretty good to me. Did that guy miss the 50 yard td to Dileo off his back foot after running around for 10 seconds?
chode
March 27th, 2013 at 10:51 PM ^
Are you the chode?
Angry avatars make me sad
Angry avatars make me happy.
A lot of people hate this hat. The sight of it angers people.
I'll tell you a story about that on the way to school.
"He is smarter than he looks." LOL big time.
Can't wait for this offense to steamroll Lil bro and Columbus State.
A very natural logic progression!
All the Wolverines came ready to work. "They know what they want," Lewan said. "What they want is a Big Ten championship."
That's good to hear. I hope they're ready.
Borges, who does a forensic study each offseason of the top offenses in the nation in an attempt to discover why those offenses worked, has a much greater understanding of the allure of the spread option after working with Robinson for two years.sweet
Shades of Jake Long...
"Execution" can be blamed for anything.
I don't want to keep reflecting on the second half of the OSU game last year, but Barnum, Mealer and Omameh did not fail on those critical short-yardage runs because of execution. They failed because they were poor blockers in the power run game and had consistently showed that all season against opponents with a lot less Front 7 talent than OSU had.
Hopefully it was a wake-up call for Borges and it sounds like it might have been.
QB sneaks behind barnum mealer and omameh against south carolina worked out pretty well. Borges knows what he is doing, hes been around alooooooong time.
I didn't say anything about play calling, I said play design. They consistently had trouble throughout the season executing runs that weren't inverted veer. Whatever you think of the play calling, lack of execution consistently put us in trouble throughout the season.
Meanwhile, there's no hint from this article that he's learned anything new. Just that he is doing what he always does, which is look over what good offenses have done and how they were successful.
I really liked the game Borges called against SC in the Outback Bowl. Hopefully he continues to use Devin like he did in that game.
So the coaches decided it would be easier if they absorbed the culture shock instead of their players.
Smart coaches.
I think the same as I have since day one: we won't truly know what Borges is capable of until he has his own senior class to work with. The change to the spread, only to scuttle it just when the correct personnel were old enough to do some damage, caused more years of transition.
This year is still a transition year, but it will look closer to what we will ultimately see from Borges. I am still hoping that he uses some of the spread elements that are being used out of the pro set in the NFL.
"I am still hoping that he uses some of the spread elements that are being used out of the pro set in the NFL."
I'm going to guess he will ... given the talent on the field to execute it.
I realize that's just my opinion, which isn't worth all that much. But my reasoning is this: Borges was smart enough to maintain a good portion of the spread given the personnel he had. It's clear Michigan (and pretty much everyone) is seeking speed along with size and strength.
Devin Gardner has the athletic ability to be an effective read option QB. My sense is Borges won't rely on Gardner in that role, but he will likely use him.
But your question suggests a return question -- given the 2013 roster as we understand it today, what kind of spread elements would you like to see Borges use?
"Lewan had figured he and the other seniors would have to ride herd on the youngsters during offseason workouts, but he said that wasn't necessary. All the Wolverines came ready to work. "They know what they want," Lewan said. "What they want is a Big Ten championship."
It might seem like a minor thing, but from an organizational standpoint, I think this shows how engaged this team is and how focused they are on what the hip business white papers call "true north", or where the team would ideally like to be. To have gotten this sort of uniformity of message in two seasons is an excellent measure of how well this staff connects to the team. That can only be a good thing - if you think of seniors and captains as having something of a supervisory role, that they don't need to restate team goals - that the expectation is well-communicated - is something even the best corporations struggle with. Yes, we have a well-run team indeed.
Absolutely loving this.
I think we're all going to be in for a big shock.this season. It doesn't seem like that long since Chad Henne and the gang were running between the tackles and passing out of a 5 or 7 step drop, but it really has been. It's not gonna feel normal.
Just watch the Outback Bowl Highlights again and again. Remind yourself that THAT is what you're looking for. (Except with wins.)
March 27th, 2013 at 11:30 PM ^
March 27th, 2013 at 11:51 PM ^