The Baughz

November 8th, 2014 at 10:47 AM ^

The area that will hurt Michigan the most without Fleet is the punt coverage unit. It's already bad, but Fleet is the only one that consistently gets down there and causes havoc at times. He hasnt been much of an impact on KO return or at WR, but not having him out there covering punts worries me. 

Bodogblog

November 8th, 2014 at 11:20 AM ^

I disagree that he causes havoc. He has great moves and burst so he can get around guys. Good. But he's slow, so said guys catch up as he runs downfield. Bad. He's also small, so when he breaks down and gets there, he's easily blocked by the guys who caught up. I dislike having him on punt coverage. And I hate our old manballs punt scheme like everybody else. But I think Norfleet being one of two gunners makes it worse. Poor coaching.

Blueroller

November 8th, 2014 at 10:44 AM ^

I'm almost positive it's a shoulder. He took a whopping hit on a kickoff return and they showed him on the sidelines favoring it. A couple of plays later he went in and caught I believe a WR screen, where he danced around and then got crushed. They showed him on the bench looking like he was done. But he came back in as a gunner on a punt and at the end you could see him get knocked down onto that shoulder. I was pissed at the time because I didn't think he should've been in for the punt. After that he went to the locker room. I love that guy. I hope he's back for Maryland after the bye.

mGrowOld

November 8th, 2014 at 10:53 AM ^

 Let me preface my comments by saying I do like Dennis Norfleet and find him both entertaining and and great guy to have on the team.

But I got to say that in my 55 years I have seldom seen a player whose expectations for performance has so totally overwhelmed their actual production.  So far this year he's contributed the following:

Rushing yards: 54 - No TDs

Passing yards: 102 - No TDs

Punt return yards: 21 - No TDs (that's it - 21 yards for the season)

Kickoff return yards: 285 yards - No TDs (23.8 avg)

Can somebody explain to me what everybody else sees in Norfleet that I am apparently missing?

GoBlueInNYC

November 8th, 2014 at 11:09 AM ^

I would like to see what those numbers look like as average touches. Those are pretty low yardage stats, but I feel like he also doesn't get that many touches. The fact that he has no TDs (for his career) is kind of crazy.

Generally, I agree with you, though. I think the site's views on him are a little disproportionate to his actual performance. Still think he's a helluva lot of fun and is still a functional part of the offense/ST that will be missed.

Farnn

November 8th, 2014 at 11:56 AM ^

It's very difficult to return punts for TDs when you only have 10 men on the field.  Plus the hype about Norfleet is more about the fact that he's one of the few players on the team who is fun to watch with the ball in is hands.  And, he's probably the best gunner on the punt coverage team too.