Hoke: Norfleet to play cornerback
Norfleet has moved to corner
Hoke said Dennis Norfleet has moved to the cornerback position, but he will still return punts and kicks.
December 14th, 2012 at 9:10 PM ^
tank the frank.
December 14th, 2012 at 9:27 PM ^
Haha yes! Exactly! Te'o for president, obviously.
December 14th, 2012 at 8:32 PM ^
Unless he is Tyrann Mathieu 2.0, I'd rather see him in the slot receiver position...
December 14th, 2012 at 8:40 PM ^
I've wondered about this, too. Given his open-field elusiveness, wouldn't that make sense?
December 14th, 2012 at 8:55 PM ^
Honestly, has he really shown open-field elusiveness? He accelerates quickly, but hasn't shown that much as far as eluding tacklers.
December 14th, 2012 at 9:08 PM ^
IIRC, Shane had Norfleet on his 7 on 7 team, and Shane went to him often. I thought that was one of the small reasons we could have recruited Norfleet.
December 14th, 2012 at 8:37 PM ^
I dont get this at all. Can we at least get him a few more looks on offense before we banish him to the CB depth chart? Enough with the mgokissup line of..."well I trust the coaches." They're human, they make mistakes, and not above criticism...see Al Borges.
December 14th, 2012 at 8:42 PM ^
The shortest cornerbacks to make the Pro Bowl were the quartet of Aaron Glenn, Antoine Winfield, Cortland Finnegan, and Dre Bly, all of whom measured in at 5'9". Who knows, maybe Norfleet's got major hops. But even if so, I think he would be more dynamic at the RB position, heck, even the slot -- why not.
December 14th, 2012 at 8:45 PM ^
I don't think the NFL Pro Bowl is a good measuring stick to use. It's not like there have been many pro bowl running backs his height either.
December 14th, 2012 at 8:51 PM ^
I totally agree, but that was not meant to "measure" his potential at cornerback, just pointing out the odds of success in the NFL around that height.
December 14th, 2012 at 8:55 PM ^
I don't know about pro-bowls, but there have been plenty of excellent running backs right around 5'6 or 5'7.
December 15th, 2012 at 1:33 AM ^
Ok, name them. The cut off size for most quality short running backs in nfl history is 5'8". They all were/are roughly 25-30 lbs heavier then Norfleet.
December 14th, 2012 at 8:56 PM ^
The shortest cornerbacks to make the Pro Bowl were the quartet of Aaron Glenn, Antoine Winfield, Cortland Finnegan, and Dre Bly, all of whom measured in at 5'9".
Do they all actually stand 5'9" or is that just their listed height?
December 14th, 2012 at 10:57 PM ^
Darrell Green is listed as 5'9" officially, but on his own website is listed as 5'8". And by 5'8", I believe he means around 5'6".
The seven Pro-Bowls are beyond dispute, however.
December 14th, 2012 at 8:42 PM ^
It's all good. They're trying to Woodson-ify him, just in reverse!
December 14th, 2012 at 8:49 PM ^
Man I don't get this. With Gallon and Dileo gone after next year we got nothing as far as slot recievers go. That along with being pretty loaded at cb assuming countess comes back strong and this looks like a head scratcher. I was really expecting big things from Norfleet as a kind of slot/change of pace rb/gadget player like you see a lot of nowdays.
December 15th, 2012 at 6:58 AM ^
Gallon doesn't play slot receiver, anyway.
Michigan doesn't run the same offense that they did when Rodriguez was here. True fact.
December 14th, 2012 at 8:52 PM ^
Not like he was going to start at RB. People are acting like he rushed for 500 yards last year...and all this elusive talk I just didn't see either. The guy has good speed, it's not like he still can't do what he did this year, return kicks.
December 14th, 2012 at 8:56 PM ^
No, he wasn't going to start, but he could have been a useful piece of the offense. He's almost certain to ride the pine at corner.
December 14th, 2012 at 9:03 PM ^
I think Hayes can fulfill the role people envisioned norfleet doing. Evidently the coaches don't plan on running many plays for a 5'6 slot type receiver. I think they want a back who doesn't leave the field much and a speedster or two at WR...
December 15th, 2012 at 7:02 AM ^
What makes you say that? Avery is going to be a senior in 2013, and nobody is established at slot corner behind him. Hollowell hasn't lit the world on fire, and Michigan's best slot corner in my memory was Brandon Harrison, another guy who was about 5'8" and pretty darn fast. Maybe Norfleet can play field corner, maybe he can play slot corner. But I don't think he's guaranteed to be buried on the bench any more than the other corners who aren't currently starting.
December 14th, 2012 at 8:53 PM ^
I'm mostly kidding. But not entirely.
December 14th, 2012 at 8:56 PM ^
I like Norfleet as a change of pace back. Why do all of our backs have to be big bruisers. Can't we have a few burners?
December 14th, 2012 at 8:58 PM ^
I see people are having their usual freakout. Keep in mind that 1) position changes aren't necessarily permanent (see our current starting QB) and 2) that the 2013 season is a long way away.
December 15th, 2012 at 9:10 AM ^
Let's remember people like to talk about how the sec puts it's best athletes on defense. Maybe mattison seen something he liked and told Brady he thinks his 3rd string running back could be a playmaker on defense. I would be more concerned if they were moving him out of necessity, but right now they seem to have decent depth at both positions. That being said I think this is being done more because they see potential than to fill a hole.
December 14th, 2012 at 9:05 PM ^
There goes my dream of him being our De'Anthony Thomas/Percy Harvin type player.
December 14th, 2012 at 9:11 PM ^
Oh come on - those guys were mega 5-star recruits who were explosive from day 1 on very good teams. He was not going to be those guys.
December 14th, 2012 at 9:18 PM ^
A man can still dream, yeah?
December 14th, 2012 at 9:24 PM ^
.....oh wait
December 14th, 2012 at 9:21 PM ^
Thinking the coaches are smart enough to know if Dennis is going to be the next deanthony Thomas or harvin, obviously he isn't that type of player, so lets just watch this unfold.
December 14th, 2012 at 9:37 PM ^
According to my grandma's son's son, my gut feeling is that he's no Vincent Smith when it comes to pass pro and he's all Vincent Smith in terms of bulk.
December 14th, 2012 at 9:52 PM ^
His gut feeling or yours? My Grandma's son's son is a stud and loves typing on here.
December 14th, 2012 at 9:55 PM ^
where we are very shallow :(
December 14th, 2012 at 10:06 PM ^
5'7, not exactly wide receiver size, we won't be recruiting little receivers anymore.
December 14th, 2012 at 9:59 PM ^
OK, I just scanned the thread and saw Dennis Norfleet's name mentioned in the same breath as Charles Woodson, Percy Harvin, and De'Anthony Thomas.
Really? We are talking about a kid who couldn't crack the paper-thin depth chart at tailback this season and ranked 49th in the country in kickoff return average. I'm not even convinced he's the long-term answer at kickoff returner, let alone anywhere else. Some people here need to stop channeling their inner Fred Jackson and breathe into a paper bag for a couple minutes.
December 15th, 2012 at 8:22 AM ^
I was just thinking to myself that he didn't really impress me all that much with his kick returns. I'm sure he will get better at finding lanes, but he may not be a lock to keep the KR job. Also, wasn't Hayes the top all-purpose back coming out of high school? My guess is that Hayes is out shining him in practice.
December 15th, 2012 at 8:27 AM ^
Norfleet did, however, have a better kick return average than Steve Breaston did as a redshirt freshman. And Breaston was pretty good. Also, Norfleet had to deal with the fact that kickers are kicking off from 5 yards closer than they did to Breaston.
I'm not saying people should be freaking out, just taking issue a little bit with you not being impressed by his kick returns.
December 15th, 2012 at 11:50 AM ^
I guess my expectations were just a little too high. I also didn't even think about the kickoffs being 5 yards closer. I just expected him to take a couple to the house, but I'm sure that will come.
December 14th, 2012 at 10:01 PM ^
This move isn't that surprising. He wasn't going to be a very good running back in my opinion. He's way to small for manball. Short corners can be very good in college. He has the speed and athletic ability to hawk a receiver. The question is does he have the intangibles and instincts? Most college QB's aren't accurate enough to exploit height like they do in the NFL. I wouldn't be surprised if he turns out to be a reliable DB.
December 14th, 2012 at 10:36 PM ^
Per the ESPN article, Norfleet played corner soph and junior years in HS
http://espn.go.com/blog/collegesMichigan/post/_/id/8993/norfleet-makes-…
December 14th, 2012 at 10:42 PM ^
I take it as he will be return man and is giving him chance to compete on the on a certain side of the ball rather than compete in the backfield.
December 14th, 2012 at 10:55 PM ^
What the fuck? If anything, move the kid to receiver. He's too talented with the ball in his hands to move to the other side of the ball.
December 14th, 2012 at 11:38 PM ^
I dunno. Seems like it must be depth issue. We got some depth issues at Center, why not move Norfleet there? LOL.
December 14th, 2012 at 11:40 PM ^
The blow-up here from a bunch of people with no in-depth knowledge of the situation over a guy who has contributed almost nothing on offense is a little bit ridiculous.
December 14th, 2012 at 11:47 PM ^
Whaddaya know, a guy who we were told on National Signing Day probably wouldn't play much running back in college...
...isn't going to play much running back in college.
This is totally out of left field, guys.
December 15th, 2012 at 12:02 AM ^
get this move
December 15th, 2012 at 1:47 AM ^
Am I taking crazy pills here!? This is a horrible move. It doesn't utilize his skill set at all. There has to be another motive for this.
December 15th, 2012 at 6:45 AM ^
"It doesn't utilize his skill set at all."
His skill set involves being really fast and agile. I didn't realize that cornerbacks aren't supposed to be fast and agile. I have just learned something brand new about this game you people call football.
December 15th, 2012 at 8:34 AM ^
Skill set is returning kicks and possibly punts, and honestly, while he had a nice return average, it's not like he lit the world on fire on kick offs either. It's funny how so many on here thought Dennis was going to be the next Darren sproles or harvin when he was primarily brought here to play special teams, this was discussed many times. People are so panicked because we possibly moved our 4th or 5th string running back. As far as those wanting him to play slot receiver, we aren't running rich Rodriguez type offense anymore.
December 15th, 2012 at 3:10 AM ^
The more I think about this the more I realize that Norfleet probably had a 6 inch growth spurt. Everybody calm down!