Thoughts on Joe Milton?
October 31st, 2020 at 5:39 PM ^
There's always been questions about his accuracy and those were validated today. He doesn't seem to scan the field as well but given it's his 2nd start I'm not gonna kill him for it. But there were a few plays were the checkdown was open instead of forcing it in there. At the same time, his WR aren't getting much separation and it's tough being back there when you can't run the ball and are in 3rd and 8+ every drive.
Overall, he hasn't turned the ball over in 2 games and is pretty far down on the current list of our worries.
October 31st, 2020 at 5:41 PM ^
He doesn’t really seem to have a security blanket receiver (i.e Collins or Butt) Young quarterbacks need those.
October 31st, 2020 at 6:09 PM ^
He seemed to always be targeting All when he was in a situation. I found that to be odd, given all the other options and All having so little game experience.
October 31st, 2020 at 6:49 PM ^
probably because he's a bigger target
October 31st, 2020 at 5:42 PM ^
Yea I'll agree. All those drops on absolutely catchable balls. Like right on the money balls.
October 31st, 2020 at 6:00 PM ^
Considering Gattis' background I was really hoping WR coaching and performance would take a step up. It hasn't.
October 31st, 2020 at 6:55 PM ^
To be fair, WR play was pretty good last year. Other than Bell, this is basically a whole new corps this year.
October 31st, 2020 at 8:10 PM ^
Bell hasn't improved and is allergic to TD's
November 1st, 2020 at 1:12 AM ^
Bell got to flourish with teams paying more attention to DPJ and Nico. I saw a segment on Fox where they all agreed the WRs weren't getting separation and Michigan was consistently in 3rd and longs. Milton isn't great but it doesn't seem like his fault really.
Gonna toot my own horn and point out what I've pointed out plenty during the off season. Returning WR production is the biggest predictor of success in SP+. Michigan doesn't have much of that. Would be really nice to have Nico (and Ambry). There's no way Michigan should have lost to a team that bad but we had our 2 most important players opt out.
October 31st, 2020 at 8:55 PM ^
There’s also been a lot of drops on balls that are no where close to being on the money. There were a solid handful of balls behind targets, too low, and too high vs MSU. And some nowhere fucking close to anything. Some the targets caught the pass but did so at the expense of YAC.
He’s wildly overrated at this point. That he has no INTs feels like more of a byproduct of the MINN and MSU secondaries than anything. Some of those overthrown balls are bound to be picked off.
October 31st, 2020 at 5:53 PM ^
I feel like our offense has no outside threats and our coaches are too dumb to utilize the small fast dudes properly.
Very much missing Black, Nico and DPJ right now.
Bell and All can’t catch.
We’re also not using Milton’s feet. So many missed running lanes.
October 31st, 2020 at 6:16 PM ^
We have them. We have several with low 4 speeds. Roman Wilson would be a good one to go down field with, whether Milton hits him or not is a different story
October 31st, 2020 at 7:08 PM ^
Lmao, missing black,? He flat out sucked 3 years straight.
He sucks at Texas too
November 1st, 2020 at 12:19 AM ^
Well he started out really strong his freshman year until he got hurt. It was all downhill after that.
October 31st, 2020 at 5:54 PM ^
Honestly do you guys remember the last time we even completed a deep ball? Seems like every team has 1 guy that gets wide open deep except us
October 31st, 2020 at 6:10 PM ^
I remember one against Penn State in 18 to Collins that Shae underthrew. Also the one against Florida in ‘17 to Tarik.
October 31st, 2020 at 6:21 PM ^
Are y'all serious? We had Nico Collins last year, I can think of several deep shots he caught by himself just last year
October 31st, 2020 at 6:48 PM ^
I’ll have to hit up some parkingod videos to remember the good times
November 1st, 2020 at 12:00 AM ^
If you happened to see the Mike Stone interview, Milton scoffed when asked about the LB Simmons.
Not a good look
October 31st, 2020 at 6:01 PM ^
We definitely miss last year's WR corps. Who is our go-to WR right now? I don't think we have one. Nico Collins opting out was a huge loss.
I wonder if Black would have stayed if he'd known both Collins and DPJ would be gone?
October 31st, 2020 at 7:56 PM ^
Agree on Nico, but quite frankly, who cares whether Black would have stayed?
October 31st, 2020 at 6:04 PM ^
Milton completed 63 % of his passes, had 300 yards, several drops and had no INTs or TDs. He had 59 yards rushing on 12 carries. He is an inexperience QB that still has a ways to go but all things considered, he could have done much worse. Milton has a lot to work on but I thought the play calling on D and O was lacking. This game, as bad as it was, was lost by an inept defense today that could neither get pressure on MSU's QB or defend a pass.
And of course, the Fing refs and the no review call that could have cost Michigan the game.
Add me to the list of those saying that Harbaugh's best days are in the rear view mirror.
October 31st, 2020 at 7:17 PM ^
Yeah but Harbaugh has got to be on that.
He's got to call a timeout in that case. It was too important of a call. Gotta burn one.
October 31st, 2020 at 7:38 PM ^
This. If our OL had showed up in this game, Milton's numbers would have even been better. This loss was definitely not Milton's fault. Whether he can eventually become a solid or good downfield passer is another question. But he'll need better coaching.
November 1st, 2020 at 5:47 AM ^
The young OL showed up in this rivalry game. MSUs back was against the wall and it was physical as usually is. It was obvious that the guys believed their own press.
Add to that the lack of any OL holding on State and the hot mess of a Michigan 2ndary and you have a closer than should be game IMO.
It didn't have the feel of a home game with no crowd as well.
October 31st, 2020 at 6:13 PM ^
How poor of a passer must McCaffrey have been for Milton To clearly take the starting role!?
Also, Milton is in no way a threat when he runs. He isn’t un-athletic, but dude isn’t gonna scare anyone with his legs. McCaffrey was far more dangerous.
October 31st, 2020 at 7:32 PM ^
Says the grown adult getting pictures with college football players.
October 31st, 2020 at 5:40 PM ^
Typical Michigan to overrate their players after 1 average game. He’s not good, he’s not bad. Unfortunately, that is bad
October 31st, 2020 at 5:43 PM ^
Tate Forcier has entered the chat
October 31st, 2020 at 6:41 PM ^
In Joe Milton‘s defense, Michigan dramatically overrates their quarterback with zero games played. Every single season.
October 31st, 2020 at 6:45 PM ^
Guilty as charged. The only quarterback I haven’t been hyped for was Jake Rudock. Perpetual disappointment
October 31st, 2020 at 7:18 PM ^
The other tradition is to pile on the QB when he may not be the only problem with the offense. Other than Mayfield, Bell and the RBs, this is a whole new offensive lineup.
With last year's OL and skill guys, Milton would just need to be a game manager. With this year's, we may need him to carry the team, and he might not be ready for that.
October 31st, 2020 at 7:38 PM ^
Offseason headlines:
Joe milton is the next Cam Newton
UM has the best defensive ends in the country
UM has the best linebackers in the country.
They keep writing it because people keep falling for it.
October 31st, 2020 at 7:52 PM ^
Ugh remember the Aiden Hutchison hype
October 31st, 2020 at 8:20 PM ^
Which Bosa was he going to be? both?
There’s 2-4 guys every year that are above average players that make the freep and news look like idiots with their preseason hype articles. But they’ll keep writing them cause people keep clicking them.
October 31st, 2020 at 8:43 PM ^
Makes the Freep/news look dumb? I seem to remember a lot of pre-game stuff here with cyan circles all over the MSU line and a bunch of people eating it up and predicting silly scores for this game...
November 1st, 2020 at 9:03 AM ^
I guess Aidan’s dad was the one who said he was gonna be as good as both Bosas.. but why is a newspaper even printing that?
“parent thinks his athlete son is better than he is.” - story at 11?
October 31st, 2020 at 5:41 PM ^
He will learn. I do like his arm, iffy on decisions but his arm strength compensates for that in college. Better than Shea
October 31st, 2020 at 5:41 PM ^
I should say: higher ceiling than Shea.
October 31st, 2020 at 5:42 PM ^
He'll never do anything of value at Michigan unless he can learn to pass downfield. He's pretty far away from that goal, seems impossible to imagine him reaching it.
October 31st, 2020 at 5:42 PM ^
By the time be becomes an average to slightly above average B1G QB he'll be gone
October 31st, 2020 at 5:43 PM ^
Milton is fine. He has things to work on but the coaches did him literally zero favors today, they had nothing to get him in rythym.
I just hope the next coach doesnt waste him.
October 31st, 2020 at 9:07 PM ^
He threw it 51 times. FIFTY ONE! He cannot connect beyond 15 yards AT ALL. That's not on the coaches, its on him. If you're QB isn't a threat much further beyond the first down marker, teams are going to pack the box, stifle the run, and then you'll see what you saw today: a bad rushing game that was abandoned, and a QB doing nothing but throwing it short.
Like seriously, what do you want the coaches to do? They had a bunch of plays where a guy was open downfield and it was either ignored or Milton missed.
October 31st, 2020 at 5:44 PM ^
The raw intangibles are there. He has the size and athleticism to be a great QB. His arm strength is off the charts. If Jim was truly the "QB Guru" like we used to think he was, I'd be excited about his potential. But without continued development he'll end his Michigan career as a failed project.
Disappointing, but I suppose that's the culture here at Michigan. Fire Harbaugh.
October 31st, 2020 at 5:55 PM ^
Why is it that intangibles mean "the arm" primarily? All if not most D1 QB's have good to great arms. What I want in the Intangables section of a QB is the ability to process the field. How hard that is, is the question. How many other QB in the country are able to scan the whole field? I know this is his 2nd start, but you should still see after X attempts that your QB is seeing the field as a whole, or he just can't do that. Then on to the next
October 31st, 2020 at 6:53 PM ^
Serious question, how many college qb’s actually can do this? Seems like most of the qb’s on good offenses have stud wide receivers that get separation and going into the play they know who they’re throwing to and that receiver is open cuz they’re better than the db
October 31st, 2020 at 7:24 PM ^
I think you're on to something here. Most truly great QBs are surrounded by a great team. Better receivers, more separation. Better line, more time to throw. With so many variables, it takes everything to come together. When it comes to scanning the field, reading a defense, having good pocket presence, etc, I think that falls mostly on coaching and experience. Being surrounded by a great team can somewhat negate those technical aspects though
October 31st, 2020 at 7:37 PM ^
Seems like Fields/Lawrence/etc go to their first read because at the line of scrimmage they see the defense and know exactly where they’re going to go based on how they’re lined up...
October 31st, 2020 at 5:46 PM ^
There’s plenty of blame to go around, but i put more on the receivers, line and coaches.
also, why the fuck wasn’t the qb run game used more. Instead of running our rbs into a wall in the middle, why not test the edge more? seemed like more planned runs might’ve helped calm him down and get into the flow of the game
October 31st, 2020 at 5:50 PM ^
UFR will be interesting. Looked like the line got owned most of the day.