Unverified Voracity Impresses Peyton Comment Count

Brian

Well, I'll be danged. I think this is the first documented case of a recruit stating he picked a school because he wanted the security of a long-term scholarship. He's Dyshon Sims, a 3.5 star OL recruit who just picked Georgia over Alabama:

“I also like how you get a four-year scholarship at Georgia. That’s one of the main reasons I picked it. From my understanding, you get three years at Alabama, and you only get a scholarship for each year. If you don’t show enough progression, then your scholarship is pretty much gone at Alabama.”

Nick Saban is probably not quaking at this development, but it's nice to see someone is paying attention to the fact that they can get a four-year ride guaranteed if they ask for it.

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don't mention Woodson… don't mention Woodson… don't mention Woodson

Gardner camping. Devin Gardner was at the Manning QB camp thing over the weekend. That was mostly notable the general public for the fact that Johnny Manziel was bootted for showing up late, apparently hung over. Dollars to donuts as he was leaving he made several Heisman poses and rubbed his eyes theatrically in the general direction of Peyton.

Anyway, Gardner was either impressive or raw depending on who you talked to. Mike Mayock named him first when asked about juniors who impressed:

"Gardner came in at the end of the year, he's 6'4", 210, he's got a buggy whip [ed: ?] for an arm, he's highly athletic, he's raw as can be, but trust me—this kid's got some ability. I'm really anxious to watch him develop this year.

Mayock clarifies that this was not actually football, so don't think it's football.

Mayock wasn't the only guy to notice Gardner. According to Bruce Feldman, he was generating quite a bit of buzz:

Out at #Manning Camp and heard from a few folks talking abt how impressed they've been w #Michigan QB Devin Gardner.

NFL.com's Bucky Brooks also noted Gardner:

@dg1two might be the next Ryan Tannehill. Limited experience, but athletic and a ultra-talented passer. Great physical tools. Big arm.

If you missed al the Tannehill references last year around this time, Tannehill switched to WR for Texas A&M, was successful there, went back to quarterback for his last couple years, and was a first round NFL draft pick.

Brooks noted that there were 41 college starters showing out at this thing, so for Gardner to be a must-mention for everyone is a good sign.

Whoah. Someone pays 860 dollars too much for a ring commemorating the Mississippi State slaughter; the ring is Kelvin Grady's. Why would you put up a memento like that, other than a desire to never think about that game again?

Kevin Grady Sr. is now in federal prison for 14 years after he was convicted last year on multiple charges of bank and wire fraud and lying to federal authorities as part of a $3 million mortgage scheme. … The sons were left holding the bag on a $45,000 judgment which will be only slightly reduced by the auction, according to Visser, who represented Reitberg Realty and Rusty Richter in the court action that began in 2008.

Whoah. The piece dryly notes that "it is unclear if the buyer of the ring is a Wolverine fan or not."

Yeah, I would have bought this. ARGH CLASSY SHIRT THAT IS NOW ADORNING UGANDANS

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Slight difference between this and the immature cheese BCS t-shirts from a couple years back—you know, ORANGE you glad we won, hur hur.

Yes, yes please. Smart Football makes some suggestions to improve the box score, starting with the obvious (sack yards are not rushing yards) and moving on to some good stuff I hadn't thought of:

Completions Behind the Line: Bubble screens, rocket screens, now screens, touch passes and swing passes are an increasingly large part of offenses, and, given that these plays are nominally forward passes but are typically “packaged” with running plays, they really should be their own quasi-run/pass category.

Also suggested is the addition of yards after catch, which yes.

My suggestions:

  • I'd like to see punts divided into air yards and ground yards, so I can stew over that 30-yard duck that rolled 20 more.
  • QB hurries are a legit stat that should be tracked.
  • WRs should be charged with drops and have their targets tracked.

Uh-oh. Luke Kennard picked up MSU, Duke, and Kentucky offers this weekend. Kentucky is a particular issue, as Kennard said he grew up a fan of the Wildcats. What is with Kentucky getting all up in Michigan's recruits? Isn't there some 6'7" guy who does not acknowledge the effects of gravity to recruit? Leave us our wonky-form shooter plz.

Hopes: nope. I'm not going to get my hopes up about Kevon Looney. I'm not going to get my hopes up about Kevon Looney.

The mutual interest comes from what Looney watched Michigan do during this past season — specifically, he saw the success Robinson experienced as a first-year player.

“I could be next,” Looney said. “When you see someone that’s built like you, has a style of play like you, and you see he’s going to get better, you sort of put yourself in that position.”

Looney knows what he’s looking for in a school.

“The best situation for me,” he explained. “The best situation where I could come in and play, where I could come in and develop. The best college atmosphere, I want to go to a real college town.”

I'm not going to tell Kevon Looney that he's like three inches taller than GRIII and GRIII's usage rate was in the Brent Petway range.

You should be Trey Burke as well. Derrick Walton, just dribbling stuff.

Etc.: Happy 100th, Gerald Ford. HTTV contains a great Ford anecdote, BTW. Wait, someone ISN'T on a watch list?

Comments

EGD

July 15th, 2013 at 1:46 PM ^

I clicked on the wonkery tag and it pulled up four pages of content.  I was not expecting that.  The oldest item is something entitled "Imbibe this Terminology," a primer on Greg Robinson's vocabulary for his various unorthodox defensive positions ("spinner," "deathbacker," etc.), from Aug. 20, 2009.

denardogasm

July 15th, 2013 at 1:49 PM ^

I followed the watch list link trail on Maize 'N Brew and found out that JMFR is on the Lombardi trophy watch list for best lineman in the country despite being injured for half the year and also not being a lineman, but is not on the Butkus award watch list for best linebacker... Only JMFR could achieve this.

DH16

July 15th, 2013 at 1:54 PM ^

I tried to buy some Michigan 2013 National Champions shirts from street vendors in Atlanta the day before the finals. They wouldn't sell them to me. I just thought it'd be funny to have one even if we lost.

gopoohgo

July 15th, 2013 at 2:09 PM ^

Anyone else getting that creeping feeling that DG is going to absolutely tear it up this season, blow away NFL scouts, and leave early?

Esp. with Lewan and Schofield graduating...

gopoohgo

July 15th, 2013 at 2:23 PM ^

Love Denard but...

I think not having a safety come into the box EVERY play, and having the MLB having to respect the threat of Funchess on a seam, in addition to Devin being a bit of a better passer will result in an improved running game.  This is on top of hopefully improved interior line play, esp from Kalis and Braden.

JayMo4

July 15th, 2013 at 3:08 PM ^

Gardner has an arm, and Borges loves throwing deep.  That's enough right there to make it a dangerous proposition to bring your safeties up.  If the young guys on the interior can be serviceable enough just to give us a decent power running game, opposing defenses are going to be in a very difficult spot.

BraveWolverine730

July 15th, 2013 at 3:15 PM ^

But on the other hand Denard improved the run game by being, well Denard. Last year's non-Denard struggles were due moreso to us missing Molk more than we thought possible (though the Sugar Bowl should have been a clue in) and Fitz never getting in rhthym. Defenses really didn't play Denard any differently in 2011 and Fitz ran for over a 1000 yards.  I think our RBs will be better because of the improved line play, but I doubt we match our overall running production from the last few years, especially with us being careful with Devin to keep him healthy. 

dragonchild

July 15th, 2013 at 2:29 PM ^

By his own admission he has a long way to go, and Michigan is very thin on QBs.  I see him pulling a Taylor Lewan and mentoring Morris for another year as he polishes his game.  Bear in mind he missed a lot of time (injured or as a WR) so he's kinda like a very polished RS freshman mistaken for a "raw" RS junior.

The only way I see him leaving early is if he plays WAY over his head en route to Michigan contending for the National Championship a la Trey Burke or (if you need a football analogy) Charles Woodson.  But I don't think he's there yet.  He's got talent and he's working really hard so I think he'll shock a few DCs this season (especially with a cadre of geckos to throw at), but he's nowhere near close to the total package yet.  The weaknesses aren't quite so glaring now, to the point where I feel good with him at QB, but I feel like his ceiling is a legit 1st-round draft pick and right now with his not-quite-there-ishness he looks more like a 3rd rounder to me.  Which is why I see him sticking around because A) he has unfinished business and B) he's nowhere near the limit of his college potential yet.

zachary_carson

July 15th, 2013 at 2:59 PM ^

I loved the idea of utilizing the uber athletic DG last year and switching him to reciever.  However, I agree with you that he isn't where he needs to be because last year was in fact a setback.  So it goes...

I'm just looking forward to watching him progress on the field and display the raw athleticism all over the B1G.

dragonchild

July 15th, 2013 at 3:13 PM ^

You'll probably get a very different show.  He can scramble but we're VERY thin on QBs so while designed QB runs were going to decline with the departure of Denard anyway, I see Borges scaling it even further back, depending on Devin's progress as a thrower.

Thing is, while they're not "great" athletes in the sense that they burn up the field, Devin has a lot of targets with superglue hands this season (Gallon, Dileo, Funchess).  I don't predict displays of raw athleticism where our receivers leave DBs in the dust and Gardner gets 100-yard rushing games; this will be much more like a pure WCO with short timed passes, disciplined route running and receivers frustrating defenses by catching everything in traffic.  We will have a problem with athletic defenses that can stay in our receivers' shadows without needing to blitz to stop the run.

The theme for 2013 is "Gardner and the Geckos".

Blue in Yarmouth

July 16th, 2013 at 1:01 PM ^

I don't disagree with your overall point, but I have to question what team you were watching last year where QB depth was actually better than this year? I mean, he is in the same situation this year except for the fact that he actually has one more QB on the roster (because we all know DR wasn't coming back). 

Also, I don't think (if memory serves me correctly) that DG really had all that many designed QB runs last year. I know he had a few, but most seemed to be a play breaking down and him scrambling.

I guess my overall point is I don't see Borges changing much based on the QB situation we have this year, because if anything there is actually more depth this year than last. Having said that, as I said above I don't think many of DG's runs were designed, it was more his ability to improv that lead to them. That's just my 2 cents.

 

zachary_carson

July 15th, 2013 at 2:55 PM ^

First the "I hate Texas A&M" press and now the "I'm too drunk to toss a football" press? 

Archie: Johnny are you drunk?

JM: No, sir.

AM: Strike a Desmond Howard...

JM: --falls down--

AM: YOU'RE OUTTA HERE!

Also, Buggy Whip.

Wolverines Dominate

July 15th, 2013 at 3:18 PM ^

Damn that is one pretty champions shirt. <long sigh>. I'm still irritated by that game. M should have won, but it's over now. Bring on football.

TWSWBC

July 15th, 2013 at 3:40 PM ^

Very impressed by his coordination being able to bounce those basketballs off each other and keep dribbling. Wait, there was enough room for them to go past and keep his dribble? Yikes