How Bo handled QB injury issue in final year
The mention of Michael Taylor's potential presence on Saturday by a poster in the "Former Players Show of Support" led me to Wiki to review Michael's career at UM.
Michael's Wiki bio reveals very detailed discussion of his shoulder injury by Bo, a discussion which may help in the compare/contrast with the current Michigan HC's handling of injury issues.
The following is Ctrl+c/Ctrl+p from Wiki:
EDIT: This post nowehere discusses merits of handling concussion vs. other injuries, rather an interesting case study of how Bo handled a rather serious injury to the QB versus how the current HC can't even elocute minor player items.
In the weeks before the season opener, the press focused on Taylor's physical condition. He had been nursing a sore shoulder in his throwing arm two weeks before the opener and missed the first week of practice.[17] Coach Schembechler called it "the great Michael Taylor scare,"[18] and with news that Taylor would play, the Associated Press reported, "The Michael Taylor scare is over."[17] Taylor noted, "I can throw freely and it doesn't hurt. I'm close to 100 percent and never even thought of not playing."[19] Assistant coach Gary Moeller explained that Taylor's injury problem had been caused by the fact that "he didn't know how to throw properly until he came to Michigan."[19] Taylor had been "flinging the ball with his arm," Moeller noted, instead of using his whole body and sometimes reverted to that habit.[19] Despite the pain, Taylor vowed to give it his best effort against Notre Dame, saying, "I was raised to play football only one way, and that's giving 110 percent."[19]
Michigan and Notre Dame entered the season opener as the No.1 and No. 2 ranked teams in college football.[20] Taylor started the game against Notre Dame and completed 5 of 6 passes, including a touchdown, but he left the game after injuring his back. Taylor was replaced with freshman Elvis Grbac in the Notre Dame game.
After the loss of Taylor, Schembechler questioned his decision to let the injured Taylor play: "I suppose if I had to do it all over again, I probably should have started Elvis and let the chips fall where they may. To be honest with you, Taylor didn't throw a pass all week. He's got a bad arm right now. But he's a great competitor. He wanted to go. He felt he'd be able to throw the ball all right."[15] Schembechler added, "Michael Taylor is a fifth-year quarterback. He's the leader of our team. Hell's afire, we send him out there with a bad arm. If Michael's healthy, you'll see a difference."[15]
Enlightening to see how Bo handled the discussion of Michael's physical issues.
October 11th, 2014 at 1:26 PM ^
And the point of this was what.....?
October 11th, 2014 at 4:46 PM ^
I remember when Elvis Grbac came in in that game. We were all looking at each other in the stands, "who?" He ended up being a fine quarterback, but we were wondering how the hell he would run the ball. Didn't matter - our running backs and o-line back then were sick. Then of course, Grbac to Howard and Alexander occurred. Good times.