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 9:44 PM ^
August 20th, 2011 at 10:52 PM ^
well we should for sure be able to trust the analysis of the kicking game which may be the most important news we could hear. the off and def will continue to improve as the year goes on, but with the kicker either you got it or u dont.
August 20th, 2011 at 9:44 PM ^
FITZ!
August 20th, 2011 at 10:10 PM ^
I've always had high hopes for him.
August 20th, 2011 at 9:44 PM ^
Bad=Good in this case.
August 20th, 2011 at 10:16 PM ^
August 21st, 2011 at 11:11 AM ^
And you dang kids, get the heck off my lawn
August 20th, 2011 at 9:46 PM ^
Not sure if I believe it yet.
August 20th, 2011 at 9:47 PM ^
is still awaiting confirmation.
August 20th, 2011 at 10:36 PM ^
kinda like vunter slaush
August 20th, 2011 at 9:48 PM ^
Ahh beaten by a minute, well played.
August 20th, 2011 at 11:04 PM ^
...those tweets weren't from Coach Jackson?
August 20th, 2011 at 9:47 PM ^
Who is this Fitzgerald Toussaint you speak of? I was convinced he was a figment our collective imaginations?*
*except for when he won the Heisman for me in NCAA 11.
August 20th, 2011 at 9:51 PM ^
he is the best back on the team with the lowest rating but after a good year he becomes like a 97
August 20th, 2011 at 10:24 PM ^
He is the RB who is as powerful as Chris Perry and Anthony Thomas....but faster.
uh...no wait...that was someone else... quick get Fred Jackson on the phone!
August 20th, 2011 at 9:50 PM ^
will there be a madri gra sized party in A2?
EDIT: POST #500 WOOO!
August 20th, 2011 at 9:54 PM ^
it will be bigger.
August 20th, 2011 at 9:53 PM ^
If we go undefeated, there will be a Mardi Gras party in Hoke Arbor.
Festivities will begin on the corner of Hoke and Hoke, right outside of Hoke Auditorium.
August 20th, 2011 at 10:00 PM ^
That would be quite confusing...but it'd be worth it!
August 20th, 2011 at 10:58 PM ^
at Hoke Auditorium...memories, memories, memories...
August 21st, 2011 at 6:17 AM ^
Yspilanti would become East Hoke Arbor in the confusion.....
August 21st, 2011 at 1:40 PM ^
We already have a protectorate over Ypsi. /imperialism
August 21st, 2011 at 2:00 PM ^
This makes Saline, Dexter, Scio Township, Barton Hills, Pittsfield Township, etc....all vassal states of Hoke Arbor? I see potential here....
August 21st, 2011 at 3:03 PM ^
for "Hoke Arbor." That's got to be the funniest thing I've seen all week.
As for the vassal states, we should grant baronial titles to famous Wolverines and give them gold scepters to wave about as they rule over these communities with a maize-and-blue fist of justice.
August 21st, 2011 at 8:41 PM ^
Dan Dierdorf shall now be styled as "The Baron Dierdorf, Protector Of The Whitmore Lake And Warren Road Area"
August 20th, 2011 at 10:10 PM ^
I will run down State St. naked if we go undefeated.
August 20th, 2011 at 10:13 PM ^
Now that's just cruel to the residents of State Street.
August 20th, 2011 at 10:19 PM ^
Perhaps I should pull a Constanza and wear a body suit.
August 20th, 2011 at 10:53 PM ^
Anyone else rooting for a 12-1 season now?
August 21st, 2011 at 1:41 PM ^
Ready...aim...
August 20th, 2011 at 9:51 PM ^
Must. Tame. Optimism.
But in all seriousness, gotta take these things with a grain of salt. Don't get me wrong, it's better than hearing "Team looked lost", but it was just one scrimmage.
August 21st, 2011 at 12:13 AM ^
I agree completely. It's always bitter sweet to here good things about the team, players, and recruits. It's awesome because they're supposedly doing well; it's no so awesome when they don't perform to their hype, your fantasy based on the compliments, or turn out to be a 3 star recruit who was suppose to be borderline 5 star.
August 20th, 2011 at 9:52 PM ^
...Desmond Howard had to say:
DesmondHoward Michigan's scrimmage..they are not close to where they wanna go, but very far from where they were.
August 20th, 2011 at 9:56 PM ^
Desmond Howard.... or Jeff DelVerne... Whose opinion should I listen to...
DelVerne. I want my delusions of grandeur to continue.
Now lets go win the National Championship!
August 20th, 2011 at 10:00 PM ^
Alright, well my decipherment of this post is that if we want to win the B1G on a consistent basis we need to develop elite-level consistency, but the scrimmage has shown that we can acheive elite-level play in flashes on both sides of the ball but need to get more consistent. We are a far cry from the middle-of-the-pack team we had last year. I'm probably taking it a lot more positively than he intended.
August 20th, 2011 at 10:06 PM ^
Damn...you turned 160 characters into that. Well played, sir.
August 21st, 2011 at 7:44 AM ^
Nah, you're not taking it too far. I'm 100% certain that if twitter allowed more characters this is exactly what Desmond would have said, verbatim.
August 20th, 2011 at 10:25 PM ^
Desmond...speaking in tongues.
August 21st, 2011 at 8:01 AM ^
It is the same thing I say on the Frank Borman Expressway every time we visit family in Chicago.
August 20th, 2011 at 9:52 PM ^
Miracle Grow!
August 20th, 2011 at 9:53 PM ^
Less "ranting." Seems like this has been echoed by quite a few people so far in the fall and also the spring.
August 20th, 2011 at 9:57 PM ^
I've noticed that thread throughout a lot of analysis too.
If the difference between Hoke and RR is brought up so much, what was a standard RichRod practice like? I know from gamedays that he looked violently disgusted at times on the sidelines, so I imagine it was something like that, but probably worse since he wasn't on national TV.
August 20th, 2011 at 10:07 PM ^
i went to michigan coaches clinic back in 2003 and 2005. lloyd and staff were always polite and when we viewed practice he and staff coached them and they ran a basic practice. when i went to coaches clinic in 2008...1st yr on job...i thought it was a will ferrel saturday night live skit the way he and his staff screamed and yelled and cussed at all the players. i thought to myself if this is how he is in front of coaches tht might send players to him...whats it like when no one is watching. i gave him the benefit of the doubt becuz i herd bo was like that...but it did give me a bad vibe.
August 20th, 2011 at 10:13 PM ^
It's become increasingly clear that RR spent too much time berating the team. (Rosenberg got that part right, at least.) And, yes, RR's body language was too often negative.
August 20th, 2011 at 10:37 PM ^
I've not surprised to hear that RichRod had problems with impulse control. You alluded to his sideline demeanor, which was often unmistakably cloudy.
Still ...
I don't mean to go all Section 1 on you, but did you have to give even a drop of praise to that @#$% Rosenberg? I'm at least 11% serious. Those articles went too far and hurt the program unnecessarily.
August 20th, 2011 at 10:39 PM ^
Those boys need positive encouragement! Bah. This meme wasn't legitimate when Rosenberg wrote it or now. Both styles of coaching can work, it depends upon coach and players. There is nothing superior in either approach- great coaches have used both.
August 21st, 2011 at 12:33 PM ^
You should read Martha Nussbaum's writings on shame. Destructive shame, which would be caused by too much negative reinforcement and not enough positive reinforcement, would have detrimental effects on a team. Constructive shame, on the other hand, has positive effects. That's what the current staff seems to be causing in the players. Long story short, just yelling at your players isn't going to result in anything positive. It may work in the immediate future, but will come back to bite you in the ass. I'm sure any teachers or coaches can back that up.
August 21st, 2011 at 2:43 PM ^
I believe Nick Saban yells like an asshole. I'd trust that his coaching methods work pretty well and don't "bite him in the ass."
August 21st, 2011 at 9:51 PM ^
I'm sure Nussbaum would have much to teach him.
To be clear, I'm not saying any yelling is good, just that a blanket statement like above that lots of yelling is counter-productive to player development is not correct. Great coaches can come in the yelling and non-yelling varieties.
August 22nd, 2011 at 9:42 AM ^
I think you mean Positive Punishment instead of Negative Reinforcement. Negative Reinforcement is still reinforcement not punishment. Negative Reinforcement strenghtens a behavior because a negative condition is stopped or avoided as a consequence of the behavior.
Negative Reinforcement is often confused with Punishment because of the word "negative". However, they are very different.