Jeff DelVerne's Tweets on the Scrimmage
Former Michigan kicker Jeff DelVerne was at the scrimmage and tweeted these observations...
I was at the U of M scrimmage today and they look very organized! Fitz Tousaint was the star for me.. Defense looks amazing
Denard is the real deal in this offense.. Seems to be easier to scramble in this offense cause defense doesn't expect it
I would say that the coaching staff today spent a lot of time on tackling, technique and teaching (less ranting). Black @ DE looks quick
Demens is baaaadddd to the bone
Kicking game looked solid! This freshman kicker has a lot of swagger/confidence and I couldn't believe it. Going to be a good year
I was shocked to see the growth from last year to spring to now! Very sharp on both sides of the football.
Needless to say, the part about Fitz made me feel all giddy.
August 20th, 2011 at 11:03 PM ^
Some coaches yell more than others. Bo Pelini yells a lot. Brian Kelly yells even more. Bill Parcells made grown men cry. It's a perfectly accepted and widely practiced form of coaching and motivation.
His problem wasn't berating players. And his problem certainly wasn't "negative body language;" there's no such thing as football coach feng shui. His problem was losing. But he's gone, so let's stop making comparisons and saying that the new way is better because the old way led to losing. Hoke is heavier than RR, but that doesn't mean that having a lighter coach was our problem. Mattison doesn't have GERG's flowing mane, but that doesn't mean that beautiful hair was bad for the football team.
August 20th, 2011 at 11:22 PM ^
There is a certainbody langauge though. I attended some RR coached practices during his last season here and whenever the defense messed up he'd get mad. The defeatist "We're so fucked" kind of mad, not the "light a fire under your asses" kind of mad. Also some unpleasant yelling between him and some assistants (including the one of the flowing mane). The players can tell when the coach has no confidence in them.
Mattison will definitely bark at people but it's much clearer he's doing to get them to play with emotion, not just because he's yelling out of frustation.
August 20th, 2011 at 11:31 PM ^
I'm just saying there's a chicken and egg problem. I'd bet most of my money on the idea that they were fucked and therefore his body language was negative, rather than the idea that his body language was negative and therefore the team was fucked.
August 21st, 2011 at 12:38 AM ^
Gotta believe before you achieve.
August 21st, 2011 at 1:28 AM ^
No developmental process is as black and white as you're painting it here. To think there's not a reciprocal, mutually reinforcing relationship between those two things is naive.
August 21st, 2011 at 7:53 AM ^
And if that was the impression I gave, it was wrong. But remember what Mike Martin said at B1G media week?
“We were all going hard, obviously,” Martin said. “(This) was our first impression on the coach.”
After the workout, Mattison pulled Martin aside and warned him: “That was terrible. That was completely terrible. You guys have to do much better.”
http://www.michigandaily.com/sports/martin-we-didnt-know-how-championship-team-functioned
I'm merely suggesting that the way the last coaches did things weren't that far removed from what a bunch of other coaches (including, to an extent, these coaches) do, and that many of those coaches are successful in doing so. Some players respond to coddling, some respond to being screamed at, and some respond to having their talent/desire/cojones called into question. Hell, RR's personal style worked at WV.
Maybe it didn't work at Michigan. Maybe he misread the attitude of the team, and maybe his motivational techniques didn't work with this group of guys. But the problem was the losing (oh... the losing... so much losing...), which had a bunch of causes, many of which (I would argue) far exceeded RR's body language in terms of proximate causation.
I'm as big a Hoke/Mattison/Borges fan as anyone, and I think they are doing some really, really good stuff. But I get tired of hearing the "RR did X, but Hoke does Y. QED, Y>X," We all mocked Dantonio's countdown clocks, and then Hoke put up a bunch of them. Maybe they motivate players, and maybe they don't. But I refuse to believe that a winning season will make the use of clocks inherently better, or RR's clocklessness worse.
I'd just like to see an end to the preemptive post hoc/prompter hoc comparisons is all. Hoke Uber Alles.
August 21st, 2011 at 9:03 AM ^
Ah, but that's reason/logic you're applying.
Many people just want to feel a certain way. And then simplistic "correlation therefore causation" or "after, therefore on account of" type reasoning goes merely to serve/justify how they feel.
August 21st, 2011 at 7:45 AM ^
Who didn't look violently disgusted at times? You should have seen me in my living room last year.
August 20th, 2011 at 9:53 PM ^
Did the 1's go against the 1's?
August 20th, 2011 at 9:53 PM ^
Figured Toussaint would be better this year without a Knee brace, and dropping a few pounds. Time will tell if he is going to be a big time back or not.
August 20th, 2011 at 9:54 PM ^
I don't know about "Madri Gra" but a Mardi Gras Parade is in the works...
August 20th, 2011 at 10:00 PM ^
wasnt really paying attention when i wrote that post, i didnt even notice it was #500 until i got an email about it
August 20th, 2011 at 10:58 PM ^
Cool story bro.
August 20th, 2011 at 11:01 PM ^
always appreciated
August 20th, 2011 at 9:58 PM ^
Yeah, that sounds way too positive to be realistic to me
August 20th, 2011 at 9:57 PM ^
WHAT??! The words "defense" and... "amazing" ... in the SAME SENTENCE TOGETHER?! eeeee I'm going to have wonderful dreams of Craig Roh eating quarterbacks tonight.
August 20th, 2011 at 10:42 PM ^
Remember saying "it is AMAZING how bad our DEFENSE is" several times last year
August 20th, 2011 at 10:44 PM ^
Touche.
August 20th, 2011 at 10:03 PM ^
Wonder if Jeff is telling all or just being positive? I have heard conflicting reports about the defense.
August 20th, 2011 at 10:05 PM ^
...MGoJen who I know has some very good inside sources.
MGoJen Heard the offense "got tore up" today but the D looked good.
August 20th, 2011 at 10:11 PM ^
Is it good or bad that the offense "got tore up"?
August 20th, 2011 at 10:16 PM ^
DelVerne says they looked "sharp" on both sides so I will take that as a good thing. Some other twitter posts regarding the scrimmage from some random dudes describe it as "legit" and "they defense is nicceee".
August 20th, 2011 at 10:28 PM ^
...in preparation for gameday. Hell no if they (O1) were dogged out by the 2's (D-second unit). But things should even out over the next 2 weeks. I'm curious to know if Coach Hoke heard "the sound of football".
August 20th, 2011 at 10:53 PM ^
than that if we're to consider you for Tim's job, mgojen
August 20th, 2011 at 10:06 PM ^
August 20th, 2011 at 10:12 PM ^
or amazing relative to "wheel routes open by 25 yards" ? Either way its a good sign I suppose.
August 21st, 2011 at 8:13 PM ^
I'm still seeing a counselor over those wide open wheel routes.
August 20th, 2011 at 10:13 PM ^
I ran over the Stadium bridge and saw the team practicing on Friday. From my vantage point, I predict we go undefeated.
August 20th, 2011 at 10:22 PM ^
Why'd you leave? Did Coach Hoke point at you?
August 20th, 2011 at 10:34 PM ^
Rumor has it last guy Hoke pointed at, well let's just say we don't talk about Omar no more.
August 20th, 2011 at 11:21 PM ^
I heard he pointed at the bridge on stadium and that's why it's been messed up this whole time
August 20th, 2011 at 11:11 PM ^
Keep drinking that Kool-Aid. We need posters like u. Stay tough Blue!!!!
August 21st, 2011 at 7:45 AM ^
....the bridge, of course. I had part of the project which put Edison facilities out of the way of the proposed demolition. What a pain.
August 20th, 2011 at 10:15 PM ^
The only problem with these kinds of observations is that it was Michigan vs. Michigan. How are we going to look against a non-Michigan opponent?
August 20th, 2011 at 10:46 PM ^
You continue to be one of my favorite posters. Perhaps my favorite.
That and $5.99 will buy you a New Yorker.
August 20th, 2011 at 10:16 PM ^
please please please...
August 20th, 2011 at 10:40 PM ^
August 20th, 2011 at 11:00 PM ^
WOOT WOOT
August 20th, 2011 at 10:41 PM ^
August 20th, 2011 at 10:49 PM ^
I once beat del Verne in beer pong. True story. He beat me every other though. Despite the fact that he was a drink kicker, he still was an incredible athlete.
August 21st, 2011 at 2:36 PM ^
...so?
jeffdelverne I just read the comments on my tweets on @mgoblog. Just to clear some confusion, I never lost in beer pong at umich. #1 in the nation
August 21st, 2011 at 2:54 PM ^
pawned
August 20th, 2011 at 11:02 PM ^
but someone with more technical savy than myself needs to re-work it so that it contains maize instead of red
August 20th, 2011 at 11:20 PM ^
If only I could figure out how to uploadd that as my picture.
August 20th, 2011 at 11:51 PM ^
Now THIS needs to be blown up as a poster for College Gameday. Everyone will get a kick out of it.
August 21st, 2011 at 12:01 AM ^
are my hero