Michigan: Quarterback U
An ARTICLE at nfl.com analyzes which schools have produced the most quarterback talent for the NFL over the past 25 years. Michigan comes out tops in the B1G, finishing second only to USC. The methodology is not fully clear, but the evaluation
took into account their history of producing NFL quarterbacks over the past 25 years, the quality of signal-callers they've produced, the offense they typically run and even took a look into future a little bit to see what kind of pipeline there is for the school.
Second place in the country (really world ... really, space!) is a testament to the pedigree of the program. Granted, the article rightly notes that Tom Brady has skewed things a bit in Michigan's favor, but the rest of the list is pretty good too.
The paragraph on Michigan states:
Thanks mostly to Brady, the Wolverines might have one of the better hit rates on sending QBs to the NFL in recent years. All seven quarterbacks drafted in the past 25 years started at least one game in the NFL and four of them have thrown for more than 10,000 yards as a pro. While it's unclear if head coach Brady Hoke will keep his job much longer, it's doubtful Michigan moves away from a pro-style offense after the failed Rich Rodriguez experiment. With a big brand name and the ability to get signal-callers from any part of the country, this is one area where Michigan wins a head-to-head with its rival, Ohio State.
So pay attention QB recruiting prospects. Here you can play school and play ball. And we promise never to saddle you with the likes of Lane Kiffin.
It seemed a bit negative (but in fairness Hoke's long-term future is not exactly crystal clear - I'm optimistic, but not certain that Hoke's success rate will increase in the W-L column). NFL.com does seem to get that Michigan is unlikely to deviate from a pro-style attack in the near future, so I don't have a problem with their main point in referencing Hoke's troubles.
That's the nature of the business, unfortunately. Personally, I still see Coach Hoke better suited as a position coach or coordinator than a head coach, but I hope he proves me wrong!
Brady Hoke is making over $2 mil a year. He's a big boy who should be able to handle the pressure/criticism.
He needs to show some toughness?
He just needs to execute.
Michigan State comes in at a surprising No. 9 on the list, with Jim Miller, Tony Banks, Jeff Smoker, Drew Stanton and Kirk Cousins having been drafted, and Connor Cook making a good impression.
No other B1G school makes the list, and the highest ranked SEC team is LSU checking in at No. 5 (showing that there is some element of quantity over quality in the analysis).
I would have thought Purdue would be higher than MSU. Since 1980 they have put Mark Hermann, Scott Campbell, Jim Everett, Drew Brees, Kyle Orton, and Curtis Painter in the NFL. Sure, Campbell and Painter were only backups, but the other four were all starters and had better careers than the MSU group, in my opinion.
You're going back more than the 25 years that was used in the NFL story.
Yeah I was just about to edit my comment. Fail on my part.
Eh, not so much fail as it does illustrate how changing the parameters by a decade or so changes the outcome. In fact, if you go back 50 years, Purdue is probably tops in the Big Ten at producing NFL QBs.
and I'll say it again (RE: Drew Henson)
DAMN YOU, GEORGE STEINBRENNER.
Why blame George? Nobody held a gun to Henson's head to sign with the Yankees—he screwed himself.
if getting seven figures guaranteed is being screwed, bring it.
If I'm remembering correctly, there was a sense that Steinbrenner paid a premium to get Henson to sign with the Yankees, since Steinbrenner was also an OSU alumnus. Not only did he get a good prospect, he got a chance to stick a fork in Michigan's eye - and took that chance.
So I'm with GoWings2008 here - screw Steinbrenner. Although it would have been funny to me if a Michigan alum like the Mets owner had yoinked TPeezy from the Buckeyes, so I sort of tip my cap to Steinbrenner while cursing him.
but if you had a chance to get a good prospect AND stick it to your rival in the process, would you maybe put a little extra money into that contract? To think that the deal was ONLY about baseball, I think, is naive.
I agree that Henson was a big-time baseball prospect even in high school at Howell. Huge, in fact. But my recollection is that Henson's dividing his attention between baseball and football during his time at Michigan was irritating both the Yankees and Coach Carr. Steinbrenner offered Henson a large contract in large part to get him to forego playing football.
So on one hand I agree. The Yankees almost always overpay for talent. But I find it unlikely that Steinbrenner (an OSU alumn and supporter of OSU athletics) didn't notice that by signing Henson he was depriving "that school up north" of its starting QB. Extremely unlikely.
So I stand by my "stick a fork in Michigan's eye" statement.
I'm pretty sure Henson went to Brighton and not Howell.
And it was perfect baseball sense to pay a minor league player $17M only to trade him to the Cincinnati organization within five months of signing him. Signed in January 2000 and traded to the Reds in June 2000.
...I see it.
I believe Mrs. Steinbrenner was a regent or something like that at oiho at the time.
but if you were a 19 or 20 yr old kid and someone threw that much money at you, regardless of whether you knew it was the right move or not, what would you have done.
And don't waste my opportunity to throw blame at an osu grad...come on, now.
Yeah, can't blame him. I'd take playing in MLB over the NFL any day.
Just saying, if we were Quarterback U, wouldn't we be number 1?
I mean USC = Quarterback U right now. We are like, second place. That is like saying the NY Rangers are the Stanley Cup Champions because they were 2nd place.
Michigan has taken a six year hiatus from turning out pro-quality QBs.
The opinion in the article since it is based on cumulative pedigree in the recent past, among other things. The reason they gave for the rating on USC is an interesting but compelling one within the framework of their argument - all but two multi-game starters for USC in the last 25 years have been drafted. We can talk about the let-downs a few of those guys were in the league, but that's a phenomenal hit rate when compared to other programs really.
As for Michigan, while it isn't at the sheer volume of USC, we've put some rather productive QBs in the NFL and I would think that might be a good case for being on the list. There's not really a reason that it must be one school, after all.
DENARD
UM typically has had tall, pocket passers with big arms...Grbac, Collins, Griese, Brady, Navarre, Henne, etc. until RR came along. The only one with some running ability to mind since Bo retired was Henson. OSU has had their share of pocket passers too like Bobby Hoying and Craig Krenzel, but they've also had a lot of mobile QBs that can use thier feet like Troy Smith, Terrelle Pyor, Braxton Miller, Joe Germaine, Stanley Jackson. But, it's been these guys like Smith, Pryor, and Miller that gave UM fits to defend. I've always thought it's harder to defend a dual-threat QB. For whatever reason it doesn't translate to the NFL though.
It didn't help that his completion was like 70% against UM. He was lights out. Although Henne had a fantastic game in '05 too, it just wasn't enough. '05 and '06 still haunt me as the two most important games UM just couldn't win. If those 2 games went UMs way a lot in this rivalry would be different for the past 10 years IMO.
Georgia makes no sense on that list. Purdue should be on there instead of them.
As Ricky Bobby once said, "If you ain't first, you're last."
My how times have changed. When I was growing up we always got knocked for not producing any NFL QBs. Harbaugh was supposed to change that but as a rookie Ditka made him ride the pine. It wasn't until Captain Comeback in Indianpolis that Harbaugh became respected. And shortly thereafter Griese won the NC, quieting the UM QB naysayers. With that said, IMO without Brady our QB output is a list of serviceable NFLers but no stars.