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Is the fumble rate higher for shorter kicks?  Do upper class returners fumble less?  What is the impact of backing a team into their own endzone to punt distance net and gross?  Are we seeing more muffed punts and blocks with the spread punt?  Expected points wrt field position is important but not reflected above.  What was the outcome of San Diego State's experiment?  Mid season Rocky Long changed his tune to the press.

There is quite a bit of cat and mousery behind the numbers.  Thanks for this work.

Thanks for sharing... these are treasures.  Usually I see this kind of stuff @ MVictors but this is a pleasent surprise - almost didn't open this thread due to the title.

The un-Denarding of Nebraska was a bigger tell on the season (and ultimately more disheartening.)  

Having guys leave after a year or two is a sign of success at this level.  We have guys who will stick it out on this roster.  It's almost all good.

It's not like he made the shot. Michigan has the rebound. To call a block would create just as much hoopla and be even more controversial as free throws would ensue.

The call puts it back on the players to make a play. That is the right call.

Change of title please instead of "Charge of Block?".  uv oar AC... really?

Block.

Herm, I totally agree with you. I don't want the fab five associated with UofM. But I attended many of the fab five games and have the memories and heart ache scars to show for it. The gist of the letter is valid. I wouldn't mind seeing Chris in the stands albeit not behind the bench. There are too many rules, so much water under the bridge and not enough peace. Let it be. Go Blue.

Agree it will be incrementally better... but It will likely never be honest or equitable.

Great game coming... many more to come.

Good words Gordie. Best of luck with the treatment. I'll be thinking of you this year. Be tremendous times two - because once is never enough.

Amaizing... thanks for the OT...

EA marketing won in a landslide...

Does this mean less charts and more moderation...I'm not sure I'm for this move...

The only way to celebrate this is of course with a chart...

I think it's clear which bin the moderators fall in.  Congrats LSA.

Youtube ignominious bastards...unleash the Kraken.

I thought he was coming back from Ikea...?  Seems like he has been Hardened by his adversity.  

• Link to SI article and charts missing.  
• I can't make sense of what you are saying without seeing that.  
• Rank means nothing if the separation is small.
• Linear regression doesn't imply weighting the last 4 years but I don't know what you are doing.  
• The system works for 46 out of 100 teams... hmm... how is that good? 

Agree...in fact I don't really think OSU is offering anything more - and very little less despite the sanctions -  than they have done in the past.  I'm just saying I'm more interested in what they are doing than Ole Miss.

OSU is a great choice for recruits for many legit reasons with or without Meyer.

Boo!... could that be any  more descriptive of your avatar change... Boo!

Your diaries are better with edition. Thanks.

I like me some lists.  Nice work... RBs make a difference.... Offensive linemen make a huge difference.  It's been too long since we've had an every down sort of back with staying power.  Thanks for taking the time on this.

I'm wondering if playing time is more an issue than in previous classes. PT was meme like for defensive recruiting. The depth chart is getting deeper...I'm wondering if there's less traction on this than in Hoke's initial years. Has anyone heard that this is an issue for Malik.

Infamy is a stain that does not ever come clean.  I wouldn't draft this guy or allow him in camp tryouts.  It will be interesting and a statement about which organization picks him up from this hole he's dug for himself.

The rule states...

ARTICLE 9. a. If a player’s helmet comes completely off through play, other than as the direct result of a foul by an opponent, the player must leave the game for the next down. The game clock will stop at the end of the down....

c. If the ball carrier’s helmet comes off as in paragraph a (above) the ball is dead (Rule 4-1-3-q). If the player is not the ball carrier the ball remains alive, but he must not continue to participate in the play beyond the imme- diate action in which he is engaged. Prolonged participation is a personal foul (Rule 9-1-17). By definition such a player is obviously out of the play (Rule 9-1-12-b).

http://www.ncaapublications.com/productdownloads/FR13.pdf page 56

The helmet exploding play caused the ball to come out. Does that make Vince not the ball carrier? That seems silly.

The guideline from 1976 is the precedent setting for discouraging spearing.

http://www.ncaapublications.com/productdownloads/MD11.pdf

This is F'd. The adulation is the problem. We haven't learned anything from Daydrion Taylor's hit. Nobody wants to take action and when the action is taken they don't enforce the rules.

In this case the ball should be dead when the helmet came off by rule...Michigan ball just as if it had rolled out of bounds.

They should clarify this so that fumbles should not be allowed when helmets are removed due to the contact that caused it.

The play itself seemed to fit some balance given the 9.9 yard first down previously enforced - which was a case of extreme paralax on the part of the media. I never heard the officials chime in on that either. It looked like the official ruled the chain and not the stick was the 10 yard marker...or else the Clowney hit was just divine justice.

Yeah... I'm tired of those parents telling their kids what is good for them... like they think they know better and what's good for them...     /s

MSU/NU :-).  The 2012 coaching staff bet the farm mulitple times and came up short.  There will undoubtedly be less betting in the coming years and more Ws.  

Denard in the final analysis was an epic mis-cast once RR was forced out.  Borges did not make the power move and compromised other QBs in not doing so.

I'm looking for Mattison to build a lasting legacy.  Taylor coming back is huge.  

Thanks for the post Wolfman.  

Injury?...one game at a time plz.

This is relatively bad for JuCo challenged Michigan. For teams and admission departments setup for this like Alabama it simplifies things.

From a player perspective I don't see a down side...though parity is in the long term interest of the sport and ultimately the student athletes. For elite talent it's an incremental step toward semi pro ball. The Russell Wilson/Cam Newton effect can be huge...this makes that more a reality. Talent follows coaching and facilities...and money.

this will be a very good year.

Boyd ... career game.  That was incredible.  Love the coach - "It's great to be a Clemson Tiger.  This is a National Championship team."  Emotional? yes... Savvy? hell yes.

Hopefully Kyle breaks this record.

86-62 Michigan

Bump this to Diaries... this is good stuff...

Bell wasn't invited to practice due to roster limits...that is some evidence... though that has not happened with students the current staff recruited.

63-57 Mich

It looks like it has to do with turnovers, tempo and defensive strategy. Borges shouldn't be credited for rate though clearly. Like the 2nd half of Ohio it looks like missed opportunity on the coaches part. Particularly in bigger games there are execution misses.

Club,  Where did you pull this from and how did you do it?  The headers don't look familiar.

I guess... but are we looking at garbage time, strength of schedule differences, strength of offenses/defenses, downfield success rates, play success, points per play?  There are a ton of stats (most that take real work to bring out)  that are meaningful to football.  Choosing an aggregate of summary stats IDK about that.  If it brings up questions about the constituent distributions then by all means let's go there but always with an eye to what is happening on the field and team.

LSA knocks me out with his production of work here.  I'm looking at these tables partly because my daughter won't let me correct her math homework but mostly because I love football and Michigan.  I think the targets need revision.  Let's look at Success rate to begin with.  1st downs that gain 5 yards or more (.5 of needed yds on non std 1st and >10 yd situations).  2nd downs that gain .7 the needed yardage for first down.  3rd and 4th downs that convert.  Football Outsiders has a good rundown of GAF statistics for Offense, Defense and Special Teams.  The Hidden Game of  Football has good footbally stats.  If I had LSA's ability to kick it out... I'd go in this direction because there are few people who do.  There is this guy from Maryland who does a pretty interesting take.  I'd like to see that done for Michigan related data more often.

You are the one who made the thesis that single data points would create a normal distribution.  I just showed it.  Truth be told - if you smush different distributions together - I have no idea what they will look like - though I can fit them to a normal distribution - albeit not necessarily well.

I'm looking at this passing thing now for Mich and Nebraska... let me think about that... I think it's due to a lot of this sort of thing... 

Let the good times roll.

...When you average out stuff... half of it is below average...I'm not sure I get what this has to do with Football other than using it to show on average that some schools are better than average.

I'm good with that.

In the universe of distributions there are infinities of kind. When human minds fathom them they do so... for almost all parts... through the normal distribution. I clipped in the bell curve image on a lark because this analysis and metric is fashioned on the mean (not the distribution around it) of 31 different distributions...which spawned this fun. Stats are fun but not necessarily meaningful.

LSA then takes each school mean for each targeted distribution and does exactly what you say might make my obscure point valid... and reduces it to a single data point for each school.

Here's a picture of that distribution of overall targets attained ...

...wait for it...

...as fitted to a normal distribution...uh...hmm...it's a pretty good fit given we are only looking at 12 datapoints.

Michigan is highlighted...as usual... above the mean...which is what most people here come to hear.

As to my original point... it was simply this - Good Post LSA.  Let's focus the metrics to GAF criteria if possible but good post.

GAF - Good At Football

It's a Drupal Seth thing.  You can do both at once clickable full size charts - but I think... if this is your medium I would change the fonts to fit the column for impact.  I'm not speaking as an expert - I suck at this - but as a reader I really appreciate design... and of course content.

Thanks again for your time and work.

85-72 Mich

Why are you not posting your charts full size?  It's a distraction to have to click in to get to the detail.  Just wondering why?

I don't see the OL numbers as better.  

Inside run blocking has more promise.  Outside run blocking - not so much.  I don't see Bryant pulling and being effective - but we haven't seen him play.  That is a big body to pull.  Kalis is an upgrade - but we don't know where everyone is going to be yet.  Barnum was suppose to be the center out of Spring ball and that didn't happen.

Pass protection is unknown.  Lewan is a loss wrt pass protection.  Who will step up there?  It's not going to be an upgrade regardless.

Big questions and challenges on OL.

Bryant is either blitz or keyed to Omameh.

So much video...so little time.

Kovacs has one more game to impress upon you what a football player is. Obviously that will not be enough. Ability is no match for accomplishment.

That's right...it was the guys who left. /s. I don't want to go there...but I guess I just did. It was what it was.

setiment <> sentiment - pls fix.  Otherwise nice post.  You got me on this - bring on Rutgers.  This makes sense to me where Maryland in a football sense does not...

I remember the 1976 NCAA tourney... that was a great run for them.

Not as great as Michigan's but nice...

Paul Robeson played for Rutgers the intertubes tells me...

They fill their stadium... this could work.  

Maryland...well...hmm...they're good at Lacrosse.

They look tall too... if you squint and distort things a bit... maybe that could work as well.

Beat Ohio!

Pos bang on the win... but this thread I don't agree with.  I don't see the coaching rising above the talent on the field on offense.  Gardner and even the threat of Denard were major factors in this game.  Iowa was outclassed.  Michigan has plays and players.  Beat Ohio.  

Get well soon Fitz.  Way to go out Seniors.  Congrats on beating Iowa. 

Beat Ohio.

Iowa State played KSU tighter than anyone in the country(except Oklahoma.) ISU is not worthy of this kind of talk...at least not until Michigan beats Iowa... which is more than MSU can say.

This sort of scheduling doesn't do much for the conference. Frustrating lack of compelling games. ND can't go to the ACC soon enough. The PAC12 matchup that wasn't. I'm not seeing brand worthy games. It won't be very telling unless there are fails ... so much to lose... so little OOC to do it in.

OSU last year was the big inversion veerathon.

http://mgoblog.com/content/picture-pages-inverted-veer-ftw

nobody was calling Stribling solid except GREG when he verballed. These sort of problems happen when you lead the market...but at least you are leading.

and they are going to take the first quality commits. There is pressure both ways. This staff knows football...this sort of thing is going to happen when the staff sees talent others haven't yet. I don't see any evidence the staff is advising the Conleys and Striblings how good they are prior to taking their commit but I do agree the no visit policy is explicit.

That is not why Greg Smith left Goldman Sachs...  

I don't know how ENG students do it. Playing football, the problem sets and projects - this is a tough road especially for a guy with this much NFL potential. I would love to see this happen. There are very few ENG students in the draft for many reasons.

Are most the ENG classes on north campus still? I hope the academic counselors bring their A game.

This is bad policy for the B1G and Minnehaha.  It would be nice to go to a promotion relegation scheme with automated scheduling based on past performance...but that'll never happen.  

In the meantime there will be Minnehahas and Hiawathas.  I'm glad to schedule the best teams possible.  It's good for football... it's good football.  Ask the players who they want to play... the best.  The fans have already spoken...bad football - even at historically good programs makes for empty stadiums.

Kwiatkowski... getting it done...one play at a time.

He meant Unduhfeated...

http://mgoblog.com/content/how-post-mgoblog

Of course that is only if you have a Windows machine.

Otherwise drink more beer....

Who's that at 46 secs?...

I installed an electric fence to keep my dog away from my neighbors. Only problem was not one of my neighbors would wear the collars I bought for them.

and a mighty fine ship it was.  I hear the waters are calm in Arizona.

Laquon Treadwell as soon as he commits.

I'm not confused, but I'm definitely dialed back. Seems like Green is going to take his time. That is so last year. I am a petulant and impatient Michigan fan given the success of this class. This schedule is more realistic for Green or any recruit this or any year.

Michigan's early commits this year are due to Morris' early signing, Michigan's change in scheme and the opportunity that this staff has to offer. I would be happily surprised to have Hoke's classes turn into a Texas situation going forward. I don't think it will though./s

this is a player by player  - team by team call.  In general due to physical maturation alone these guys can contribute.  Team chemistry is another matter.

Where are the parents?  Setup for failure.  Yeesh.

Focus on the 2 deep for team to team and positional comparisons. Subtract out the walk-ons not on the 2 deep for team, position and developmental comparisons. Lastly development is hindered by position change on defense. If you dig to many years back or even report out current data without regard to the actual coached plan for players you are doing yourself a disservice.

As I'm sure you can attest not all teams report out or play to the same position naming formats. Sometimes this is due to nomenclature but other times it is due to scheme. This is interesting as well and should show in your positional analysis, but you need to pay attention to that. It goes deeper than spread vs. manball or 34 43 DL techniques.

An example - I did a rough comparison of Mich vs. Alabama and ran into issues with their roll down of the safeties and lb play. They have different types of athletes playing different roles. The H back position is another issue on offense as some teams are bought into the Joe Gibbs "H" back idea while others are using different personnel, formations and match ups.

I'm interested in your categorization - which is why I suggest focusing on the 2 deep above.

This analysis leads to a finer appreciation for the game, players and year to year the coaches. Football is tribal. However nothing is secret on the field. If bigger is better then it shows on team rosters and 2 deeps. Since the 70s bigger has been better. However we are at the limilts to the human body at many poisitions. The exceptions are truly worthy of the NFL.

Football isn't Baseball. Coaches want so much beef here and so much there to get it done. Football is like Baseball in that stats aren't shown for so much that is really relevant. What is shown is height, weight and an approximate position. I applaud this anlaysis and look forward to the position breakdown.

Good for her to continue and to go public on this.  Her courage makes the apprehension of this rapist much more likely.  She is a role model and leader. 

 nothing to see here...move along... here's the zit picking jpg instead...5:40

http://m.espn.go.com/ncf/story?storyId=8188530

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8188530/joe-paterno-statue-removed-penn-state-university-crew-site

Well done... best if only laugh yet from this thing.

 at least.

This is similar to  Saban's "Jack" position.  The Alabama game is going to bring out all the defensive cards. I wish decks were not as stacked.

He's relatively beefy on the team ... but he's absolutely beefy by frame.

Borland is pretty beefy.

Bullough and Higgs are the only above average LBs in Ht/Wt/Frame

• Nebraska is the big winner here in returners.  Michigan and Nebraska are similar in their rushing returners - but I wouldn't swap players.  
• Alabama has big shoes to fill.  Lacy is not Richardson thank god.  
• Rabbit21s rundown on service academy JV development makes me take AF's lack of returnees with a grain of salt.  
• MSU on the other hand has question marks (but they had ?s on OL last year that were ultimately not valid.)  Bell picks up for Baker though and has experience running through our D.
• Poor Iowa.  I hope that plays out.  Iowa week has not been pleasant at work (cube mate is a bird follower/loudmouth.  The beer bet index is as low as their returning starters production.)
• Ohio is going to change their scheme and has horses right or wrong.

It's not over until it's over.  The PSU community has far from swallowed the ugliness of this scandal.  Honestly that stadium needs to go idle if not to rubble.  Football just isn't anywhere near as important as the movers and shakers in this scandal took it.  USC is suffering?  PSU is well into recovery mode football wise.  This needs to be reset.  

Do the right thing by the victims past and future of child abuse.  This is a teachable moment.

I wouldn't want Michigan football to exist if it meant raping one child.  I think MSC understands that.  PSU allowed multiple kids to be raped and the consequence is what?  Football doesn't mean this to me.  Football doesn't mean this period.  That the new leadership at PSU doesn't  get that makes me sick.  It's time for a safety stand down.

Thank goodness PSU is looking after the welfare of blameless kids. (/capital S)  This argument has no merit.

This has everything to do with football.  The coverup was done because of football.

Thanks Wolfman...Let's not forget that it is incumbent on any champion to prove it's caliber every year.  If the SEC is better then they need to prove that on the field.  It's possible they aren't this year.  A well-coached enthusiastic team beats a poorly coached and/or sloppy team every time.  I don't want to start a battle but if we didn't square Denard to our round offense, I'd peg Michigan in this game by a touchdown or more.  But that is water long under the bridge.

Talking to an SEC fan or advocate about over signing is like talking to a Barclay’s executive about gaming the LIBOR.  They just don't get it.  They think they are doing these kids a service.  The ones who succeed are being served.  The marginal ones are not.  McNutt over signed quite a few guys but those teams aren't the stuff of legend.  

I pulled the attrition rates and walk-on numbers for the B1G, SEC, Pac12 and Big12 to look at personnel management.  I have a diary in mind there but it's fraught with more categorical issues than the positional analysis here.  The problem is the data isn't privy to the choices made by these athletes, coaches or the academic institutions.  Most all of the issues have been brought up before in other posts or articles.  In the end it is probably too much work for too little gain.

Over signing is not as large an issue now that the SEC rolled back their allowed signees to 28 in 2009, but over signing is still an issue if you have 18 to give and then sign 23.  Telling who has what to give is not easy when you don't follow the team like you do your own.  Alabama is still benefiting in granted redshirts, grayshirts and deferred athletes who have comeback as JUCOs.  Several blogs and media-ites have deconstructed that class individually.  The effect of all the large classes together 2008 to 2012 has produced the balance that is Alabama 2012.  Michigan suffered a few lackluster classes but has otherwise signed just about as many kids on the good years.

The biggest difference in the rosters is in the JUCO policy.  Michigan would do well to establish a transferable kinesthesiology curriculum at Grand Rapids CC.  I looked at that awhile back and I don't think there is a possible path for an athlete to follow there to get into Michigan.  If we are going to take a JUCO he pretty much has to figure out his path on his own evidently.  Certainly Michigan is not signing guys and "placing" them which is standard practice in the SEC (I think Nebraska has done this as well.)

The opportunities at other top 40 programs will become more apparent as the information that the recruits have going into the process becomes more apparent to the recruits and their families.  Opportunity, coaching and facilities will make the difference to these athletes in the long run IMO.

Here is the subset of that data without wins (for which I don't see a correlation.)

Michigan is more local now comparably

Alabama less - though still more than Michigan

Caveats-

• This is from 2004-2008.
• These are Andy Staples' numbers - ZLs link is worthy of clicking through...

By wins from that table...

Proximity to recruiting hotbeds is the most significant take home I'm seeing here.  West coast teams are reaching east, southern and midwestern teams are staying home.

Demographic changes favor southern teams if proximity remains king.  This article on ESPN by Paula Lavigne talks a bit about that.  Ohio is stil a hot bed regardless.  I'm not sure how seriously I take that though.  Football is changing pretty fast with recruits getting contacted earlier and with data being available at the touch of a mouse.

USC is certainly pulling from across the country as does Oregon (though I haven't looked at that closely.)  In defense of Hoke he's just missed on long distance guys up to this point.  

I strongly feel the largest factor for success in CFB is player/team dedication and good coaching.      When Zettel went to PSU because he felt it would give him a better path to the league that was disheartening (I'm sure there was more to it than just that.)  I think more of the top notch guys southern or not are going to start looking at coaches and facilities farther from home.

Fluker plays and projects to RT IIRC but both OTs are NFLers for the Tide this year.  And I think Lewan is better than either one.

for Alabama...I'm not going to get near the actual count given the vagaries of CFB (this isn't clear at any school.)

This puts the attrition from this class at 10.  Do you know who I'm missing or if one the guys below is no longer with the team?

Air Force is an even greater challenge IMO.  

If IIRC each team needs to summarize their 85 scholarship guys twice a year for the NCAA.  I've done a little research on that but it's pretty dry material vs. actual comparisons of the two teams - which is what I'm really after.

If you haven't read Ramzy's column over at Eleven Warriors, it is worthwhile the read.

Link please - not coming up on google.

P33 - good catch on Foster.  He is counted in this diary and the original diary as a scholarship kicker and a 3 star to Rivals - though as second string to walk-on Shelley.  I do count him as one of the 86 I show on scholarship.  I will go back over the list and ferret out the scholarship count in pt. 3 and link my data table as well when I come back to this.  Telling who is on schollie or not is not easy when schools are not obliged to tell you.  I take no data from oversigning.com nor have I vetted their data.

This diary is not a treatise on math versus football.  It's a straight comparison of the public rosters, rivals and depth charts as posted in pt. 1.  The charts can be helpful in this comparison and as stated in pt.1 are no substitute for real football.  The comparison to this point shows that Alabama is better pretty much in all ways to this point.  Certainly I'm not trying to prove Michigan better with these numbers.  I have other numbers that do that.

Rivals numbers do mean something.   Something does not equal nothing. 

This is a good post - though by no means the only one that shows this.

This is a diary.  It comes from a random guy on the internet...just like you...take it for what it is - not a summary of the Michigan fanbase or even the readers of this blog.

Signing more than your program can accomodate is oversigning.  Alabama has done it (along with most of the SEC.)  Saban has moved kids out as better talent becomes available.  He's not fessed to it.  Good for you if you are into that.  Michigan has not had that luxury nor do they move kids like Alabama does.  We've had our fair share of attrition.  Under Hoke we have offered a grayshirt and previous scholarship athletes have not been invited to fall camp.  We don't offer kids who can't be admitted.  We don't take JUCO players (at anywhere near the rate at least) as the Tide.  The way the teams have managed their rosters is different.  It shows when you look at the roster data.  

This is a comparison not a statement of superiority.  Alabama vs. Michigan  -  so far... as I am seeing it... is more apples to oranges than mano e mano (though mano e mano it will ultimately be.)  The really good stuff is going to see how Michigan schemes around the difficiences in this comparison - because they are real... Fluker is about 100 lbs heavier than Black or Roh were last year - and it's not bad weight on DJ.

I like your comments for the insight but don't go dissing the stats.  I mis-spoke on Foster in my comment above but not in the diary.  I will re-hash the scholarship numbers in pt. 3.  Stats can lie but they are not doing so here. 

Saban not Sanan...can't fix that on my phone.

EE = Electrical Engineers. Bama is going to kill us on the nerd front.



























Just kidding EE = Early Enrollee

Nice.

Coaching is a large part of the success equation at Michigan this year and every year. Mattison is much less likely to drop BWC into coverage where last year Martin could and did. Moving Roh to SDE with Brink/Heitzman/Wormley/Strobel behind him isn't going to be fun. These guys are going to have to follow the plan and live up to the hype to make improvement over last year. The schedule is many times harder this year.

I like the trends...Mattison has his work cut out for him.

My apologies...it was either the whole enchilada or just not post it.  You shouldn't see the stuff I'm not posting.  I'll spare you.

 

Justin Taylor of North Atlanta High School has been committed to Alabama for nearly a year, last February becoming the No. 7 pledge for this year's class. The 5-foot-11, 208-pounder missed his senior season with a knee injury.

A couple of weeks ago, Taylor and his high school coach, former NFL RB Stanley Pritchett, both said they were informed by Alabama assistant Chris Rumph that it was likely that Taylor would not be able to sign with the Crimson Tide this February.
[…]

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf-dr-saturday/rules-nick-saban-introduces-face-oversigning-151901075.html

No one is crying a river here.  Just acknowledging the pachyderms in the room or signed and "placed" or... yes ... pushed out for medical scholarship at a rate 12 times that of other schools.

It's not in anyone's interest to bad mouth a school when you are trying to get scholarships from other schools who might be interested.

Thanks for the comment.  I don't really know the particulars of Alabama's 2008 class.  I'm really just trying to look at the roster - but I have more to say on this - just by looking at the roster data alone.

MS TSS finished it for me. Must sleep. 

Seth... I screwed the pooch fixing a data error.  Is there a better way to fix stuff in Live Writer than re-publishing (it apparently re-sets the posted date?) 

I tried to edit from my phone first and that was my first mistake.

Any advice would be appreciated.  Live Writer makes it so easy otherwise.

40 times are sparse and fakey in the Rivals DB (BMI is pretty fakey as well - I only do it because it's complete and easy.  This diary isn't a referendum on BMI but the only correlate it might have to WR is for possession receivers in my mind.  I don't think correlation of BMI to 40 or other numbers work other than height, weight and position wrt performance is warranted.)

Here's a quick look at Rivals 40 times...it doesn't mean much... but I do think their DBs and LBs are faster and our QB (duh!) and OL are faster.  I'd rather have speed at DB than OL.  40 times have a history.  I'd rather have squat, bench and cone drill numbers for OL.  Some of that is available but again it's too sparse and fakey to put much time into.

The lucky guy may be the one who RSs.  The overall playing time across his career is going to be larger for that guy.  Devin will take the marginal snaps at WR this year IMO - which means nothing. 

Why not Darboh?  I don't think both will see the field (that would be wasteful - but the need is there.)  I haven't seen too much film on either but I'm curious if you know something wrt Chesson and Darboh.  They both have similar speed and cred.

My first take on Brown's "Book" was not good, if only because it's a compilation of his previous work from his website.  Posts don't add up to a book.  Several of the posts/chapters could have been slightly or greatly reworked to contemporize the themes and material.  Older chapters end with a one to two sentence rundown of what took place since that work was posted with no update to content.  The chapter on Borges was written prior to 2011 - there is no effort to read in the the importance of Fitz' impact in the coming year or the denouement of DR's interception rate learnings from 2011. 

Anyone can tag together the W/L records of the last five years and glorify the coaches and strategies of the Ws vs. those of the Ls.  Saban coached at MSU and was beatable.  Brown himself admits in every interview for this book that Bama just pummels people with talent.

That all said... great post.   Pattern reading is a big deal.    Coverage becomes 1 on 1 in the base defense that Brown discusses when the pattern read is executed.  That can be used against the D as well.  WR matchups are a concern.  DG as a WR makes sense to me in this game at least if only because he's so talented.  DR needs to not telegraph his throws.  That is going to do no favors for our guys downfield. 

Outside zone is not going away this year.

The over signing issue and rebuilding on the Michigan side can't be overstated.  We are still in the limelight (hopefully twilight) of that period.  Our first team can match up, but the depth is not there.  We could have 9+ freshmen in the 3 deep rotation.  But it's 11 on 11 so execution is key.  I'm hoping the exchange between Barnum and DR is solid come game time.  After that it's the matchups that concern me more than the strategies. 

Getting Michigan in position for victory here is a challenge.  The margins for success are challenging.  Fortunately the players who are going to have to step up are mostly seniors for Michigan.  The most important of which is DR and dare I say BWC.  No more injuries please (I was sorry to read about Poole - I hope that resolves soon and well.)

LT... hmmm... Laremy Tunsil ?!!!! 

/s

BFD - this is good for the kids’ self-esteem -not so good for their skill development.  The Opening, Sparq training, elite camps ... this is more the ground work for the future commercialization of these athletes. 

Has any coach endorsed this "training"?  No.  It's money. Connections will be made.  Business is what business does.  This isn't the only example of this but Nike is perhaps the most affluent.  If that makes this a BFD then BFD.

I support these athletes.  I'm happy for Jake.  The Opening... I don't think it means much in the end.  The sleds weigh about the same throughout the country.  Give me some football... not Combine Jr.

That said ... I might go and check it out (not that there is much for the public) if I can get out of lawn care duties.  Life is full of hypocrisy.