Are you already worried about DPJ not living up to his lofty rankings?

Submitted by aaamichfan on

Consensus top 25 overall player in his class, so far has looked good but not great. Obviously he has an excuse last year with nobody to deliver him the ball, but in general his body of work looks more like a high 3* or low 4* recruit at this point in his Michigan career.

Obviously the guy is going to be successful as hell, and could very well be prepping himself to go straight to Medical School without any career in football beyond college. But is anybody else just a tad underwhelmed with DPJ up to this point?

ak47

September 12th, 2018 at 6:28 PM ^

He’s a raw route runner whose greatest asset was speed and size allowing him to go down field well. Over the last two years he’s had zero qbs who could throes the deep ball and an offensive line so bad the coaches aren’t willing to call long developing pass plays against a mac team. Odell Beckham would struggle to put good numbers in our offense.

Joined: 05/05/2011

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AZBlue

September 12th, 2018 at 9:29 PM ^

To add to this DPJ is “short” compared to Black and Collins requiring a better throw to beat decent coverage.  QBs capable of making these throws are more common in The NFL and non-existent at M in 2017.

On the plus side, team and coaches really seem to love him as a player - seemed like Shea passed on a much easier slant to Nico to get DPJ his TD last week.

Joined: 09/14/2008

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DTOW

September 12th, 2018 at 5:39 PM ^

Hmmmm. I think he’s been pretty dang good. Looks the part of a future NFL player. Has caught pretty much everything thrown his way. I don’t know what else he’s supposed to do, he’ll get more chances to make plays in the coming weeks. 

 

Unless youre talking about his punt returning in which case I’d much prefer a guy like Ambry back there. 

Joined: 08/31/2013

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bluepdx

September 12th, 2018 at 5:40 PM ^

Yeah, how dare you ask a reasonable question about UM football on a message board devoted to UM sports! 

Don't you know you're a bad person merely b/c you considered the possibility that something UM fans wish were not true _might_ be true? 

Please stick to the program -- myopic, only positive opinions.

Joined: 08/17/2010

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Phil Brickma

September 12th, 2018 at 5:50 PM ^

I have no issue with negative opinions, I just think it’s unreasonable to be down on DPJ this early in their career. DPJ hasn’t been a superstar but he’s been a contributor from Day 1 and has still flashed all the promise that he can develop into a freak. I can confidently say no, I’m not worried DPJ is going to be a bust.

Joined: 06/24/2012

MGoPoints: 2010

FatGuyTouchdown

September 12th, 2018 at 6:20 PM ^

Let's break this down a bit. Donovan Peoples Jones has played in 15 career games. He has 32 career catches. Basically 6 of those games were quarterbacked by John O'Korn. In games that were not Quarterbacked by John O'Korn, he has 24 catches. So in he has 75% of his catches in 60% of his games. Not always the receivers fault that he's had shit QBs. He has 10 catches for 69 yards and a touchdown this year. That averages out to 60 catches for 400 yards and 6 touchdowns.  Is 400 yards good? It's decent but Not really good, but so far they haven't been able to run many deep routes for obvious reasons. Is DPJ the best receiver in the Big 10? No. Is he still loaded with potential, absolutely. 

Joined: 09/07/2014

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mGrowOld

September 12th, 2018 at 6:36 PM ^

I actually agree with you here that so far, his production has been underwhelming as compared to the hype coming in.

That being said however I also agreed with you back in 2010 that RR got screwed over and we were nuts for not giving him a 4th year.

So neither one of us know shit apparantly.

Joined: 10/04/2010

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marmot

September 12th, 2018 at 6:32 PM ^

Eh. The other posters are acting abhorrent to the OP.  I actually am skeptical/worried a bit myself.  He does only have one receiving TD in his career thus far.  That's probably low on average for a guy graded as highly as he was.  Caveats about last year aside, it's really not some massive slight to simply ask the question.

Some of you need to get better at reacting to constructive criticism.  A genuine question doesn't need to be taken as a slap in the face to someone's character/skills.

Joined: 09/08/2009

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Qmatic

September 12th, 2018 at 5:42 PM ^

What in two games have you not liked from him? He’s run good routes, he’s caught everything thrown his way, and has displayed great speed after the catch. Freshman WRs are very rarely difference makers and with John O’Korn overthrowing him for a year, he’s already looking a lot better

Joined: 01/09/2013

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Wolverine Devotee

September 12th, 2018 at 5:42 PM ^

He's played in 15 career games and 13 of them were with the worst QB play since we were startin' walk ons in 2008. 

He's got a QB now for the first time. Who can make throws as we saw on the touchdown that was caught by.........oh DPJ?

Joined: 06/29/2009

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aaamichfan

September 12th, 2018 at 5:57 PM ^

Think about it though.....

DPJ was the type of prospect coming out of High School where nobody was even considering the possibility that he'd be here 4 years. Based on that fact, this should be his breakout Sophomore season.......up to this point(and including this season so far), he looks like nothing more than a solid possession receiver.

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trueblueintexas

September 12th, 2018 at 6:09 PM ^

Are you underwhelmed with Rashan Gary? Where are the 20+ sacks? When will he knock some poor QB's head completely off?

If you don't know what the coaches are asking him to do, you can't really judge if he is living up to expectations. 

I think Harbaugh said just this week they are really happy with what DPJ has been doing, minus the punt return issues.

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trueblueintexas

September 12th, 2018 at 6:27 PM ^

Nico: 4 catches, 110 yards, 1 TD

DPJ: 10 catches, 69 yards, 1 TD

Perry: 5 catches, 48 yards, 0 TD

Martin: 4 catches, 38 yards, 0 TD

Michigan receiving total: 37 catches, 392 yards, 4 TD

The guy has twice as many catches as anyone else on the team. Has one of the 4 TD's (tied for the lead with 1). Has the second most yards. Michigan ran for 300 yards in one game and played a tough defense in the other. What more do you want? And I do not count anything from last...whatever that was that happened.

https://mgoblue.com/cumestats.aspx?path=football

Joined: 11/10/2008

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trueblueintexas

September 12th, 2018 at 8:29 PM ^

Then rename your thread “I am underwhelmed by DPJ”. Clearly you want to cherry pick one stat without addressing any other known or unknown information with it. Have you scouted all of the route trees and what the receivers responsibilities were? Do you have inside info on what the game plan was for ND and WMU? Are you also a believer that what ever stats exist after 2 out of 12 games there is no possibility of those changing for the remaining 10?

You want to argue your view point instead of discuss reality. That is a fools errand for everyone.

Joined: 11/10/2008

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