Baxter

History

Member for

4 years 33 weeks

Blog

View recent blog entries

Karma

Current value

1

Recent Comments

Date	Title	Body
3 weeks 1 day ago	I'm worried... Is Brian OK?	I'm worried... Is Brian OK?
51 weeks 4 days ago	any chance you can upload the	any chance you can upload the raw moon shot?  i'd love to play around with what looks like an oustanding photo.
1 year 3 days ago	1. Novak. 2. Sims.	1. Novak. 2. Sims.
1 year 3 days ago	1. Hagelin 2. Hunwick	1. Hagelin 2. Hunwick
1 year 5 days ago	Was there last night.  He's	Was there last night.  He's probably 6'3" (my height).  They were both totally down to earth, Hunwick's very excited to have gotten the opportunity in Columbus, and Novak's looking forward to Europe.   Novak thinks that Beilein has done an outstanding job changing his game plan depending on the talent he has, noting Burke in particular (our offense was nothing like a traditional Beilein team this year).  He's incredibly excited to see what he can do with even more talented players, and some extra size in the post.
1 year 11 weeks ago	He may not have participated,	He may not have participated, but he brought in a ton of sponsorship money for the school/team, raised it's already high profile, and helped bring an amazing coach in Bob Bowman.  Not to mention that having the Vanderkay's swimming against him in intra-squad/training meets definitely improved the team itself.
1 year 11 weeks ago	Title 9?	I thought the 11.7 scholies was a title 9 limitation? Does title 9 only apply to NCAA sports?
1 year 13 weeks ago	Hagerup...	Don't forget the surprised Hagerup snap....
1 year 14 weeks ago	Well, I got a different hex from my pantone guide...	Pantone 116 Coated:   RGB 255  205  0     HTML FFCD00 Pantone 116 Uncoated:   RGB 255  181  17     HTML FFB511 Pantone 282 Coated:   RGB 4  30  66     HTML 041E42 Uncoated 282 is not right... so I'd go with the first set for maize.
1 year 21 weeks ago	One other possible counterpoint...	USC had documented and confirmed evidence of over $50,000 given to Bush, with allegations of a couple $100k more, from over 3 separate years of play.  OSU had $14,000 documented given in small amounts to several players over one apparent 12 month period, with allegations of possibly $10-30k to Pryor.  USC also had several key witnesses agree to give full cooperation, wheras OSU did not.  I, personally, still think OSU was guilty under the letter and spirit of the law of LOIC, but I do see some non-significant differenes in the meat of the two cases.
1 year 35 weeks ago	My several cents	1) Practicing deep throws in practice vs. game is a big deal;  the more accustomed Denard gets to the deep throw in game pressure situations, the better he will get at it. 2) INT to doubled Gallon was a bad read.  However, it was a great play call with the FB McClogan WIDE OPEN on the sidelines.  Again, as Denard gets more experience/comfort in making these reads in game situations, the better he will get at making the right read. 3) MANBALL runs were not working because of the defensive scheme: 8 or 9 (4-3 vs 4-4, generally) in the box every time, LBs selling out to the run, with 1v1 coverage on the outside.  This setup is what made the deep throws more prevelant and necessary (short throws toward the high end of the box are more difficult when you have so many bodies crowding it; you throw over the box or to the outside to counter).  As Denard gets more comfortable making those outside throws, defenses will adjust, taking 1 or 2 out of the box and making the inside runs more successful (i.e. 4-6 yards rather than -1-2).  4) Denard Waggle Miracles are awesome plays.  However, they are unsustainable (i.e. the reason he was always injured last year was due to the number of times he took shots in similar 1 vs 5 situations... he got yards, but he got tagged).  Just saying that he should always take off in these situations fails to take that into account. 5) RR's offense was prettier, and highly ranked in FEI (certainly higher than we will be this year).  But it wasn't very effective in the Yards-to-Points ratio (9th in total yards, 89th in Yards/Pt @ 15 yds/pt, compared to 69th in total yards, 29th in Yards/Pt @ 10.75). Whether this is a knock just to our defense or to our offense's red zone abilities is unknown (79% last year, currently 100% this year). As the year progresses, we'll see if our hybrid MANBALL offense can keep producing like that. 6) This is a work in progress.  Denard will get better at making reads from under center.  Denard will get better at making the progression of primary covered-->secondary covered--> SCAMBLE! Our team will continue to work on the fundementals.  The defense should get more comfortable as they continue to imploy the SAME SYSTEM WEEK TO WEEK. At the end of the season, or even after a couple games against real B1G opponents, we'll see whether or not this offense works any better.
1 year 35 weeks ago	Cherry picking...	I hate to break it to you, but our offense wasn't that consistent last year.  They were decent in the first half, alternating punts with touchdowns for the most part (5 of the former, 3 of the latter).  The second half on the otherhand read like this: Punt Punt Missed FG  Pooch Punt  Missed FG Punt Punt Last minute TD
1 year 46 weeks ago	Could probably keep bball scholarship regardless...	I don't know of any rules stating that you CAN'T give a basketball scholarship to a player that is currently injured or recovering from an injury.  I imagine he will keep his bball scholarship regardless and be declared medically ineligible and given a medical scholarship if it comes down to that.
1 year 50 weeks ago	Taking it to a whole other	Taking it to a whole other level.  Think you could add an escape clause in there for Ohio State, where it automatically mentions another former player who sold/bought something that they shouldn't have, followed by a mention of how it looks like Tressel's time is up and the Gee is still standing behind him 100%?
1 year 50 weeks ago	Thanks for the	Thanks for the debug, it's been a while...   //ESPN Random Column Generator #include <time.h> If (Columnist_name == "Feldman")  {      int superlat;        string team;      srand ( time(NULL) );      foreach (team = NCAAfootballTeams[]) {              superlat = rand % 5;              cout<< team<<" looked really ";              if (superlat == 0)  {  cout<<"great";  }              if (superlat == 1)  {  cout<<"awful";  }              if (superlat == 2)  {  cout<<"slow";  }              if (superlat == 3)  {  cout<<"ape-like";  }              if (superlat == 4)  {  cout<<"filled with ennui";  }              cout<<" during practice this week."\n;      } }
1 year 50 weeks ago	//ESPN Random Column	//ESPN Random Column Generator #include <time.h> If (Columnist_name == "Feldman")  {      int superlat;        string team;      srand ( time(NULL) );      foreach (team = NCAAfootballTeams[]) {              superlat = rand % 5;              cout<< team<<" looked really ";              if (superlat == 0)  {  cout<<"great";  }              if (superlat == 1)  {  cout<<"awful";  }              if (superlat == 2)  {  cout<<"slow";  }              if (superlat == 3)  {  cout<<"ape-like";  }              if (superlat == 4)  {  cout<<"filled with ennui";  }              cout<<" during practice this week."<<\n;      } }
2 years 16 weeks ago	Touche.	And those turnovers in the red zone (especially the ones against yes-that MSU)?   Let's start with MSU (that MSU).  I recall at least two failed red zone drives which ended in turnovers.  Those failures are one of the key reasons that we lost that game -- together with our defense' inability to stop MSU. They were mostly poor reads by a freak athlete who happened to also be a first-year starter at QB, when the correct read was open for touchdowns.  This was a great offense that would have been outstanding this upcoming year if it was given a chance to continue evolving.  It was not an outstanding offense this year, despite FEI numbers, but it was a great offense, nonetheless.   (PS. if you want to block quote something... select it and press the button that looks like a giant "....) In general, great offenses score less points against great defenses.  Oregon and Auburn scoring ~20 points each against each other is a good example.  So is Wisconsin scoring 19 against TCU, 20 against Arizona State; or OSU scoring 18 against Wisconsin and 20 against Iowa.  Overall, we scored less than the average team against our opponents on 3 occasions - MSU (5.3 pts less), OSU (7.3), and MSU2 (5.8).  We averaged 5 points more per game than the teams we faced gave up (not including UMass, Bowling Green, or the 22 overtime points against Illinois; including BG and the OT points that number balloons to 9.4).  We were a great offense; saying anything else has no evidence of support (anecdotes are not evidence).  Way to be a RR hater for no reason; he's gone now.
2 years 16 weeks ago	and....	let the google-stalking begin!
2 years 16 weeks ago	Tamani Carter.  3* DB from	Tamani Carter.  3* DB from Pinkerton, Ohio.  Originally committed to Stanford, switched to Minnesota, and now a future Michigan Man.
2 years 16 weeks ago	Hello Tamani Carter....	And Hoke's got his first commitment... Tamani Carter.  3* on Rivals, from Ohio.  Originally committed to Stanford, switched to Minnesota, then "snake-oiled" away by Hoke et al.   http://rivals.yahoo.com/michigan/football/recruiting/player-Tamani-Carter-85311
2 years 17 weeks ago	Winning first, mentoring later...	Mattison makes a ton of sense.  He's a proven winner, and a proven defensive commodity. He'll take less time than pretty much any other DC to turn this squad around, and he doesn't need any mentoring to do it. He coaches for several years, say 5 or 6.  At that point, Hoke's 58, and we hire an up-and-comer to be DC, grooming to replace Hoke 8-10 years and 4 MNCs later.
2 years 17 weeks ago	Or in other news...	We can now use the tag, "We've got the Funk"... Ps. Most position coaches don't have super exciting resumes. If the new DC doesn't, then I'll be concerned.
2 years 17 weeks ago	Strength and Conditioning	Via Rivals (apparently not pay-walled...):  Hoke is bringing Aaron Wellman in with him.  He apparently also believes in removing bad weight and adding good... which is nice. ""We tried to interview him once, but he didn't want to do that. He likes to stay in the background," said Shanahan. "But the kids rave about him. When Brady got the job he talked about how weak all the players were. In his first year they concentrated on taking off bad weight, the second year started putting on good weight." There isn't much out there on Wellman's philosophies, but Shanahan describes him as "pretty hard nosed, but the kids all love him." He'll insist that the kids get in the weight room as much as they can - voluntarily, of course - and accepts no excuses."
2 years 17 weeks ago	I'm certainly not embracing	I'm certainly not embracing nostalgia.  And who would you have brought in?   Speed?  That comes from recruiting.  We need to keep recruiting guys from the south.  But we can also get speed in the state of Michigan.  You've heard of Greg Jones?  Dude is seriously fast, and would have come to UM in a heartbeat a few years ago.  And sophistication?  Lloyd's offense was plenty of sophisticated when he wanted it to be (see game vs Florida in '97...).  The problem was he refused to remain sophisticated the rest of the season.  Where does it say that Hoke wants to only utilize 1/3rd of his playbook for 7 games of the year?
2 years 17 weeks ago	2 things	1) Hoke clarified his comments regarding Denard on the radio this morning: “I got to spend about 20 minutes with Denard yesterday and we’ll sit down together again today. But I can tell you one thing about Denard, we all know what a terrific football player he is, but what a terrific kid. Just the time I’ve got to spend with him and his personality and everything about him, I really, really am impressed with. There’s no question he believes in Michigan, he loves Michigan and he’ll be a big part of our program. I’ve seen enough of him to know he can be the quarterback of the Wolverines.” 2) Borges does have experience with a running QB, it's just from a while ago.  Cade McNown ran quite a bit during his 4 years there: Year Lge Team Age # GP Att Yards TD % Y/G LNG  1995  NCAA  UCLA Bruins  18  18  11  71  311  5  4.4  28.3    1996  NCAA  UCLA Bruins  19  18  11  88  223  4  2.5  20.3    1997  NCAA  UCLA Bruins  20  18  11  79  237  4  3.0  21.5    1998  NCAA  UCLA Bruins  21  18  11  75  182  3  2.4  16.5   Granted those numbers aren't great, but they include sacks (can't find how many there were each year).  Who's to say that he won't utilize the talent in front of him appropriately?  At the very least, this shows that he's not afraid to let his QBs scramble. While I don't think we will be running a spread option next year, that does not mean we won't transition to a shotgun-based west coast offense with designed QB runs to maximize the talent we have.  These guys work with the talent they have, they're not going to shove a round peg into a square hole and ask DR to do nothing but drop straight back and throw.  That would just be bad coaching.
2 years 18 weeks ago	Happy Thoughts.	Before Carr retired, we wanted him to go.  Yes, we were tired of his scheme, but the biggest problem was his lack of effort in recruiting, training, and motivating his players for the last 2 or 3 years he was there, and his propensity to lose one of those first three games of the year (Yay, Horror!).   When we hired Rich Rod, I was very happy; I was excited for a young, exciting coach who ran a spread offense and seemed to have his players up for every game.  3 years later, I'm upset that he was fired.  But I understand why he was, as 1 win in 3 years against OSU, MSU, PSU, and UW is just not acceptable to anyone.  Unfortunate as that is, we all know that the surly half of the alumni base would never be happy with a coach like him in charge.   With Hoke, I think we can bring the two halves of UM fandom back together.  The surly, "Michigan Man-or-else" half and the half that just loves Michigan and wants them to win, even if we're coached by Bugs Bunny (thanks Chris Perry).  We know Hoke doesn't like the zone read concept, and that is what it is.  Yes, it's not necessarily vogue, but teams continue to win games with man blocking schemes; they even win MNCs (Alabama, Texas, USC).  Whether you run a zone or man scheme isn't important; what is important is variation and talent.   With Al Borges as OC, we're not going back to 3-yards and a cloud of dust.  We're moving to an offense that can be run under center or out of the shotgun, and relies on variation in passing routes in addition to a more traditional power-run scheme.  This is not going to be Lloyd Carr's run-run-pass.  Watching highlights from SDSU, Borges and Hoke are not afraid to throw the ball on first down, to make short passes, or to air it out.  This year, SDSU put up 11 (16 more than UW) more points against TCU (35) than any other team, a team that was #1 in scoring defense this year.   We don't need a big name coach to win a national title.  What we need is a coach that pays attention to detail, recruits well, keeps the fan base together, and doesn't forget about the "easy games".  Hoke can probably be this coach.   We won't know one way or the other until a few years from now.  But let's not rush to judgment based on 1, 2, or 3 good (or bad) years.  If Hoke starts losing games we SHOULD win - not because we are Michigan, but because we have more talent - that's when we'll know he's not the right coach.  But we won the 1997 NC behind a coach with no head coaching experience, and no sexy name, and we can again.
2 years 18 weeks ago	Wednesday...	And given our UM confirmed info that Brandon and Miles will be meeting on Tuesday, maybe we can all focus on other, less important things like work and family until Wednesday morning, and then let all the usual craziness continue?  And in more important news?   Puppies:  http://tv.gawker.com/5715347/ http://tv.gawker.com/5724364 http://tv.gawker.com/5724772 And of course, a kitten:  http://tv.gawker.com/5725344/
2 years 24 weeks ago	So we've gone from ~80th to ~ 40th in 2 years...	That means if we continue to improve, we'll be #1 in 2012 (or #5 in FEI).  I like these trends.
2 years 25 weeks ago	corner height	ESPN, Rivals, and Scouts may all have the correct height for the last time they saw a person measured (they don't update scouting profiles once people are enrolled in college).  Talbott is also the younger of 2 brothers in the same grade, so he was reaaaally young the last time he was measured for a scouting website.  And a combine-measured 5'9" or 5'10" is probably incredibly accurate... for the summer before their senior year.  Most men continue to grow until they are 19 or 20, and adding an inch or 2 from the start of senior year is not that rare.  (I was 6'2" when I started senior year, I was 6'4" by the end of my freshman year of college).  And, no, this isn't stuff pulled out of my ass, I'm a doctor who's actually studied development...
2 years 27 weeks ago	Devin was the one throwing	Devin was the one throwing with Tate.  Helmet never on though.

more