Who's Your Favorite Michigan QB?
Being that I had a rare Friday off and absolutely nothing better to do, I watched the BTN special on the 1997 Michigan National Championship team. I had always had a lot of respect for Brian Griese, but I think he moved into the top spot for me in terms of my favorite Michigan signal callers. He will never go down as the most talented Michigan QB, but he just used everything he had to be as good as he could be on every snap. With that being said, I'm curious which QB the MgoBlog community would have as their favorite Michigan QB.
of those seated in the top rows of sections 6 thru 10
no Michigan QB in my lifetime is bigger than Rick Leach.
Best: Brady
Best Michigan Career: Harbaugh
Favorite at Michigan: Wangler. That 1980 team was special and it was only when Wangler came back from that devastating knee injury that they became great (and won Bo's first Rose Bowl).
Favorite Including Pro: Brady. As a U of M grad who has lived his adult life in Alabama.... after that Orange Bowl, Tom Brady would never have had to buy a beer in my presence even without becoming the greatest NFL player of the past two decades.
Chad Henne.
- Was a highly rated prospect out of high school that chose the Wolverines over Penn State because "Michigan was just that awesome."
- Popularized the "Revolution" face mask that many quarterbacks now use.
- Is the Prototypical Pocket Passer. A Statue QB. No Scramblin' for this guy, sir! Has a rocket arm and laser accuracy ("Henne to Manningham!! TOUCHDOWN!!" So many great memories!)
- Tough as nails. A great leader. Never shaken in the face of adversity. Played even with a shoulder injury.
- Solidified "QB freshman great wears #7" as a tradition after Ricky Leach started it.
- Broke all of Navarre's passing records.
- He is the only reason why I give my QBs "Revolution Normal 1" face mask in NCAA 13. It is Henne-esque fergodsakes!
- Tacopants notwithstanding, we have not had a QB with as powerful an arm as Chad Henne since.
- Kicked ass in the Capital One Bowl. Was a better QB than Heisman-winning Tim Tebow.
Henne will always be my favorite as well, mostly because the starters when I was a student were Navarre and Henne, and Henne wins that battle. Though I will always have a soft spot for Navarre for the same reason. I literally drove (with friends) from AA to Pasadena for the Navarre Rose Bowl, and although we lost, that was a badass trip.
The game's over!
after him the badboy Rick Leach for me. Devin may well vie for Denard before it's all over.
1. Denard.
2. Denard.
3. Denard.
4. Henne
5. Brady
6 - 9. Some old guys that probably won a bunch of Championships
10. Navarre
In 2005, I was young and naive. I never thought we would replace the great John Navarre. Then a fat little freshman walked into my hart. or heart I mean. At the end of that first game, I was convinced Henne and Hart would lead us to a National Championship within the next 4 years.
2006 may have been the closest we got, but that is by far my favorite season of Michigan football I can remember. (I was 7 years old in '97, and just falling in love with Michigan during that season. I guess that is why Henne is my favorite.
Also, yeah. I always forget Griese is like Kovacs Sr. Walk-on QB to National Champ. That is pretty awesome.
I too am a little partial to the Henne/Hart era. My favorite game when these guys were here was the Capital One bowl win over Heisman winning Tim Tebow, the Florida Gators and Urban Meyer. This was probably one of the best played and executed Michigan games I have ever seen.
Gosh I loved seeing the stupified looks of Meyer, Tebow, and all the rest of the gators when they realized they had lost the game. I am sure that they were all totally certain they were going to waltz to a victory
Edit: Go to 6:01. Can't figure out the embed on that
That Florida game was priceless, but my favorite game of that team was the 06 dismantalling of Notre Dame. They were number 2, and everyone thought that that would be a close game, and we just obliterated them from start to finish.
The best aspects of both of those games was watching Brady Quinn, and Tebow pick the turf divots our of their facemasks!!!
at my in-laws' house in Orlando while all of them--UF grads to a person--went off to watch the game and I watched on TV. I had only recently become a devotee of this site, and remember feeling as vindicated about Lloyd, amid all the animosity toward him here, as I was about Florida.
Now I have a Ph.D. from Florida. Still can't bring myself to root for them, though.
They weren't the only ones...we had a group get together for this game and the universal sentiment was "where the hell has this been the last two years?" No one could believe the offensive firepower unleashed for this one last game.
It was amazing.
Not to sell Griese short, but he wasn't really like Kovacs in that regard. He was recruited, and promised a scholarship once one opened up (and because his dad was an ex-NFL player, had no problem with this). He was much more like a grey-shirt situation than a true walk-on, certainly not like a student body walk on.
Denard Robinson
Denard. Unique athlete, superb human being and true Michigan Man. Carried us through some dark times, gave jaw-dropping performances and he did it all with class.
Where's the Threet?
I think there's going to be a generational gap here.
3. Brian Griese/Devin Gardner/Harbaugh
5. Dennis Franklin
6. Elvis
7. Collins
8. Brady
9. Navarre
10. Henson/Morris! (Morris deserves a mention for his recruiting efforts)
EDIT: Can't believe I forgot Harbaugh. Put him at tied for third with Griese and Gardner. Regardless of what you think of him now, he was awesome as a player.
Leach
In a couple of years, Devin Gardner may get more mentions in threads like this. He's very articulate, humble, and willing to display his sense of humor. if he gets the job done on the field considering the supporting cast that he'll have that denard didn't have, he will be a fan favorite.
Shavodrick Beaver.
They even designed the CoFoPoff logo after him! HEYY-OHH!
Yeah, it's easy now, but it's not really because of that. He lived in the apartment above mine when he was in college, so I was rooting for him then. Nice guy. And it wasn't easy at the time, because even though everyone loves him now, most people (particularly his first year starting) were screaming for Drew Henson to come in and replace him. Wasn't till a good way through his senior year that people started saying "just play Brady." And even after that I wasn't one who was going to say "Hall of Fame" I thought he was a real good college player who could be a career backup in the NFL. But I still don't think I've seen an offense as dangerous at Michigan as when we'd go four wideouts with him in the shotgun. Unstoppable (unless you snapped the ball to tacopants instead of Tom).
I'm curious: Did you get any sense of what kind of women he dated? It would be fun to compare and contrast them to Bridget and Giselle.
Played great and won the most satisfying game in the last 45 years of Michigan football. Or maybe Tom Brady.
Haywood Jablowme- QB Iowa State Cyclones -1982
Forest Evashevski.
The King
September 18th, 2013 at 1:49 PM ^
Not sure who thought this was off-topic but if I recall correctly they asked who was my favorite quarterback. Elvis Grbac played quarterback at U-M for four years (1989-92 for those who don't remember). He is my favorite Michigan quarterback and we used to call him the King (in reference to the other Elvis).