Stribling Highlights
Haven't seen this posted anywhere else - Highlights from Channing Stribling's second game featuring a leaping interception (first play shown) and an amazing kickoff return TD. Our coaches definitely uncovered a gem. Reminds me of Marquis Walker even though he is being recruited as a corner.
August 28th, 2012 at 8:15 AM ^
They were posted yesterday in Ace's recruiting roundup.
August 28th, 2012 at 8:34 AM ^
Didn't see that. Ace referenced his stats from your site but I do not see the link for the highlights - unless it's buried in the comments.
August 28th, 2012 at 8:48 AM ^
Sorry, maybe not. I thought they were linked there, but maybe they were linked somewhere else on the board or something.
August 28th, 2012 at 8:15 AM ^
but when Stribling and the Long Snapper were picked up my Michigan, part of me was all like "Well, there goes a shot at the #1 class". Silly me. I still don't get the long snapper thing, but Stribling (And even Willy Henry) look more and more like 2-3 year starter types.
August 28th, 2012 at 8:32 AM ^
I get the long snapper thing. It is an important specialist role, very much like the punter and kicker. These have all come a long way from the old days of having some backup WR/QB do it simplly becuase he was already on the team. I think it is very important to get a good, consistent snap every time to the punter/kicker, more and more teams are going with it so as to improve the special teams play. 99 times out of 100 you will not notice the long snapper, that one time you do, it is likely to be a bad snap, although it could be a tip ball catch that goes for a first down. You never know.
If this is part of the coaches strategy, I am fine with it, they have earned the right to run they team as they see fit.
August 28th, 2012 at 8:34 AM ^
There will be a time in the not-so-distant future where you will be really, really happy that Sypniewski was given a full athletic scholarship.
August 28th, 2012 at 11:46 AM ^
*You will never notice Sypniewski.
FTFY. That's how the good longsnappers roll.
August 28th, 2012 at 8:56 AM ^
August 28th, 2012 at 9:27 AM ^
There is 85 scholarships availible, so no I don't have a problem with a LS getting one per say. But if you actually think that there will be a moment when I say, "Man, I am glad that dude has a scholarship," you are mistaken (for football reasons; for personal reasons, I am totally glad when just about anyone gets a UMich scholarship). I have no idea if Jereth Glanda has a scholarship, and I only know his name because of the Sugar Bowl play. I am pretty sure the upside is that I barely think about him during the 4-5 years he's here.
August 28th, 2012 at 10:01 AM ^
August 28th, 2012 at 11:23 AM ^
not the offer necessarily, but the timing of it.
But if that's our biggest complaint about Hoke's recruiting then I'm ok with it.
August 28th, 2012 at 12:16 PM ^
I always hate it when a D1 staff proves that they know more than the rest of us.
August 28th, 2012 at 8:49 AM ^
August 28th, 2012 at 9:05 AM ^
Hmmm...nice to get a KR TD but...that was some of the worst tackling I have seen outside of a Pee-Wee league game in a looooong time.
His INT and that first reception, however, demonstrated some nice "ups" by the young man. It is starting to look like the staff found one of those proverbial "diamonds in the rough" which is odd given that he plays for a pretty high-profile team.
August 28th, 2012 at 9:48 AM ^
Not to mention the kickoff traveled 30 yards in the air. That being said, despite the ridiculous tackling, I think he broke at least one tackle from each member of the opposing team--still impressive.
August 28th, 2012 at 9:56 AM ^
A year where he just racked up interceptions on jump balls and a Michigan offer later I just do not understand why they continue to throw jump balls at him.
August 28th, 2012 at 12:39 PM ^
Myabe opposing coaches think he is only a two star talent.
August 28th, 2012 at 10:33 AM ^
Stribling is a case of whether or not one has trust in Michigan coaches as evaluators of talent. For someone who is "star struck" this kid would obviously be a dissapointment as he is still a 2 star on rivals and will not be more than a generic 3 star player unless he gains about 20 lbs and starts destroying people or running 4.4 for real. However, the coaches got to see him in person and decided he was worth the offer. So it all comes down to whether or not one wants to trust their judgement. The sky wasn't falling when they offered him, it wasn't January and we didn't need 15 players to fill the class, no one was jumping off buildings... From what I've seen on tape he looks like an athletic kid who can become a contributer at a Big 10 level if he can gain enough weight while maintaining his athletic ability.
August 28th, 2012 at 11:16 AM ^
I think this staff has proven they can evaluate talent at lots of levels - Mattison in the NFL and at his past college stops, Mallory at Illinois, Hoke at his various stops, etc. Offensively, I still have some question marks, although I think they're doing a good job of evaluating and recruiting at OL and TE. I liked the Stribling offer at the time, and he's doing a good job as a senior so far.
I'm not saying everybody should be 100% on board with all their personnel decisions, but they've largely earned my trust so far when it comes to offers/commitments on the defensive side of the ball.
August 28th, 2012 at 11:28 AM ^
To be honest Magnus, there were a few decisions that Hoke made which still have me scratching my head... primarily on the offensive side of the ball... namely the Lucien, Pharaoh Brown and the Arnett situations... obviously it is easy for me to sit on the couch without any insider information in front of me and question the coach, but I like what is happening on the defensive side of the ball and that is very comforting since I am the old school type who would rather win a game 17-3 than 49-42 and strongly believe that having an elite level defense is more important than an elite level offense.
August 28th, 2012 at 1:09 PM ^
August 28th, 2012 at 2:53 PM ^
Lucien was a true freshman last season, so he was unlikely to see a great deal of time. Last I heard he was projected to start in 2012, so that may indeed be a pretty big miss...
August 28th, 2012 at 3:19 PM ^
My understanding is that Lucien was recruited as a DB but wanted to play receiver at Michigan, since we needed receivers in that class, I don't see why Hoke couldn't have been a bit more flexible and at least give him a chance to try as a receiver.
Brown is a similar case where he wanted to play TE but was recruited as a DE, and again it seemed the coaches were not flexible with him and he ended up visiting Oregon and breaking Hoke's policy. What bothers me with his recruitment is that we badly needed TE's last year, I know we got 2 in that class, but ended up scrambling for more and whiffing on that kid who ended up at Oklahoma.
The rumors that I've heard on Arnett was that he was interested in Michigan but was told that he would have to wait for a scholly to open up. Again this seems weird since we need help with our receiving core.
I have absolutely no insider information rather than rumors floating around at various sites including this one.
August 28th, 2012 at 10:57 AM ^
seems like a good kid and i see him moving up in the rankings as well.... he actually did move up from a no-name 2 star to a "generic 3-star" and i think he has some more upside left. that being said, rankings are just a metric and this kid seems determined to show how worthy he is of his scholarship on gamedays.
he has the heart to make plays and i'm excited about that.
August 28th, 2012 at 11:39 AM ^
For a kid who looks like he is a legitimate 6'2", he seems to have really good ball skills and very tight coverage... Obviously they are highlights, but he really seems to blanket the receivers... Going up against kids like Marquez North, and basically shutting them down all night is a good sign...2, 3, or 4 stars..
August 28th, 2012 at 11:50 AM ^
He seems somewhat slow, at least from those highlights. He's not going to be blowing by anyone. With that said, the guy seems like he can jump extremely high.
August 28th, 2012 at 12:19 PM ^
He's not the fastest guy around, but if you're talking about the kickoff return...just about anybody would be slow by the end of that run. It took forever because he kept cutting back, dodging tackles, and breaking tackles before trying to sprint the last 15 yards or so.
August 28th, 2012 at 12:01 PM ^
is it that when people see an offer to a long snapper, they automatically assume that there's never going to be a bad snap? Does offering a quarterback mean he's never going to throw a pick? Does an offensive lineman committing mean he's never going to miss a block? Is a cornerback on scholarship never going to get beat in coverage?
August 28th, 2012 at 12:23 PM ^
The nature of the position makes it a pretty easy job to do. There are essentially no moving parts. It's just snapping to one of two spots - the chest of a guy 14 yards back, or the hands of a guy 7 yards back.
August 28th, 2012 at 2:53 PM ^
(EDIT: I clicked to reply to Magnus above and there being little chance to fail) Aren't you just proving his point by implying that a lot of guys can do it without anybody ever noticing the difference?
I'll take heat for agreeing that offering a LS in our current situation doesn't make a ton of sense. Honestly, I really don't care that much and I'm not all that passionate about it, but when you consider the timing and the interest from top players it was a strange decision to say the least. We may end up not getting any of the borderline 5 star guys we're waiting on right now, but then again, we don't even technically have the ships for them as of this moment anyway.
The way I look at it is this: when's the last time we had a bad snap cost us a muffed punt, blocked punt, blocked kick, etc? I honestly can't remember, and I can say for a fact that none of the guys doing the snapping were given a scholarship up front (as opposed to walk-ons who earn them when openings are available like those Kovacs tweeted about today). If he ends up being the best LS in the country we'll see no noticeable difference on the field. If we get the number 1 WR, RB, or S, we likely will. Also, I know he probably snaps it a fraction of a second faster on punts and such, but if it doesn't get blocked, does that help us? It would seem the best punt coverage would come by punting the ball at the last possible instant to let the coverage get downfield. I just don't see it. Why not offer the best holder in the nation too? Again, I don't really care, but I just can't get behind hollow arguments, that's all.
August 28th, 2012 at 3:01 PM ^
I'm not for or against giving a scholarship to a long snapper. My post was intended to clarify how easy the position is.
Here's the thing a coach has to weigh: If he doesn't give a scholarship to anyone, does he risk getting someone who sucks at long snapping? Michigan tried to go the way of the past by giving Taybor Pepper a preferred walk-on spot. He was then offered by MSU and jumped on the scholarship. Good for him.
And now Michigan needs a long snapper. What's one way to ensure that Michigan gets the guy they want? Offer a scholarship.
It wasn't necessary in the past because guys like Tom Pomarico or Sean Griffin could come to Michigan, work their way up the depth chart, and eventually go to school for free. Maybe those guys would be "four year full ride" types of guys in 2013 or 2014. With MSU, Nebraska, Michigan, and Alabama (off the top of my head) giving scholarships to the top snappers, maybe this is just the way of the world. There was probably a day when kick returners weren't offered scholarships just based on whether they could handle a couple kickoffs and punts per game. But the game has evolved and now guys like Dennis Norfleet are getting offered as returners, period.
Again, I'm not for or against the idea. I really don't know what to think about it. But what I do know is that very few athletic events involve throwing a ball at a stationary target in the same place every time. Hell, even professional darts throwers (dartists? darters?) have to hit various zones on a dartboard.
August 28th, 2012 at 3:36 PM ^
That was the worst kick off ever.