Joey Burzynski & Erik Magnuson to start at guard vs. Indiana
From the Michigan football Twitter account.
October 19th, 2013 at 12:28 AM ^
But if we lose, despite the fans getting what they wanted, is Borges an idiot? More importantly, are we?
October 19th, 2013 at 8:01 AM ^
October 18th, 2013 at 7:07 PM ^
October 18th, 2013 at 7:22 PM ^
October 18th, 2013 at 7:40 PM ^
Personal attacks of players will NOT be tolerated.
October 18th, 2013 at 9:16 PM ^
I hope Kalis stays for the duration of his eligibility, has a great career, and enjoys his time at the UMich art school. Just to get that out of the way ...
I wouldn't be a bit surprised if Urban Meyer (a smart guy of interesting character) quietly reached out to Kalis at some point (in a scenario where Mr. K found himself 2nd/3rd-string for an extended period of time). If he could effect a transfer he would, for the price of a single scholarship, win himself some neat PR and possibly a significant contributor.
Low probability, sure, but interesting IMO.
October 18th, 2013 at 11:15 PM ^
Comong man...
October 18th, 2013 at 7:37 PM ^
It depends on who you think is replacing whom. If you look at it as Burzinki replacing Bryant, than our 5 star OG is being replaced by a near-5 star OT from his same class. Both were Army All Americans. We are replacing one blue chip RS frosh with another. This is not that weird.
October 18th, 2013 at 7:59 PM ^
October 18th, 2013 at 8:18 PM ^
October 18th, 2013 at 7:10 PM ^
October 18th, 2013 at 7:12 PM ^
Maybe they played musical chairs in practice and the 5 guys that got the seats get to start.
October 18th, 2013 at 7:42 PM ^
There were five on the line and Schofield said, "Roll over! Roll over!" They all rolled over and Lewan came out.
There were still five on the line and Magnusson said, "Roll over! Roll over!" They all rolled over and Bryant came out.
There were still five on the line and Burzynski said, "Roll over! Roll over!" They all rolled over and Kalis came out.
October 18th, 2013 at 9:51 PM ^
one of the best posts I have ever read on this board.
Yes, I have a kid under the age of 1.
October 18th, 2013 at 11:27 PM ^
I have read a lot of great comments on this board, but this one stands alone as the funniest one. Great post, it caused me to laugh/cry/choke so hard that my wife was worried about me.
October 19th, 2013 at 2:11 AM ^
October 18th, 2013 at 7:11 PM ^
Don't know how we haven't found 2 guards out of like 8 options who aren't just terrible. Its not just youth, everything is just bad. Have to assume that goes to Funk
October 18th, 2013 at 7:41 PM ^
It might be Funk, but what 8 options are you referring to? Assuming true frosh aren't really options, you sure don't have that many guys to choose from. You have Kalis, Bryant, Burzinski, Bars, and then moving tackles over (which is what is happening with Magnuson). Of that group, two are RS frosh, one is always injured and one is a walk on.
I'm not saying none of this is one Funk, but he literally doesn't have a single upperclass OG on the roster, and only a small handful of underclassmen, with Burzinski being the only one who had even seen a snap before this season.
October 18th, 2013 at 8:05 PM ^
If you count last year (which I think you should) you've got Barnum, Omameh*, Mealer, Kalis, Bryant, Glasgow*, Braden, Burzinyski, Bars, Gunderson. *players are serviceable.
2 serviceable guys in 2 years out of that pool screams bad coaching or extremely bad luck. I think it's becoming clear that it's the former.
October 19th, 2013 at 9:58 AM ^
I don't know enough (read: anything) about the specifics of O-line coaching, so I'm only making vague inferences here. But at the moment, the only truly successful O-linemen under Hoke have been players who matured under Greg Frey - Lewan, Schofield, and Molk. I understand that part of the issue is a transition in scheme, and some of this may be related to Al flailing about wildly in terms of the running game. Much of it, certainly, relates to the youth at the position.
Still, the results so far have certainly given some cause for concern, and the performance of Kalis raises a red flag for me. A kid with all the plaudits in the world - based not only on upside, but on physical readiness and superior technique for a HS kid - struggling this badly in his second year in the progam is troubling, OL recruiting uncertainty be damned.
Next year, there are certainly enough bullets in the chamber, recruiting wise, that some grouping of five of them should be at least serviceable. If not, we're going to quickly begin to resemble Sparty East, only with about 3x the raw talent on offense.
October 19th, 2013 at 10:29 AM ^
Kalis might be struggling so far in his first year, but I don't think we can make conclusions about the staff based off one freshman player. Glasgow has been a pleasant suprise and has exceeded everyones expectations thus far so we shouldn't just point at the faults and ignore the positives. This offensive line might just be too young to handle all of the offensive scheme changes this year.
October 19th, 2013 at 12:08 PM ^
....relative to unreasonable expectations.
Of the seven five-star offensive linemen in that class, five are not starting in their second year of their respective programs. In most cases we don't even know how badly they're struggling, because they don't even see the field until garbage time. That is probably not a sign that the offensive line coaches at Stanford, USC and Georgia are incompetent.
In a functioning program that had bothered to recruit offensive linemen he'd be an understudy to some reasonably competent RG, with the opportunity to compete against him and beat him out, if things worked out surprisingly well, but with the stronger likelihood that he'll simply learn his trade for a couple of years.
There's maybe one Cyrus Kouandijo per year, if that. If you get one of those guys, great. Counting on it is absurd.
October 18th, 2013 at 7:42 PM ^
Yep. You've got eight to twelve options to fill two spots. All of them were good enough to play for Michigan. Make it work.
October 18th, 2013 at 7:13 PM ^
This is nothing at all like Ray Vinopal to FS and Josh Furman to shagbacker or w/e it was.
October 18th, 2013 at 8:51 PM ^
They called that position a lot of things but I believe they settled on "Woah, that's only ten guys? Get out there and play defense!"
October 18th, 2013 at 7:15 PM ^
SFBlue was obviously referencing Blossom's older brother Tony, and not Joey.
October 18th, 2013 at 7:17 PM ^
October 18th, 2013 at 8:53 PM ^
There's only so much you can do as a coach, especially in the season. I'm sure Funk and Borges are looking at their offense and wondering what they can do better. I think looking at your personnel is also important and I'm glad they're at least trying something.
October 19th, 2013 at 12:34 AM ^
October 18th, 2013 at 7:19 PM ^
if it ain't working, might as well try something until it does..
October 18th, 2013 at 8:08 PM ^
The counter point is the way to get something to work may be to have the same 5 guys play together for longer
October 18th, 2013 at 7:23 PM ^
All these OL came in with high regard but not one has really shown anything so der if its talent or Funk? I seem to think it is on funk and Borges. You can even put some blame on Hoke cause he hand picked these guys. Al has never had good offenses has he? The best he had was in Auburn and it had NFL talent and that offense wasnt considered great. Home needs to quit putting so much trust in fat Albert. Hello he couldn't even get job till Hokeman called so to me that says something right there.
October 18th, 2013 at 7:51 PM ^
Did you say something?
October 18th, 2013 at 7:23 PM ^
October 18th, 2013 at 7:28 PM ^
Doesnt matter who is at guard when the other team has 8-9 people in the box and we only are playing with 10 on offense.
October 18th, 2013 at 8:50 PM ^
October 19th, 2013 at 9:57 AM ^
Really? Did you read the front page? I am pretty sure there are 10 in the photo.
Regardless...it was a joke. MANBALL 27 for 27! They should make an ESPN documentary.
October 18th, 2013 at 7:38 PM ^
This game was going to be confidence builder. Now I think it's a game. I honestly can't wait to see the product on the field. There's no place to hide on the gridiron.
Kalis has looked fine for his first year IMO. I don't feel good about that move. Bryant was the right fit in my mind as well. He is huge has basically only had two starts, looked OK vs. Minne and got knocked on his duff by a quality D line. That is how you learn. I didn't like this move but I'm looking forward to looking dumb. Make it so Mags and Joey.
October 18th, 2013 at 8:05 PM ^
October 18th, 2013 at 10:42 PM ^
I also feel Kalis has played well for his first year starting. Last week was tough for all of the linemen, especially the interior. I still think he will be a starter by the end of the season.
If this is for competition's sake, then I am fine with it. If this is for building depth, then I am fine with it. If it is a scheme change, then I am fine with it. As long as Michigan wins, of course.
October 19th, 2013 at 12:41 AM ^
October 18th, 2013 at 7:42 PM ^
October 18th, 2013 at 9:55 PM ^
October 18th, 2013 at 7:52 PM ^
Although the insertion of two brand new Olinemen in the middle of the year is not good, could this signal that Borges will abandon the power run scheme for more spread? Both Bryant and Kalis have not proven up to the task on the stretch plays run so far - and clearly not in the power run game either - so the insertion of lighter, more agile players would make sense if we see more spread looks and runs.
With that said, I reserve the right to change my mind if Borges runs MANBALL to start the game tomorrow.
October 18th, 2013 at 8:33 PM ^
I'm thinking Jehu Chesson deserves a shot at one of the guard spots. Dude has leveled some people this year. While you're at it, fire Funk and put Hecklinksi in charge of the offensive line. No denying that we've had some kick-ass blocking receivers the past few years.
#BringBackTayOdoms
October 18th, 2013 at 8:29 PM ^
...to figure how strong, 300-lb Michigan linemen who have the offensive advantage of snap count can't get at least SOME push.
It just baffles.
October 18th, 2013 at 11:31 PM ^
October 18th, 2013 at 8:36 PM ^
Just get your best guys on the field be it tackles playing guard, true freshmen, walk-ons whatever. But coaches also need to give them help by keeping the defense honest and not getting in in 2nd and 12s and 3rd and 9s with crappy no win plays.
October 18th, 2013 at 8:37 PM ^