Unverified Voracity Gives Refs What For
Fifteen minutes of Bo yelling at officials. Wot it says on the tin:
Can't see Hoke doing this; am now imagining Bo's reaction after the Hagerup incident against OSU. It does not go well for the kid. I love the announcers' reactions, which are mostly bemused. Musberger as Bo charges about ten yards onto the field to protest a pass interference non-call: "That's why they give him an extension cord."
Hoke with Dave. This had slipped my mind until a helpful reader reminded me of it. After Hoke took Ball State to 12-0 in his final year, he showed up on Ball State alum David Letterman's Late Show to deliver a Top Ten. It is exactly as you might expect:
Is that a red tie? Horror!
The Devin To WR thing. The internet was abuzz with rumors that Devin Gardner spent his first spring practice at wide receiver to the point where actual reporters actually asked Al Borges about it. Via Heiko, the response:
Are you experimenting with Devin Gardner at other positions?
“We’re doing what we did a year ago, pretty much. We’re giong to play the best 11 guys. Devin’s the backup quarterback right now. He’s number two, and we’re going to do what we have to do to get the best 11 on the field. Nothing’s changed in that perspective, so we pretty much have the same mentality that we had.”
Are you looking at him at wide receiver?
“Yeah … the practices are closed for a reason.”
That gruffy, annoyed non-denial was taken as confirmation of the Gospel from on high by the internet, and… yeah, I'm with you guys. Michigan is at least gingerly exploring the possibility of throwing Devin Gardner on the field as a wide receiver. Whether that's for wacky trick plays or is a serious exploration of what Gardner brings to the field there is unknown probably even to the coaches.
Me, I hope it's the latter. Gardner's nearly 6'5", has huge hands and explosive leaping ability, and this old film of him screwing around at WR at some camps…
…reminds me of that Sports Science thing they did on Justin Blackmon in which it was explained that he could catch anything within a half-mile radius of him. If you've got enough faith in Russell Bellomy to spot Robinson when he gets his inevitable dings, I'd roll with a potentially elite talent at WR.
The obvious downside is what happens in the event of a serious Robinson injury and next year, when Gardner is the presumed starter at QB. It's not a move that doesn't come with risks. Hoke seems like a guy who looks at the upside of things more than the downside. If you think getting Gardner on the field helps you win this year you have to do it. Next year is next year.
You can't escape me. Cleveland State reveals that Michigan has home dates with Oakland and the Cleveland State/BGSU winner as part of their participation in the Preseason NIT. Unlike a lot of of tournaments, the preseason NIT actually gives a berth in the final to the winners of their preliminary rounds—as it should be.
This is good. Michigan should be scheduling decent mid-majors instead of total dreck as they seek to get that RPI up in a year when they could be a national contender. Even if Oakland and CSU aren't up to their previous standards they should still be a far cry from the SWAC. CSU was 22-11 last year and made the NIT. They lost to Stanford in the first round but still finished in the Kenpom top 100. They lose three starters and a key reserve but Gary Waters has led his team to 20 wins in four of the last five seasons. They'll be at least decent.
Oakland had an off year by their recent standards and loses a third of their usage with Reggie Hamilton's graduation; they return everyone else except Laval-Lucas Perry, though. BGSU was a middling MAC team. These are much better opponents for numbers purposes.
The rest of Michigan's nonconference schedule is still unannounced but we do know they'll be getting a home game from Arkansas, a home game in the Big Ten/ACC challenge, will travel to Bradley as part of a quid pro quo for Bradley hiring Beilein's son, and will play WVU in New York. If they reach the Preseason NIT finals they're likely to meet some combination of Pitt, Virginia, and an unknown team.
Michigan's also added Arizona for a home and home starting in 2013-14, when Sean Miller's monster recruiting class (four top 50 players including Nick Stauskas teammate Kaleb Tarczewski) will just be finding its feet. Those could be big time matchups.
Etc.: Dolla dolla bill extends to the students, who will be paying $205 for six home games this year. Denard interviewed by BTN. Inside Michigan Hockey profiles the team headed into the tournament. Bowls versus the tourney in terms of money headed to teams. Michigan's first black player was George Jewett in 1890; Michigan Today profiles him.
If DG is going to line up at WR, he clearly needs to work on his front-flip-into-the-endzone-for-the-thouchdown move. He looked like a solid 3* on that catch.
Unfortunately, Brian, I think you're interpreting the basketball schedule wrong. I don't think the preseason NIT teams will be replacements for the SWAC....they'll be replacements for Memphis, Duke, and UCLA in Maui.
I think these are just the prelim games so they will be replacing Western Illinois and Towson. Assuming we win these games we enter the real tourney.
OK, true, and getting Towson the hell off the schedule is a plus. Even so, it's transposing the wrong games.
if gardner moved to WR then in 2013 our QBs would be bellomy and morris. we'd need to take another, yet we don't seem to be doing so.
Pretty sure Ace just not-so-subtly tweeted about this comment.
Hoke wearing red!?!?!?! He clearly doesn't get it
what BWC would say about this.
Love that they are at least giving DG a look at WR and have an open mind about the best offense they can put on the field in 2012. I really love that if they see fit to give him enough snaps at WR, them maybe it allows one of Darboh/Chesson to redshirt rather than being forced into action before they are ready.
Doesn't it usually do better than just having Michigan, Pitt, and Virginia? I'm not knocking those schools (obviously, given that they include Michigan). My (perhaps incorrect) memory is that it usually includes a number of top 25 teams.
What sounds better on paper.
Denard/Bellomy throwing to Devin/Tree/Gallon
Denard/Devin throwing to Tree/Gallon/??????????
I'll take the 6'5 WR with 4'4' speed over him being our backup QB thankyou.
next year well if it works this year i'm fine with Shane and Bellomy going at it for the starting job, and Devin being the emergency backup, and continueing to use him at WR (would be better than a 3 star freshmen if we recruited a 3rd this year)
Look at what NW did with there Backup QB this year, and it worked pretty darn well.
Back when maize was maize
is so sparty.
i think that a year of qb development still helps DG and then hopefully he has two years left as a started, yielding to morris who has 2 or 3 years left. if DG to WR is real, we go into 2013 with a WR at QB.
When he answers the direct question about Devin at wide reciever he does not say "Yeah". The sound is more "Nawow". Heavy emphasis on the 'N' sound, long and drawn out. Not a no - but clearly not a yeah.
Further while answering the previous question about experimenting with Devin at other positions he slightly shakes his head at various moments during his response. Specifically he shakes his head as he says Devin is our backup quarterback.
My interpretation is that when he said that "we pretty much have the same persective that we had" he intended to convey that Devin was not going to get moved to WR, other than possibly for some specific situational plays.
That Arizona basketball team will be a very dangerous team when we match up with them. In addition to their crazy 2012 incoming class, also consider that their 2011 class had 4 top 100 recruits, 2 of whom were top 20 recruits.
I have an autographed photo of Bo yelling at refs. It is tremendous. That is all.
If you've got enough faith in Russell Bellomy to spot Robinson when he gets his inevitable dings, I'd roll with a potentially elite talent at WR.
"A potential elite talent at WR"? What about the "potential elite talent at QB"? Remember...the guy who was a 5*, #1 QB in the nation? I don't get all the talk about "moving" him to WR. Maybe "using" him at WR (aka the trick play), but that doesn't help the program moving forward. There's no hurry to put Shane on the field and give Devin the "you're just like Randall-El" pay on the back. How many people were upset about the suggestion that Denard move to WR?
Bottom line is that Denard is an electric QB and Devin will be one as well. Devin made a couple mistakes (when he got in), but is Denard mistake-free? Of course not. Devin has a better arm and is a more powerful runner. He needs the time to develop in order to take the reins once Denard graduates. People are really forgetting how big of an "elite talent" Devin is and how much he can learn without switching positions.
March 22nd, 2012 at 10:58 AM ^
I agree on Devin's potential as a quarterback. Denard Robinson wasn't stellar as a freshman or a junior, and there were obvious flaws when he was a sophomore (although he put up good numbers).
That being said, I think Devin should get on the field SOMEWHERE if he can be more effective than our other players at receiver.
The paused pic shows "TODD SCHULTE" among others...had a class with him back in the mid-80's (1984 or 1985?). He was a LB from Ohio, both he and his twin were on the team. Saw scrub duty, not much more.
Takes me back...
The Bo video reminded me about why I loved/hated his sideline rants. Great that he stood up for his players and the team when necessary (the IL out of bounds hit comes to mind. I was at that game and it was crazy hostile in the stadium that day). For all his yelling, he never got a call overturned and he just couldn't stop himself even when the refs decided that throwing flags was the only way to control him. He took some costly penalities at times.
Brady Hoke had to wear the red tie for Letterman, since he's a Ball State alum. He was being nice to Dave. He graciously accepted the red bouquet, too. I remember #3 on the list. When is Dave B. scheduling our game with Mexican Michigan?
As for the Devin G at wide receiver experiment, I say "go for it". If they discover in practice that he can provide a game changing target that can stretch the secondary vertically, eat up corners and safeties, and replace Junior H as the "just get it in the neighborhood and I'll go get it" guy, that's something we need. If they find someone else that can play that role, then he can stay put. He very well could play the role that Charles W did his senior year. Put him in there to put pressure on the defense and create options all over the field.
I may get some "get off my lawn" answers, but did they not have any sort of replay back in Bo's day? Would some of those calls not get overruled if he had just asked for something like that instead of raging like a mad man and getting penalties? That being said, I wish I could have seen some of Bo's flipouts to officials in real life. They look epically awesome. Though, the announcers seemed more amused than bemused. Onthe flip side, I do appreciate how calm Hoke is on gameday. Whatever works to win games for you I guess.
Also, as for the red tie. When the "don't wear red" thing first came out, someone here had proved that they had no life by going back over the years of Hoke's tenure at both Ball State and SDSU. I think they found that aside from red ties, the only red you really saw on him were red accents on shirts.
March 21st, 2012 at 10:17 PM ^
Older than you might think but still someone that would get kicked off a lawn. Just started really understanding the game as opposed to just blindly loving/watching. But I guess growing up, I had always assumed that if the TV was showing the same play over and over and over and over...again when there was a perceived botched call, then logically they should have a system implemented to do that on site.
...about the advent of replay reviews, but you're correct the instantiation of replay has greatly reduced the need for such antics. Today when a call is as obviously wrong as many of those (minus the missed penalties) there's usually a remedy.
Anyhow, watching Bo going nuts in person was awesome.
March 22nd, 2012 at 12:01 AM ^
March 22nd, 2012 at 12:27 AM ^
My takeaways
- What a job to be the guy who has to unravel and collect Bo's headset cord
- that catch by Mercury was awesome
- WolverineHistorian never dissapoints. Was that last video a home movie?
was by McMurtry, Greg McMurtry.
he was good.
the bo outrage video took me back. i distinctly remember being in the student section at that purdue game and cheering when he threw down the headset.
seeing that also made me wonder if he might not have lived a few more years if official replay review had been around back in the day.
March 23rd, 2012 at 12:19 AM ^
Bo would have had one more official to be outraged by.
March 25th, 2012 at 11:37 PM ^
Borges will always be a great interview...good stuff
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