Is the TE position extinct in RR O?
In 2008, UM TEs caught 8 passes. Butler had 2 against Utah and disappeared, showing up briefly at DE before allegedly leaving the team. True frosh Koger had the remaining 6 grabs. His last catch was against MSU. There were no TE catches in Novemeber, the last 4 games of the 2008 season.
TEs were used primarily on short yardage or max protect plays. No TEs are being recruited this year.
There were 6 TEs on the roster at the beginning of the 2008 season. There are 4 now. Watson is a career backup. Webb has done nothing to date. Moore redshirted. Koger is the returning starter who was laid off most of the month of November except for occasional blocking gigs.
What top TE would sign with UM facing these facts?
December 27th, 2008 at 8:22 PM ^
The ones that they are not recruiting is my guess.
December 27th, 2008 at 8:28 PM ^
Doesn't the end of the tight ends catching balls mainly coincide with Sheridan playing QB? The tight end seam route is something you can only effectively use with a QB that has the arm strength to get the ball downfield in time. Sheridan didn't have that arm strength. If you don't have the arm strength, someone on the defense gets there in time to break up the pass.
December 27th, 2008 at 8:47 PM ^
I think your observation fails to put much emphasis on the context. The passing O was truly inept, and the combination of whatever QB lined up under center + an O-line that rarely provided enough pocket time for plays to fully develop = poor receiving totals for virtually all the targets. History certainly tells us that RR is not exactly Lloyd Carr when it comes to TE deployment and/or recruiting. We'll definitely need to see how his TE recruiting strategy (or perhaps lack there of) plays out over the next 2 years, but as far as what we've got, I actually think Koger has the potential to be pretty good as a receiving TE. He showed some flashes this year--namely, when a QB got him going on that seam route--and I definitely got a "this guy is raw but knows how to play football" vibe from him. Although to be fair, the juxtaposition of Koger and Carson Butler might have been what gave me that impression.
December 27th, 2008 at 8:52 PM ^
Blueman, you were outed as a Domer some time ago. Give it up.
December 27th, 2008 at 8:55 PM ^
yet again.
December 27th, 2008 at 9:00 PM ^
I think they were saying in the WVU game that the last time a TE had caught a pass was the 2005 season (until today's game). Not sure I heard that right, but I think that would mean the end of the catching TE in our offense.
December 27th, 2008 at 9:08 PM ^
They were referring to WVU TEs in bowl games since 2005. And remember that they had Owen Schmitt, who was featured far more heavily as a receiver than most FBs. Why line up a TE when you've got Pat White and a blocker/bruiser like Schmitt that could shoot out into the flat?
December 27th, 2008 at 9:06 PM ^
I think Calvin McGhee went to Missouri to figure out how to use the tight end more in the spread.
December 27th, 2008 at 9:21 PM ^
Is the WR position dead in the ..... ohh
December 27th, 2008 at 11:31 PM ^
Even when they did play, our qb's consistently overlooked them. There were a few plays in UFRs that pointed out Butler's wide-openness. I'm hoping that Smart Football will one day analyze RR's passing game to examine the routes he runs. It may give a better idea of how he uses his TEs.
December 28th, 2008 at 12:37 AM ^
got some adobe illustrator files actually.
December 28th, 2008 at 2:20 AM ^
i dont even get the question. apparently no top tight ends will sign with us because we don't want/need any top tight ends to sign with us? basically you say: we don't use tight ends, so how will we get good ones? answer: we won't
December 28th, 2008 at 2:35 AM ^
When Rich came, he actually talked about the TE in his offense. He said that his offense used mismatches to create offense. In West Virginia, especially at the onset of his program, this meant recruiting the kids that the big schools overlooked. This meant that he got the kids that were "too small" or "not college quarterbacks". Now that he is at Michigan, he said that he might be able to play around with the TE more, since he has the ability to create a big mismatch by using a pro-style TE (corners are too small and linebackers too slow). He said that he would like to utilize the players he had at the position and was not going to get rid of it at all.
December 28th, 2008 at 4:03 AM ^
In my opinion, it's unnecessary for us to recruit tight ends this year. We've got Koger (sophomore), Moore (RS freshman), Watson (RS sophomore), and Webb (I don't think he played this year, but he's either a RS sophomore or a junior). So we've got four players, each with three years of eligibility left.
I don't think the TE will be as important as it used to be. That being said, young quarterbacks - and coaches of young quarterbacks - often avoid the middle of the field, because too many bad things can happen. Chad Henne's freshman year involved him throwing (a) bombs, (b) hitches, and (c) outs. As he progressed, the coaches trusted him more and more. He never used the TE as much as they did back in the '90's and early '00's, but the receivers ran a lot more crossing patterns. I don't think this is the death of TE's at Michigan. I think it was just a transition year.
December 28th, 2008 at 10:18 AM ^
Last few years:
2008 - 8 receptions, 110 yards (165 total receptions, 48.8% completion %)
2007 - 24 receptions, 284 yards (225 total receptions, 53.2%)
2006 - 31 receptions, 321 yards (206 receptions, 62.2%)
2005 - 32 receptions, 371 yards (238 receptions, 58.2%)
2004 - 35 receptions, 341 yards (248 receptions, 59.8%)
I wanted to look at more than just TE receptions, but also to see how large a part of the total offense they played, for a few reasons: first, we had significantly fewer offensive plays this year than in years past due to incompetence (more three-and-outs equals fewer plays) and playing one fewer game. Also, I wanted to somehow account for the fact that we had, by far, the lowest completion percentage in recent memory this year. A better way to do this would be to look at how many passes were attempted to each position, but that's not really possible.
So, in 2008, 4.8% of our completions went to the TE.
2007: 10.7%
2006: 15%
2005: 13.4%
2004: 14.1%
So, we undoubtedly had fewer catches as a whole this year from the TE position. Obviously, though, the significantly lower completion % than in years past gives these numbers more "noise" - the higher the completion percentage is, the more indicative these numbers are of the whole. I think we obviously targeted the TE less than in years past, but I think the raw number overstates the degree to which we did that, given that the slot receiver and RB's played a larger role in the passing game than in years past - players that are more "safety blankets" for a young, inexperienced QB.