This is going to be a historically bad draft, very few if any sure fire NBA players. Irving and Williams look great, but after that there is very, very little. It would be a shock if Morris doesn't make the first round. If it were any other year Morris would be a 2nd-rounder.
Is it possible that the Big 10 signing rules (whatever they are, ESPN mentioned them in that piece), could keep Miles from cutting kids? He wouldn't be allowed to go outside those rules.
Lalota came in nowhere near the 6'6" 250 lb. that the recruiting websites had him listed at. I believe he had significant elbow/shoulder injuries. He definately needs time to physically mature.
Banks is becoming a very good backup to RVB. Big Will is in fact big and makes plays strictly because of his size even if the techniques are raw. Sagesse can fill in behind Will. Martin is an animal, altough a short one. Simply due to being older and physically more ready Watson likely plays more than Lalota. Same with Patterson, who wows you briefly then disappoints.
In many ways the SSs are the hardest positions to fill in the 3-3-5. Like you said they are LBs against running teams and have to cover slots against spread teams. Fortunately we don't face too many primarily pass spread teams (Purdue, Notre Dame) where SSs can be victimized by quicker slots.
I don't know how they are doing this spring, but Kovac's and William's strong suits are tackling and run support so they would suit us well against the running teams.
I hope these slides show the versatility of the 3-3-5 to some disbelievers. Against old school teams like Wisconsin you have 8 players within 4-5 yards of the line of scrimmage. There is your 8 men in the box cliche. Against spread teams like Northwestern you have 5 db's on the field to combat multi-WR sets. This is done without personnel changes.
Practice Dates:
March 16, 18, 20, 23, 25, 27, 30
April 1, 6, 8, 9, 10, 13, 15
Spring Game: April 17
The three days in a row on April 8-10 coincides with the Coaches Clinic.
LIES! That is what all girls say, they are looking for a sense of humor. From all the "I consider you more as a friend" replies I get from girls whom I make laugh, I have found this to be a massive lie.
Bell is a ILB too if I remember correctly. Also Leach didn't light the world on fire, but his play was good enough to take Ezeh's job away.
ILB Depth:
Fitz
Mouton
Demens
Bell
Leach
I am not saying moving Ezeh has to be done. I am arguing that we shouldn't be too quick to dismiss the idea. In many ways it makes sense to me.
Yes, he made some plays. But, IIRC, he didn't start nor played starter's minutes in that game. Everyone, including myself, wants him to be a beast this year. Remember that he is very young and to be a starter and a dominator as a true sophomore is difficult to do.
"Regardless, you'd be condensing five starter-level players (Van Bergen, Roh, Martin, Sagesse/Campbell, Ezeh) into four defensive line positions"
That's debatable. We don't know for sure that Campbell/Sagesse are ready for starter level minutes. I sure hope so, but neither of them were commanding more minutes with their performances last year either.
I guess my main point is that Ezeh struggled so much that Leach took his job after 30 (or so) straight starts. That is hard for me to forget. To me Ezeh has more upside as a Quick.
It depends which of these two choices you prefer:
Quick- Roh
3 tech- Martin
Nose- Campbell/Sagesse
DE- RVB
MLB- Ezeh
If Campbell is ready and Ezeh turns competent I am all for it.
Quick- Ezeh
3 tech- RVB
Nose- Martin
DE- Roh
MLB- Fitz/Leach/Bell/Demens
Campbell isn't ready and one of the backup MLB's turns competent.
Overall: The lack of a quality MLB can kill a defense. I have more faith in the improvement of Fitz than I do with Ezeh at MLB.
I think general consensus around here sees the D-Line next year with RVB moving to DE, Martin being a 3 tech, Roh staying as the quick, and the nose taken by Campbell and Sagesse.
I think moving Ezeh is an interesting possibility. Ezeh, based on all accounts, is a fast and strong athlete but doesn't grasp the mental aspect of the game. A move to the quick may help because it is an easier position to grasp mentally.
Ezeh as the quick, Roh to DE, RVB stays at 3 tech, and Martin is the nose. Campbell, Sagesse, and Banks fill in at 3 and nose. Banks plays some DE as well and hopefully Lalota or Jibreel Black help at DE. Suddenly D-line depth is fantastic and walkons aren't relied on so much. Some people may hate this idea because they don't want to move Roh. I think with an extra 15-20 pounds Roh is a great DE. I guess it depends on how different the jobs of the quick and DE are. According to my limited knowledge they are quite similar.
For me this hope that "the light will come on" with Ezeh is optimistic, but is very unlikely to happen. What makes people think that after 30 or so starts that at start 31 the "light comes on"? I know the changes in schemes and coaches haven't helped, but LB instincts can't always be coached. Some LBs have it, some don't. I would be more optimistic that Fitzgerald, Demens, or Bell would make that big leap forward at MLB.
Kudos to Big Boutros on the Heat mention. Cops and robbers with Pacino chasing De Niro and intense drama throughout. It has to be my favorite movie of all-time.
Michael Mann just makes great movies, The Insider, Collateral, I even thought Miami Vice was pretty badass.
Now this may make me a huge nerd, but #2 on the list has to be Donnie Darko. Incredible movie.
Trading down sounds like a good idea, but somebody has to want to trade up. Really the only reason that anybody trades up as high to #2 is to get a "franchise" QB or LT, other wise trading up means you have to spend too much money on a position that teams don't spend that much money on. You have to hope that Bradford and Clausen start to test through the roof in hopes of trading down. Right now it doesn't look good.
That is because he isn't a number 1 back anymore. LT's 3.3 yard/carry was less than Kevin Smith's 3.4. Throwing any money at a free agent back at this point would be a waste. Older free agent RBs rarely work. RBs who can contribute can be found later in the draft. Jets got Shonn Greene in the third.
First two picks go to DL/OL, McCoy then Bruce Campbell?. Grab a RB later on, like Hardesty in the 4th. LeGarrette Blount can be had in the middle rounds and has the size/speed to contribute as long as he doesn't lose his mind on the field. Between Smith, Brown, and rookie mid-round RB there maybe an NFL back in there.
Denard is obviously not the first to do both. Braylon was successful at both as well. When Braylon was running track Lloyd's only rule was that it wouldn't take time away from his football activities. Braylon still did the football workouts and spring practice, but obviously still had the time to go to track as well. I don't think this has changed under Rodriguez.
Even if the James kid is a primadonna a coach is in the wrong for locking him in a shed and not allowing him to sit down. You can't lock kids in sheds for hours, regardless of the reason.
I think the story is easy to understand. James is viewed as a non-contributer with attitude problems by the coaching staff. This is obvious from the emails by former coaches and some players.
James shows up to practice with a diagnosis of a mild concussion. Leach, completely frustrated by James' prior efforts and latest injury, decides he doesn't want James at practice. He doesn't want the malcontent to be a distraction.
Leach then makes the kid go in the shed, and the press conference room/electrical closet during practice so he doesn't have to deal with him. There are reports of an assistant that makes sure that James doesn't leave or sit down.
TexTech finds out about the situation. Leach refuses to apologize to the James family or admit he might be wrong. Leach is suspended. Then Leach files lawsuit so he can coach in bowl game. Leach is then fired for not showing any sort of regret for locking a player in a shed and then media room/closet and then defiantly filing a lawsuit.
Personally I feel like the whole thing could have been avoided by sending James to his dorm or to the trainer's room. The coach doesn't want an injured player being a distraction to others just has to send him home. Then the next day you meet with the player and tell him why he was sent home and how he can fix the issues. If the player doesn't improve on his issues you boot him off the team.
I only played NCAA for years because Madden games were too arcadey if that makes sense. It was way too easy to put up points and star players (or players with 99 speed) dominated games. Then I played last year's NCAA and it sucked. This year's NCAA they attempted to fix some things, but I was still disappointed when I played it.
Finally this year I heard good things about Madden turning into a more realistic football game. I bought Madden for the first time in 6 years. I actually prefer Madden to NCAA this year.
The movement thing is something to get used to, no one can simply cut on a dime like they did in the previous generation's games. NCAA and Madden move similar in that way. Play-calling is a big part of being successful. On run plays don't use the sprint button until you have picked the hole you are going to run through. It is really hard to move side to side if you are sprinting. Be patient then when the hole opens up sprint through it. How many games have you played? It could take more than a week to get used to the game's mechanics.
If you don't like Madden then I wouldn't get NCAA. The only advantage to NCAA is the larger amount of playbooks can be kind of fun to run, but even then the plays seem kind of broken. The zone read or QB choice has never felt good on NCAA. It seems like a crap shoot if you will be successful or not.
Guys with that much musclulature just look awkward when throwing a punch. His kicks were incredibly tough, but when he tried throwing punches while standing it looked like old Bob Sapp fights. He will have to lose some of that muscle up top and get some flexibility back before he can beat anyone that can match his size/weight. They put a guy in there 50 lbs. less than him and it went they way it was expected.
Highlight of the fight was the ref tackle of Pudzianowski when he tried to pull him off the other guy.
Fans who throw a kid under a bus because the recruiting experts don't like them are idiots. Sure the recruiting sites are a helpful tool because there is a relationship between high ratings and all-americans or whatever, but the bottom line is simple. The coaching staff at Michigan saw the video of a player and decided they wanted him. That should be good enough for the fans. Who do you trust more, the Michigan coaching staff or a recruting site? A bad report from a recruiting site makes Rodriguez and co. wrong? I for one don't think so.
I for one trust the coaching staff. Welcome Carvin, Vinopal, Dileo and anybody else who get treated poorly on fan sites. Hit the books hard, let Barwis do his work, trust your coaches and you will be champions. GO BLUE!
No they do not lose a year of eligibility nor does it count as a redshirt year. I am not sure why, but since they never had an opportunity to compete in a game they don't lose eligibility. In essence they get a head start on the rest in their class by getting a semester of academics in and a spring practice as well.
I think you got caught up in the part where they said you can't backdate a player who isn't enrolled in that academic year. But an early enrollee IS enrolled in the 2009 academic year as the winter '10 semester counts towards the 2009 academic year. This is not then "backdating."
So a class of 28 is allowed because of the early enrolling of at least 3 (Pace, Robinsons, White, Miller, Others, I am not sure). HOORAY! Now it appears we don't have to Peace or Barnes a kid, and I hope we don't. Subject to academic reasons this class should be huge and talented.
Jon Jones looked awesome, but there are numerous guys at 205 ahead of him right now. He won't get a title shot for a while, but he is extremely young. Shogun Rua might beat Machida when the rematch happens. Winner of Rashad Evans vs. Thiago Silva might get the next shot. Little Noguiera just joined UFC and is likely to get a shot before Jones. Does Rampage return? Couture just dropped back down to 205 and even though he is well past his prime the UFC loves giving him title shots.
The Kimbo fight did suck. Both guys tired easily. However, one of the highlights of the night was the Kimbo throw, he dropped Alexander on his head and nearly ended the fight there. Although I don't know how that judge gave the first round to Kimbo, maybe because Alexander was running away too much?
Overall a decent, not great night of fights. I can't wait for Penn vs. Sanchez though. Penn is a killer at 155 and Sanchez is just crazy enough to attack him.
I don't think "rationality" and loyal Michigan fanbase can ever coexist. I was at the game this Saturday for my first Rich Rod era experience and the grumbling amongst the fans was excessive. Everyone in the stadium hates the play-calling all the time.
As a high school football coach (I know it isn't the same as being a coach at U of M) it amazes me how many people think they can do the job. The truth is these coaches spend an incredible amount of time with these players put them in what they think is the best position for them to be successful. They know the player's ability more than any fan does.
What I saw Saturday was a UM offensive line (who sorely misses Molk) that got beat up a bit by a better than advertised Penn State D-line and UM's paper thin secondary get shredded by the returning first team all Big 10 quarterback. Sometimes a coach can call the perfect play and opposing talent can and will trump that call.
Regarding the "sloppiness" and turnovers: it is a residual effect of an aggressive offense with young players. It is possible that we wouldn't turn the ball over so much if we had Denard under center and we ran zone left Debord style. But we all saw how much of a waste of talent that can offense can be.
We lost at home to what could be a top-ten team by the end of the year. Deal with it, and know that a 7-5/8-4 record means growth.
I have a playstation 3 and love it. Also Xbox 360s fail a whole lot more than ps3, and ps3 online play is free.
An article on system failures:
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6216691.html?tag=result;title;1
If you don't want to read it, here is the jist. Xbox 360 failure rate 23.7%, PS3 10%, Wii 2.7%
I accept it more now than a year ago, especially when Rodriguez talked about only recruiting those who LOVE football. It appears that O'Neill didn't love football enough to put all the work in, so wish him luck and Mich football will be fine without him and all those unwilling to put in the effort required.
Since Arsenal has been more of a develop-younger-talent than buy-older-talent squad can I cheer for them and it not be a bandwagon thing? I honestly am entertained by their style.
Arsene Wenger is the best coach in the game. They play a brand of Soccer that is the most entertaining to watch (speed and quick passing). Man U is kind of fun with Ronaldo breaking ankles, but 3 or 4 one touch passes in a row for an open goal is more entertaining to my eye.
Arsenal does have quite a large budget, but it isn't nearly as much as Man U's or Chelsea's so it wouldn't be like cheering for the Yankees or Red Sox.
That is my understanding to the base defense. 3 down lineman and 4 LBs with the strongside OLB being the deathbacker that lines up on line of scrimmage like a standup DE, and the weakside OLB being the the quick S/LB hybrid. Interestingly this makes the the strongside DE more like a 3-tech DT, with the size of RVB and BG they could fill that role.
It will be interesting to see which 4 LBs start. I think the best 4 are: Ezeh, Mouton, Fitzgerald and Brown. Which one of those 4 plays deathbacker? Ezeh?
Right now I think Herron is the early leader for deathbacker, so then you drop Fitz to the bench.
8-9 wins seems like too much, but you got to believe that both the D and O will be adequate to good, so expect an adequate to good year (not by UM expectations). 6-7 wins is the most reasonable.
I don't expect UM to throw as much as Bradford and OU did last year, so that will limit Koger's opportunities compared to Gresham's. I do believe that in his limited role Koger will be an explosive playmaker.
I am not livid, but I see where you are going. Manny's last two fouls were very questionable charges, especially his 4th foul. That foul killed a minor rally for M.
Generally when the offensive player gets his shoulders past the defender while he is in midair it isn't an offensive foul, except on Manny. Manny's 4th foul is a play similar to Griffins monster dunk. Player has lane to basket, defense is over a little too slowly and doesn't get square to attacker and there is contact. Griffin gets a highlight dunk that iirc was an and one, and our star gets saddled with his 4th.
The T made no sense.
Griffin is trapped in a double team on the baseline, plows through Novak who is obviously in position with planted feet and Griffin gets another and one, and checks out his flexed arms for a moment.
Also Sims box out of Griffin for his 2nd foul was a stupid call (not Sims' 1st, the undercut was a legit call). I am talking about the one where Sims boxed out Griffin all the way out of bounds. Boxing out is allowed, it is not a foul.
It all probably doesn't change the outcome of the game as we were lucky to be in it with Wright's outburst.
Here's to next year and hopefully Cronin and Morgan can help us with post defense and rebounding.
It was mentioned earlier by karpodiem, but Barwis does sell his training regimen. I went to see Barwis speak at a Glazier Football Coaches Clinic in Grand Rapids and he was selling his manual for $80. I was psyched by his speech and I bought one.
It goes in depth about nutrition, stretching, weight lifting for speed and line athletes, speed and agility work, plyometrics, core training, and injury prevention. I remember him saying that if you want one and are unable to get ahold of him you can try Chris Allen, his top assistant. I don't know where to find their email addresses though.
I heard talk of DE/LB hybrid with his 4-man front, return to the days of the "Rush" LB. Sounds similar to the stuff Hermann use to run, what has been described as a 3-4 "over." This is not necesarily a bad thing. Robinson did also talk about being adaptive, so just wait and see is the approach. Waiting sucks.
True freshman contributors:
1- JT Turner (CB depth chart scares me)
2- Super Otter (science damn you, DT depth chart also scares me)
3- Forcier (not higher because of Threet)
4- Gallon (kick returner?)
Death Roh looked like a beast in the UA game, but he is also around 230 lbs. He needs 30-40 lbs to play DE. Early enrolling would help the cause, but a look at that list I don't see instant impact. Vince Smith is listed at 5-7, 159 lbs. on rivals, who can be generous at times. Does he stay at RB? To me he seems like a slot-dot sort. I don't see his impact right away, even with the early enrolling. Hawthorne is 30 lbs. too light,. Lalota is experience starved. Maybe Mike Jones surprises us? I think he is enrolling early.
Even if Mich uses the 3-3-5 Big Otter would be needed for depth purposes. Mike Martin played well in waves last year, a full time starter might be a difficult transition. Who else sees time at DT, Sagesse? Big Otter is just as needed as any other guy remaining in this class.
Jamison, Taylor, Johnson are gone. The only D-linemen that made solid contributions this year that are coming back are Graham, Martin, Van Bergen. None of the other D-linemen wowed anyone last year. There is your 3 man line. If Campbell comes to Michigan, a HUGE if, it would be asking alot for him to start immediately even if he enrolls early. Campbell still will be a 18/19 year old going against senior O-linemen. He could be the first sub for Martin at DT and see alot of time there. I don't know how much Mich can rely on Sagesse.
Any scheme needs to be coached for more than one week to be successful. Obviously the spread offense takes some time to coach. If Rich Rod decided to run the Bo-era wing-t for one week it would have been even worse than what they were doing on the field. The fact that they even tried the 3-3-5 for one week speaks volumes on how bad the defense was struggling in Shafer's schemes, they seemed desperate.
I think you are misinformed about the 3-3-5. 3-3-5 simply refers to the personnel on the field not the formation they line up in. 3-3-5 does not mean that with the 5 defensive backs they are 3 safeties that line up 10 yards away from the ball. Against "base" offensive sets like OSU, Wisco, MSU (2 WR, 1 TE, 1 FB, 1 RB) 2 of the safeties (called spurs/dogs, think SS/OLB tweener) line up 3 yards from the line of scrimmage outside of the last offensive player on the line of scrimmage. In this line up the defense is more like 3-5-3, so there are the 8 defensive players in the box to stop the run. This is why I like the 3-3-5, its adaptability.
You can't say that any scheme can not work in the Big 10. If you ask me it is horrible mistake to stay in a 4-3 against any spread team (Northwestern, Minnesota, Illinois, Penn State, Purdue). You are asking LBs to cover alot of space on the field.
This juco coach explains some of his 3-3-5 scheme here:
http://www.americanfootballmonthly.com/Subaccess/Magazine/2004/oct/gmc…
Sorry, Meant for howarddestroysherbie
I have heard 3-3-5s coached where there is only one gap responisibility. Nose has one "A", the MLB has the other. Ends have "B" or "C", with the stacked SLB or WLB responsible for what the end doesn't cover. Dogs/SSs have outside of TE, "D" gap, or is just a contain guy. In this way it is very simple.
With coverages it is mostly a cover 3, or a man-free, but it also depends on where the Dogs/SS line up. The weakside Dog can drop back and play a deep zone at the start of the QBs cadence. Then the defense resembles a flexed 3-4. From this you can have a cover 2 or 4 look.
This is some of the reasons why I love the 3-3-5, its adaptability. Against power run teams you have 8 in the box to stuff the run. Against passing teams you can send anywhere from 3-8 players after the QB from different areas to create pressure, but you also have 5 DBs on the field to cover.
Recent Comments
This is going to be a historically bad draft, very few if any sure fire NBA players. Irving and Williams look great, but after that there is very, very little. It would be a shock if Morris doesn't make the first round. If it were any other year Morris would be a 2nd-rounder.
60 or so comments and no love for Jack White?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t1_ETuWIbE
Is it possible that the Big 10 signing rules (whatever they are, ESPN mentioned them in that piece), could keep Miles from cutting kids? He wouldn't be allowed to go outside those rules.
Anybody else laugh with the line: "...the Carr offense excelled in the 0-3 and 10-20 yard ranges" ?