Mallett Update
A decent article on Ryan Mallett can be found here:
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/preview09/columns/story?columnist=schlaba…
The interesting part was the "myth" that RR drove him away but Mallett debunks by saying they both agreed that is really wasn't for him and he decided to look somewhere else to better suit his talents. At least there were no parting shots.
August 24th, 2009 at 5:33 PM ^
I look forward to seeing what a year of maturation has done for his game and decision making.
August 25th, 2009 at 9:35 AM ^
I agree. I hope we meet him in a bowl game. That would be interesting.
August 24th, 2009 at 5:34 PM ^
I always though that Mallett loved himself some Mallett a little too much. Maybe sitting out for a year has matured him enough to lead a team.
August 24th, 2009 at 5:39 PM ^
There were several times in 2007 where the camera would catch Hart or Manningham giving him an ear full.
August 25th, 2009 at 9:39 AM ^
He comes off as a cocky, self-absorbed, brat. There are too many images in my mind of him whining on the sideline because he wanted to play. I cannot convince myself to like the kid - I hate whiners. He does not fit my definition of a Michigan man.
August 24th, 2009 at 5:40 PM ^
im not convinced he will be more than a 56% comp percentage guy, 25TD and 15Int on average going out...
those numbers sound good, but in the SEC he will probably help his team finish no higher than 4th...he will get a shot in the NFL however based on his arm strength...with slightly more upside than John Navarre.
go ahead and neg me now Mallet lovers... :)
August 24th, 2009 at 6:06 PM ^
Also, if Mallett has not learned to not fumble the snap, then it won't help Arkansas in the SEC.
August 24th, 2009 at 6:53 PM ^
SEC is a tough league for statue QB's like Mallet. Petrino will need a really good O line to give Mallet time in the pocket. IME, the defensive line is one position group where the 'dominant SEC speed' argument holds water.
August 24th, 2009 at 5:51 PM ^
I wish him luck at Arkansas. I think he'll thrive under Petrino.
August 24th, 2009 at 5:58 PM ^
Arkansas is my second-favorite college football team... so I wish him luck.
However, doesn't it just seem like he is Ryan Leaf 2.0?
August 24th, 2009 at 5:55 PM ^
Uh...
Myth: Mallett didn't sign with Arkansas out of high school because he was afraid of competing against Mitch Mustain.
Fact: Mallett grew up an Arkansas fan, but didn't think he'd get much of a chance to play for the Hogs after Mustain enrolled there.
Not afraid, but not... so... much... not... afraid???
August 24th, 2009 at 6:01 PM ^
Yeah, I thought the same thing...
August 24th, 2009 at 6:03 PM ^
I had to do a double take on that one too.
August 24th, 2009 at 6:15 PM ^
the only way I can reconcile it is that he wasn't afraid of competing with him but he knew he wouldn't get a fair shake at it. If I remember correctly, Mustain's high school coach (Gus Malzahn) became the OC Mustain's freshman year. From the outside, Mustain was going to be the starter no matter what. So yeah while he wasn't afraid to compete, he wanted to go with a level playing field.
But maybe that's the same thing.
August 25th, 2009 at 11:28 AM ^
I think you hit the nail on the head. With Malzahn and Mustain coming in as a package deal (more or less) there was no way Mallett would have gotten a fair chance at the job. You can't be afraid of competition if there's never actually going to be a competition.
August 25th, 2009 at 11:55 AM ^
You are correct. I wonder how much Mitch is regreting transfering to USC.
August 24th, 2009 at 7:21 PM ^
I guess if you accept a very loose definition of "myth", it could be both what's believed *and* what's true. That's about all I can do to defend them.
August 24th, 2009 at 6:01 PM ^
I think he will do well as long as he has grown up some after sitting last year. He has all the tools for a pro style offense,I just hate his new coach!
August 24th, 2009 at 6:05 PM ^
gonna be a top 5 NFL draft pick someday
August 24th, 2009 at 7:31 PM ^
That's really bold. Some years, there are no QB's in the top 5, and most years is only one. With the talent in college football right now, I sincerely doubt that.
August 25th, 2009 at 3:07 AM ^
Josh Freeman just went in the top 15 on measurables alone. Josh Freeman never won a big game in his life. Stafford went No.1 thanks to his bazooka of an arm, and experience, not his wonderfully clutch play or an ability to win big games. Mallett stands at 6'7 and can absolutely fucking gun it. I have no doubt he'll lead a few upsets over the next couple years.
I'm not sure whether he's a sophomore or junior right now, but when he's done starting for 2 or 3 years in Petrino's offense, he, like I said, is going top 5. I have no doubt.
I've seen flyers taken on much worse prospects than Mallett.
August 25th, 2009 at 10:37 AM ^
played freshman year then transferred and sat out a year. i agree the dude is a stud...his height and arm will definitely pique the interest of many NFL scouts.
August 25th, 2009 at 1:21 PM ^
I'm not saying the guy doesn't have great measurables, or that he won't get drafted somewhere high. But promising a top 5 pick is still bold. Josh Freeman didn't have huge production in college, but he didn't have much negative either. He was solid. Mallett has yet to show he can be accurate, get along with his teammates and coaches, or behave off the field. I'm not saying this will all keep him from a high draft spot, just that we have very little evidence as to why he'll go high, other than he's tall and can throw the ball really, really hard.
August 25th, 2009 at 8:58 PM ^
All the physical tools, few of the mental tools. (Although you never know.)
August 24th, 2009 at 6:10 PM ^
The guy has a lot of talent no doubt about it. Sadly he has a terrible attitude and from what I had heard not many of his teammates liked him when he was here.
August 24th, 2009 at 7:40 PM ^
It wasn't limited to the football team. I never met anybody that both met him and liked him. Hopefully being a couple years older has helped him figure out what he was doing wrong.
August 24th, 2009 at 6:12 PM ^
Good to hear he's debunked the "RR drove him out!" idea. Surprise guys, the media/angry fans tend to blow things out of proportion! Good luck to him as long as he doesn't act like a prima-donna.
August 24th, 2009 at 6:23 PM ^
Whatever he says now, he was claiming to anyone who would listen that RR didn't want him to be there (don't know if RR said that but I imagine that was his interpretation or he was just making up excuses). I can say that he ended up taking a piss inside Skeeps and reinforcing the negative opinion everyone already had of him.
August 24th, 2009 at 6:35 PM ^
Pre-madonna. Get it right.
August 24th, 2009 at 6:15 PM ^
People would catch him drinking the night before games and publicly urinating. And while this may be par for the course for your average college student it shows a serious lack of dedication and character for a high end college athlete. He's just another arrogant and spoiled athlete and now that he is not at Michigan I find it very hard to root for his success, but if he has finally managed to put that kind of things behind him then I wish him luck in living up to the weight of expectation.
August 24th, 2009 at 6:22 PM ^
Did he hit what he was trying to piss on? Accuracy under duress is important in football.
August 24th, 2009 at 6:24 PM ^
Dude took a piss at the bar at skeeps, I mean he literally pissed on the bar. Huge douche. Huge.
August 25th, 2009 at 12:41 PM ^
Griese threw a chair through the front window back in '96. Mallett is pissing on the bar. What is it about that place?
August 24th, 2009 at 6:26 PM ^
Haha, I haven't the foggiest. I know he was quite proud of himself and that he was giggling a lot, but I couldn't tell you about his aim.
August 24th, 2009 at 8:25 PM ^
Never heard the pissing story, but I did hear about him spitting on people from the upper part of Scorekeepers. Just as bad.
I won't call it "Skeeps," because nicknames are for friends, and Scorekeepers is no friend of mine.
August 24th, 2009 at 6:22 PM ^
I know if Mallet had stayed our record last year may not have been as bad -- to be sure QB wasn't the only problem so it would still be bad -- but I wonder about how negatively his staying would have affected the recruitment of TF, DR, and DG.
Can't decide if I would have traded a couple more wins (toledo? utah?) in '08 for the risk of losing any one of the three guys I mentioned above.
Any thoughts?
August 24th, 2009 at 6:35 PM ^
i think it would've been cool to see threet vs. mallett in a foot race. like the story of the tortoise and the slightly larger tortoise.
August 24th, 2009 at 6:50 PM ^
Have Steve Schilling race too, just as a measuring stick. It would be interesting to see how much faster he is than the two of them.
August 24th, 2009 at 7:17 PM ^
if john l. still plans to have mallet possibly be his punter? I seem to remember reading an article about it...
August 24th, 2009 at 7:29 PM ^
Thanks for the link. Glad to see that MIIIIIIICH can finally put that "ran him off" BS to bed.
August 24th, 2009 at 8:53 PM ^
I'm not gonna defend his behavior while at Michigan, but Mallett left for football reasons (pro-style offense) and managed to leave without the low class finger pointing of Boren & O'Neill.
August 24th, 2009 at 8:56 PM ^
I thought O'Neill left fairly quietly.
Are you thinking of Wermers?
August 24th, 2009 at 9:03 PM ^
i dunno, i met him one time and he seemed like a nice enough guy
August 24th, 2009 at 9:07 PM ^
I don't understand why people label Mallett as being "afraid of competition." Choosing to go elsewhere when there's another star at your position might just be intelligence.
We want him to be "afraid of competition" because we want to have some reason to belittle him for leaving Michigan; it's our way of getting back at him.
But really, do you blame a kid for wanting to go somewhere where he can be the clear-cut starter? If you were a 5-star talent and you could go to School A (that has one or two stars at your position) or School B (that has a void at the position), wouldn't you be very tempted to choose School B?
Matt Cassel is a great story of a kid who came to USC at a bad time but still got a shot in the NFL. Priest Holmes was a backup when he was in college. Those guys have had success at the next level. But think of all the other kids, the ones who would/could have been great if they weren't blocked by some superstar. If Matt Gutierrez had stayed at Michigan, lost his job to Henne, and not gone to Idaho State, would he have made it to the NFL? If Jevan Snead would have stayed committed to Florida and been behind Tebow, or if he would have stayed at Texas behind Colt McCoy, would he be such a hot commodity? Conversely, if he had beaten out Colt McCoy, what would Colt McCoy be doing right now?
If I were a great quarterback, I would be kicking myself if I went to Florida the same year as Tebow or if I went to Michigan the same year as Chad Henne. There are plenty of programs out there who need star quarterbacks. Pretending that Mallett is somehow less of a man because he avoided Mustain is completely self-serving for those who don't like him for other reasons (his fumbling, his cockiness, his off-field behavior, etc.).
August 24th, 2009 at 10:26 PM ^
The kid will fail his combine drug test if he makes it that far. You heard it here first...
August 24th, 2009 at 11:58 PM ^
You should come back in December with an "I told you so" about the combine drug test before it happens, like diclemeg did today about Denard.
August 25th, 2009 at 12:06 PM ^
Many great college and pro players are stoners. There are plenty I could list, but most recently santonio holmes was arrested with a couple blunts in his car, then went on to be super bowl MVP that same season. I really hate using him but it shows weed doesn't really affect athletic talent, I would bet a quarter of the NFL's players smoke regurally. Before everyone goes off on me it can kill work ethic, conditioning and what not I know im just saying it happens. Players know how to get around those tests, didn't you ever watch Playmakers?
August 25th, 2009 at 9:00 PM ^
Which is to say, not at all.
Too many of either, though, could prove to be a problem...
August 25th, 2009 at 8:12 AM ^
The thing I remember most clearly about Mallet is the Minnesota game he started, which I was at. We won big, but his best play was a 3 yard sideline pass to Manningham who subsequently juked everybody on the field on his way to a 90 yard score.
And he missed and hit him in the feet on his first attempt.