Slow week spring practice tidbits
I'm sure y'all are doing your best to get through this week with no football practice, struggling basketball, and awesome softball that is not televised, just as I am. Bill Greene from Scout dropped some more insider bits today, just thought I'd paraphrase them here to give the board it's fix before the team gets back to work next week.
1. Practices are much longer and faster (this has been made known previously). Hitting in practice is much more intense/often.
2. Coaches have been disappointed in QB play. Malzone has been good, but is young/has technical things to learn. Speight has been better than Morris, but neither can seperate from the frosh.
3. Isaac missed Friday with his dislocated finger so Green and Smith took nearly all the reps and got hit a lot. Coaches were good with this, want guys learning to be tough when exhausted.
4. Wide Receivers have been steady. Brian Cole looks good and so does Drake Harris.
5. Offensive Line has been the strength of the team. Logan Tuley-Tillman stands out, as well as Dawson and Kalis. Everyone looks improved, everyone is shifting around on the line trying different positions. "Deep and talented" said Greene.
Don't shoot the messenger, just giving some info for those not on the scout boards. Looks like the safest bet on Sep. 3 QB is Rudock/Malzone over The Field (although there's a lot of time). Great OL and solid receivers should be music to all fans' ears. Hopefully Isaac can comeback right away and continue the competition at the position (he'd be my bet for the workhorse this year).
we were going to have a run heavy offense no matter which QB ends up as the starter.
As long as the defense holds, the OL continues to improve, and we have a serviceable QB, this season is going to be just fine.
yep. as long as the qb converts some 3rd downs and doesn't turn the ball over we'll be ok
Malzone = Henne 2.0?
He doesn't have Henne's ceiling. But if you're just saying he could be a four-year starter, I suppose it's as good a bet as any at this point.
Yes, let's ignore every talent evaluator who would say the same thing.
Malzone is never going to throw the ball as far as Henne or with the same velocity. I never said he couldn't be a better overall QB. He doesn't have the exceptional natural ability that Henne has always had, though.
Wouldn't better overall QB mean higher ceiling?
Ok, so when Brian says "Zach Gentry has a higher ceiling than Alex Malzone," how do you define that?
Chad Henne is more physically gifted than Alex Malzone. So was Devin Gardner. It's obvious that it isn't the end-all and be-all of being a QB. But in a hypothetical world, assuming both Malzone and Gentry/Gardner/Henne develop all of their skills to the max, the latter three are going to be better QBs.
My argument on this issue is the notion of all these abilities. If he can throw the deep out then that's the tell tale sign of arm strength. I'm sure he is capable so what does that leave us with? Mental toughness. It's the one thing that separates good from great. None of us have any idea where our QBs are with that with an exception being made for Morris.
Kellen Moore did not have a high ceiling nor did he have athletic gifts unknown to man. He worked out. A lot of being a QB is being able to make (80%+) of the throws, having a diagnostic brain, being able to work under pressure, mechanics (accuracy), and being a leader. Especially more important in the college game where DBs are slower/break on the ball poorer than NFL DBs.
Or using our own examples - John Navarre v Devin Gardner. Which produced more for UM? Who on paper was a great athlete with a massive ceiling? Etc.
Hell you could do that argument in 1 season - Tom Brady v Drew Henson.
your analysis tends to center around the players and their abilities when their success is also predicated on coaching and the team around them. I will go to my grave secure in the knowledge that Gardner could have been a great QB for UM.
Give Devin a good coach to help and he's a great QB. I shudder to think of what Harbaugh or any other really good coach could have accomplished with Denard Robinson. That would have been even more incredible.
is that practically no one hits theirs. It's more a question of how close they come. It also typically refers to a ceiling using their measurables. Clearly, that's only one part of the equation, but by those standards Morris likely does have the higher ceiling. Let's hope he reaches it.
reminds me of kirk cousins in the way he cant win in the nfl but should be able to dominate as a game manager/play maker when needed role.
early but confident in this projection
Living in DC I've had a lots of chances to watch him, and IMO he has a chance to be a starter here or elsewhere ig he can clean up a few things. He had several good games, not just one or two, filling in for RG3 before interceptions cost him.
He was really bad in several of those games though. Like, lost his mind DG (god love him) bad.
I think he's a very accurate QB, very smart, but he needs the play call to be correct. He's kind of a puff so he doesn't like getting hit, so if the first option isn't there and he's getting pressure, it's real trouble. I said that even before he was drafted, and I don't see it changing.
Henne didn't really beat out Gutierrez. Gutierrez won the job out of camp but then got injured before the season started.
That certainly got Henne's foot in the door, but IIRC Gutierrez was back healthy after just a few weeks and couldn't win the job back.
or 2005 for that matter.
Gutierrez was never healthy in 2004. We sat him for awhile to try to let his shoulder heal but it didn't and he finally opted for surgery.
Okay. I couldn't remember for sure, but for some reason I had thought he played as a backup a little bit but maybe that was Clayton Richard I'm thinking of.
http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/players/matt-gutierrez-1.html
His college stats show nothing for 2004.
Having a great OL is a nice change.
There's a big difference between the OL being the "strength of the team" and having a great OL. I'm a glass half empty kind of guy so I cringed at that statement. I hope your optimistic view is correct and I'm just grumpy as usual.
So true. If OL is the strength of this team... either that is a sign of stunning improvement or we're in for a very long and depressing season. I mean - he said the team, not the offense. If the OL is a better unit than the secondary, the LBs, the DL - ouch.
But I've also seen practice reports that say the defense is dominating over the offense, which makes more sense. I mean, I would love it if our OL suddenly became vintage Wiscy. But I don't know how likely that is. Drevno magic? Maybe. Hope so. But... "OL is the strength of this team" scares me.
The point about the OL was the best thing about the post. I am surprised and pleased to read all the positive LTT reports. Based on reports to date, I will not be surprised if we have a couple new starters on the line this year, and some OL position switches among the returnees too.
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Neither would any QB on the current roster.
and neither did Gardner, for that matter. It will be so nice to see some deep throws this season. Hopefully we get more than the 2 we saw all of last year.
*It's Rudock, not Ruddock. If you have trouble remembering, just think of Beth Mowins saying his name. It's JAYKE ROOO - DOCK, not Rud-DOCK.
I know this is a joke, but I think this has to do with Gregg Davis, not Ruddock. Davis is just god awful. Borges level of ineptitude.
Look at the first play of this highlight video. It's actually a very good deep throw by Ruddock, just drooped by the WR for a pick. Is he going to do this consistently? Of course not, but it's probably much better than our current options.
...and he makes a second good deep throw at about 1:30 in that video.
That was actually CJ Beatherd (sp?), Ruddock got injured earlier in that game.
to own the LOS again.
Say that Speight is the guy as of now, with Malzone showing good/bad depending on practice. But Morris has a long way to go.
While I want the quarterback who can win the most games to play, I like Speight a lot and would rather he beat out Malzone. This way WS3 and Rudock can battle for 1&2 and Alex can redshirt. The one consistancy through all of these reports, however, has been Morris is not going to be the guy, which: "ding-dong the witch is dead".
who's done nothing to deserve it.
You should be ashamed of yourself.
Also, heard from other sources. It appears to be Speight, Malzone, Morris. However, it is way too early. Things will get sorted out. IMO, Harbaugh brings in Rudock after he finishes evaluating what he has this spring. I would not be surprised if Morris transfers either.
I think you meant to say "5-star QB who became a low 4-star gamble once people actually watched him play and didn't just look at how far he could throw the football"
Damn. Being a high level athlete is rough business. You're not trashing the guy but when your performance for something is under a microscope that's a lot of pressure.
You're right, it is. Whether it's wrong or right, when you sign up to play football at a powerhouse program, you're signing up to have jerkoffs like you and I talk about your every move. When it comes to Shane, I don't like him as a player and I don't like him as a person. He is not the type of person you want as the face of your team, which the quarterback is forced to be 99% of the time. As a player he was and always will be overrated. He has a very strong arm, yes. But arm strength is an overrated quality in the position. A qb need only throw about ~45 yds accurately. The only time a cannon is an incredible competitive advantage is an across field sideline route, which is usually a bad decision anyways. Shane can't read defenses, forces throws, locks on to receivers, etc. He throws to spots not receivers, requiring incredible chemistry and timing with his receivers...things he clearly wouldn't possess as a freshman or sophomore. Off the field he is arrogant, selfish, and stubborn, as chronicled by his resisting Harbaugh's demand to take snaps with his right hand on top. With Hoke as coach there is no doubt in my mind that Shane would start next fall, after all he had one more star than Wilt or Alex. However, Harbaugh is of the school of Bo. It will be determined by on-field results (of which so far Wilt and Alex stand out) and attitude. Harbaugh won't take Shane's crap, nor will he tolerate anyone else's. It's a lot of pressure, but Michigan has become what it is on the backs of elite athletes who are of high character. The Tom Brady's, Charles Woodson's, Mike Hart's etc.
"Off the field he is arrogant, selfish, and stubborn, as chronicled by his resisting Harbaugh's demand to take snaps with his right hand on top."
Where have you heard this?