...he was never even close. I held on to this info for a long time because I felt horrible talking about a kid's grades and ability to get into Michigan. Friends of his and staff at Skyline also knew this commitment would be difficult. I won't get into specifics but he probably should have never committed. I always assumed we had one less recruit this entire class and was hoping another back with great speed would be added to the class.
Aggressiveness on the boards is no the issue, it is simply an issue of size. It will remain an issue all season, and Coach B knows it. I think that was one reason for bringing Sims off the bench at start of season. He has to manage the minutes and foul situation carefully for a roster with only 2 bigs in the rotation. However, they are so well coached it will cover up thus deficiency in B10 play and get us into the tourney.
Hate may be too strong word, but I certainly don't want to see opposing players do well against us. SO I don't have a problem wanting to see a player have a bad career. But I'm also a heartless SOB, so there you have it.
I could bash the 18 year old, and his mom, for de-committing, but I'll refrain. One word for the Beav though, she named you Shavodrick Beaver. How rationale can she be? Ok, that was out of line, but it was honestly my first thought when I found out at about 5 AM after a 18 hour road trip back to Michigan.
My point...aren't we in down period in recruiting where coaches cannot contact recruits. Bowl games started this morning. TomVH? If I'm correct, the timing of this announcement really leaves us in a bad spot. Did we have enough time to contact Boyd, Smith, Robinson and/or unknown guy to say the door is open.
Side note: I'm not totally against bashing these kids when they pull moves like this. They are becoming their own self-absorbed hype machines with the press conferences and politicking with schools and the media. If you play the game, you are no longer immune in my opinion. And if you decide to sh*t on Michigan on the way out or when announcing a change of heart...no holds barred. So if you hope Beaver becomes academically ineligible or doesn't receive his degree at Tulsa OR his genius OC gets a job at a real school, Tulsa switches to a wishbone, and said OC doesn't take Beave with him OR anything else along that line, I'm OK with it. Hell, we end up hating opposing players anyway, why not start with players that intentionally attempt to hurt our program on the way out.
He has a video posted on ESPN's recruiting site. I watched it about a week ago and was not impressed. He just didn't appear to be very fluid, and I wouldn't expect him to be in any team's rotation for many years. Video is more of a camp video, not actual on-field play.
Color commentator on NBC postgame show just said he doesn't think Notre Dame should accept a bowl bid if they finish 6-6. He said it would tarnish the Notre Dame brand. They really are delusional.
That's what position coaches are for. You know your unit. You know your injury situation. You get the defensive call, and you make sure you have the right personnel for your unit. Very rare for one individual to be responsible for all 11 bodies, especially at high college level and multiple subs.
Point taken. The argument is not that big a deal. My only concern was due to the incident, our substitution got fucked up and it cost us a TO. If certain people are stepping outside of their roles, it needs to be corrected. What happened to the Barwis is my god quote?
Your next comment should just say, "I love Barwis so much, he could do no wrong." If you think Shafer consults Barwis about his defense and assigns him and his staff gameday roles, this discussion is moot. Trust me, other than S&C, he is more than likely just a glorified hype man. He may get a little more leeway because of his status and relationship with RR, but I just don't think it goes beyond that.
I agree. But if a number of your S&C staff are heavily involved in defensive calls or substitutions, that is a little odd to me. If you are sideline hype man...fine. But when it crossed over into spats with players and grabbing facemasks...
Singletary is always on the sideline, but he wasn't directly involved in that incident. Stewart got his facemask pulled by what looked to be another member of the strength and conditioning staff. I have no clue why they (S&C) were all bunched up, along with the football coaches and in the middle of substitutions. Thompson came off the field during the TO, and appeared to be going directly at Barwis (and vice versa). RR, surprisingly, did not really tell anybody to back down. I'm not saying whether it is good or bad, it was just a very interesting dynamic. My opinion...know your role!
That's exactly how I feel because I know I am in the small minority when it comes to this subject. But really, I never understood the non-stop gushing over the kid. He had a couple of good games, and a dope highlight tape, but "we" placed him on Mike Hart status before the dude even finished half his freshman season. Then RR openly admits that he started the season because the obviously better RBs were injured, not practicing, and at the time, couldn't be trusted. I'm sorry...I watch way too much football to fall in love with a RB that constantly get smashed behind the line of scrimmage and can't break tackles. Same offensive line, but with the other running backs playing more prominent roles, we don't have nearly the zero/negative plays. I hate to see any kid leave Michigan (proud alumni '02) because it is the greatest institution og higher learning period and he could have developed along with the rest of the team. But football wise, excuse me for not shedding a tear for losing the next "great one."
Brian,
I don't post that often, but I am itching to post my feelings on the possible McGuffie transfer and the hilarious over-reaction by the fandom. If I respond to that itch, I would like some form of immunity from being banned, as I have been highly critical of the young man's abilities since he got here. I have expressed this not only in response to other's post about "Jesus," but also in the live chat during games. Will my request be granted?
One day, somebody will explain the ridiculous level of man love for the McGuffie kid. Great H.S. video and career...YES! Seems like he plays hard and will be a significant contributor over his career...YES. However, so many of you treat him with the same esteem that we give Mike hart after 4 years of being a pure beast. He has shown flashes this season, but after this season, I remain unimpressed. The number of zero and negative yard carries were far too frequent for me to be singing his praises. Many will blame the line play, which is a decent argument. But we did see a more consistent run game after McGuffie got injured. Please don't say the line improved that much over such a short period of time. I don't think I'm being a hater when i say I hope another back proves to be our workhorse in the next few years, and McGuffie turns out to be a home run threat (from multiple positions) with about 7-10 touches a game.
If this is a real Shafer quote (no source noted), I can completely
understand the dilemma. Any D-coordinator that wants to get after the QB, he
would prefer a 4 man line and blitz off of that. However, when your
"best" LBs continue to get beat on 3rd and 15 or 20 because they
cannot drop into their lanes properly (on the exact same routes game after
game), he is left with very few options. You have to go to a 3 man line and
hope 8 guys can keep the offense from getting a first down. When he does go
with the four man line, that leaves guys like Stevie Brown to make touchdown
saving tackles. With all due respect to the young man, he would tell you that
is bad news.
Side note about our LBs: I payed special
attention to them on Sat to get a feel for their abilities outside of UFR.
Mouton seems to really be starting to come along and plays with some instincts.
Instincts that Obi Ezeh just does not have. I understand gap responsibilities,
but sometimes you want your MLB to see where the play is going before it
develops, and smash somebody at the line of scrimmage. About 18 games into your
career as a starter(just a guess), it should start happening and I'm not seeing
it. And he's horrible defending those vertical routes in the slot. Why he
hedges towards the sidelines when they throw the ball past his left shoulder
everytime just boggles the mind. When it keeps happening, the only blame I put
on the coach is that he keeps you in the game. Thompson is just a guy... but he
can smack you if given the chance. Would really like to see Fitzgerald more,
only to see if he could man the middle, with a possible move to SLB for Ezeh
next year.
Some of you moles need to dig into the program and get a definitive answer on that damn Tate TD. I was going back and forth with gsimmons during the game about the play, but I just gave up. "He's smarter than you, so shut up." But Brian has given me hope that my eyes may not have decived me. Brown's body language, Trent's outside leverage, and Harrison being completely out of the play leads me back to an error by S Brown. I really hope it wasn't his fault, I want to see him get over his poor play. Somebody figure this out, it just keeps bugging me.
I will keep this simple. Long play "on Evans" was likely not his fault. Watch the play, every other defender on the field (especially at first level) was finding their area for zone coverage. Everyone except D Warren. He followed his man across the field in man to man. Evans turned his head because he was expecting outside coverage that was supposed by left corner. My opinion, it was an obvious blown coverage by Warren.
And can we please stop the McGuffie-riding? Dude looked horrible! Yes, line can get better in run blocking, but his mental errors were obvious.
Recent Comments
If this is a real Shafer quote (no source noted), I can completely understand the dilemma. Any D-coordinator that wants to get after the QB, he would prefer a 4 man line and blitz off of that. However, when your "best" LBs continue to get beat on 3rd and 15 or 20 because they cannot drop into their lanes properly (on the exact same routes game after game), he is left with very few options. You have to go to a 3 man line and hope 8 guys can keep the offense from getting a first down. When he does go with the four man line, that leaves guys like Stevie Brown to make touchdown saving tackles. With all due respect to the young man, he would tell you that is bad news.
Side note about our LBs: I payed special attention to them on Sat to get a feel for their abilities outside of UFR. Mouton seems to really be starting to come along and plays with some instincts. Instincts that Obi Ezeh just does not have. I understand gap responsibilities, but sometimes you want your MLB to see where the play is going before it develops, and smash somebody at the line of scrimmage. About 18 games into your career as a starter(just a guess), it should start happening and I'm not seeing it. And he's horrible defending those vertical routes in the slot. Why he hedges towards the sidelines when they throw the ball past his left shoulder everytime just boggles the mind. When it keeps happening, the only blame I put on the coach is that he keeps you in the game. Thompson is just a guy... but he can smack you if given the chance. Would really like to see Fitzgerald more, only to see if he could man the middle, with a possible move to SLB for Ezeh next year.